AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR Indicating AND RECORDING THE STATE OF THE TIDE
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Augustus Adams, of Peel, in the Isle of
Man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR Indicating
AND RECORDING THE STATE OF THE TIDE.”
Sealed the 7th May 1875, and dated the 30th November 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Augustus Adams
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th November 1874.
I, GEORGE AUGUSTUS ADAMS, of Peel, in the Isle of Man, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR INDICATING AND RECORDING THE STATE OF THE TIDE," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of an improved apparatus embodying the
combination of, a float actuated by the tide and working a screw which
communicates motion to an index wheel and dial hand constructed to
shew the rise and fall of the tide in the harbour or dock.
The indicator can be either built against or let into a pier or break-
water under construction.

page_text: It is intended to shew by a dial hand to vessels approaching a harbour
the actual depth of water in the harbour.
At night the dial will be lighted up and the figures indicating the
depth of water in feet can be read off at a considerable distance, the
dial centre being placed high above the base.
The apparatus is so constructed that the amount of tidal rise and fall
at any point at a seaport navigable river, or in any situation approachable
by vessels is clearly and accurately indicated by the dial hand.
The setting of the float must be regulated by the depth of water
required, as a minimum for instance, if it be required to shew a depth
from six feet to eighteen feet maximum, the float must be set on the
screw at six feet, less its displacement, and allow for the difference of
level between low water in the harbour and the depth of water at the
spot selected to erect the signal.
The indicator consists of a vertical screw about equal in length to the 1
depth of water required by the indicator to shew placed in a pipe or case
and worked by a float, and having attached to it a bevil wheel commu-
nicating motion to a horizontal spindle connected to an upright shaft
working a large index wheel. The dial hand is attached to the axle
of the index wheel, and every foot vertical passed over by the float in 1
the revolution of the screw the index hand records.
The size of building will be regulated by local circumstances and
requirements, and the principle being adhered to the indicator can be
made to shew with one, two, or more dials any desirable depth of water.
: The water is admitted at the bottom of the case through perforated!
holes sufficiently large for the free passage of water but small enough to
exclude fish. If advisable a rose may be placed at a little distance from
the apparatus so as to prevent too great an oscillation of the dial hand-
by checking rough water affecting the float before it is sufficiently.
buoyant to work the screw.
-The signals now in use at the outports in the United Kingdom are
flags and hoist lights requiring the constant attention, during tide hours,
of the officers having the supervision of the harbours, the accuracy of
recording the state of the tide depends entirely upon the vigilance of the
tide officer, any neglect on his part endangers the value of floating pro-
perty and life.

page_text: The indicator is simple in construction and inexpensive when the
results are valued, viz., giving information to vessels in the day and
night of the depth of water in the harbour suitable to their draught.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Augustus Adams in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
AUGUSTUS ADAMS, of Peel, in the Isle of Man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me the said George Augustus Adams,
Her special licence that I, the said George Augustus Adams, my
executors, administrators and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Augustus Adams, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR INDICATING AND
RECORDING THE STATE OF THE TIDE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Augustus Adams, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should "particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.

page_text: by the following statement in writing, and on reference being had to
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, that is to say :-
This Invention, which is illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings in Figures 1 to 4, consists of an improved simple and inex-
pensive combination and arrangement of apparatus for indicating by
day and night the tidal rise and fall, and more particularly the actual
depth of the water at any point or points of a seaport, navigable river,
harbour, dock, or other situation approachable by vessels, for the informa-
tion of masters of vessels approaching thereto, so that the masters of
those vessels for which the indicated depth of water is not sufficient for
their draught, and of those for which it is sufficient may at once see
with certainty.
The Invention embodies as a principal feature the combination of a
float which is actuated by the tide, with a screwed rod which it actuates
so as to communicate motion through suitable gearing to a deal hand
and cause it to indicate accurately and clearly on a figured dial the
actual depth of water, or the tidal rise and fall in feet or other measure-
ment.
1, on the accompanying Drawings, represents the float, which may
consist of a squared block wood, or of a squared metallic casing
provided with friction rollers 2 which confine it to a simple rising
and falling motion in a squared wooden or metallic casing 3. The
screwed rod 4 upon which the float 1 is set as a nut, is arranged
vertically and centrally within the casing 3 and is supported by
brackets 22. It is made about equal in length to the difference between
the minimum and maximum depths of water required to be indicated
by the pointer or dial hand 5, the lower bracket 22 determining the
lowest position of the float 1 and the spring board 6 depending from the
higher bracket 22 determining its highest position.
That part of the apparatus so far described and contained within the
casing 3 is adjusted in such a position that the float 1 is not acted upon
by the rising water till the latter has attained the minimum depth it is
required should be indicated. For example, if it be required to indicate
by the pointer 5 on the figured dial 7 between six feet as the minimum
depth and sixteen feet as the maximum depth, at the spot selected to
erect the indicator, this part of the apparatus is adjusted so that the
float 1 is not acted upon by the water till it attains the minimum depth

page_text: •
of six feet, the float is thus in this case six feet, less its displacement,
above the bottom; but if it be required to indicate the depth of the
water at any particular part of the harbour not in the immediate vicinity -
of the spot on which the indicator is erected, the difference between the
depths at these two parts at low-water mark must also be considered
and allowance made therefor. For instance, if at low water the depth
at the mouth of a harbour be two feet shallower than at the spot selected
on which to erect the indicator, and it be desired to indicate six feet as
the minimum depth at the mouth of the harbour, the float 1 is set so
that it is not acted upon by the rising water till it has attained a depth
of eight feet at that part; similarly if at the mouth of the harbour the
depth at low water be two feet deeper than at the spot where the
indicator is erected the float is set so that it is acted upon by the rising
water when it has attained a minimum depth of four feet at that part.
The depths at these parts however can generally be equalized by excava-
tion or the addition of masonry at the spot where the indicator is
erected. The rise and fall of the water thus impart corresponding
motions to the float 1, which working freely upon the screwed rod 4
imparts thereto a rotative motion about its axis. This motion is commu-
nicated to the pointer 5 by means of the shafts 8 to the upper horizontal
one of which the pointer is secured and bevil gearing 9, the shafts being
supported by the brackets 10.
In addition to the length of the screwed rod 4 its pitch and that of
the gearing 9 are so proportioned that every foot (or other desired
measurement) vertical rise (and fall) of the float 1 (starting from the
minimum depth until attaining the maximum depth which it is
required shall be indicated) is clearly and accurately indicated by the
pointer 5 upon the dial 7, which is marked with large figures and
carried in a high and conspicuous position in the front of a suitable
wooden or metallic casing, framing, or building 11 containing that part
of the apparatus above the lower horizontal shaft 8, so as to be seen
clearly from a considerable distance. To prevent too great an oscillation
of the pointer 5, and to check rough water affecting the float before it
is sufficiently buoyant to work the screwed rod 4, the water for actuating
the float is admitted at the bottom of the casing 3 through a suitable
rose, or through holes 12 perforated therein of a sufficient size for the
free passage of the water but small enough to exclude fish, stones, sea-
weed, or other detrimental substance (see Figure 4). 13 represents a

page_text: hinged door, covering an opening in the casing 3 through which the float
can be got at at low water if required; and 14 represents a door; 15,
a ladder; and 16, a flooring, through and by which access can be had
to the indicating apparatus contained within the upper casing 11.
The casing 3 can be either built against or let into a pier or break-
water under construction, according to local_circumstances and require-
ments, and the casing 11 can also be constructed of any required
size, and it may be provided with two, three, or more dials 7 facing
different directions if desired, each pointer being actuated by bevil
gearing from the upper horizontal shaft 8 and be made to indicate from
any desired minimum to any desired maximum depth of water, the com-
ponent parts, as above described, being properly proportioned. At
night the entire dial 7 can be illuminated so that the indication of the
pointer 5 can then be read off with equal facility. Or I condense the
light by a lamp or lantern 17 supported by a bracket 18, and constructed
on the dioptric or refracting system, bracketting or suspending a lens 19
in front of the light which will effect the refracting of the rays of the
latter impinging upon it, and concentrate them on to the upper part of
the dial 7 above the centre. In this application I place upon the pointer
shaft 8 a circular lens or transparent disc 20, divided and colored, one
half or part (say) white, and the other half or part (say) red (see
Figure 1), which revolves with this shaft 8 and passes between the light
and the suspending lens 19 of the lantern 17. The lantern will be lit
at sunset, and its light will be obscured at all times when the depth of
water is below the minimum required to be indicated by a metallic
disc 21 (Figure 1) carried by the lens 20; but when the water has attained
the said minimum depth (say six feet) and begins to act upon the float 1
the latter actuates the pointer shaft 8, as above described, and causes
(say) a white light to be shown till the water attains the depth of (say)
eleven feet, and a red light from that depth to the said maximum depth
(say sixteen fect). The order being also retained when the water is
decreasing in depth, thus the red light being shown until it be decreased
in depth from the sixteen feet to eleven feet, and the white light from
eleven feet to the six feet, after which the light will be obscured by the
metallic disc 21 till the water again rises. These divisions of the depths
may of course be lessened or varied, and a greater variety of lights
shown, and the opaque disc 21 may be replaced by a peculiarly coloured
transparent disc.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and
object of my said Invention, together with the manner in which the same
is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I have to state
that the signalling arrangements hitherto in use for indicating the state
of the tide in the ports of the United Kingdom have been flags and
hoist lights, which required the constant attention, during tidal hours, of
the supervising officers, upon whose vigilance accuracy in signalling the
state of the tide entirely depended, any neglect endangering floating
property and life; and I would thus call attention to the many and great
self evident advantages which accrue from the use of my improved
indicating apparatus, the principal important features being that the
indicator is automatic in action not requiring the exercise of any manual
vigilance or supervision, that it is actuated alone by that, the state of
which it must consequently and necessarily indicate accurately, and that
both by day and night the masters of approaching vessels can ascertain
the indication at a considerable distance and see whether they can at the
time enter the port or harbour they are making for; and in. conclusion
I would remark that I claim as my Invention the novel and peculiar
construction, and the improved combination and arrangement of appa-
ratus for indicating by day and night the tidal rise and fall, or the actual
depth of water from any desired minimum to any desired maximum in
feet or other measurement at any point of a seaport, navigable river,
harbour, dock, or other suitable situation approachable by vessels, for the
information of masters of vessels approaching thereto, so that the
masters of those vessels for which the indicated depth of water is not
sufficient for their draught, and of those for which it is sufficient may
at once see with certainty the depth of water indicated, all being sub-
stantially as and for the purposes above described and as illustrated
on the accompanying sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Augustus Adams, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.