IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING PETROLEUM OR OTHER HYDROCARBON FLUIDS FROM TORPEDO BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS."
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Carl Böhm at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 20th November 1877.
CARL BÖHM, of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Merchant. * IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING PETROLEUM OR OTHER HYDROCARBON FLUIDS
FROM TORPEDO BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS."
My Invention is designed to introduce into naval warfare novel and effectual
means for attacking ironclad ships and other vessels, and consists in providing boats
or other suitable vessels with the apparatus herein described for discharging
petroleum or other hydrocarbon fluids upon the enemy's ships or other objects.
The said apparatus is intended to be placed on board the boat or vessel, and the
crude petroleum or other hydrocarbons with which it is to be filled is to be dis-
charged on the hostile ship from any practicable distance by the application of
compressed air or steam or other power carried on board the said boat or vessel, or
by utilizing the hydraulic pressure acting against the bottom and sides of the boat
or vessel carrying the said apparatus. The crude petroleum or hydrocarbon liquid
thus discharged may be ignited by a rocket or cartridge fired from a rifle or
revolver, or by other means provided for the purpose. Or it may be discharged
without such ignition as it will be ignited by the slightest spark on board the ship
into which it is thrown.
The said apparatus includes a cylinder of iron or other suitable material, and of
any required thickness, length, and diameter affixed to the keel or other suitable
position in or on the boat; or there may be two or more of these cylinders and
other parts of the apparatus.
A piston is fitted in the said cylinder, and by a screw thread or otherwise, an air
vessel or chamber of cast iron or other suitable material is attached to the cylinder,
having previously been filled with compressed air by an air pump or otherwise at
a sufficient pressure, which will vary according to the size of the said air chamber
and cylinder and the distance to which it will be desired to throw the liquid.

page_text: The other end of the said cylinder is provided with a coupling joint to receive a
discharge pipe of suitable length, diameter, and strength, extending to the deck or
superstructure of the boat where it is fitted by means of a ball-and-socket joint to a
delivery tube of suitable length, having a nozzle of suitable diameter.
The said delivery tube rests on a stand provided with mechanism which allows
the nozzle to be turned in all directions, and elevated or depressed, and the whole of
this apparatus is from its position protected from small fire-arms, machine guns, and
the like.
After the insertion of the piston into the cylinder, and the affixing of the air
chamber to the cylinder, the latter is first filled through a funnel or otherwise with
a suitable quantity of water; then, on the water is poured crude petroleum or
other hydrocarbon in sufficient quantity to fill the cylinder to the level of a stop-
cock, which is then closed, thus confining the crude petroleum in the cylinder. The
small quantity of crude petroleum left adhering to the discharge pipe after the
filling of the apparatus is removed by pouring water down the said pipe. This pre-
caution is taken to prevent accident from the ignition of any vapour that might
rise from the oil in the said pipe. The liquid contained in the cylinder may now
be discharged at any desired moment by the opening of the air and oil cocks which
combine the air chamber cylinder and delivery tube.
The compressed air, when admitted into the cylinder, drives the piston forward,
the piston forces the water through the cylinder; this water drives out the crude
petroleum, and the crude petroleum the water in the delivery tube, which water
together with the petroleum, will fall on the ship or other object aimed at, while
the water first introduced in the cylinder occupies the space in the delivery
tube.
For reloading the said apparatus the compressed air is first allowed to escape
from the air chamber and cylinder, and the air chamber being removed the piston
is brought, by means of a hooked rod, to its original position, that is to say, to the
end of the cylinder, connected with the air chamber.
The water contained in the cylinder and discharge pipe affords protection against
accidents from ignition or explosion of any volatile vapor generated in the
cylinder, as this vapour will have to pass through the water either at one end or
the other of the apparatus, and will, therefore, become re-liquefied, in which state
it is not dangerous, provided no flame be brought in contact with it. Water being
at both ends of the cylinder no flame or air can reach the oil contained therein.
The compressed air chamber may be replaced by an arrangement wherein valves
are affixed to the bottom or sides of the boat or vessel, carrying the said apparatus.
By means of these valves water may be admitted into the cylinder, and the crude
petroleum will be thereby ejected, or the compressed air chamber may be replaced
by a vessel, into which, by means of steam pumps or otherwise, a sufficient quantity
of water is pumped, with sufficient force to expel the hydrocarbon liquid from the
cylinder with the required velocity. The form and arrangement of the aforesaid
cylinder may be varied according to the construction or capacity of the boat or
vessel or other circumstances. In some instances it may be replaced by a tank or
other suitable receptacle. In some, instances it may be arranged in combination
with compressed air vessels or hydraulic rams at both of its ends, and may have
any desired number of discharge pipes.
In adapting my apparatus to ironclad ships and similar vessels I may place the
said cylinder or any suitable substitute therefor outside the said ship or vessel, and
below the water line.
In some instances I modify the arrangement of the above-described apparatus by
constructing it with two spherical vessels placed one above the other, and connected
by a tube which has a suitable cock or valve.
The top vessel is to be filled with compressed air, and the bottom vessel contains
water. This water vessel has a tube extending from its lower side upward. This

page_text: tube is the receptacle for the hydrocarbon liquid, and extends to the discharge
pipe.
When the cock or valve between the said spherical vessels is opened the com-
pressed air acting on the water in the lower vessel drives it into the said tube, and
thereby expels and discharges the hydrocarbon fluid.