Improvements in or relating to Submarine Vessels.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Sept., 1898-Accepted, 19th Nov.,
1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Submarine Vessels.
I, CHRISTIAN HORREBOW HOMAN, No. 8, Camilla Collett's Vei, Christiania, in the
Kingdom of Norway, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement; —
This invention relates to an improvement in submarine boats (especially torpedo
boats), and consists in an arrangement whereby a reconnoitring above water is
made possible without raising the boat itself.
The invention is carried out for example by a hollow mast connected at one
end to the upper side of the hull and which can be swung up from the horizontal
position to the vertical one so that the top end of the mast will reach above the
surface of the water, while the boat itself remains under water.
The accompanying drawing represents a side elevation partly in section of a
submarine boat furnished with such an arrangement. The mast a
long hollow cylinder large enough in diameter to allow a man on the inside to
forming a
get up to the top-end of it, the other end of the mast, that is pivoted to the hull
of the boat, is enlarged to any practical size and shape to form a
with the hull and provided with an opening 6 sufficiently large for a man to get
watertight joint
inside the mast froin below, and with a window or windows. Also a camera with
arrangement of lenses enabling observation without ascending into the mast, or
other similar apparatus may be applied. Such arrangements will enable the
mast in which they are fitted to be made very slender and less apt to be observed
by an enemy above water. Larger submarine vessels may be fitted with masts of
larger diameter (having if desired enlarged tops giving room for several people)
and also with slender masts containing arrangements for observing from below.
The control of the mast a may be either by a set or sets of gear segments c and
pinions d as shewn in the drawing or in any other suitable manner.
In the case of war for instance it is certainly a great advantage to have the
submarine torpedo boats furnished with such an apparatus as described above,
as a man can thus be brought above the surface of the water to make his obser-
vations much quicker, and is less visible and causes less disturbance of the naviga-
tion than by bringing the boat itself above water. Of course the invention may
be carried out in different manners; my invention consists essentially in the
general arrangement and use of an apparatus which from submarine vessels may
be raised above water for reconnoitring purposes and the like without raising
also the vessel itself.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is;
1
1. In submarine vessels such as submarine torpedo-boats the arrangement of a
mast or the like which manageable from the boat itself may be brought above
water without bringing the bout itself In Th

page_text: 2. In submarine vessels the combination of a hollow mast a pivoted to the hull
and forming a water-tight connection with it and provided with an opening for
the purpose as described.
3. In submarine vessels of the kind set forth in Claim 2, the pivoted mast a
raised and lowered by means of gearing e d, substantially as set forth and for the
purpose described.
4. In submarine vessels the arrangement of a mast permitting a man to ascend
above water for reconnoitring purposes and the like without raising the vessel
itself.
5. In submarine vessels fitted with a mast of the kind claimed under 1, the
arrangement of a camera for observations from below, substantially as described.
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
322, High Holborn, London, W.C., Patent Agents for the Applicant.