IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Atkinson, residing at No. 5, Cottages, Battersea
Rise, London, in the County of Surrey, and late of 93, South Lambeth Road,
London, in the County of Surrey, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Atkinson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th December 1880.
WILLIAM ATKINSON, residing at No. 5, Cottages, Battersea Rise, London, in the
County of Surrey, and late of 93, South Lambeth Road, London, in the County
of Surrey. IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS
AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES."
"E
My Invention consists in certain improvements in the mode of and apparatus for
raising sunken ships and other submerged bodies as follows:-I make an oval or
ovoid shaped apparatus or buoy of metal, wood, or other suitable material or
substance and size; inside and towards the bottom of the buoy I fit a false bottom
or partition dividing the buoy into two compartments, and thus forming an inner
air chamber made perfectly water tight, having an equal and centrally inclined dip
towards the centre or end of the buoy. Through the false bottom or partition in
the centre thereof I make a communication by means of a valve or discharge pipe.
Bracket stays are placed and attached on the upper surface of the partition or false
bottom for the spindle of the discharge valve to work in. To the lower end of the
discharge valve Í rivet, or otherwise, a horizontal bar working on a vertical rod
attached to the under surface of the partition, at the end of which horizontal bar
is a movable weight. I now fix four or more metal tubes along the incline dip of
the buoy, being at the upper ends attached to and penetrating the sides of the
buoy above the partition, and the lower ends being open in the lower compartment,
so as to enable water to pass through them from outside into the lower compart-
ment and vice versa. At the top of the buoy inside I now fix an inverted circular
iron box, fixed on the bed of which box on a turret I fix a second horizontal
lifting lever; near the centre of this lever I attach an outlet air valve from the
buoy; the lever is held in position by means of a weight suspended in an iron box
at the lower part of the interior of the buoy above the partition; the box in which

page_text: the weight is suspended is held in its place by iron stays from the interior sides of
the buoy. On and towards the end of the lever I fix a stuffing box and slot rod;
under the stuffing box I fix from the bottom of the circular iron box attached to
the outside thereof a metal tube, its lower end passing through the partition and
made fast thereto, and held by stays to the sides of the buoy. In this tube I
place a metal rod, one end (the upper one) made fast to the slot rod in the stuffing
box, its lower end having a female screw, and is attached to the herein before
mentioned horizontal bar in the lower compartment of the buoy between the weight
and the vertical bar. I now fix a metal tube from the bottom of the circular box,
the lower end of which is attached to an air valve box or chest, which air valve
box or chest is made fast and rests on the upper surface of the partition. At the
top of the pipe or tube (the circular box end inside the box, I fix a turret to
connect the air pipe from the air globe, to which is attached the hose for supplying
the buoy with air from an air pump on board ship or tug boat.
I also fix an arm to the horizontal lever in the circular box, to which is attached
a chain, conducted by means of an iron pipe to the outside of the buoy in order to
raise the lover by means of the chain from on board ship.
To the bottom or end of the buoy I fix iron couplings with lugs, rivetted to
buoy, to which I attach iron shackles for the purpose of the lifting chain. When
the buoy is required to be operated with, the rope or chain attached to the arm of
the horizontal lever in the circular iron box at the top of the buoy is pulled, thereby
opening the air outlet valve in the circular iron box; at the same time is causes
the rod attached to the slot at the end of the lever by operating on the lever in the
lower compartment to open the discharge valve in the lower compartment. This
being done the water instantly rushes through the tubes fixed along the incline
dip of the buoy into the lower compartment, and through the discharge valve into
the upper, filling the buoy and sinking it. When made fast to the object to be
raised the chain or rope is slackened, thus closing the air outlet valve in the circular
iron box. Air is then pumped into the buoy through the metal tube leading from
the circular iron box to the air chest resting on the partition.
The air passes
through the air chest, ascends to the top of the buoy, and forces the water down
and out through the discharge valve in the partition into the lower compartment,
and out through the tubes fixed along the incline dip of the buoy.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to
the precise details herein before described, as the same may be varied without
departing from the nature or principle of my said Invention. What I claim as being
new in my said Invention is, the construction or improvements, substantially as
herein described, and being placed inside instead of outside the buoy, or any mere
variation or modification thereof.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Atkinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
June 1881.
"
WILLIAM ATKINSON, Naval Engineer, residing at Number 5, Lime Cottages,
Battersea Rise, in the County of Surrey.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND
APPARATUS FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES."
The figure on the accompanying Drawing is an ovoid shaped apparatus or buoy,
the letters A, A, A, A, denoting an outline of the same. Inside and towards the

page_text: bottom of the buoy is a false bottom or partition W dividing it into two chambers,
the lower C and the upper one D, both chambers being watertight and having
communication one with the other through a valve E let into the centre of the
partition, which is kept from oscilating by a spindle passing upwards from its
centre through a calender supported on brackets. To the valve is attached a
lever F having a sliding weight G as an assistance for counterbalancing the weight
of the valve and keeping it closed. This valve is worked by a rod attached to the
lever, the rod passing upwards through the tube Z to the top of the buoy into a
compartment I, where it is controlled by another lever H having attached to it a
rope or chain passing to the outside of the buoy through the pipe K. Attached to
the lever H is a valve M opening through the bottom of the compartment I into
the larger chamber D for the escape of air when the buoy is filling with water.
For the purpose of keeping this valve firmly in its seat an iron bar descends
perpendicularly from its centre to and into a circular box N supported on
brackets o, o, where it is attached to a weight so placed that it can rise and fall
with as little tendency to oscilate as possible. P, P, is a flexible tube passing
from the chamber I into the lower compartment of an air box R fixed on the top
of the partition W; this is a square box having a lower and an upper compart-
ment. The partition that divides these two chambers is situated midway between
the top and bottom of the box and has a circular hole in its centre. Resting flat
upon this division is a piece of india rubber in shape like a compressed pyramid,
and the base is of such a size in length and breadth that no matter to which side of
the box it may incline it always covers the circular hole before mentioned, and yet
leaves a free space when it is lifted from its seat, i.e., the partition for the passage
of air between itself and any two sides of the box, and when nearly or quite in
the centre an open space exists between all its four sides and those of the box. A
sectional view is given of the interior, of which the following is a description:―The
two lines jutting out half way up the sides of the box represent the partition
between the upper and lower chambers, and the space between them the circular
hole. Above the partition in the upper chamber is the india rubber valve, similar
in form as beforesaid to a compressed pyramid, and drawn in about the same
proportion it would bear to the size of the upper chamber. The two curved lines
with the arrow between them is a continuation of the pipe P. The top of the box
is of perforated metal to admit of air being blown through it.
The compartment I before mentioned is let into the top of the buoy for the
better protection of those parts of the appartus which it contains.
L, L, are two pipes passing up from the lower compartment C through the
partition W and upper chamber D out at the side of the buoy, where their entrances
are guarded by perforated metal to prevent their interiors from being blocked by
any stones or debris that might get into them without that protection. There are
three pipes, but two only are shewn in the Drawing, and are for the passage of
water either into or out of the buoy. There being three pipes, each 120° apart
from the other, it is plain that no matter in what position or at what angle the buoy
may lie on its side, there would always be the entrances of two of the pipes, and in
some positions all three, free for the passage of water. T, T, are iron coupling
straps with iron shackle for attaching a chain to when it is required to attach the
buoy to the object to be raised.
When the buoy is required to be operated with, the chain passing through the
pipe K and attached to the lever H is pulled, thereby raising the lever H, which
opens the valve Al and raises the rod that passes through the tube Z, which in its
turn lifts the lever F, thus pulling the valve E open. That being done, water
instantly begins to flow through the pipes L, L, into the lower chamber C, thence
through the valve E into the upper or main compartment D, and as the water fills
the buoy the air escapes through the valve M. The buoy being now filled with
water is lowered to the sunken ship or other object to be raised, and attached to it
by chains, or in such manner as will best suit the circumstances. That being done,
and as many other buoys attached to the vessel as may be deemed necessary by

page_text: the operators, a metal globe is lowered over the ship, having as many cocks (say,
for example, six, supposing there to be six buoys alongside the wreck) with flexible
tubes passing from them which are screwed individually to the top of the pipes P
inside the chambers I of the buoys; this being done, there is a main air pipe
passing from the top of the beforementioned globe up to the operators at the
surface, and is there attached to an air pump. When everything is in readiness for
raising the vessel air is pumped through the main pipe into the globe, and there
disperses through the other six pipes to the buoys, and thence passes through the
pipes P into the lower compartment of the air box R, the pressure of which raises
the india rubber valve in the upper chamber, and admits of the air being pressed
through the circular hole in the partition, through the upper chamber of the air
box, and out through its perforated top into the main compartment of the buoy.
The air being pumped into the buoy naturally rises to the top and causes a pressure
on the water inside, which in its turn presses on the valve E and thus opens it,
when by continuing to pump air into the buoy the water is forced through the
now open valve into the lower chamber C, thence through the pipes L, L, out at
the sides of the buoy. When the buoys have had all the water pressed out of
them by the action of the air pumped into them, the operators at the surface cease
pumping, when on the instant the vale E, now relieved of the superfluous pressure
of air, flies back into its seat on account of the leverage caused by the weight of
the bar passing through the tube Z and the sliding weight G on the end of the
lever F; this done, the buoys are restored to their former buoyancy, and are
pulling with their whole power at the wreck, which, if a sufficient number of them
have been attached to it, will rise to the surface. It is necessary to explain that
though the valve E is opened by the pressure of the water when air is being
pumped into the buoy, and thus of necessity presses up the rod running through
the tube Z, it does not press the lever H up also, as by so doing it would open the
valve M, which would thus allow of the escape of air when it was necessary to
force the water out of the buoy by the pressure of air inside (the lever H only
raises the rod when it is necessary to open the valves E and M simultaneously, and
that is when the buoy is being filled with water, the valve E admitting the water,
and the valve M allowing of the escape of air from the buoy). This is brought
about by there being a slot at the top of the rod so placed that where the lever H
passes through it the top of the rod just rests upon the lever, that is, when the
valves E and M are closed, but the slot is of sufficient depth to allow of the rod
being pressed upwards without raising the lever H.
In the Drawing attached the partition W is represented as being flat, this is
done for the purpose of allowing more room in the lower compartment C to
represent the parts of the apparatus contained therein, but the buoys would when
made have the partition with a centrally inclined dip to where the valve is.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Atkinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord
WILLIAM ATKINSON. (L.S.)
Witness,
ELIAS PARSONS.