IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOATING DOCKS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wilson, of 55, John Street, Sunderland, fo
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOATING DOCKS."
Sealed the 11th January 1859, and dated the 23rd September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd September 1858.
I, JOHN WILSON, of 55, John Street, Sunderland, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOATING DOCKS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in floating docks. For
these purposes a floating vessel of the desired size is constructed, and by
preference with parallel upright sides, the ends being at right angles to the
sides or otherwise, there being a gate or gates at one of the ends. It is
preferred to construct the bottom of wood strongly framed together, though
iron may be employed or a combination of wood and iron. In constructing
the sides, they are each made hollow, with upright partitions to separate the
space between the two walls of each of the sides into several compartments.
Provision is made for communications or waterways being opened from one

page_text: compartment to another, together with suitable valves for closing any or all
the waterways or passages, so that water may be run into any of them. It is
preferred to divide the hollow interior of each side with one or more horizontal
partitions, the upper horizontal partition on each side forming the floor for an
engine room and workshops. Provision is made for preventing water coming
into the upper compartments or engine room and workshops, in order that
these hollow compartments may constantly serve as a reserve to float the dock,
although otherwise full of water. A steam engine or engines and boilers with
suitable pumps are to be erected at and fixed in each of the sides of the dock,
with apparatus for steaming timber. The engines also working the sawing
and other machinery in the workshops and dock when not used for pumping
the water out of the dock or from the compartments at the sides and end of
the dock. One end of the dock is also constructed hollow and divided into
compartments with water passages and valves in such manner as thereby to
be enabled to adjust (by the introduction of water into more or less of the
compartments) the level of the bottom, notwithstanding an excess of weight
being at any time at one end of the dock, and a like provision is made for
adjusting the level of the bottom of the dock by means of water being let into
more or less of the side compartments, so as to compensate for any excess of
weight towards one side. A travelling crane is constructed fore and aft the
dock, so as to be worked by steam or by manual power, and when desired
shears are also applied, and the same may be arranged to travel on rails fixed
in the dock,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WILSON, of 55, John Street, Sunderland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said John Wilson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as J, the said John
Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FLOATING DOCкs," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Wilson, my executors or administrators, 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 performed, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Wilson, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in floating docks. For
these purposes a floating vessel of the desired size is constructed, and by
preference with parallel upright sides, the ends being at right angles to the sides
or otherwise, there being a gate or gates at one of the ends. It is preferred
to construct the bottom of wood strongly framed together though iron may be
employed, or a combination of wood and iron. In constructing the sides, they
are each made hollow, with upright partitions to separate the space between
the two walls of each of the sides into several compartments. Provision is
made for communications or waterways being opened from one compartment
to another, together with suitable valves for closing any or all, the waterways
or passages, so that water may be run into any of them. It is preferred to
divide the hollow interior of each side, with one or more horizontal partitions,
the upper horizontal partition on each side forming the floor for an engine
room and workshops. Provision is made for preventing water coming into
the upper compartments or engine rooms and workshops, in order that these
hollow compartments may constantly serve as a reserve to float the dock,
although otherwise full of water. A steam engine or engines and boilers with
suitable pumps are to be erected at and fixed in each of the sides of the dock,
with apparatus for steaming timber. The engines also working the sawing
and other machinery in the workshops and dock when not used for pumping
the water out of the dock or from the compartments at the sides and end of
the dock. One end of the dock is also constructed hollow and divided into
compartments with water passages and valves in such manner as thereby to
to be enabled to adjust (by the introduction of water into more or less of the
compartments) the level of the bottom, notwithstanding an excess of weight

page_text: being at any time at one end of the dock, and a like provision is made for
adjusting the level of the bottom of the dock by means of water being let into
more or less of the side compartments, so as to compensate for any excess of
weight towards one side. A travelling crane is constructed fore and aft the
dock, so as to be worked by steam or by manual power, and when desired
shears are also applied, and the same may be arranged to travel on rails fixed
in the dock..
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan, partly in section, of part of a dock constructed according to
my Invention; this section is taken at the line A, A, of Figure 2, which is a
transverse section of the same, taken at the line B, B, Figure 1, and Figure 3
is a longitudinal section taken at the line C, C, Figure 2. a is the bottom of
the dock, which consists of T form beams a¹ of wrought iron, covered with a
skin a² of plate iron, rivetted together in the usual manner. In place of the
beams a¹, I in some cases employ beams of timber framed together, and this
construction I prefer if the dock is to be used in a locality where the increased
depth requisite for wooden beams does not involve inconvenience; b, b, are
the exterior sides of the dock, which also consist of a skin of plate iron,
supported by T form beams, and c, c, are the interior sides constructed in a
similar manner. The sides b and c, are tied together at intervals by suitable
tie bars. One end of the dock is closed by perpendicular walls b and c, similar
to the side walls, and the other end is furnished with a gate or gates. In the
dock shown, one gate d is employed, it consists of a skin of iron fixed on a
strong iron frame, and turning on centres d' at the bottom.
The space
between the walls b and c is in the dock shown, divided into fourteen com-
partments, but this number may be varied. On each side are two vertical
partitions e, e, which divide the length of the dock into three equal or nearly
equal parts, and f is a horizontal partition which passes along both sides of the
dock and round one end, thus forming six compartments on each side, and
two at the end. The lower compartments are used only to contain air or
water, as may be required, when it is desired to sink the bottom of the dock as
low as possible below the level of the water, in order to enable a ship to enter
the dock; all these lower compartments are filled, and when the ship is in the
dock and the gate is closed, then, in addition to pumping the water from the
interior of the dock, these compartments may be emptied, if necessary, either

page_text: entirely, or to a greater or less extent, so as to regulate the height of the
dock out of the water, and to adjust its trim; to enable these compartments to
be filled and emptied with facility they are each furnished with three sluices,
one for admitting water from the exterior of the dock into the compartment,
one for allowing water to escape from the compartment into the interior
of the dock, and one to allow the water to pass from the compartment
into that next to it; some of these sluices are shown in the Drawings, and
they are marked g, and the handwheels for actuating them are marked g¹.
The upper compartments of the dock are of sufficient size to keep it afloat
when the interior and all the lower compartments are filled with water. h, h,
are apertures glazed with strong glass for admitting light to the upper com-
partments, in one of which, on each side, boilers i, i, are erected, these serve
to drive the steam engines j, j, for steaming wood, the steam chambers
being shown at k, k. The steam engines are employed for driving pumps
which are placed in the same compartments with the engines, but are not
shown in the Drawings; these pumps have suction pipes passing to the four
corners of the interior of the dock, the suction pipes are thus arranged in order
that whatever may be the trim of the dock, one at least of the pipes may be
able to draw until the dock is completely emptied; when it is desired to
empty any of the compartments it is done by opening the sluice communicating
with the interior of the dock, and thus allowing the water to escape into the
interior, from whence it is afterwards pumped; the sluices between the com-
partments and the interior are also opened to allow the dock to fill with water
before opening the gate. The upper compartments, excepting those containing
the engines, boilers, and pumps, are arranged as workshops, and contain all
the machinery necessary for repairing ships, and this machinery is driven by
the engines j, j, when they are not employed in pumping. 1, 1, are staircases
leading down to the engine and boiler compartments, and m, m, are other
staircases passing up within tunnels formed for them from the floor of the
dock to the platform formed on the top of the upper compartments. When a
ship has been floated into the dock, it is blocked by means of the blocks n, n,
which slide in guides on the timbers o, o, and are drawn against the ship's
bottom by the tackles p, p; the timbers o, o, turn on joints at o¹, o¹, to allow
of raising them by blocks placed underneath, if required; q, q, are cranes ;
as shown, they are stationary, but for these may be substituted, if preferred,
cranes mounted on carriages capable of traversing on rails on the platform, in
addition to or as a substitute for these cranes, travelling shears may be
employed; r, r, are drums for winding up the chains by which the gate is
raised, when closed the gate is locked by pins or keys passing through

page_text: lugs fixed on the dock, between which lugs, projections fixed on the gate
enter.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
ROB. O. STANISON, Sol,
Sunderland.
JOHN WILSON. (L.B.)