A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF BALLASTING SHIPS OB VESSELS
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RALPH
REWCASTLE, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Millwright, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-seven, in the ninth year of His reign, did, for Himself,
His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Ralph Rew-
castle, His especial licence that I, the said Ralph Rewcastle, my exors,
adiors, and assigns, or such others fas I, the said Ralph Rewcastle, my
exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A NEW AND IMPROVED
METHOD OF BALLASTING SHIPS OB VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Ralph Rewcastle, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Ralph Rewcastle, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention is

page_text: described in manner following, reference being had to the Drawing annexed,
that is to say:-
I caulk the ship's ceiling in such parts or places as are intended to receive
the water or water ballast apparatus. I then cover the said ceiling with
patent felt or any substance best adapted to contain water. I then sheath or
cover the felt, &c. with deals or planks, and caulk the said deals or planks;
or I cover the said ceiling or ceiling and felt, &c., if necessary, with iron or
any other metal wrought and rivitted in the same manner as the boilers of
steam engines, or soldered, as lead, copper, &c.; to render the parts water-
tight, or as nearly so as possible, I bolt a stringing or piece of timber marked
B to or through the ship's side the whole length of each apparatus, with a
I bolt on to the
groove cut into it to receive the edges of the lids or covers.
bilge, and along the inner part of the ship's bottom, pieces of timber or
stringing C, with grooves cut in them to receive the edges of the partitions,
which partitions are made water-tight. I bolt along the inner part of the
bottom of the ship a stringing or piece of timber D parallel or obliquely with
the keel or keelson, with a groove cut in it to receive the deals or planks
running fore and aft of the apparatus. I then fix stancheons or uprights,
either perpendicularly or otherwise, and either of wood or iron, tenoned on one
part of their base, leaving the outer side or inside or both sides of the said
stancheons to hang over the stringing, and bolt such tenoned and hanging
part to or through the stringing, or insert them into the ship's floor or plank
or foothook. I then bolt the upper end of the said stancheons to or through
the ship's beams. I hook an iron bar F into an eye bolt in the stringing D,
and up the sides of the wells, and continue the same either through the
stancheons, or over the edge or corner of the wells, to other eye bolts fastened
to the ship's side or stringing B, screwing the said bars together at the angles
of the apparatus N. I then make my covers or lids G of such lengths as the
owner may think proper, and either rest them on the side stringing B and a
stringing inside the stanchions I, or insert the said covers in grooves cut in the
said stringing. I then plank the sides of the apparatus H either on the
inside or outside or on both sides of stanchions, putting the joints together
either with felt caulking or by bolts and screws running perpendicularly
through the said plank or deals; or I make the said sides of iron or any other
metal, and the said sides, as all other parts of the apparatus, to take down or
in pieces if required, or in any other manner it may be thought proper to
adopt, making the whole as tight as possible, either allowing such sides or
planking to remain standing when the cargo is in, or to fall down or partly
fall down on hinges or otherwise, or by a hole or holes therein cut for the

page_text: is
moro easy discharge of the said cargo. I then lay a pipe L, of either wood
or metal, along the bottom of the apparatus, and insert into such pipe stop-
cocks M projecting across or thwartwise to enable the sailors to employ any
one particular well, leaving the water in the remainder of the wells fast or
stationary, this pipe leading to the ship's pump S or to any other pump or
pumps erected for the purpose. For those who prefer having pumps at the
sides of the ship or vessel I have fixed a pump marked in the Drawing ◇ with
branch pipes P leading to each well, and furnished with stopcocks and keys
Q passing through the deck to enable them to extract the contents of the
wells or of any particular well, for I consider it of the utmost importance that
the seaman or carpenter should be able to get to any part of the ship's
ceiling to repair any damage arising from a blow by getting upon an anchor
or laying upon any hard substance in rivers; the utility also of making the
wells independant of each other, or stationary, is clearly developed in the
trimming of the vessel, as it is called, in order that they may be able to give
her a greater or less quantity of ballast in any particular part or place where
difference of quantity is necessary. I have also provided the apparatus
with pipes R for the escape of the atmospheric air from the wells in case of its
being compressed by the undulation of the water by the vessel's being tossed
at sea, and for the purpose of supplying the wells with air when the
used; which escape pipes, together with the small range the water can have
by reason of the number of partitions or breakwaters, I consider, will render
the water ballast not only perfectly safe but also extremely convenient, as
well as a great saving of expense. For the purpose of taking in the water for
ballast I have inserted a pipe and stopcock T through the bottom of the
vessel or in any part below her light marks, and for securing the said stop-
cock, &c. I strap it with iron, &c., and case it round to prevent the cargo
from damaging or displacing it, and the ballast taken in by this pipe may
also be run out by it by laying the ship ashore. If the wells should at any
time leak a little, such leak or waste will naturally drain towards the ship's
well, which may be cleared in the usual way; and to supply such defficiency,
if at sea, I turn or open the lee tap or cock, and the water, flowing to the
same height on the inside of the ship as the outside, will effect the purpose.
I then put the other side of the ship to the wind and do the same, by which
means the ship becomes equally and fairly ballasted. From the apparatus on
one side of the vessel to the apparatus on the other side I fix thwart pieces of
timber or stays U for the mutual support of each of the said apparatus; and
they are intended also to be formed into wells or bulkheads or partitions
caulked, &c., and with the ceiling covered and adapted to the reception of the
pump

page_text: water ballast, in the same manner as those already described, as well as for
the purpose of increasing the quantity of ballast or for placing the ballast in
that particular part of the ship only, which plan I extend over the whole flat
of the ship's bottom or hold or any part thereof, instead of the bilge or sides,
or to ballast partly in this manner and partly in the sides or bilge. To shew
the stanchion on the opposite side of the ship I have marked it a, and the
ship's keelson W. The case marked No. 1, 2, 3, 4, No. 2 being the front
and No. 4 part of the frame, I intend for ships that strain either at sea or by
taking the ground with a cargo in, and I make of any lenght or dimentions,
and with or without partitions in it, or with or without pipes, cocks, &c., to
be framed with timber and plank or timber and iron wrought and rivitted
together in a manner similar to the boilers of steam engines, the fronts of
the wells to fall down on hinges marked I, or have ports or holes for the
discharge of the cargo, and to be built and put into the ship seperately and
detached from the ship's timbers, &c., with the exception of such fastenings
as are requisite for keeping the same in its proper place or position; this
apparatus, as well as the others, to be of any shape or figure, and to be made
of any sort of material, and placed or put in any part of the ship, best
adapted for that purpose, so that, whatever may be the condition of the ship
adapting this plan, the ballast as well as the apparatus will be secure under
any circumstances. And this apparatus, as well as those already mentioned,
I supply with water by a cyphon through the ship side No. 3; or, by
pumping the water into the apparatus, without the use of the said cyphon,
stop cocks, pipes, &c., and to discharge the said water by a plug hole, pipe,
pump, cyphon, or in any manner they may think proper. Lastly, I mean
by the word apparatus a range or row of wells to be placed in each bilge
or side of the ship or vessel, or in any other part best calculated for the
purposes of carrying the same, which apparatus may either be fastened and
connected with the main body of the ship or vessel, or may be built and
put into the ship, &c. separately and independantly of the fastenings of the
said vessel, with the exception of the necessary fastenings to secure it in its
position, and the apparatus may consist of a row or range of wells, as afore-
said, either in connection with or continuation of each other, or separately and
detached from each other.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ralph Rewcastle, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.
RALPH REWCASTLE. (L.s.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid Ralph Rewcastle came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.