IMPROVED MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING SUNKEN SHIPS AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Thomas Parlour, of Brooklyn, New York,
United States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings,
London, Shipwright, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY AND
APPARATUS FOR RAISING SUNKEN SHIPS AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES.”
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Joseph Thomas Parlour
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 9th October 1871, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
THOMAS PARLOUR, of Brooklyn, New York, United States of America,
now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings, London, Shipwright, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVED
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR RAISNG SUNKEN SHIPS AND OTHER SUBMERGED
BODIES," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my
.

page_text: executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for
the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am the true and
first Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Thomas Parlour, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and t
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing forming
a part of this Specification:-
My said Invention is designed to afford the means for raising ships 1
and other objects or bodies sunken or submerged in deep water. It is
adapted for raising ships of the largest dimensions or tonnage as well as
smaller vessels or other objects; it is conveniently carried and easily.
arranged over the vessel or object to be raised; it will secure the same
with greater certainty and bring it to the surface in a shorter time than 1
has heretofore been practicable, and is therefore less dependent upon the
continuance of fine or calm weather than other contrivances heretoforo
employed for raising vessels sunk in occan waters.
.
In raising ships or other objects according to my Invention I use a
number of frames which are suspended from floating vessels. When g
the correct position of the said sunken ship or other object has been
ascertained the said frames are let down, and to insure their passing
properly over the sides of the ship they are guided as they descend by
grapnel chains or ropes previously placed and buoyed at the sides of the
sunken vessel or other object. The said frames are lowered and raised g
by means of hoisting apparatus carried by the floating vessels.
The said Invention consists,—
First. In the peculiar construction of the aforesaid frames.
;

page_text: Figure 1 is a side elevation of one of the aforesaid frames shewing the
same opened to allow it to take hold of a ship or other object to be
raised; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same shewing it closed as
when holding and supporting a vessel or other object; Figure 3 is a
transverse section on the line x, x, Figure 1; Figure 4 shews a detached
portion of the frame; Figure 5, which is drawn to a reduced scale,
illustrates the manner of operating the said frames in raising a
sunken vessel. Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the
Drawings.
The raising frames A have two arms a which are preferably made of
strong timber faced or covered with iron plates a'. It will be seen in tho
Drawings that these arms are jointed together at b, and are made some-
what in the form or configuration of the outline of the hull of a ship or
other large vessel. They are jointed at a' by strong iron shafts to the
bars c, which are also of wood faced with iron, and are preferably made
largest in the middle, as shewn, to give the greatest possible strength with
the least weight of material. At their upper end these bars e are jointed
by strong shafts or journals d to the cross head e which is made of timber
faced with strong wrought-iron plates e' firmly bolted together, as shown
in Figure 3. Or it may be made of iron latticework or constructed in
any other manner which will give it the required strength without
excessive weight. A space is left between the sides of the cross head
for the passage of guide and stay bars f, g, and h. The central guide and
stay bar by which the arms a are operated is fitted to slide through a
fixed guide box f¹, secured between the plates e¹at the centre of the:
cross head e. The said bar carries at its lower end a strong head or
block between whose jaws the arms a are jointed by a strong bolt
or shaft b. The block or head f³ also carries pullies or sheaves f*,,
around which and the pullies a in the cross head are passed the chains
or ropes * for closing the arms upon a ship or other object grasped by.
them. The central guide and stay bar is provided with a rack, and in
combination therewith I use a pawl or number of pawls i so. arranged
in connection with springs, levers, or other contrivances that they take
into the teeth of the rack and prevent its sliding downward till the
pawls have been disengaged. The said pawls have a rope or chain ¿¹
connected to them to allow them to be pulled out of gear with the rack.

page_text: The other guide and stay bars g, h, are also provided with racks and
pawls for a similar purpose, but the outer guide bars h, which are jointed
to the arms a at ', have their rack teeth and pawls arranged to prevent
the rising of the said bars and therefore strengthen and support. the
arms when the same are closed upon a ship or other heavy object.
The bars 9 are jointed to the arms at g', and their rack teeth and pawls
aro arranged to correspond with those of the centre bar, that is to say,
to prevent the slipping down of these bars. The bars g, h, are guided
in swivelling or turning boxes g³, h³, which allow the said bars to adjust
themselves to any different position of the arms and their pawls g³, h³,
are attached to these swivelling boxes, slots being formed in the side
of the cross head for the said pawls to project through. If desired the
aforesaid bars f, g, h, may be connected to the arms a by ball and socket
or universal joints which will allow the said arms more freedom laterally
than the joints or connections shewn.
In order that the arms may not slip upon any object enclosed and
supported between them I provide their extremities with teeth or
claws k, which when the arms are closed upon the sides of the ship
or other object will penetrate the sides of the same. I prefer, however,
that these teeth should be adjustable, so that in raising wooden ships
they may be drawn back or within the arms to prevent their injuring
the sides thereof, while for raising iron ships or other metal objects they
may be made to project to any desired extent.
I accomplish this purpose as follows:-I fit each tooth or claw k to
slide through blocks or plates ³ secured within the arms a. The shank
of each tooth is formed with a screw thread, and provided with nuts ½³,
and by turning these nuts the tooth is projected or retracted as desired,
these adjustable teeth are shewn in Figure 4. At or near their points
or extremities the arms a are provided with guide rollers and eyes a*
which are intended to pass down grapnel chains or ropes, and thereby
guide the frame A safely over the sides of the sunken vessel or other
body to be raised.
The floating vessels B used for raising the sunken ship or other object
are constructed with tubes or boxes B' extending up through the centre,
and in these tubes or boxes I place the hoisting drums for operating the
lifting chains or ropes m which pass down through the bottom of the
said tubes and are connected to the frames A at the outer ends of the

page_text: cross head. The chain or rope n or h* which operates the centre bar
of each frame A is connected to the jib B³ of a crane and is raised or
lowered thereby in the usual manner.
-
To raise a ship or other vessel by my Invention, I first ascertain in
what position she lies, and then moor above her the floating vessels B
as shewn in Figure 5. The number of the vessels used and their size
will depend upon the size and weight of the ship to be raised. When
these vessels are properly moored and the number of frames A deter-
mined upon, the said frames are arranged at convenient distances apart
and connected by strong horizontal rods A' which are secured to the
frames at a. These frames are then let down to the sunken ship by
unwinding the chains m, n, the said frames being guided by the rollers
and eyes on the grapnel chains n' till the arms a drop over and enclose
the said ship. Then by operating the crane B² the centeral bar is drawn
upward through its guide in the cross head, thereby closing the arms a
with great force upon the sides of the ship. For large ships I use the
chain * for drawing up the barf, but for small ships and other com-
paratively light objects I prefer to use the chain n attached to the upper
end of the said bar. The pawls i engaging with the rack of the barf
prevent any relaxation of the grasp of these arms when the weight is
taken on the chains m, and it will be obvious if the construction and
arrangement of the parts of the frame are carefully considered that the
greater the weight suspended in the said frames the less tendency they
will have to open. The hoisting apparatus which operates the outer
chains m operating in conjunction with the cranes will quickly raise
the ship nearly to the surface. The auxiliary chains o which are
operated by suitable winding apparatus on the vessels B then relieve
the chains m which are slackened to allow the supporting vessels B to
separate so that the ship may come to the surface between them. Then
by means of any suitable pumps or water raising apparatus the water
is removed from the ship and she may be examined and repaired as she
lies or towed into harbour or shallow water.
In the Drawings I have shown the frames A as they should be made
for raising large ships or vessels, but it is obvious that only slight
› modifications in the form of the arms a and other parts of the said
frames would be required to adapt them to other sunken or submerged
bodies or objects. In dredging for coral, sponge, and for similar operations
I provide the arms a at their points with horizontally projecting bars

page_text: with sharp edges to break or cut off the coral or other substances.
These bars will also cut through mud or sand surrounding the object
or body to be raised, or cut away the bottoms of channels or other
water ways. Over these bars I place nets of wire or other material to
gather and retain the coral, sponge, or other substances. To allow 5
greater force to be exerted upon the arms a in some cases I uso metal
tubing extending down from the floating vessel to the top of the cross
head at the centre of the same. These tubes hold the frames immoveably
while the arms are operated as above described. The said tubes are
made in convenient lengths and secured one to the other till the required 1
depth is obtained, and they are perforated to admit water, so that thero
shall be no danger of their collapsing from external pressure.
•
Having thus fully described my said Invention and shown how the
same may be conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I'
claim,―
1
First. The holding and raising frames constructed with the grasping
bars and supporting arms, the cross head, the guide and stay bars, and
racks and pawls so combined and arranged together that by means of
chains or ropes the said frames may be lowered upon any sunken or
submerged body and then caused to grasp and support the same while 2
it is raised to the surface of the water, substantially as set forth.
Second. Providing the arms of the said frames with teeth or claws
made adjustable within or upon the said arms, substantially as set forth,
for the purpose specified.
Third. Providing the frames at the extremity of the arms with pulleys 2
and cycs or other suitable contrivances for guiding the frames upon the
grapnel chains as the said frames are lowered or let down to the sunken
or submerged object or body, substantially as set forth.
Fourth. A number or series of the said frames connected together
by horizontal rods or bars, substantially as specified for the purpose set 3
forth.
Fifth. The aforesaid frames and the machinery in the floating vessels
and other appliances described when the same are employed in com-
bination for raising sunken ships or other submerged bodics, substantially
as set forth.
Sixth. The tubes for keeping the frames stationary when it is desired
to cxcrt great force upon and with the arms a, substantially as specified.
3

page_text: Seventh. Providing the arms a with horizontal sharp edged bars and
nets, substantially as specified for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Thomas Parlour, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
Witness,
W. ROB. LAKE.
JOSEPH T. PARLOUR. (L.S.)