IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR STORING GRAIN OR OTHER MATERIALS AFLOAT
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Inglis, of Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN
ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR STORING GRAIN OR OTHER MATERIALS
AFLOAT." Partly a communication from abroad by James Inglis,
residing at Montreal, Canada.
Sealed the 9th May 1876, and dated the 15th November 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Inglis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th November 1875.
I, WILLIAM INGLIS, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR STORING GRAIN OR OTHER MATERIALS
AFLOAT," (in part a communication to me from abroad by James Inglis,
residing at Montreal, Canada, and is in part of my own Invention,) to
he as follows:-

page_text: being rapidly and conveniently transferred to or from seagoing ships, the
object being to avoid certain difficulties attending the use of ordinary
boats or lighters, and to diminish the cost of the apparatus.
The improved apparatus may also be used for storing various
materials besides grain.
The Invention consists principally in combining two or more floating
tanks with a skeleton boat or floating framework or raft, each tank
being capable of rising and falling as its contents are lessened or
increased independently of any other tank within the same framework.
A single tank may also be combined in a similar way with an external
boat-shaped or raft-like framework, floating always nearly at the same
level and serving as a protection to the tank and to facilitate its being
moved from place to place. In one modification the tanks are of a
cylindrical form or circular in plan, and are constructed principally of
iron plates and with vertical external wooden fenders to bear against
guide plates fixed in the inside of the openings in the floating frame-
work. Each tank is by preference formed with a shallow conical floor
or hopper-like bottom internally, to facilitate the falling or gathering of
the grain towards the centre, and so that it may find its way with little
or no manual labour into the tank of the elevator used for transferring
it from the tank. Each tank is roofed over to a certain extent, a hatch-
way being provided in the roof with the usual covers.
The floating framework consists according to one modification of two
long rectangular hollow water-tight girders extending one along each
side of the row or series of tanks, and curving towards and joining each
other at the ends to form bows and stern, at which parts their floating
capacity is increased to carry the necessary strengthening parts, and the
windlass steering apparatus and other requisites. The longitudinal
lateral floating girders are connected by a strong transverse beam
between each tank, and the next and diagonal stages or ties across the
corners whilst strengthening the structure bring the shape of cach clear
opening approximately to that of the tanks.
If preferred the tanks may be square in plan or of any other con-
venient shape, and the floating framework may be constructed without
boat-like ends and in the form of a raft. The floating framework
may in some cases be constructed so that parts of it can be disconnected

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Inglis in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
INGLIS, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five,
in the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Inglis,
Her special licence, that I, the said William Inglis, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Inglis, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
"IM-
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
PROVEMENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR STORING GRAIN OR OTHER
MATERIALS AFLOAT," (in part a communication to me from abroad by
James Inglis, residing at Montreal, Canada, and in part my own
Invention,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Inglis, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 William Inglis, do hereby declare.
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to arrangements and apparatus designed
more especially for storing grain afloat in harbors, and with the view of
its being rapidly and conveniently transferred to or from seagoing ships,
the principal object being to avoid certain difficulties attending the use
of ordinary boats or lighters, and to diminish the cost of the apparatus.
The improved apparatus may also be used for storing various materials
besides grain.
The Invention consists principally in combining two or more floating
tanks with a skeleton boat or floating framework or raft, each tank
being capable of rising and falling as its contents are lessened or
increased, independently of any other tank within the same framework.
A single tank may also be combined in a similar way with an external
boat-shaped or raft-like framework, floating always nearly at the same
level and serving as a protection to the tank, and to facilitate its being
moved from place to place. Single floating tanks may also be arranged
or fitted suitably for being moved from place to place without the
floating framework.
"
And in order that the said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append two Sheets of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
convenient and economically constructed modifications of the improved
apparatus. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to
mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings is a plan, and Figure 2 is a side
elevation of one modification of the improved arrangements and appa-
ratus, whilst Figure 3 on Sheet 2 is an enlarged transverse vertical
section. In this example three floating tanks 1 are combined with a
floating protective framework 2 having a boat-like contour in plan.
The boat frame 2 shown might however be lengthened to include one
or more additional tanks 1, or it might be modified or adapted to enclose
any convenient number of tanks. The tanks 1 are of a cylindrical form.
or circular in plan, and are constructed principally of iron plates and with
external vertical fenders 3, to bear against the inside of the openings in

page_text: the floating boat frame 2.
Each tank 1 is by preference formed with a
shallow conical floor 4 or hopper-like bottom internally as shown in
Figure 3, to facilitate the falling or gathering of the grain towards the
centre, and so that it may find its way with little or no manual labor
into the trunk of the elevator used for transferring it from the tank.
Each tank 1 is roofed over to a certain extent, a hatchway 5 being pro-
vided in the roof with the usual covers. The floating framework or
boat frame 2 consists in this modification of two long rectangular
water-tight girders 6, extending one along each side of the row or series
of tanks 1, and curving towards and joining each other at the ends to
form bow 7 and stern 8, at which parts their floating capacity is
increased to carry the necessary strengthening parts and the windlass 9,
steering apparatus, and other requisites. The longitudinal lateral
floating girders 6 are connected by strong transverse beams 10' between
the tanks 1, and diagonal stays or ties 11 are fixed across the corners of
the openings, and whilst strengthening the structure bring the shape of
each clear opening approximately to that of the tanks. The boat frame
2 is represented as constructed with iron plates and with a timber fender
strake 12, also with a wooden deck and a bulwark or rail 13, but it
might be made principally of wood or in any other convenient form.
Figure 4 on Sheet 2 of the Drawings is one-half vertical section and
one-half elevation of a modification of the floating tank, differing
slightly from what is shown in the other Figures, and adapted for being
combined with others within a framework or for being moved about
independently. This tank (Figure 4) is circular in plan but it is con-
structed with both bottom and roof sloping from the fore and aft centre
lines to the sides, and it is protected and strengthened by three timber
fender strakes 14 carried quite round it; a rail 13 is fixed on the roof.
If preferred the tanks 1 may be square in plan or of any other
convenient shape, and the floating framework 2 may be constructed
without boat-like ends and in the form of a raft.
0
The floating framework may in some cases be constructed so that
parts of it can be disconnected to admit of one or more of a series of
tanks being separated from the rest.
The combined tanks can be used with advantage in many cases
instead of ordinary lighters, and when used for grain the internal
-

page_text: pressure of the grain will nearly balance the external pressure of the
water, so that the tanks will not be subjected to much strain.
Having thus particularly described the said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe
to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,—
1. The combining of two or more floating tanks with a floating
framework or raft in which each tank rises and falls independently,
substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described.
2. The constructing of floating tanks, substantially in the manner
herein described and delineated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Inglis, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
1