IMPROVED MEANS OP AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING SUNEEN VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Fryer at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
November 1875.
I, ALFRED FRYER, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS
OP AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING SUNEEN VESSELS AND OTHER SUBMERGED BODIES,"
to be as follows:-
When sunken vessels or other submerged objects are required to be
raised difficulty is frequently experienced in attaching the apparatus,
and this difficulty is greatly increased if the objects are in deep water
whither divers cannot descend, or can only remain for a short time. The
difficulties are also increased if the objects are in an exposed sea, the
surface of which is frequently in violent agitation, as the conducting of
diving operations from the unsteady deck of a vessel in such a situation
is hazardous.
My improvements consist, namely,-
First. In the construction and method of using a vessel of peculiar
form from which to conduct the operation of diving. This vessel will
remain almost stationary in agitated water.

page_text: And, second. In the construction and mode of using a means of
attachment to the submerged objects, which can be applied to surfaces
without holes or projections, by means of which attachments may be
made in the usual manner. My other improvements relate to details
connected with the construction and employment of these two con-
trivances.
The improved vessel from which the operations are generally con-
ducted is a wrought-iron structure, which when used is submerged to a
depth exceeding the furrow of the deepest waves, which is connected to
a deck raised above the crest of the highest waves by means of one or
more wrought-iron tubes. These furnish means of access from the
submerged portion or hold to the deck, as well as means of ventilation.
The lower part of the submerged portion of the structure is heavily
weighted to keep the vessel immersed to the required depth, and to
enable it to maintain a vertical position; the lower part of the submerged
portions of the vessel is kept considerably removed from the surface for
the purpose explained in the second part of my Invention. This vessel
with a large submerged capacity, and with only a contracted section at
and near the part where it intersects the surface of the water, resembles
in some respects a hydrometer. For the sake of distinction I call the
whole structure the "hydrometer ship." The submerged portion of the
hydrometer ship serves as a habitation for the crew, the receptacle of
fuel, stores, and water, and the location of steam engines, boilers, air and
water pumps. It also contains water-tight compartments, which can bo
filled with water and emptied at pleasure for the purpose of sinking the
structure more deeply in the water or raising it thereout.
To the hydrometer ship in some cases I attach the upper end of cables
or wire ropes furnished with heavy weights, the lower parts of which
are suffered to repose on the bed of the sea or other water. By raising
or depressing these the water level of the hydrometer ship can be
adjusted; they also serve to check its tendency to rise or sink with the
waves, as the sinking of the hydrometer ship relieves it of the portion of
this weight, and it thus becomes more buoyant, whereas a raising of tho
hydrometer ship loads it with increased weight and checks its tendency
to rise.

page_text: offers resistance to changes of level threatened by the rise and
the waves.
I prefer to moor the structure by two cables arranged at right angles
to each other, at the intersection of which the hydrometer ship is placed.
These cables are passed through submerged rings or under pulleys, and
by means of suitable machinery the hydrometer ship can be hauled
along the cables to any required position.
My improved apparatus for making attachments to sunken vessels or
other submerged objects consists of one or more discs, preferably of iron,
armed at the rim with a soft flexible edge, which I term suckers. The
edge of the disc is fitted in some cases with loose closing pieces ranged
alongside each other like the keys of a piano. These are usually caused
to be held in their places by hinges, springs, or by attachment to a
leather, india-rubber, or other water-tight cover placed over them. The
closing pieces are sometimes furnished with adjustable springs, so that
they can be brought up to their work with any desired amount of
pressure.
In order to prevent the whole pressure which holds the sucker to the
submerged object from being conveyed through the rim of the sucker,
and also in order to attach the sucker firmly and to hinder its dislodge-
ment by an upward force, I furnish the inner side of the sucker with
one or more props, preferably of hardened steel, terminated at the
extremity furthest from the sucker by a sharp edge or point.
Attachment is usually made by the sucker to any object it is intended
to raise when the face to which the sucker is to be attached is or is
nearly in a vertical plane by means of a bell-crank joint, the fulcrum of
which rests against the submerged object, and this fulcrum is usually
prevented from slipping by strong steel teeth or short chisels attached to
the fulcrum, which penetrate to a slight extent into the surface of the
submerged object.
In some of those cases where it is wished to keep the arms of the
bell-crank lever short a piece is cut out of the sucker to permit the
fulcrum to pass through it and to rest on the object, the edges of
the hole so made being suitably closed with flexible material, and when
needful by hinged pieces to keep the joint sound.
In other cases the fulcrum rests on the sucker, which is then usually

page_text: armed with a steel foot beneath the part whereon the fulcrum rests.
One or more bell cranks are attached to each sucker.
In order to facilitate the adhesion of the sucker to the object (espe-
cially in cases where the sucker used is of large size) I place within
the sucker a supplementary sucker of much smaller diameter, but with
its face extending beyond or in front of the plane formed by the edges
or face of the larger sucker, the sides of the smaller sucker being com-
pressible somewhat in the manner of the bellows of an accordion or like
a smith's bellows.
The improved mode of working is as follows:-We will suppose that
the apparatus is being applied to the raising of a submerged ironclad
vessel. A long cable or wire rope is laid and anchored at each end. Its
direction is parallel to the axis of the ironclad, and it is near to hier.
The hydrometer ship is attached to this cable in such a manner that it
can draw itself along it as may be desired. A second cable is laid and
moored nearly at right angles to the former one, and this also is attached
to the hydrometer ship, and by its means the position can be adjusted in
the direction of this second cable. The hydrometer ship traverses these
cables by means of suitable machinery which she carries. By these means
the hydrometer ship may be brought over any desired position of the
submerged ironclad.
In some cases it is desirable to employ two hydrometer ships, one to
operate on the starboard side of the ironclad and the other on the port
side.
·Suppose the hydrometer ship has been brought to the required
position, a sucker is lowered to a suitablo depth, a pipe connected
severally with the inner portions of the large and of the small sucker
leads to the lower part of the hydrometer ship. The steadiness of the
hydrometer ship permits the sucker to be steadied in position, and when
the projecting lip of the inner sucker touches the ship's side a tap con-
necting the inner sucker with the hydrometer ship is opened, whereby
the inner sucker is held to the ship's side by hydraulic pressure equal to
the area of the small sucker multiplied by the pressure due to the depth
of water from the lower part of the hydrometer ship below the surface
of the sea (say two atmospheres). This force draws the large sucker
home, and then the tap is opened to the inner side of the large sucker,
when it is held to the ironclad with a force equal to the same hydraulic

page_text: pressure on the larger surface. If any water should leak into the suckers
it will flow into the hydrometer ship, and thence be ejected into the sea
by a pump. A point of attachment being thus presented a wrought-iron
vessel or caisson sufficiently filled with water to sink it is lowered and
attached to the bell-crank lever, and the water in such vessel is then
replaced by air. This is done when the caisson is nearer the surface
than the lower part of the hydrometer ship by connecting both with two
pipes, so that the air enters the caisson by one pipe and the water flows
out by the other. This water is removed from the hydrometer ship by
means of pumps.
In other cases the water is forced from the caisson by air driven in by
means of pumps. By affixing a sufficient number of suckers to the
bull of the ironclad by attaching caissons to these the requisite means
of flotation can be procured and the vessel can be raised from the bed of
the sea and the tops of the caissons will appear at the surface of the
water. When in this position a cable can be passed under the ironclad.
A pair of caissons (one on each side of the ironclad) can be refilled with
water sunk to the lower part of the hull and attached to the cable.
They will then be refilled with air. In like manner the other caissons
will be sunk (a pair at a time) and again inflated until at last the vessel
will be raised to the surface of the sea.