AN IMPROVED SOUNDING DEVICE
Year: 1885

page_text: I, SAMUEL PEARCE WILDING, of the firm of Fell & Wilding, of N° 1 Queen
Victoria Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention for "AN IMPROVED SOUNDING DEVICE," a communication
to me from abroad by Hermann Schoening of the Quai Cockerill, Antwerp, in
the Kingdom of Belgium, Mariner, to be as follows:-
The said invention relates to an improved device for sounding the depth of the
sea and automatically indicating and recording the same.
The action of the said device is based upon the operation of what is known as
Boyle's law of fluid pressure, whereby the decrease in volume of a gaseous fluid is
inverse to the amount of pressure to which it is subjected.
The present invention consists of a tube hermetically closed at its upper end
and open to admit the water pressure at its lower end.
Inside this tube is slid a rod which is longitudinally slotted. A part of the solid
portion is made hinged and upon the internal face of this hinged part is a gauge
of depth calibrated in relation to any given height of the barometer. Or, the
calibration may be upon the face of the rod along the slot. Upon the inner
surface aforesaid I fix a piece of paper marked with an aniline pencil. The hinged
piece is then closed down, the rod inserted into the tube and held in place by
means of a suitable nut screwed on at the bottom. The device thus formed is
attached to the line and the degree of penetration of the water up the slot in the
rod, which discolours the pencil marking, will indicate the degree of compression
of the air which has taken place, and therefore the depth which the lead has
rcached.

page_text: An Improved Sounding Device.
I, SAMUEL PEARCE WILDING, of the firm of Fell & Wilding, of N° 1 Queen
Victoria Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention, a communication to me from abroad, by Hermann
Schoening, of the Quai Cockerill, Antwerp, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Mariner,
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described 5
and ascertained, in and by the following statement :-
The said invention relates to an improved device for sounding the depth of the
sea, and automatically indicating and recording the same.
The action of the said device is based upon the operation of what is known as
Boyle's law of fluid pressure, whereby the decrease in volume of a gaseous fluid is 1
inverse to the amount of pressure to which it is subjected.
In order that the said invention may be the better understood I now proceed to
describe the same in relation to the drawings hereunto annexed, reference being
had to the letters and figures marked thereon.
Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section through my device.
Figure 2 a cross section through X X.
Figure 3 the method of attachment of cap.
Figure 4 shows a modified form of my device in longitudinal section.
Figure 5 the same in transverse section.
Figures 6 and 7 show longitudinal and cross sections of the internal tube.
Figures 8 and 9 show plan and cross section respectively of the gauge.
Figure 10 shows a side elevation of same.
The present invention consists firstly of a tube A, hermetically closed at its
upper end and open to admit the water pressure at its lower end. Inside this tube A,
figure 2, is slid a gauge rod B, shown in detail figures 8, 9, and 10. A part of the
solid portion of this is made hinged at C, and upon the internal face of this hinged
part is a gauge of depth, calibrated to any given height of the barometer. Or, the
calibration may be upon the face of the rod along the slot as shown in figure 8.
Upon the inner surface I fix a piece of paper, marked with an aniline pencil. The
hinged piece is then closed down, the rod inserted into the tube A, and held in
place by means of a suitable nut D, screwed on at the bottom.
An alternative method of construction is shown in figures 1, 2, 3 and 6, where, in
place of using a bottom nut, a long cap E is slid over the whole device, and locked
in place by a top cap with a bayonet joint.
The device thus formed of either of these alternative methods is attached to the
line, and the degree of penetration of the water up the slot in the gauge rod, which
discolours the pencil marking, will indicate the degree of compression of the air
which has taken place, and therefore the depth which the sounder has reached.
1

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The combination in a sounding device of a bottomless tube, gauge rod, having
chemically marked paper, and retaining cap or nut, substantially as and for the
purposes specified.
FELL & WILDING,
Agents for the Applicant.