IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF PASSENGERS AT SEA AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugene Armand Roy, of Lady Margaret Road,
Kentish Town, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
“IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF
PASSENGERS AT SEA AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 9th April 1874, and dated the 18th October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugene Armand Roy at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th October 1873.
I, EUGENE ARMAND ROY, of Lady Margaret Road, Kentish Town,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS FOR
THE CONVEYANCE OF PASSENGERS AT SEA AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
:-
My Invention is designed to produce vessels of great stability,
applicable more especially for the conveyance of passengers subject to
sea sickness; but my improved vessels may also be employed for other
purposes.

page_text: My Invention consists in the use of partially submerged tubular or
other buoyant bodies or structures vertically arranged in conjunction
with a submerged or steadying platform or platforms or flooring having
a suitable keel or keels, and with an upper platform, flooring, or
structure, or platforms, floorings, or structures, connected to and carried
above the water level by the aforesaid vertical tubular or other buoyant
bodies or structures, such upper platform, flooring, or structure, or
platforms, floorings, or structures, being provided with cabins and
arranged to afford all necessary carrying. accommodation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Eugene Armand Roy in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENE
ARMAND ROY, of Lady Margaret Road, Kentish Town, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Eugene Armand Roy, Her special license that I,
the said Eugene Armand Roy, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Eugene Armand Roy, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF PASSENGERS AT SEA AND
OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Eugene Armand Roy, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 calendaṛ

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Eugene Armand Roy, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, and the Drawings therein referred
to (that is to say) :—
My Invention is designed to produce vessels of great stability,
applicable more especially for the conveyance of passengers subject to
sea sickness; but my improved vessels may also be employed for other
purposes.
•
My Invention consists in the use of partially submerged tubular or
other buoyant bodies or structures vertically arranged in conjunction
with a submerged or steadying platform or platforms or flooring having
a suitable keel or keels, and with an upper platform, flooring, or
structure connected to and carried above the water level by the aforesaid
vertical tubular or other buoyant bodies or structures, such upper
platform, flooring, or structure being provided with cabins and arranged
to afford the necessary carrying accommodation.
Such being the nature of my Invention, I now proceed to describe by
reference to the accompanying Drawings in what manner the same may
be carried out.
.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a vessel constructed according to my
Invention; Fig. 2 is a plan of the same; and Fig. 3 is a transverse
section thereof. Like letters of reference are used to denote the same
parts in all the views.
a, a, are wrought-iron tubes, which at their lower ends are securely
attached to a hollow wrought-iron platform or flooring & intended to be
constantly submerged, and which is to be made of sufficient strength to
withstand the pressure against its exterior of the water surrounding it.
This hollow platform or flooring is constructed of an inclined or bevilled
form at its respective ends, and is provided with a wrought-iron keel
composed of longitudinal vertical plates c, c², converging towards and
meeting each other at the respective ends of the vessel, and connected
at their lower edges throughout their entire length by a plate or series
of plates & made of considerable weight to serve as ballast. The upper

page_text: ends of the wrought-iron tubes a are connected together by transverse
light wrought-iron girders e, one to each pair of tubes, and the structure
is tied together longitudinally by a light but strong wrought-iron
framing, whose parts tie all the transverse girders together, and
connect them to the two end tubes of the vessel. Over this system of
girders is arranged a thin wrought-iron flooring 9, securely attached to
the girders so as to form a light but strong and durable upper platform,
flooring, or structure, which shall always be carried above the water
level by the tubes a sufficiently high to clear the summits of the highest
waves likely to be met with. Upon this platform, flooring, or structure
are arranged a cabin h, and all the other necessary apartments and
offices, whose external structure, as will be seen, is such as to offer the
least possible resistance to the air.
The vessel may be propelled by means of a propeller i, which may be
actuated through bevilled gearing and shafting or otherwise from an engine
or engines carried by the vessel, and I should prefer in such cases to
employ an engine or engines arranged to be worked by compressed air,
a supply of which sufficient for channel purposes may be stored in the
tubes a and hollow platform, but the arrangements for propelling the
vessel may obviously be varied to suit circumstances, and I do not claim
them as forming part of my Invention. The rudder k is arranged to be
worked from a wheel / placed on the upper platform or flooring, as
shewn.
To counteract any tendency in the submerged platform to deviate
from its proper horizontal position. I propose to provide the upper and
lower parts of the submerged platform or flooring with hinged fins or
horizontal rudders, which when not in action will lie flat on the surface
of the submerged platform or flooring. The vessel so constructed should
be made to sink into the water in the manner above described until the
tubes a are immersed slightly more than one-half of their depth, the
upper surface of the submerged platform being kept horizontal and
below the surface of the water. The submerged platform and the kecl
are especially designed to obey with ease any force tending to make them
pass through the water in the direction of their extremities, but to offer
the greatest possible resistance to any force exerted against them in a
direction perpendicular to their surfaces. Thus the submerged platform
will tend to prevent the vessel from making any upward or downward
motion, and the keel to counteract rolling and leeway.

page_text: The tendency to vertical motion resulting from the action of waves
upon the tubes a will be counteracted by the resistance of the body of
water above the platform. Vessels constructed on this principle may be
advantageously used to serve as piers for bridges in localities where it
would be difficult or impossible to build an ordinary bridge with piers,
or where a tunnel would be impracticable.
It is obvious that the submerged platform or flooring may in some
cases be made in two or more parts firmly connected together.
Having described my said Invention of improvements in the con-
struction of vessels for the conveyance of passengers at sea and other
purposes, and having explained the manner of carrying the same into
practical effect, I would have it understood that I do not limit myself to
the precise form or dimensions shewn in the Drawings, as the same are
obviously susceptible of modification to suit the requirements of par-
ticular cases and the form of the buoyant bodies, as well as the material
used in their construction may also be obviously varied without departing
from the distinctive character of my Invention; and I hereby declare
that what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the construction of vessels for the conveyance of passengers at
sea and other purposes, in which partially submerged tubular or other
buoyant bodies or structures are vertically arranged in conjunction with
a submerged or steadying platform or platforms or flooring having a
suitable keel or keels, and with an upper platform, flooring, or structure
connected to and carried above the water level by the aforesaid vertical
tubular or other buoyant bodies or structures, such upper platform,
flooring, or structure being provided with cabins and arranged to afford
the necessary carrying accommodation, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugene Armand Roy, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and soventy-