AN IMPROVED MODE AND MEANS FOR REMOVING SUNKEN VESSELS OR OTHER OBJECTS ON LAND OR SEA, AND FOR BORING AND BLASTING PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Briggs, of Southend, in the County of
Essex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE AND MEANS FOR
REMOVING SUNKEN VESSELS OR OTHER OBJECTS ON LAND OR SEA, AND FOR
BORING AND BLASTING PURPOSES."
Sealed the 12th December 1871, and dated the 15th June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Briggs at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th June 1871.
I, HENRY BRIGGS, of Southend, in the County of Essex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE AND
MEANS FOR REMOVING SUNKEN VESSELS OR OTHER OBJECTS ON LAND OR SEA, AND
POR BORING AND BLASTING PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in a new and particular method of employing
an iron cylindrical or other shaped hollow box with or without a screw
on the exterior and pointed at the lower end for the purpose of
removing by explosion sunken vessels or other objects on land or sea.
By means of rods or other appliances the box, which is charged with

page_text: any explosive material, is screwed, driven, or forced down into the
ground under the object to be removed. When it has penetrated to the
desired depth the rods or other appliances are removed, leaving the box
in the ground, and the contents are then exploded by means of a fuse,
electricity, or other mode of ignition.
I propose to apply my Invention to all the purposes of boring and
blasting, and also to the raising of vessels and other objects without
necessarily injuring or destroying them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Briggs in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BRIGGS, of Southend, in the County of Essex, send greeting.
•
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord. One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said. Henry Briggs, Her special licence that
I, the said Henry Briggs, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Henry Briggs, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE AND
MEANS FOR REMOVING SUNKEN VESSELS, OR OTHER OBJECTS ON LAND AND SEA,
AND FOR BORING AND BLASTING PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Briggs, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Briggs, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and "by
the following statement:-
My Invention consists in a new and particular method of employing
an iron cylindrical or other shaped hollow box or shell with or without
a screw on the exterior and pointed at the lower, end for the purpose of
removing by explosion sunken vessels or other objects on land or șea.
By means of rods or other appliances the box or shell, which is
charged with any explosive material, such as gunpowder, gun cotton,
dynamite, lithofracteur, &c., is screwed, driven, or forced down into the
ground under the object to be removed. When the said box or shell
has penetrated to the desired depth the rods or other appliances herein-
before mentioned are withdrawn leaving the box or shell in the ground;
and the contents of the said box or shell are exploded by means of a
fuse, electricity, or other mode of ignition in a manner too well
understood to require any farther description.
I propose to apply this my Invention to all the purposes of boring
and blasting and also to the raising of vessels and other objects on land
and sea, without necessarily injuring or destroying them.
For the purpose of rendering my Invention the more intelligible I
have illustrated it by the accompanying Drawings. In Fig. 1 is
represented an elevation of the iron box or shell with the socket of the
wrought-iron rod attached to it, as shown at A. The handle-is shewn
at B, and the vertical rod is shewn broken at-C, to signify that as many
intermediate lengths of rod may be used as are found necessary. In
Fig. 2 is represented a vertical section of the box or shell with a small
piece of fuse E passing through a hollow plug or screw D into the
interior of the box or shell. Fig. 3 is a section taken through the line
H, K, in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is another section taken through the line
F, G, also in Fig. 2.
Having now described my Invention for "An Improved Mode and
Means for Removing Sunken Vessels and other Objects on Land or Sea,
and for Boring or Blasting Purposes," I wish it to be distinctly under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the use of any particular descrip-
tion of joint or method of connecting the wrought-iron rods with the
box or shell, or of connecting the rods with one another, but reserve to
myself the right of using such means, of connecting together the various

page_text: parts of the apparatus herein-before described, as may be most suitable
in each particular case.
I also reserve to myself the right of using a plug or screw marked D
in Fig. 2 of metal, wood, india-rubber, or other material, and I do not
confine myself to any one especial shape or size of the herein-before
mentioned plug or screw marked D in Fig. 2.
I also wish it to be clearly understood that I do not restrict myself
to the proportions, exact style, and relative dimensions of the various
parts of the apparatus as shewn by the Drawings, as it will be readily
perceived that the same may be considerably varied.
And what I claim for my Invention is,-
First. The construction of boxes and shells containing explosive
compounds substantially as set forth in the accompanying Drawings and
Specification.
And secondly. The application of the said boxes and shells to the
purposes already mentioned in this my Specification.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Briggs, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
HENRY BRIGGS. (L.s.)