A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR FLOATING AND RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND PREVENTING VESSELS FROM SINKING."
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Aldersey Davenport, of Queen Square,
Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, Experimental Chymist,
for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS
FOR FLOATING AND RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND PREVENTING VESSELS FROM
SINKING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Aldersey
Davenport at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 1st October 1875.
I, GEORGE ALDERSEY DAVENPORT, of Queen Square, Wolverhampton,
in the County of Stafford, Experimental Chymist, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF AND
APPARATUS FOR FLOATING AND RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND PREVENTING VESSELS
FROM SINKING," to be as follows:-

page_text: water by gas, air, or other means, and in carrying out my Invention I
make use of india-rubber or other collapsible gas-tight receptacles of the
dimensions of air-tight compartments in the vessel to be raised. Theso
receptacles are to be taken into all parts of the hull of the vessel in
a collapsed condition, and when required to be used they may be 5
inflated with either gas (hydrogen by preference), atmospheric air, or
gas and air mixed, or gas obtained from the explosion of of chemical or
other substances. By this means the water will be expelled from the
receptacle, or if the hull itself can be made gas or air-tight the water
may be expelled therefrom by filling the same with gas or air, or both 1
combined.
As a modification the hull may be provided outside with gas-tight
receptacles, which may be secured thereto in any convenient manner,
and inflated in the same manner as that above described.
The gas may be generated in the hull of the vessel or outside at the 1
bottom of the sea, or above board and forced down; but I prefer to do
this below the surface of the water.
As a further modification I fix in the sunken vessel an air pump or
air pumps, which communicate by means of pipes with the air above,
and I employ divers to pump the air direct into the receptacles or air- 2
tight compartments instead of forcing the air down by means of pumps
working above the surface of the water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Aldersey Davenport in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 1st April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ALDERSEY DAVENPORT, of Queen Square, Wolverhampton, in the
County of Stafford, Experimental Chemist, send greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of 3
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give

page_text: and grant unto me, the said George Aldersey Davenport, Her special
licence that I, the said George Aldersey Davenport, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Aldersey
Davenport, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
5 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF FLOATING AND
) RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS AND PREVENTING VESSELS FROM SINKING," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Aldersey Davenport,
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
3 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 George Aldersey Davenport, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
O the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
This Invention is founded on the principle of the displacement of
water by means of atmospheric air or other gaseous bodies, and in
applying my Invention to vessels for maintaining their buoyancy or
5 imparting buoyancy thereto. I make use of india-rubber or other col-
lapsible gas-tight receptacles of the dimensions conforming more or less
to those of the compartments below deck which would fill with water
if the vessel were submerged. These receptacles are to be taken into
all parts of the hull of the vessel in a collapsed condition, and when
O required to be used they may be inflated with either atmospheric air or
some other gaseous body (hydrogen by preference) or gas obtained from
the explosion of chemical substances. By inflating the receptacles by
means of air, gas, or gaseous compounds under pressure the compart-
ments supplied with these expansible receptacles will be more or less.
5 filled therewith. If then this inflation is effected while there is danger
of the vessel foundering the buoyancy of the vessel will be maintained.

page_text: and for expelling water therefrom or preventing its access thereto for
the purposes above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Aldersey Davenport, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.
GEORGE ALDERSEY DAVENPORT. (L.S.)