Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 12th June, 1888
Complete Specification Left, 11th Mar, 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 13th Apr, 1889
We, HENRY WITHY and GEORGE WILLIAM SIVEWRIGHT, both of West Hartlepool,
in the County of Durham, Shipbuilders, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows
Our Invention relates to the arrangement of drainage wells in connection with the
water ballast tanks of vessels, our object being to increase the facilities for draining
away bilge water from ship's bottoms so as to effectually prevent accumulation of
water on the tank tops
In order to drain away bilge water that may come down the inside of vessels, or
from the sweating of cargoes and other causes, or from the leakage of ballast tanks, it
has hitherto been the custom to provide side pockets or limbers at tank sides between
the outer edge of the tanks, and the ship's skin
In ship bottoms constructed according to our invention we increase the facilities for
draining off bilge water by providing a centre pocket or drainage well extending
along the keel of the ship between the sides of the water ballast tanks, this centre
pocket is enclosed between the sides of the water ballast tanks, and by setting the
water ballast tanks sufficiently apart can be made of any suitable width according to
the capacity required, the depth extending from the keel to the top of the tank, this
centre pocket or drainage well is separated from the water, ballast tanks on either side
by water tight girders, and extends the whole length of the tunnel in afterhold, the
length of engine and boiler space, and the length of the fore and main holds, and is
covered over with plating at the top with holes perforated through so that the
accumulation of water on the tank tops is effectually prevented The side pockets
hitherto provided for draining, off bilge water may be employed as auxiliary drainage
wells to the centre pockets herein before described without departing from the nature
of our invention

page_text: Connection with Water Ballast Tanks in Vessels
We, HENRY WITHY and GFORGE WILLIAM SIVEWRIGHT, both of West Hartlepool,
in the County of Durham, Shipbuilders, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what minner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement
Our Invention relates to the arrangement of drainage wells in connection with the
water ballast tanks of vessels, our object being to increase the facilities for draining
away bilge water from ships bottoms so as to effectually prevent accumulation of
water on the tank tops
In order to drain away bilge water that may come down the inside sides of vessels or
from the sweating of cargoes and other causes or from the leakage of ballast tanks, it
has hitherto been the custom to provide side pockets or limbers at tank sides between
the outer edge of the tanks and the ships skins
In ships bottoms constructed according to our invention, we provide a centre pocket
or drainage well extending along the keel of the ship between the water ballast tanks
which are set apart for that purpose The side pockets hitherto provided may be also
employed as auxilary drainage wells to the centre pockets, or if preferred be
altogether dispensed with
And in order that our invention may be fully understood and clearly distinguished
from the existing means employ ed for draining away bilge water from ships bottoms,
we will now refer to the accompanying drawing in which the figures illustrate a ships
bottom in transverse section In Figure 1, which illustrates the arrangement of
drainage wells as hitherto provided for draining away bilge water, the water ballast
tank a a is simply divided into compartments by the centre keelson b, which compart-
inents instead of being set apart along the keel are constructed to leave spaces for side
pockets or limbers c c at tank sides between the outer edges d d of the tanks and the
ships skin, which do not afford effective drainage for bilge water accumulating about the
central area of the tank tops In Figure 2, which illustrates our improved arrangement
for providing drainage wells, the water ballast tanks a a are set apart forming a centre
pocket or drainage well c¹, extending along the keel of the ship between the sides d'd¹
of the water ballast tanks a a By setting the water ballast tanks sufficiently apart
the centre pocket or drainage well c¹ can be made of any suitable width according
to the capacity required, the depth of the said pocket or drainage well extending
from the keel to the top of the tank, this centre pocket or drainage well c¹, which
is separated from the water ballast tanks a a by the sides d d which form water
tight girders, extends the whole length of the tunnel in afterhold, the length of the
engine and boiler space, and the length of the fore and main holds, and is covered
over with plating at the top with holes perforated so that accumulation of water on
the tank top is effectually prevented The centre pocket or drainage well c¹ will
generally be found to afford sufficient drainage for preventing the accumulation of

page_text: bilge water at any part of the tank tops, in which case the tanks a a on each side
thereof will extend to the ships skin as shown in Figure 2, but where desired we
provide the side pockets or limbers c c as illustrated in Figure 1, as auxiliary or
additional drainage wells to the centre drainage well c¹ illustrated in Figure 2
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be carried into effect, we declare that
what we claim is
1
The arrangement for providing drainage wells in connection with water ballast
tanks in vessels, in which a centre pocket or drunage well is employed with or
without side pockets or limbers, substantially as and for the purpose as hereinbefore
described with reference to the accompanying drawing
Dail 1
1000
GJ CLARKSON,
Agent for the Applicants.