IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF FOG, WRECK, AND OTHER BUOYS
Year: 1857

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Chowen at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd October
1857.
I, GEORGE CHOWEN, of Dippertown, Lewdown, Exeter, in the County of
Devon, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF FOG, WRECK, AND
OTHER BUOYS," to be as follows:-
The body of the buoy and hemispherical cover is made of wrought or cast
iron or other metal in two or more parts, and is egg-shaped in vertical section,
and each part respectively is stiffened or strengthened internally by feathers or
ribs, and externally by flanges. The perfect junction of the several parts
is ensured and effected by introducing in the usual manner yarn and red lead
or other suitable composition, and in addition thereto kip leather between all
the joints, so that the vessel when bolted together will be water and air-tight
(the leather in the several joints being jammed by double rows of chipping
pieces). The wrought-iron axle is fitted with socket plates, keyed on to the body
of the vessel in such manner that when the joints are packed with iron cement
or other suitable materiel it acts as and becomes a distance piece, and adds
rigidity to the structure. The axle is passed through the buoy horizontally at or
about the water level (the sides of the vessel being bossed out or thickened
to carry it), and the ends thereof are extended beyond and turned to work on

page_text: brass bearings fitted into a cast or wrought-iron gymble-capped with screw
lubricators to supply grease to the points of friction. The gymble hangs on
the axle, and is prevented from expanding and also secured in position by split
keys at either end; and to the centre of the curved lower portion of this
casting a ring is attached, and the same is connected by means of a small
chain to the lower part of the buoy (the chain being of sufficient length
to allow the apparatus to oscillate freely, yet prevent it from swaying too
much out of the perpendicular). It is intended to arrange the connection of
the air-tight vessel so, that if the apparatus is used as a fog buoy, the slightest
motion of the wind or sea will impart motion to the bell clapper, and
consequently sound a continuous alarm. To a shackle secured to the gymble
is connected a stout mooring cable provided with swivels complete, and
attached to the head of a screw, pile, mushroom, or other anchor, according to
the nature of the holding ground or submarine strata. The buoy itself is
ballasted with cannon balls, and a man-hole is provided in the hemispherical
cover for obtaining access, if necessary, to the interior. A valve stop-cock is
also screwed into the cover for rendering the vessel buoyant by charging or
filling same with hydrogen gas. To the head of the buoy a vertical cast or
wrought-iron standard is securely bolted, to the spread arms of which a wrought
or cast-iron frame is attached to carry the bell. The upper part of the buoy
above the water line is covered in with corrugated sheet iron, rivetted to iron
stays, and the bell also is surmounted by a similar hood or covering to throw
out sound. The apparatus and adjuncts generally are covered with two or
more coats of shellac dissolved in wood naptha, or with some other anti-
corrosive paint or varnish, and when finished are colored in accordance with
the Trinity or local regulations, if required for public purposes or otherwise,
according to taste.