IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SUBMARINE EXPLORATION
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
29th August 1867.-A communication from abroad by George
Wrightson, of New York City, in the United States of America.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SUBMARINE EXPLORATION," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is the production of an apparatus for submarine
explorations, by means of which persons may with safety descend in water to
any required depth and remain there for a considerable length of time without
communication or connection with the surface. And the leading character of the
said Invention consists in combining with the working chamber or chambers in
which the explorers are to be placed a reservoir or reservoirs containing air
forced in before sinking, compressed to such an extent and in such quantity, and
so combined with the said working chamber or chambers, that the explorers
inside may draw the required supply from the said reservoir to suit their
own demands for respiration and to control the buoyant or rising power of the
apparatus, or sustain it with the top above water when said top is open for any
purpose. The apparatus is preferably of cylindrical shape with a flattened

page_text: dome top and with an inner shell, the space between forming an air reservoir
which is divided by an air-tight horizontal partition near the bottom into two
compartments, the two shells being secured at their bottom end to a hollow
metal ballast ring. The central space is divided by a floor into two or
more working chambers communicating by a hatchway, air being supplied
from the surrounding reservoir by a stop-cock in each compartment.
The Invention also consists in combining with the said working chamber or
chambers and said reservoir of compressed air one or more ballast chambers,
which by the explorers inside can be made to communicate with the com-
pressed air in the reservoir and with the surrounding water, so that air may be
admitted to force out the water when it is required to increase the buoyancy
of the apparatus to rise, or the water may be introduced to expel the air
whenever it is desired to increase the sinking power of the apparatus for the
purpose of sinking; the space below the partition above mentioned between the
shells forms a ballast chamber to aid the ballast ring in ballasting the
apparatus, which chamber and ring are placed in communication with the
compressed air by suitable pipes with cocks or valves. Another bent pipe
with valve or cock establishes communication between the ballast chamber
and the surrounding water. These several pipes extend within the working
compartment so as to have the cocks within reach of the operators. The
ballast chamber and ring may be divided into any desired number of spaces
to insure the ballasting of the apparatus, they being respectively placed in
connection with the surrounding water by the aid of valves near the bottom.
The Invention also consists in purifying the air inside the working chamber
or chambers when it has become vitiated by the respiration of the explorers
inside by a shower of water raised by the aid of a rotary or other pump placed
in the, working compartment, the induction pipe extending down to the water
and provided with a discharge pipe with rose head; this shower of water in
passing, like, spray through the vitiated atmosphere will absorb the carbonic
oxide or carbonic acid given out in respiration, while the said water will at the
same time give out the free atmospheric air known to be contained in con-
siderable quantity in water. A pipe is also disposed at top of the casing
passing through the roof for discharging, air at any time from the working
chamber when it is desired to reduce the buoyant power of the apparatus.
The Invention further consists in combining with the working chamber or
chambers and with the reservoir of compressed air a pump which com
municates by means of its eduction pipe with the reservoir of compressed air
and by means of a flexible induction pipe (to be attached when desired) with
the atmosphere above the surface, the said flexible pipe for this purpose being

page_text: provided with a float having a self-acting spring valve so regulated that it will
be kept closed by the pressure of the water while rising to the surface, and
opened by the spring after reaching the surface of the water, so that when
required in case of accident by the working of the pump air may be drawn from
the surface and forced in the reservoir of compressed air whenever from any
cause the supply forced in before sinking becomes insufficient.