IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE SPEED OF VES- SELS AND STREAMS, AND FOR ASCERTAINING THE DEPTHS OP WATERS
Year: 1848

page_text: WHOM THESE PRESENTS
JOHN MASSEY, of Liverpool, send greeting.
COME,
CDWARD
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifth day of October,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the twelfth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edward John Massey, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Edward John
Massey, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward John Massey, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and.
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE SPEED OF VES-
SELS AND STREAMS, AND FOR ASCERTAINING THE DEPTHS OP WATERS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Edward John Massey,
should cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear..
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said

page_text: Edward John Massey, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thercon, that is to say :-
Figure 1 represents a wheel rotator in elevation. a, a metal box, inclosing
the greater portion of the wheel. This box is fixed to the side or other con-
venient part of the vessel. b, the spindle, on which the wheel rotator is fixed.
c, a crank at the end of the sprindle. d, leaves or blades of the wheel rotator.
e, a wire or connecting rod attached to the crank, and communicating the
motion of the crank to the wheel of the registering apparatus. f, an aperture
at the after end of the box. g, lugs on the box, by means of which it is
screwed or fastened to the ship or vessel.
Figure 2 is a plan in section of Figure 1.
Figure 3 shews the manner in which the action of the wheel rotator is com-
municated to the register. h is a lever, acting on a centre at h. i, a circular
spring, inclosed in a box, acting on a centre, and pressing the bar j against the
lever h. k, a detent, acting on a centre at 7. m, a spring,.pressing the detent
against a pin'at n. 10, a projection from the detent, p, a stop determining
the action of a détent at o. 9, a detent or stop, placed on a centre.
r, a spring, which presses the detent against the tooth of the wheel s. è is the
wire or connecting rod attached to the lever. By this arrangement, the rotary
wheel being partly enclosed in a box, the enclosed part is not influenced by
the vessel's motion through the water, whilst the exposed part is left free to be
acted on by that motion, which causes the wheel to revolve. The crank,
acting on the wire e, gives motion to the lever h in one direction, and the
spring raises the lever in the other direction, causing the detent to move
down, and thus force the wheel's round a distance equal to one tooth, so that
for each revolution of the wheel rotator, the wheel s will be moved round equal
to a tooth; and the wheel s gives motion to the other wheels, and a hand or
pointer placed on the axle of the last wheel will indicate on a dial the number
of the revolutions made by the rotator; and, the length of these revolutions
being ascertained, the distance run by the vessel will be determined. The
detent or stop prevents the recoil of the wheel s, as well as its moving more
than a tooth for each revolution of the rotator.
Figure 4 is another method of communicating the motion of the rotator to
the registering apparatus. h is a lever, placed on a centre at h', and which is
acted on by a similar spring, inclosed in a box i, acting on a centre, and
pressing a bar against the lever h. f, g, a pair of pallets, secured to the

page_text: e is the crank wire. t, a
and u, a wheel which is
lever h, and acting with it on the same centre.
wheel, acting in the pinion of the pallet wheel t;
acted on by a coiled spring in a box on its centre. This spring causes the
pallet wheel to press against the pallets; and when the rotary wheel pulls the
lever downwards, by means of the wire e, the point of the pallet-wheel tooth
falls on the pallet, as represented; and on the return of the crank, the spring i
will press the lever h upwards, and draw the pallet f from under the point of
the wheel tooth, allowing the wheel to move half a space, when it will again
be locked on the pallet g, thus, on each revolution of the rotator, the pallet
wheel will move a tooth.
Figure 5 shows a way in which a crank motion may be applied, according
to my Invention, to the common rotator. a, a bracket, screwed to the side of
the vessel. b, axle, on one end of which my crank is placed.
c is a common
rotator. d, rope, connecting the rotator with the axle. Now, as the rotator
revolves, the same effect is produced on the register as I have described in my
rotary wheel. The wire e, connecting the rotator with the register, may be
made in lengths of a foot or a yard, as may be found. convenient, and united
together with oval metal spring loops, or any other convenient means. This
wire may be protected and covered in either by strips of metal or of wood,
fastened to the side of the vessel, having bars placed across them at suitable
distances to prevent the wire rubbing against the vessel. A projection of less
than an inch from the vessel will be found sufficient for this purpose, or the
wire may be carried into the vessel by a tube.
Figure 6 represents part of a metal chain, made of a number of pieces
jointed together, of such lengths as will enable it to pass down a slide to be
affixed to the side of the vessel. Up the under side of this chain is a groovez,
as shown in Figure 7, which is a plan of Figure 6. On one side of the chain
is a rack, worked by a pinion on deck. To the bottom end of the chain the
rotator or the rotary wheel may be attached in such manner as to be free of
the slide; and at the top end the register may be fixed. By this means the
apparatus may be raised or lowered at pleasure, and, when down, the register
will at all times indicate the speed. Or, in place of using the chain for this
purpose, the rotator apparatus may be lowered and raised by means of a-cord,
as shown at Figure 8. In this arrangement, v is a slide, to which the rotator
apparatus is affixed; and there is a cord w attached by its two ends to the
slide v, the cord at its lower part passing under a pulley x. By this arrange-
ment the rotator apparatus may be lowered down or raised by the cord, the
cord in this case acting in place of the chain described in the two previous
Figures.

page_text: Figure 9 shows a novel construction of sounding machine using a rotating
wheel which, by a pinion on its axis, gives motion to a train of wheels; and
by a pointer the quantity of distance is indicated, as is well understood. In.
descending through the water the wheel revolves; but when the sounding
machine is being raised, the stop y descends, and locks the wheel rotator..
The train of wheels may be varied.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would remark, that I do not claim any
of the mechanical details separately, nor do I confine myself to the exact
details. But what I claim is, the mode of combining apparatus herein
described, whereby wheel and spiral rotators may, by a crank action, give
motion to recording apparatus, and thus ascertain the speed of a vessel or of a
stream, according as the apparatus is moved by a vessel, or secured so as to
be acted on by the water of a stream.
I also claim the modes of raising and lowering logs, described in respect to
Figures 6, 7, and 8.
And I also claim the application of wheel rotators to apparatus for the
purposes herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward John Massey, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.