IMPROVEMENTS WORKS BELOW WATER
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wright, of Rochester, in the County of Kent,
Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
WORKS BELOW WATER."
IN CONSTRUCTING
Sealed the 11th June 1862, and dated the 25th January 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wright at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
January 1862.
1
1, JOHN WRIGHT, of Rochester, in the County of Kent, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CON-
STRUCTING WORKS BELOW WATER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in constructing works below
water, and is applicable when working under water, by the aid of cylinders or
coffers open at bottom, where the water is kept out by means of air under
pressure; and the invention consists in forming continuous foundations for
sea and river walls or like structures under water by the use of such cylinders
or coffers in place of constructing coffer dams. The coffers or cylinders em-
ployed may be, as heretofore, cylindrical or of other cross section, and they
may be extended at their lower ends so as to obtain a chamber larger than the
upper part, in order that the section of a foundation may be of greater length
than the diameter of the upper part of the cylinder or coffer. The arrange-
ments for entering and leaving the cylinder or coffer, and the means of
supplying air thereto, may be as heretofore. A cylinder or coffer having been
Price 8d.1

page_text: lowered into position where a section of a foundation is to be constructed, the
water is forced out from the cylinder or coffer in the usual manner and the
work of the foundation proceeded with, whether of stone or brickwork or other
materials. The section of the work is made somewhat shorter than the
diameter of the cylinder or coffer in order that the cylinder or coffer may be
lifted and moved a distance. After a section of the work has been completed,
another section of the work is to be in like manner constructed, so that there
will be a gap or space between the two sections. In this manner any number
of sections of the work may be constructed, leaving gaps or spaces between the
contiguous or neighboring sections of the work. In order to complete the
work and make the structure continuous the coffer or cylinder is to be moved
over the gap or space between two sections of the work, in order that such gap
or space may be filled up. The gaps or spaces may however be filled up
immediately after one has been produced by the construction of a section of
the work beyond a previous section. When the cylinder or coffer has been
brought into position over a gap or space between two sections of the work
and the air has forced out the water from the cylinder or coffer, the work-
men first proceed to make a coffer dam by closing in the ends of the gap
or section in such manner as to admit of the water being pumped out
or removed from the space or gap, and when this had been accomplished
the workman in the cylinder or coffer will be enabled to proceed with the
work, and thus join the two contiguous or neighbouring sections which were
previously separated by a gap or space. By thus using cylinders or coffers
which are open at the bottom and capable of being closed at the upper parts
in such manner as to employ compressed air, a continuous wall or work may
be constructed without a coffer dam. When the foundation requires to be
piled, then ordinary machinery for driving piles is arranged within the coffer
or cylinder, and piles are driven thereby, and the upper ends of the piles may
be cut off. In these cases provision will be made for introducing the piles at
the upper end of the cylinder or coffer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Wright in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
July 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WRIGHT, of Rochester, in the County of Kent, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most. Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January. in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did. for Herself. Her heirs and successors, given and grant unto
me, the said John Wright. Her special licence that I. the said John
Wright. my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Wright, my exécutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CONSTRUCTING WORKS BELOW WATER," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John Wright, 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 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 John Wright, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in constructing works below
water, and is applicable when working under water, by the aid of cylinders or
coffers open at bottom, where the water is kept out by means of air under
pressure; and the Invention consists in forming continuous foundations for
sea and river walls, or like structures. under water, by the use of such
cylinders or coffers in place of constructing coffer dams. The coffers or cylin-
ders employed may be, as heretofore, cylindrical, or of other cross section, and
they may be extended at their lower ends so as to obtain a chamber larger
than the upper part, in order that the section of a foundation may be of
greater length than the diameter of the upper part of the cylinder or coffer.
The arrangements for entering and leaving the cylinder or coffer, and the
means of supplying air thereto, may be as heretofore. A cylinder or coffer
having been lowered into position where a section of a foundation is to be
constructed, the water is forced out from the cylinder or coffer in the usual
manner; and the work of the foundation proceeded with, whether of stone or
brickwork or other materials. The section of the work is made somewhat
shorter than the diameter of the cylinder or coffer in order that the cylinder

page_text: or coffer may be lifted and moved a distance after a section of the work has
'been completed. Another section of the work is to be in like manner con-
structed so that there will be a gap or space between the two sections. In
this manner any number of sections of the work may be constructed. Teaving
gaps or spaces between the contiguous or neighboring sections of the work.
In order to complete the work and make the structure continuous, the coffer
or cylinder is to be moved over the gap or spaces between two sections of the
work in order that such gap or space may be filled up. The gaps or spaces
may, however, be filled up immediately after one has been produced by the
construction of a section of the work beyond a previous section. When the
cylinder or coffer has been brought into position over a gap or space between
two sections of the work, and the air has forced out the water from the
cylinder or coffer, the workmen first proceed to make a coffer dam by
closing in the ends of the gap or section in such manner as to admit of the
water being pumped out or removed from the space or gap, and when this
has been accomplished the workman in the cylinder or coffer will be enabled
to proceed with the work, and thus join the two contiguous or neighboring
sections which were previously separated by a gap or space. By thus using
cylinders or coffers which are open at the bottom and capable of being closed
at the upper parts in such manner as to employ compressed air, a Continuous
wall or work may be constructed without a coffer dam. When the foundation
requires to be piled, then ordinary machinery for driving piles is arranged
within the coffer or cylinder, and piles are driven thereby, and the upper ends
of the piles may be cut off. In these cases provision will be made for intro-
ducing the piles at the upper end of the cylinder or coffer.
Having thus stated the nature of the Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure shews a general arrangement of gauntree and travellers for
hoisting and lowering the coffer. The tackle for that purpose not shewn, to
avoid confusion.. a, a, the coffer; b, b, the cylinder, partly shewn in section,
having an air lock or locks of the ordinary construction' on the top of each;
c, c, buckets to carry earth as excavated out of the coffer, or to take cement.
bricks, or other material into it; d, d. blocks of concrete, brickwork, or
masonry which have been built inside the coffer on the surface of the ground
forming lower course; e, e, spaces originally left and now filled in; f, f. blocks
the same as d, d, in different courses as the work proceeds; g. g. is the wall
completed above low water, if in tidal water, and may be of the same material

page_text: as the blocks, or different therefrom, and carried up by tide work without the
aid of the apparatus: h is a stank or dam of sheet iron or other material
placed at each end of the space e to prevent the entrance of water whilst the
space is pumped free and the wall made good.
Figure 2 is an end view of Figure 1. shewing a section of two completed
courses and of the wall, and the coffer placed ready for commencing the
third course.
Figure 3 is a transverse section taken through one of the spaces e: d is a
section of the first course: f, the end of a block of the second course, the
coffer resting upon it. The dotted. blue lines on the outside of this Figure
represent the water around it, and those above the course d are intended to
shew a portion of water left in the space e, and supposed to be in the act of
being pumped out; h, h, iron plates at each end of the space made water-
tight by having a thickness of vulcanized india-rubber between them and the
wall. These plates are pressed against the wall by means of the shores i, i.
between them and the sides of the coffer. in addition to which the pressure
of the plates to the sides of the blocks is increased by the pressure of the
water from the outside as the space is pumped out.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the coffer, and shews the face of the
wall in elevation seen through the water, and also one stanc. as described in
the preceding Figure. The dotted blue lines are not continued over the
stanc in order to shew it more clearly. Figure 5 is a plan of the above.
The coffer, as above described and shewn in the Drawings, is, in the first
place, lowered (by means of a gauntree, traveller, crabs, or other mechanical
arrangement, as is well understood by engineers) to the bottom of the water,
and is kept free from water by air being forced into it, as in the case of an
ordinary diving bell, and the workmen are supplied with air during the time
they are at work. When the coffer is thus free from water the workmen
enter, and if necessary prepare the ground, either by levelling the surface or by
excavating to a sufficient depth. The earth is removed by buckets, as before
described, through the tubes and air locks to a position' above the surface of
the water, and taken away by barges or other means of transport. The coffer
is allowed or made to descend as the excavation proceeds until ground proper
for building on is reached. A block of brickwork, masonry, or concrete is
then built inside the coffer to a height of three or four feet, or such as may
be judged sufficient; and when the work has set sufficiently the coffer is lifted
and passed onward over the last-named block to a position'just beyond it, and
again lowered. The ground is levelled or excavated, as before, and another
block built, and so on throughout the extent of the work. A number of

page_text: detached blocks being thus formed near to each other, having, in the case of
their being built of masonry or brickwork, toothings left to allow the interval
thus left between them to be made good, as hereafter to be described. When
a sufficient number of these blocks are thus formed, a second course may be
then commenced by raising the coffer, so that its bottom edge may rest on the
top of two of these blocks. the space between them being about the middle of
the coffer. It is then freed from water by forcing air in as before. A stanc
or dam of iron or wood is placed at each end of the space between the blocks.
so as to prevent the entrance of water from the outside as the water contained
in the space is pumped out. The top of these stancs or dams should be
raised an inch or two above the top of the blocks, and a small rim of clay or
other material fit for the purpose is to be made on the blocks at each side of
the space to prevent the water as it is pumped out from flowing back into the.
space. When the space between the blocks is thus freed from water the
brickwork or concrete is made good, and thus a continuous wall or mass of
work is formed without break of bond, or being disunited in any part, and
thus course after course be continued to the top of the work and above the
surface of the water. The stanc or dam for the bottom course may be of iron
or planks driven into the ground, and made tight by clay resting on the
ground and against the planking to the height of the course; but for the upper
courses a plate of sheet iron large enough to cover the end of the space and
six or eight inches more or less beyond it, which overlapping space may have
two or three thicknesses of vulcanized india-rubber fixed thereon, which, when
tightly pressed against the brickwork. masonry, or concrete of the blocks,
will be sufficiently tight to allow the water to be pumped out of the space.
For retaining walls where drainage from the back is required, or in other
situations where actual solid and united bond is not essential, it may not be
necessary to make, good the space between the blocks in which case it will be
necessary merely to turn an arch over the space between the blocks, or cover
them with a stone, landing or other suitable cover to receive the block of the
next course, and thus leave the work with these openings between the separate
blocks, the spaces, being so small as probably to be little or no detriment.
In places where the nature of the bottom is such that recourse to piling the
foundation is required before building thereon, I have an iron cylinder or
other shaped tube fitted with an air lock or locks, or with simply a manhole
in the top sufficiently large and long to allow leaders, as in an ordinary pile-
driving machine, to, be fixed with a common bill and crane, and room for men
to work, to be placed on the bottom of the excavation or surface on which the
building is, to commence, so that when the water is displaced by air driven
.

page_text: into it, piles may be driven to the surface of the ground, or such other depth
as may be required, and the tops cut off ready for the sleepers and planking
for the foundation of the work. The sleepers and planking are to be fixed
by means of the coffers before commencing the masonry, by which means
under each block piling and timber foundation can be readily executed to the
full extent of the block.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per
forming the same, I claim the building walls or masses of masonry, brickwork,
or concrete under water in the manner herein described; but I make no claim
to the separate parts of the apparatus herein explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wright, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JOHN WRIGHT. (L.S.)