US344718A - Andbew campbell and james ash - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

A. CAMPBELL 8v J. ASH.

,- SUBMARINE BGAT 0R VESSEL.

No. 3441718. Patented June 29, 1886.

L i Q v I v -!N-vENToRs N PETERS. Pholoinhugruphan Wash'mgion. D, C.

Miran Srarns Parana tries,

ANDREW CAMPBELL AND JAMES ASH, OF LOVEB CLAPTON, COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX, ENGLAND.

SUBM ARINE BOAT OR VESSEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 3-1-,718, dated June 29,1886.

Application filed September 1,1885. ScrialNo.175,87-2. (No model.) Iatentcd in England December 21, 1881, No. 16,915; in France y 5 Nil-170,01 in Belgium July 9, 1885, No. 69,513, and in It a'y September 30, 188.), No. 1%,666.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ANDREW CAMPBELL, gentleman, and JAMES ASH, naval architect, subjects of the Queen of Great Britain, and residing at Lower Clapton, in the county of Middlesex and Kingdom of Great Britain, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments in Submarine Boats or Vessels, (for which we have obtained Letters Patent in Great Britain, dated December 24C, 1884, No. 16,915; in France, dated July 8, 1885, No. 170,041; in Belgium, dated July 9, 1885, No. 69,548, and in Italy, dated September 30, 1885, No. 18,666,) and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to boats or vessels so adapted and fitted that they may be raised or lowered to any required depth and be propelled in any required direction, either upon or beneath the surface of the water, and more especially to the means for sinking such boats or vessels to the required depth below the surface and for raising them to the surface, or to any required position below the same.

In the drawings hereto annexed, Figure 1 is an elevation of a submarine boat or vessel constructed in accordance with ourinvention. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same,and Fig. 3 atransverse section on line m a" of Figs. 1 and 2.

In carrying our invention into effect we employ any required number of displacement chambers, A, arranged and adapted so as to slide water-tight, after the manner of a telescope, outward or inward through stuffing boxes or other suitable jointings in the sides or other parts of the boats or vessels. These displacement-chambers A may be of any suitable shape, but preferably cylindrical and closed at both ends. They are furnished with me chanical, hydraulic, or other appliances whereby any one or more of them can be thrust outward from the inside of the boat or vessel, so as to increase the buoyancy thereof,giving it a tendency to rise in the water, or be drawn inward, so as to decrease the buoyancy and give the boat or vessel a tendency to sink.

\Vhcn the displacement-chambers are placed at the sides of the boat or vessel, we prefer to arrange them one opposite the other at each side in symmetrical positions,as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, and to arrange the appliances for forcing them outward or drawing them inward in such manner that when any one displacement-chamber on one side of the boat or vessel is moved inward or outward the corresponding displacement-chamber on the other side ofthc boat or vessel is moved inward or outward also, and to the same extent.

By this means the boat or vessel is kept balauced laterally.

One means for forcing out and drawing in the displacement-chambers is illustrated in Fig. 3, in which B represents a shaft turning in a fixed bearing, 0. This shaft has a righthandcd screw-thread formed at one end and a left-handed screw-thrcad formed at the other end. The screw-threads on the shaft B take into suitable screw-threads formed in the inner ends of the displacementchambers A, or in nuts secured thereto. D is a. spoke wheel secured on the shaft B, and by which the said shaft B may be turned in either direction. On turning the shaft B in one direction by the spoke wheel D, the displacement-chambers A are forced outward by the action of the screws, and on turning the shaft B in the other direction the displacementchambers A are drawn inward by the screws.

It is obvious that ifthe displacement-chamhers A are too large to be operated by handpower applied to a spoke wheel the wheel D maybe arranged as a toothed wheel or a wormwheel, and be operated by suitable toothed or worm geari ng, and that the mechanical or other appliances for operating the displacementchambers may be varied in a great variety of ways, to suit various circumstances.

It will be readily understood that by forcing out or drawing in any particular displacement chamber or chambers any particular trim can be given to the boat or vessel-that is to say,

the stem or the stern may be raised orlowered at 9 pleasure-so that when the propeller (which may be the ordinary screw or screws, as shown at F in Figs. 1 and 2, or any other suitable propeller) is set in motion the boat or vessel may be driven in an oblique direction, upward or downward; or, if the boat or vessel is kept on an even keel, the propeller will move her horizontally forward or backward.

The boat or vessel may be of any suitable shapesuch as, for example, that known as the cigar shape, illustrated in the drawings properly ballastcd to prevent its turning over; and it may be provided with a turret, conmug-tower, or dome, G, provided with glass bulls-eyes II, for electric lights or for lookout purposes. The displacementchambers may be protected, when thrust out, by guards E, secured to the boat or vessel over and around the Openings through which the displacement chambers pass, it being understood that the said guards are perforated or otherwise open for the entry of water into them.

The motive power employed may be electricity, compressed air, or other powersuitable for use under water.

In some cases it may be desired to form an egress and ingress opening in the boat or vessel, whereby a diver can leave the same and return thereto while the boat or vessel is submerged. This we effect by means of a cham ber furnished with aninnerand an outer watertightdoor,somewhatlikethe arrangement used for the introduction and withdrawal of workmen to and from the high-pressure pneumatic caissons now employed in the construction of the piers of bridges and in other submarine operations, but furnished with proper conneclions for the airpipes for the supply of air to the diver while he is absent from the boat or vessel. The method of operating with this device is as follows: The outer door next the sea being shut, the inner one is opened, and the diver passes from the interior of the boat or vessel into the chamber, and his helmet is connected by a suitable length of tube with the airsupply pipe, which passes water-tight through some part of the chamber, and is connected to the air-pumps or other source of compressed air. The inner water-tight door is then closed and water admit-ted from the outside, so as to fill the chamber containing the diver. The outer door is then opened, and the diver can pass out of the boat or vessel in order to fix a torpedo or perform any other operation required, after which he re-enters the chamber, the outer door is closed, and the water run out from the chamberinto the bilge orinto another receptacle, from whence it may be pumped out Into the sea. The inner door isthen opened,

1. In a submarine boat or vessel, the combination, with water-tight openings in its sides or other parts of the structure, of watertight displacement-chambers moving inward and outward through such openings, and means, substantially as described, for operating and controlling said displacement-chamhers, whereby the buoyancy of said boat or vessel may be increased or decreased at pleasure, substantially as hereinbefore described.

2. In a submarine boat or vessel, the combination, with recesses therein, oft-he displacement-chambers moving in the same, screw threaded shafts turning in suitable bearings, the screw-threads on said shafts taking into screw-threads formed in the inner ends ofsaid displacementchambers, and a wheel for turning said shaft for the purpose of forcing said chambers inward or outward, substantially as set forth.

3. In a submarine boat or vessel, the com bination, with recesses therein, of the displacement-chambers moving in the same, provided with screw-tapped recessesin their inner ends, a right-and-left-screw-threaded shaft turning in suitable bearings, the threads on said shaft taking into the threads of said screwtapped recesses, and means for turning said shaft, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination, with the displacementchambers of a submarine boat or vessel and the recesses in which they move, of guards arranged on and attached to the outside of said vessel, for the purpose of protecting said displacementchambers,substantiall y as set forth.

' ANDREW CAMPBELL.

JAMES ASH. \Vitnesses:

STEPHEN EDWARD GUNYON,

115 Cannon Street, London. WILLIAM ANDERSON SMITH,

23 Furleiglz ltoad, London, N.

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