Motion compensating ship personnel transfer gangway - GIF

[Rancher]

I was a boat captain in the Gulf of Mexico oil field and I would've killed for something like that on my vessel... LOL. At 200 feet long and 500 tons loaded, it would've had to be a bit bigger I suppose. But, it would've been appreciated. I weathered a direct hit from Tropical Storm Bill (or maybe it was Lily) offshore. I wonder how a system like that would've handled it? I don't think it could've possibly made it worse.

[Jon]

[Frank S]

way too many guys in the hold just standing around like a bunch of dullards.
Only 1 tag line is never a good recipe

[Jon]

The Bessemer Saloon Steamship, a gimbaled steamship invented by Henry Bessemer, a prolific (100+ patents) inventor in 1868. Bessemer invented this type of ship to combat his seasickness. It worked nicely in model form, but was never built fullsize.

Few persons have suffered more severely than I have from sea sickness, and on a return voyage from Calais to Dover in the year 1868, the illness commencing at sea continued with great severity during my journey by rail to London, and for twelve hours after my arrival there. My doctor saw with apprehension the state I was in. He remained with me throughout the whole night, and eventually found it necessary to administer small doses of prussic acid, which gradually produced the desired effect, and I slowly recovered from this severe attack. My attention thus became forcibly directed to the causes of this painful malady, which I, in common with most other persons, attributed to the diaphragm being subjected to the sudden motions of the ship. Hence, as a natural sequence, its cure appeared only to require that some mechanical means should be devised whereby that part of the ship occupied by passengers should be so far isolated as to prevent it from partaking of the general rolling and pitching motions. In this way I entered, almost without knowing it, into an investigation of the subject; and gradually, as my ideas were developed, I determined to make a model vessel, small enough to be placed on a table, and to which the usual pitching motion of a ship was imparted by clockwork.

On this model was arranged a suspended cabin, supported on separate axes, placed at right angles to each other. I obtained a patent in December, 1869, for this invention, which is represented in two sectional engravings, Figs. 81 and 82, on Plate XXXVII.

[Toolmaker51]

I'm struck with a common reaction to Victorian Era patents, with year 1868, era now well underway. Regardless mechanical aspects, physical size, even feasibility; look at detail whose only function is to please the eye.
Key to this, with 1841 British colonization of Hong Kong, influenced addition of high detail to all manner of product, typified by Oriental design. This doesn't copy the figures as much as the concept, but point was to decorate in so much detail you figuratively never saw the same thing twice. It carried over into everything imaginable; a men's razor, cornice brackets of a roof overhang, hand tools, women's dress, drafting tables, rail dining cars, locomotives, you name it.
They may not realize it, also the clear foundation for current 'steam-punk' movement. Where a rusty iron-legged table all of a sudden goes for $600...Can't imagine clamor if this ship was built and now it's parts were available!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_decorative_arts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era

[Frank S]

A system like the Bessemer just like anything else depends on having the bulk of the mass below the pivot so the center of gravity is low.
Note in his first design there was a ballast suspended below the ballroom pod. in the last photo it appears that the pivot is much higher up with heavy beams serving as the main structure and ballast for the pod. hydraulic cylinders were most likely incorporated to serve as dampeners for those times when the patrons might all move from side to side suddenly.
Variations of the patents have been incorporated into the design of many skyscrapers to serve as earthquake dampeners even though some have been located in upper floors or near the roof as a completely free floating mass the resting mass absorbs much of the kinetic energy smoothing out the violent shaking

[marksbug]

must be for earth quake prone yards......sorry I just couldn't rezist it.

[PJs]

The drawings are pretty spectacular in the fashion of the day and personally enjoy the detail and appreciate the hand work of them. My question of the design is how do they compensate for bow to stern in big seas? Waves of magnitude can be pretty shear and if the Capt. doesn't get it oriented right...oops, regardless of port and starboard compensation (which look to be about 15° in either directions).

PJ

[mklotz]

Yes, a strong pitching motion could severely damage the suports of the passenger bearing cage and, if they broke, the whole ship would be in danger. Gimbal lock can be a terrible thing.

I think a better, and far simpler and cheaper, solution would be to suspend Mr. Bessemer in a bosun's chair hanging from a hook in the ceiling in a windowless cabin.

[Jon]

Another good example of a boat device that never made it past the model phase is Abraham Lincoln's patented invention: Buoying vessels over shoals.