The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-05-31 00:00:00

LIFE•SAVING INVENTIONS.

The constantly occurring disasters on rivers and seas
point to the necessity of large and small vessels being
provided with a ready means of saving life. Captain
Warren, whose practical inventions in regard to cook-
ing apparatus have been of great direct benefit for
many years past, and who has stimulated invention in
others in that direction, lately demonstrated at
the St. George's swimming baths, Belgravia,
that every person—man, woman, or child—can
be secured from the dangers of drowning by an
appliance the cost of which can be reckoned
in pence, and which is so easy of carriage as
to form the lining of a Turkish fez, a tall hat, a wide-
awake or deerstalker, or any other kind of head c3ver-
ing. The apparatus sufficient to save an adult's life
on the water will weigh probably an ounce, and a
young man, to show that a soldier crossing a stream
need not do 80 in danger of such a calamity as that which
recently befell our troops, crossed the bath again and
again with a rifle in his hand, weighed down with his
clothes, but fully and thoroughly supported. The
"life saver "in this case was about the size of a sheep's
bladder. The small apparatus Is made of different
material, in some cases of bladders, with a small and
ingeniously contrived valve, about equal in weight to a
halfpenny. The covering can be filled with wind in a
moment by pressing the valve against the teeth and
blowing through it, and the wind itself closes the
valve There is no screw to be unfastened but it is
all in readiness. Fitted as the lining of a hat, or fez, or
helmet the valve can take the place of the ventilating
hole ready to be filled in a moment. A person walk.
ing on the Thames Embankment with a hat or cap
thus fitted could ha a moment throw to a drowning
person what might prove to be a life raft. In a lady's
reticule the valve would be inside, taking up not so
much space as a cebnut, and the bladder or air-proof
lining to which it is fitted could be as readily filled,
lignt straps to the reticule or straps combined in the
handles being all that would be requisite to float a
woman on the water at a moment's" notice. For
anglers, boatingmen, and canoeists the contrivance
would be valuable, and all who travel by water to sea-
side places can acquire the sense of security without
having to encumber their luggage with bulky articles
designed for the same purpose.
Captain Warren has not confined his attention to
these articles, which the public may provide for them-
selves, but has designed buoys which can be so built in
to the lower part of the mast or funnel of ordinary
ships, or to the turret of a man of-war, as not to take
away from the deck space, while the whole can be
released in a moment, giving a large number of buoys,
each capable of supporting two men. The buoys wben
built ia would add only 9in. to the diameter of a
mast or turret, and would give the means at once of
supporting 350 men in the water. The necessity of
attention to this matter is to be seen in the slight
means presented on board ships for saving life. Thus,
it is stated that our Indian troopships, carrying 1,300
people, have only 35 lifebelts. he Times.