The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-11 00:00:00

EXPERIMENTS WITH LIFE PRE-

SERVERS.
A series of highly interesting experiments were
yesterday made upon the Serpentine in Hyde Park,
in the presence of several of the Commissioners
of Woods and Forests, and an immense assemblage
of persons, some of whom were well known as taking
a deep interest in nautical matters. The experiments.
were made for the purpose of testing the efficiency of
a recent invention, which has received the name of
the " Nautilus Life Preserver." The first test ap-
plied was that of attaching "the tubes" to a common-
sized boat, and withdrawing a number of plugs from
the bottom and sides, leaving the boat to fill with
water. Nothwithstanding this great weight and
that of six persons who were on board at the
same time, the boat still preserved its buoyancy,
and was rowed for a considerable period round the
water, all efforts to attempt to capsize or sink the
boat appearing perfectly futile. A number of the
air tubes were then linked together in an incredibly
short space of time, for the purpose of forming a raft,
which sustained the weight of as many persons as
could possibly crowd themselves upon it, and at the
same time was easily managed. The " Nautilus
Life Preserver" was then applied to several persons,
armed with which they leaped into the water, and
were, without the slightest exertion on their parts,
sustained breast high in the water; one of these belts
was of sufficient power tobear the weight of three persons
in the water. The extreme portability of the article
in 'question must be a great desideratum, it being
capable of being compressed into a space not larger
than an ordinary-sized circular snuff-box, and could be
carried with perfect ease in the pocket. The celerity,
also, with which it can be made ready for use must
tend to enhance considerably the merits of the in-
vention ; for while other inventions tending to pre-
serve life from drowning necessarily require a consi-
derable time for the purpose of their being properly
adjusted to the person, by means of numerous straps
and buckles, and some indeed requiring to be inflated
previous to use by considerable exerticn of the
lungs, the whole period required for pre-
paring and adapting this for use does not
exceed four seconds. By means of a spring the belt
is caused to elongate itself to the required dimensions,
and a small valve at the top being pressed down
causes the interior immediately to fill with atmospheric
air. The tube thus filled is then drawn round the
body, the two ends secured by means of a spring
clasp, and thus equipped the wearer may float about
at his leisure, fearless and careless of the watery
element. The invention appears to us a highly use
ful one, and one that if generally adopted would have
the effect of saving numbers of lives, and of mitigat-
ing to an incalculable extent those horrors attendant
upon shipwrecks, the accounts of which are so fre-
quently brought before the public.

RAILWAY RETURNS
RAILWAY Taapric.—The following are the Total Receipts of Rail
ways for the past week—that is to say, up to the date to which the
respective returns are made, together with the receipts of the same
week in the previous year :

Last
week.

gi )4 •
.9.
45>.