IMPROVEMENTS IN CAULKING SHIPS, BOATS, AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SARAH
COOTE, of Clifton, near Bristol, in the County of Gloucester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Sarah Coote, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Sarah Coote, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Sarah Coote, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CAULKING SHIPS, BOATS, AND OTHER VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Sarah Coote, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner. the same is to be
performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Sarah Coote, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, that is to say:-
Having for a long time considered that the present method of caulking
ships, boats, and other floating vessels of every description which are employed
to traverse the ocean, rivers, canals, and other waters, is not sufficiently secure
for the welfare of the crew, passengers, and cargo, I determined to study with
attention the various defects of the system, with a view to its efficient improve-
ment, and I have come to the conclusion that there was room for great
improvement, which I effected by substituting a different material to that at
present in use, and prepared in a more effectual manner, for resisting the
action of the water by producing a greater hold or retention as a binding
principle wherever used, whether the vessel, boat, &c. be made of wood or any
kind of metal, or wherever called upon to ply, as in some waters they are
much exposed to injury, which I am convinced the method I shall point
out will prevent, and be found so superior for its utility and efficacy as to be
generally adopted. But there is another important point which will be highly
satisfactory, which is, that the materials I shall recommend are the produce of
our own country, and will be a boon to the agriculturist, as in the case of war
there will be no necessity for our being dependant on foreign supplies.
My improvements in caulking vessels consist of several variations. I entirely
discard the use of flax or hemp, which are of a harsh and thready nature, and
even when saturated with tar a binding effect will not be produced, for the
materials may be entirely separated. The plan I recommend is, to take fleece
wool, shorn without washing, when it can be had in that state; this is to be
well pulled by picking, or any other operation which will have the effect of
separating the fibres, and which can be done expeditiously by women and
children, near whom is to be placed a large shallow tub. Within this tub a
strainer, made of netting, wire, or wood, is to be firmly fixed to a hoop or rim
only, about one inch within the tub or cask. There must be bars across, and
feet or short legs about six inches attached to this straining frame to keep it
sufficiently high to affix a spigot and faucet into the tub. When a sufficient
quantity of wool has been deposited in the tub it is to be filled with a sufficient
quantity of thin white lead paint, and then the wool and paint are to be stirred
about with a proper fork made for the purpose. After all this is properly done,
and the superabundant liquor drawn off by the spigot and faucet which is
fixed in the tub below the straining frame, the saturated wool may be lifted
from the tub by a hooked instrument, and put into buckets for use. A pair of

page_text: crincled plyers may be necessary to take it out of the buckets. On its applica-
tion the men should wash their hands in spirits of turpentine, which may be
thrown into the paint tub.
What I claim as my Invention under the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the employment of wool or hair, saturated with paint or pigment,
for caulking ships or other vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sarah Coote, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
year of our