IMPROVEMENTS IN FOLDING LIFE RAFTS
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Frederick Redfern at the:
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th July 1883. Communicated:
to him from abroad by Edwin Albert Hayes a person resident at New York in
the United States of America
.
GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN of the General Patent Office No. 4 South Street'
Finsbury in the county of Middlesex, Patent Agent "IMPROVEMENTS IN FOLDING
LIFE RAFTS [communicated to him from abroad by Edwin Albert Hayes a person
resident at New York in the United States of America]
"
This invention relates to folding life rafts adapted to be closed or folded up for
convenience in transportation, and also adapted, upon being distended, to present a
large floating surface and to that end it consists in the use of two or more floats or
buoys, constructed preferably of a series of air chambers or compartments of tubular
or cylindrical shape formed by the use of inflated cushions of air and watertight
material such as rubber, bladder, or even light metal; in the use of devices adapted
to connect the same together; in the combination with the same of a metallic floati
provided with devices suitable for the storage and distribution of oil, and in various
other minor particulars hereinafter described.
In constructing the float a core is first made consisting of a number of air
cushions or compartments running longitudinally and placed and attached end to
end the whole being bound together so as to form, as it were, a strand or cable.
As many of these strands are then bound together as may be necessary to make
the core of the desired diameter. After carefully filling all the interstices with
granular cork or other buoyant material a chain or strand formed of a series of
similar air cushions is wound helically around the core thus forming an annular
series of air cushions or compartments. Upon the layer thus formed is attached
another layer of longitudinal air cushions and then an annular series and so on
until the float becomes of the required size. All the interstices may now be care-
fully filled with granular cork after which the whole is covered or enveloped with
a covering of air and watertight material such as canvas, leather or the like.
The extreme ends of the floats are provided with air cocks attached to the cover
and adapted to allow the same to be put under certain atmospheric pressure and
the cover and float to be distended thereby to their fullest extent, and also adapted
to permanently confine the air so introduced within the floats.
At the extremities of the floats are placed removeable metallic guarding shields,
the ends of which are provided with apertures through which protrude the before
mentioned cocks.
If
By means of the construction of parts shewn and described a buoy possessing a
maximum of buoyancy together with a minimum of weight may be obtained,
The construction of the float may however be varied and a modification of*the*

page_text: invention consists in the use with the other parts described of a buoy consisting
only of the canvas jacket and cork filling.
The floats are preferably made of cylindrical form ordinarily of about sixteen
inches in diameter with cone shaped ends, the total length of the floats being about
. sixteen feet. On either or both sides of, the floats are longitudinal, lateral strips of
wood which guards serve to strengthen and protect the buoy, and which may be
rigidly attached to the sides of the float by marlin or any equivalent material.
The cone shaped metallic guarding shields which may be constructed so as to be
removeable at will cover the said extremities of the floats as already described and
also extend for a distance up the cones of the floats, and then branching off in two
arms join the lateral protecting strips on either of both sides and may be attached
to the same by marlin or other suitable material.
A hollow cylindrical bolt provided with a screw thread upon its exterior surface
is placed near each end of the floats and runs through the longitudinal axis of the
floats in a vertical direction, and is secured thereto by thumb screw nuts placed
above and below the floats.""
Ordinarily two hollow vertical bolts are used for each float which bolts also
serve to hold in position two longitudinal parallel flat bars or boards one of which.
is placed above and one below each float and both of which are rigidly attached to
the float by means of the aforesaid vertical, hollow bolts and thumb screw nuts.
In constructing the sectional and folding life raft two floats constructed as
described are ordinarily attached together preferably by means of two pairs of
folding ties hinged or pivotted together at their inner ends at their longitudinal
centres, the other or outer ends being attached respectively to the two floats by
means of the vertical hollow bolts and thumbscrew nuts aforesaid, one pair of the
folding ties being placed near each end of the buoys.
'
The points where each pair of folding cross ties are pivotted together by means
of vertical hollow bolts and nuts similar to those already described are connected
by a flat horizontal bar, or board running in a longitudinal direction which is termed
a top bracing board, which board is thus attached at each end with a pair of folding.
cross ties. The bracing board serves to steady the cross ties and to cause them to
act uniformly when folding or distending the raft, and a duplicate arrangement of
parts consisting of cross ties and a bracing board (similar to those at the top or
upper surface of; the raft) is also placed upon the under or lower face of the raft,
which acting in a similar manner to and in unison with the first described cross
ties and bracing board, serve to steady and strengthen the raft.
Between the upper and lower bracing boards and connected with the same by the
common bolts and nuts is placed a secondary buoy consisting preferably of metallic
air tight chambers and provided with an interior isolated longitudinal watertight
compartment or tank which may be of any approved size and which may be
connected with two longitudinal tubes or pipes provided with a longitudinal series
of perforations by means of two transverse tubes or conduits each provided with
two cocks. The tank may be supplied with oil and kept in a filled condition by
means of the first mentioned cocks but upon launching the raft in a stormy sea the
tank may be gradually emptied and the, oil caused to trickle through the perfora-
tions in longitudinal pipes by means of, the opened cocks in connecting tubes
thereby becoming slowly distributed upon the surface of the water and thus serving
to mitigate for a long period the violence of the waves and enabling the raft to be
manipulated, even in a violent storm, without loss of life.
.
A modification of the invention consists in the combination of the oil tank with
the perforated pipes placed along the exterior surfaces of vessels, without the use
of any intermediate cocks, in which case the tank may be kept normally empty,
and only filled at the time the distribution of oil is required.
The other cocks mentioned serve for the purpose of cleaning the longitudinal
perforated pipes and for removing any dirt from the perforations therein by means
of the use in connection with the same of any force pump or, other apparatus' by
which air, water or steam may be forced through the perforations of the longi-

page_text: tudinal pipes and which apparatus may also be used if desired to spray the oil a
distance from the buoy.
The space in the interior of the chamber of the float between the tank and the
sides of the float may be divided into compartments which may be utilized for the
storage of water, provisions and the like which may be handled by means of
manholes provided with airtight heads, placed at various distances along the top
and bottom of the float.
Oil tanks similar to the one described may also be placed in or upon the exterior
floats of the raft and may also be used in connection with perforated pipes similar
to those described, running in a longitudinal direction along the exterior of the
sides of the buoys and placed under the lateral guards and in fact the system of
the storage of oil in tanks and the distribution of the same by means of connecting
tubes and perforated pipes may be applied also to any vessel adapted to float upon
water.
The pair of folding cross ties at the ends of the floats may be of such length in
relation to the other parts of the improvements that when they are placed in line
with each other the floats will be distended the proper or desired distance apart.
The upper bracing board and the floats on each side may also be connected in
addition to the pair of primary distensible cross-ties already described, by a
secondary series of folding cross ties also hinged at their longitudinal centres, and
pivotted or otherwise attached each side respectively to the bracing board and to
the buoys, and running parallel to and placed between (but preferably smaller than)
the primary folding cross ties care being taken to make any secondary folding
cross tie removeable that may pass over any manhole in the central metallic float.
In order to manipulate the raft as for example for the purpose of distending it
or of folding it together when open, it only becomes necessary to loosen the thumb-
screw nuts in which case the vertical hollow bolts serve as pivot joints for the
folding cross ties and bracing boards as and in the manner described.
A folding or hinged dash board may be placed between the exterior floats of the
raft when distended and may be attached by bolts to the bracing boards. This
dash board which also serves to stiffen the distended life raft may when not
required for use be folded up and strapped upon one of the floats.
A rectangular sheet of canvas or equivalent material may be placed over the
folding cross ties and attached each side to one of the exterior floats in order to
serve as a floating deck for the raft when extended and may be secured in position
by being attached to the floats by means of snap hooks, placed along or near the
lateral longitudinal strips or the horizontal flat boards and this canvas sheet may
also serve as a covering for the raft when closed or folded up.
The vertical hollow bolts also serve as receptacles for masts which may be fitted
to the interior cylindrical openings of the bolts, thereby being rigidly held in an
upright position.
Rowlocks may be inserted in the horizontal flat boards and life lines may be
also attached to the outside pair of longitudinal lateral strips in the manner
customary in rafts of this description.
In cases where it may be deemed desirable to construct a larger raft, a number of
rafts or sections (constructed as described) may be attached together and to that
end each section or raft is provided with what is termed a swivel connecting board
one end of which is pivotted and secured to the horizontal flat board by the vertical.
bolt and thumbscrew nut described, the other end being free and being provided
with a hole or opening by which it may be attached in a similar manner to an
adjacent raft or section.