IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SAVING LIFE at Sea
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby, of 22, Cam-
berwell Green, in the County of Surrey, Goldsmith, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SAVING LIFE at Sea.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas George Fon-
nereau Dolby at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 7th February 1873.
I, THOMAS GEORGE FONNEREAU DOLBY, of 22, Camberwell Green, in
the County of Surrey, Goldsmith, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SAVING LIFE AT SEA,"
to be as follows:-
The object of my
Invention is to provide every emigrant or passenger
with a life saving apparatus at small cost, and one which shall always
be at hand and readily available in cases of emergency.
According to existing regulations every emigrant provides himself
These water bottles are
among other articles with a water bottle:
generally constructed of tin and of oval form:

page_text: Now my Invention consists in constructing bottles in such manner
that they can on emergency be readily fitted to the body so as being
buoyant and of sufficient size to support the wearer in the water. For
this purpose I make the bottles with one side concave or flat so as to fit
upon the chest without concentrating the pressure in the middle, as the
ordinary convex shape would do, while the other side or any convenient
parts of the bottle have a loop or loops or equivalent devices soldered or
otherwise attached thereto for the purpose of receiving straps or bands
which serve for securing the bottle to the body.
The bottles being articles of daily use on board ship are sure to be at
hand or readily available on emergency and every emigrant has thus the
means of supporting him in the water in case of accident, while the
life saving apparatus thus provided is obtained without the necessity of
manufacturing a separate article for the purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 7th August 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GEORGE FONNEREAU DOLBY, of 22, Camberwell Green, in the County
of Surrey, Goldsmith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby,
Her special licence that I, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR
SAVING LIFE AT SEA," upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the

page_text: The accompanying Drawings represent one of my water bottle life-
buoys.

page_text: Figures 1 and 2 are elevations of the two sides; Figure 3 is an end
elevation; and Figure 4 a plan or top view.
It will be, seen that the side a is concave so as to fit upon the chest
without concentrating the pressure. At the other side 6 two loops c, c,
are soldered to the bottle to receive a strap or band d, which when the
apparatus is used as a life-buoy serves to secure the bottle to the body.
e is a loop handle, and the neck for ingress and egress of water or
other liquid. The strap d should be long enough to pass about twice
round the bottle; on passing it round the first time the end should be
slipped through the buckle f, the free end should then be passed round
a.second time or as far as it will go and be secured by slightly stitching
it to the first fold at g.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
THOMAS GEORGE FONNEREAU DOLBY. ..(L.S.).