IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James
London, Mariner, for the
COMPASSES."
Rahill, of the Minories, in the City of
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID
Sealed the 11th March 1864, and dated the 16th September 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Rahill at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
September 1863.
I, JAMES RAHILL, of the Minories, in the City of London, Mariner, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID
COMPASSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in carrying up two or more hollow tubes from the
rim of the compass bowl or from other convenient part thereof, and in uniting
them to a hollow head furnished at top with a screw or other stopper; com-
munication for liquid is established between the bowl and head, and the head
being on a higher level than the bowl any air that might by any means be
present would rise to the top of the head. The head also affords a ready
means of filling the bowl. In some cases I do not unite the arms to the head,
but carry them up separately, and curve them over the compass so as not to
impede the full view of the card. Again, in overhead compasses, that is, those

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Rahill in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th March 1864..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
RAHILL, of the Minories, in the City of London, Mariner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Rahill, Her special licence that I, the said James Rahill, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
'Rahill, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LIQUID COMPASSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Rahill, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Rahill, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in carrying up two or more hollow tubes a, a, from
the rim of the compass bowl b, or from other convenient part thereof, and
in uniting them to a hollow head c, furnished at top with a screw or other
stopper. Communication for liquid is established between the bowl and head,
and the head being on a higher level than the bowl, any air that might by any
means be present would rise to the top of the head. The head also affords a

page_text: ready means of filling the bowl. In some cases I do not unite the arms to
the head, but carry them up separately and curve them over the compass so
as not to impede the full view of the card. Again, in overhead compasses,
that is, those in which the card is seen from below, I sometimes use a single
central tube carried up from the top or upper part of the bowl.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing
liquid compasses substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Rahill, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
J. RAHILL. (L.S.)