SEVERAL IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENTS ON AN APPARATUS FORMERLY INVENTED BY ME FOR PRESERVING THE LIVES OF MARINERS AND OTHERS IN CASES OF SHIPWRECK, AND IN ALL OTHER SITUATIONS AT SEA OR ELSEWHERE, IN WHICH PEOPLE ARE IN ANY MANNER EXPOSED TO THE DANGER OF DROWNING, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS WILL RENDER THE SAID APPARATUS MORE PERFECT, USEFUL, AND CONVENIENT FOR THE PURPOSE IT WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED TO ANSWER
Year: 1790

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WILKINSON, of the Parish of Woodford, in the County of Essex, Doctor in
Physic, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the
Thirteenth day of March, in the thirtieth year of His reign, give and grant
unto me, the said John Wilkinson, His especial licence that I, the said
John Wilkinson, during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "SEVERAL IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENTS
ON AN APPARATUS FORMERLY INVENTED BY ME FOR PRESERVING THE LIVES OF
MARINERS AND OTHERS IN CASES OF SHIPWRECK, AND IN ALL OTHER SITUATIONS AT
SEA OR ELSEWHERE, IN WHICH PEOPLE ARE IN ANY MANNER EXPOSED TO THE DANGER
OF DROWNING, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS WILL RENDER THE SAID APPARATUS MORE
PERFECT, USEFUL, AND CONVENIENT FOR THE PURPOSE IT WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED
TO ANSWER;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging
me, the said John Wilkinson, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within one calendar month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Wilkinson, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following (that is to say):-
A jacket made with or without sleeves occasionally, and of two folds of cloth
of any convenient sort; between which are inclosed pieces of cork of such shapes
and so placed as to give it all the most convenient and easy flexibility neces-
sary for the action and ease of the wearer; to which is likewise added a casque
or helmet, so accommodated with cork as to fortify and protect the head of the
wearer against. blows. and injuries from floating pieces of wreck, and the
dashing against rocks, to which men are subject in shipwreck; to this is also
added occasionally (to give a greater degree of bouyancy to the wearer) a zone
or belt of cork and cloth, so formed and contrived that by putting it on round
the jacket it will enable the wearer to float in the water either in a vertical
posture with his arms. and breast above the surface of the water at liberty,
or horizontally with only his head upon the surface of the water, as he may
chuse, or his exigencies. may require, which is to, be, performed by only the
simple act of turning it; the thick edge being turned uppermost when he
wishes the posture of a swimmer, the thinner edge upwards when he chuses to
float perpendicularly in.a. position the best adapted for any active exertions or
any sort of work, he. may, find.needful... This apparatus is also to be accom-
modated with suitable attachments or ligatures,, which may keep the wearer in
a certain, safe, and easy position, in which his security cannot be lost or altered,
or its good effects. frustrated by any violent agitations of the sea,. in such
emergencies;, it is likewise contrived to lodge a certain quantity of cork in the
trowsers of the wearer occasionally, in such manner as without increase of
inconveniency to give a. considerable degree of additional buoyancy, by which
addition, he is enabled to carry with him a considerable quantity of money or
other valuable or useful articles without diminishing his own personal
security.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wilkinson; have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of April,. One, thousand seven hundred
JN WILKINSON. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the said Eighth day of April, in
the year above written, the aforesaid John Wilkinson came before our Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.
Inrolled the said Eighth day of April, in the year above mentioned.