Improvements in Portable Boats.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Jan., 1895-Accepted, 16th Feb., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Portable Boats.
I, HIRAM DOUGLAS LAYMAN, of Little Rock, in the County of Pulaski, and
State of Arkansas, United States of America, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to portable boats, and it has for its object to provide a
new and useful boat of this character that can be folded up or collapsed into a
small compass for being easily carried, while at the same time providing a perfectly
safe and easily controlled light boat that is especially adapted for hunting and
fishing purposes and also for pleasure.
With these and other objects in view which will readily appear as the nature of
the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction,
combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated
and claimed.
In the drawings
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portable boat constructed in accordance with
this invention.
Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view thereof.
Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the line - of Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a detail in perspective of a modified form of the boat.
Fig. 5 is a detail in perspective of one of the leggings or boots.
Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view on the line y-y of Fig. 5.
Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a tandem or series form of the boat.
Fig. 8 is a horizontal sectional view of the form of boat shown in Fig. 7.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates a tubular inflatable float
body of an oval or ovoid shape that is designed to be inflated with air for the
purpose of providing a body that will have sufficient buoyancy for floating on
water while at the same time being capable of being easily collapsed and folded
into a small compass for being transported.
The tubular inflatable oval float body 1, is made of flexible water tight material,
preferably rubber, and is provided inside of the same with a series of flexible
partitions 2, that divide the interior of the body into a number of air compartments 3,
with each of which connect an ordinary valved filling tube 4, providing means for
separately inflating and discharging the air from the compartments, and the
provision of a number of separate air compartments 3, renders the boat perfectly
safe, inasmuch as the puncture or impairment of one air compartment will not
affect the inflation of the other compartment.
.
The oval or ovoid shape of the float body 1, provides the body with a narrow
and a wide end, the narrow end forming the prow or point of the boat in order
to present as little resistance to the water as possible, while the wide end of the
body forms the stern end of the boat, and accommodates therein the seated portion.
f a person. By reason of the fact that the weight of the person seated within
the open body 1 is placed on the wide stern end thereof, such end of the body is
larger or of a greater diameter than the narrow prow end as clearly illustrated in
Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, thereby providing a construction of float body that
will easily sustain the weight of a person seated therein, while at the same time
maintaining a horizontal Hoating position on the water, and offering as little
resistance as possible to propulsion through the water.
The inner oval space of said float body is entirely open at the top to allow a person

page_text: to be seated therein, but is closed at the bottom by the flexible water tight bottom
piece 5. The flexible bottom piece 5, is preferably made of the same material as
the float body 1, and is joined at its edges to the bottom side of said float body by
water tight seams, and said bottom piece 5, provides a perfectly water tight bottom
for the float body, and bas extended therefrom the flexible water tight leggings or
boots 6 provided at their soles with the weights 7, that assist to hold the float
body correctly positioned in the water. The pair of leggings or boots 6, are
sufficiently long and of such a size as to easily accommodate the feet and legs of
a person seated within the float body, and arranged on top of the bottom piece 5,
in rear of the openings for the leggings or boots 6, is the inflatable cushion seat 8,
provided with a valved filling tube 9 and forming a soft seat for the person using
the boat. It is to be noted that the seat 8 is disposed within the wide stern end
of the continuous inflatable float body 1, in order that the weight of the person may
be placed on the said stern end of the body.
The water tight leggings or boots 6, extended from and below the bottom
piece 5, are perfectly flexible in order to allow the person in the boat the free use of
the legs to provide for the propulsion of the boat, and to secure this result each
legging or boot is provided on opposite sides and near the foot thereof with the
opposite feathering paddles 10. The paddles 10 consist of suitable lengths of
flexible material secured at their front edges to the sides of the leggings or boots,
and provided at their upper and lower ends with the triangularly-shaped folding
end flaps 11, that are also secured to the sides of the leggings or boots, and serve
to limit the opening of the paddles, while at the same time permitting the same to
close or feather against the sides of the leggings or boots. At their moving rear
edges the said feathering paddles 10, have attached thereto the limiting straps 12,
also connected to the leggings or boots to positively limit the opening of the
paddles 10 and to brace the same when full of water. It will be obvious that by
moving the leggings or boots 6 backward and forward the paddles 10, will
alternately catch the water and feather therein to provide for the propulsion of the
boat through the water.
The continuous tubular oval-shaped float body 1, has attached on the outside
thereof at the stern end the longitudinally disposed rudder plate 13, to the outer
end of which is connected the opposite strap portions 14, buckled at their front
ends as at 15, to the outside of the float body 1, on opposite sides of the rudder
plate, to provide means for rigidly holding the rudder properly positioned so that
the float body is prevented from spinning about in the water or from too easily
turning.
When used for hunting purposes, the body 1, of the boat is preferably provided
with an exterior series of keepers or loops 16, in which may be inserted a pole
or staff carrying a screen or cover to conceal the gunner from view, and the
other necessary appurtenances for gunning and fishing may be readily carried by
the boat.
Where the boat is used in rough water, the same has attached to the top edges
thereof, a break-water cape 17, made of flexible water-tight material and joined to
the upper edges of the float body by a water tight seam. The said break-water
cape 17 is adapted to encircle or cover the body of the person in the boat below
the arms, and attached to the upper edges of the cape to opposite sides thereof are
ordinary shoulder straps 18, and below said shoulder straps the said cape 17 is
encircled by a body strap 19 passed through the guide loops 20, on the cape and
adapted to be strapped to the body of the person in the boat, in order that such
In smooth
person may be entirely protected from the wash of the rough water.
water the cape 17 is not necessary for a break-water, and in lieu thereof the oval-
shaped float body 1, is provided at the top thereof with an inflatable breakwater
rim 21, of the same configuration as the body 1, and therefore following the
contour thereof to provide means for acting in the capacity of a breakwater or dam
to prevent the water from washing over the top of the float body inside of the same
upon the person seated therein,

page_text: The hereindescribed boat may not only be used in a single form as described,
but may be employed in a tandem or series form as shown in Figs. 7 and 8 of the
drawings, in which form the boat is employed principally for pleasure. In the
tandem or series form, a series of the tubular inflatable float bodies are joined
together longitudinally by watertight seams, and the float bodies in rear of the
foremost float body approximate as nearly as possible the shape of such foremost
body, but at the stern end all of the float bodies of the tandem or series form are
of a greater diameter than at their front ends as already described, for the purpose
of sustaining the weight of the person seated therein. The tandem or series
form of boat is provided within each float body with the leg openings 22 which
may open into either single leggings or boots for the reception of both legs, or into
a pair of leggings or boots as already described and in this form of the boat,
either the cape or rim breakwater may be employed and steering straps 23 may
be guided from the rudder along both sides of the boat up to the foremost body
where the same may conveniently be controlled by the person seated at the front of
the boat.
Changes in the form, proportion and the minor details of construction may be
resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages
of this invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. A boat having a continuous tubular inflatable oval-shaped body, substantially
as set forth.
2. A boat having an oval-shaped inflatable body, substantially as set forth.
3. A boat having a continuous tubular inflatable oval-shaped float body of a
greater diameter at the wide stern end than at the narrow prow end, substantially
as set forth.
4. In a boat, a continuous tubular inflatable body enclosing a central open
space, and a water-tight bottom piece attached to the bottom of said body and
provided with water-tight leggings or boots depending therefrom, substantially as
set forth.
5. In a boat, a tubular inflatable body of a greater diameter at its rear end than
at the front end a water-tight bottom piece enclosing the bottom of the central
open space of said body and having depending water-tight leggings or boots
extended below the same, and an inflatable cushion seat arranged on said bottom
piece within the wide end portion of said body, substantially as set forth.
6. In a boat, a tubular inflatable oval-shaped body of a greater diameter at its
rear end than at the narrow prow end, a water-tight bottom piece enclosing the
bottom of the central open space of the body and having depending water-tight
leggings or boots provided with weighted shoes, and an inflatable cushion seat
arranged on the bottom piece in rear of the legging or boot openings within the
wide end portion of the body, substantially as set forth.
7. In a boat, a tubular inflatable oval shaped body provided with a water-tight
bottom piece having a cushion seat and water-tight leggings or boots depending
from the same in front of said boots, a rudder attached to the rear end of said body,
and rudder straps connected to the said rudder and to the body at opposite sides
of the rudder, substantially as set forth.
8. In a boat, the combination of a tubular continuous inflatable float body
provided with a water-tight bottom piece having depending flexible leggings or
boots, opposite feathering paddles attached at their front edges to opposite sides of
said leggings or boots and provided at their upper and lower ends with triangularly
shaped folding end flaps also attached to the sides of the legs or boots, and limiting
straps attached to the leggings or boots and to the moving edges of said paddles,
substantially as set forth

page_text: 9. In a portable boat, a tubular inflatable body provided at the top with a
breakwater, substantially as set forth.
10. In a portable boat, a tubular inflatable body provided at the top with a
water-tight breakwater cape having shoulder straps and an encircling body strap
below the shoulder straps, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 5th day of January 1895.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.