IMPROVEMENTS IN COLLAPSIBLE BOATS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughboro' Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COLLAPSIBLE BOATS."-A communication.
Sealed the 5th March 1858, and dated the 3rd December 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bous-
field, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd December 1857.
I GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughboro' Park, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN COLLAPSIBLE BOATS," to be as follows:-
In order to construct a boat according to the principles of the Invention, I
make a model like that of any ordinary boat, but having one special peculiarity;
this peculiarity is that there shall be on the surface of the model four or more
straight lines, each of which departs from points at or very near the junction
of the keel with the stem and stern pieces, and then rises diagonally upwards
towards the centre of the boat until it reaches the gunwale or nearly so.
When the model is completed, its lines may be laid down on paper or on a
moulding floor in the usual manner. A boat is then built in sections in accord-
ance with these lines, there being at least two bow and two stern sections each
bounded by the keel, the stem or stern, the gunwales, and the straight lines
before-named, and at least two midship sections, each bounded by the straight
lines, the gunwale and the keel. The boat in its simplest form is therefore
composed of six sections, which are to be attached by proper hinges, and when

page_text: attached they will constitute a boat, that may either be collapsed for stowage
or expanded for use.
These sections and others that may be employed are to be made in any
convenient manner, of wood, of metal, or partly of either, or of framing
covered with waterproofed material, and have attachod to their upper edges,
where needed, portions of the gunwale of the boats. They may also have
attached to the centre or midship ones half of the keel of the boats, and to
the end sections half of the stein and stern pieces, but I prefer to make a
separate and distinct keel and stem and stern posts, and to hinge the sections
to them. Wherever there is a division, the parts are to be hinged together
by hinges of flexible material only, such as strong canvas, or sheets of india-
rubber, or stuff covered with india-rubber extending the whole length of the
divisions, or strong metallic hinges may be employed to aid the others, or may
be used alone, if the joints be provided with suitable packing to obviate
leakage; I prefer the former plan.
Such a boat will shut up into a small compass, but if flat on the floor and
wall-sided amidships, which is the best form for buoyancy and stability, it will
when closed together, until some portions of the gunwales meet, belly out
along the middle of the heights of the shut-up boat, thus taking up valuable
room. In order then to make a boat in the best form known to me, I make
up tho boat of eight sections, two at the bow, two at the stern, two amidships
of considerable size, and two smaller midship sections.
These smaller sections are hinged to the larger midship sections in such
manner that they may roll towards and away from a line passing through the
keel, and at their ends are grooved or have plates of metal attached, so as to
form a groove or pocket, which encloses a small portion of the ends nearest the
centres of the bow and stern sections, or this joint between the upper midships
and the bow and stern sections may be made by a loose piece of canvas, or
in any way that will permit the two edges to approach and recede from each
other, and yet have sufficiont union for strength, and to prevent leakage when
the edges come in contact, and the boat is opened ready for use.
As the boat is shut up its length on top increases, a proper hinge must
therefore be applied to the junction of either stem or storn with the keel, and
as it is expedient, if not absolutely necessary, to attain great strength when the
boat is rowed end on against any object, I attach firmly to the keel at its
extremities two brackets, against which the innerside of the stem and stern
will bear when the boat is open ready for use. In order to keep the stem
and stern in the same place as the keel, I attach metallic pieces to the stem
and stern, and let these pieces enter into proper sockets in the brackets...

page_text: The boat when opened ready for use may be held in that position by ordi-
nary thwarts resting in gains or notches in longitudinal ribbons nailed inside
the sections, or it may be held apart and strengthened at the same time by
diagonal braces reaching from gunwale to keel, and shored into place in any
proper manner; but I prefer to employ strong uprights morticed or otherwise
secured to the keel, having their upper surfaces united to each other, and to
the end brackets by a longitudinal strip, constituting with the keel a sort
of bridge frame through the boat. Brackets or a continuous line of brackets
are also attached to the inner side of the larger midship sections, and theso
brackets support a sort of shelf or side seat attached to the sections, this shelf
does not extend over the brackets cutirely, but the latter project so as to form
with the shelf a rabbet. To the longitudinal strip are hinged half thwarts,
having their outer ends united to each other by a longitudinal piece, which is
also hinged to the longitudinal strip. The exterior of the longitudinal piece
fits closely either to the inside of the boat or to the shelves when the boat is
open. This whole arrangement stiffens the boat sufficiently when open, occupies
no available space when it is closed, and forms the necessary thwarts and seats.
Boats constructed substantially as thus described may in various ways be
converted into life boats, one plan being to make the upper part of each
section hollow and air-tight, another to attach to the inside of the boat
either cork or air chambers of such shape and in such positions that they will
occupy spaces left between the sections when the boat is shut up as closely as
possible, and a third being the attachment of fenders of either air-tight tubing
or of cork in proper bags to the outside of the upper midship sections. This
latter plan seems to me the best when there is combined with such fenders
other fenders which are attached at one edge to the boats at or near its water
line. In order to prevent the boat from spreading too far apart when opened,
I attach check chains or jointed rods to any convenient part of the inner side
of the bow and stern, or larger midship sections, or both of them, and intend
at times to provide such rods with screw buckles, or some contrivance for
shortening their length after the boat is opened, and the thwarts in place,
thus making the whole perfectly firm and rigid. If boats thus constructed
be supported by ordinary falls attached to rings or eye bolts secured to the
stem and stern, the weight of the boats will open them sufficiently to enable
men to enter and complete the opening, fold the thwarts down into place, and
tighten up the check chains, fit the masts, ship the rudder, and get the boats
ready for use. This opening effect will be increased and rendered more
certain if the falls lead slightly towards each other. When it is desired to
stow the boat away, the best plan will be to hook falls on to spans extending

page_text: from gunwale to gunwale, and to hoist on them, after the fittings are removed
and the thwart frame raised up, the collapsing may then be completed by hand,
and gripes or lashings applied to keep all snug. The space occupied by the boat
when collapsed may be further decreased by modelling her with more than
four straight lines, and cutting the sections and hinging them along such lines,
which are to lead diagonally upwards from the same points of beginning (or
nearly so), but at different angles of inclination. The lower midship sections
may also be divided by lines parallel or nearly so to the lines dividing the
upper and lower midship sections, proper hinges, or hinges and packing being
applied at the lines of division. But every new joint will tend to make the
boat ricketty, and the space saved will not be materially increased when
compared with that saved by the eight section boats; and boats made of more
than eight sections thus divided will not differ in principle from the boats
herein described, being a mere extension of the principle already laid down of
modelling a boat with straight lines leading upwards, and centrewards from
points near the junction of stem or stern, and keel, and hinging sections of
such a boat along such lines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughboro' Park, Brixton, in the County of Surrey,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said George
Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 COLLAPSIBLE BOATS," a communication, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield,

page_text: my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my or
their or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 George Tomlinson Bousfield, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
In order to construct a boat according to the principles of the Invention, I
construct a model or lay down the lines of boats, having this peculiarity of
shape, videlicet, that, in a boat built in accordance with such lines or model,
there shall be at least four straight lines in her outer surface or contour, each
of which departs from a point at or near the meeting of the stem and stern
pieces with the keel, and thence rises diagonally upwards, and towards the
centre or midship section of the boat until it reaches nearly to the gunwale.
After the idea is once propounded it is easy to model a boat with such lines.
The upper terminations of these lines are to be united on each side of the
boat by other lines running parallel to the gunwale or nearly so, or to the
keel, and from the points of junction of these lines other lines are to be
drawn vertically upwards or nearly so, till they reach the gunwale. After a
model or lines in which to build a boat is made in accordance with these
directions, and having such lines laid down thereon, a boat in sections is to be
built in accordance with the model, there being by preference at least eight
sections bounded by the lines above described, and by the gunwale stem,
stern, and keel. These sections are then to be attached to each other, and to
the stem, stern post, and keel by proper hinges, and when thus attached
will constitute a boat capable of being expanded so as to have the shape and
appearance of an ordinary boat, or of being shut up so as to occupy a com-
paratively small space.
In the Drawings similar parts are referred to by the same letters in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the boat shut up ready for stowage; Figure
2 is a side elevation of the boat expanded ready for use; Figure 3 is a plan
or bird's-eye view of the same; Figure 4 is a cross section through the boat
as expanded ready for use; Figure 5 is a cross section through the boat shut
up; Figure 6 is a cross section through the boat partially opened out;
Figure 7 is a longitudinal section through the boat when expanded, ready for

page_text: use; Figure 8 is a top view or plan of the boat shut up for stownge; and,
Figures 9 and 10 are respectively a cross section, and a perspective view of a
metallic hinge for uniting the stem and stern posts with the ends of the keel.
By reference to the Drawings the four straight or nearly straight lines
extending upwards from the meeting points of the stem and stern posts, and
the keel will be seen at a, b, a, b; the lines parallel with the keel or nearly
so at b, b, and the lines extending to the gunwale are shewn dotted at b, c, b, c,
in Figure 2. Sections of a boat bounded by such lines, and by the gunwale,
kcel, stem and stern posts are now to be constructed in accordance with
the model, these sections being of boards, nailed upon timbers, or of iron
corrugated or plain, or of other metal, or of two thicknesses of boards
with their edges crossing one another at angles, with or without canvass
between the two thicknesses, or the sections may be made in any con-
venient way, so long as they are strong enough, are bounded substantially as
described, and conform with tolerable precision to the model determined upon
for the boat. A keel, and stem, and stern posts of proper shape and
dimensions are next to be got out, and attached together by hinges such as
c; 0. The various parts of the boat, sections, keel, stem, and stern post, are
now to be hinged together by proper hinges, so that each part will occupy the
relative position shewn in the Drawings. These hinges may be made of metal
and the meeting edges may have pieces of india-rubber or leather or cushions
attached to them, so that the joints shall be water-tight when the boat is
expanded; but the plan preferred is to unite the parts by strips of canvas or
canvas in several thicknesses, interlaid with vulcanized india-rubber, the edges
of these strips being attached to the sections by nailing or screwing or rivetting
on battens over the strips. The strips must be of suflicient width to admit of
the free turning of the various parts upon each other. The meeting edges
of the sections along the lines b, c, b, c, will separate to some distance when
the boat is collapsed, these lines, moreover, will be out of water when the boat
is loaded; I therefore do not deem it necessary to hinge the sections along
these lines, but in licu thereof I provide pieces of sheet metal such as are
shown at f, f, bent so that their section is U-shaped, and attach them by
rivets or otherwise in position, as shown in the Drawings to one of the sections.
A boat thus built may bo shut up into a small space, as may be seen by
reference to Figures 5 and 8, and when expanded will have the appearance
of an ordinary boat, and the full capacity for freight and passengers due to its
size and model. As an equivalent of this method of construction I intend at
times to divide the stem, keel, and stern posts longitudinally, and to attach
each half permanently to the sections they adjoin and then to hinge the halves

page_text: of the keel, stern post, and stem to each other, thus having but one longi-
tudinal joint instead of two, but I consider the mode first described as pre-
ferable.
If falls be hooked on to the stem and stern post of such a boat when
collapsed and hoisted on, the boat will open or tend to open, so that a crew
can get in and complete the expansion, and when in the water and opened she
may be closed up by hooking these same falls or tackles on to spans, one end
of each of which is attached to the gunwale, nearer the ends of the boat than
the location of the pieces f, f. A boat thus constructed may be fitted with
thwarts that will ship into sockets on her sides, or may have thwarts jointed
in the centre and hinged there and to the sides of the boat, so that the centre
of the thwarts may be raised upwards when the boat is collapsed; the plan.
preferred is, however, as follows:-I attach to the sides of the boat, supporting
them by proper knees or brackets, shelves or ledges such as g, g, and on the
keel of the boat I erect standards of wood or metal such as h, h, attached
firmly to the keel; I next procure a thwart frame or cross and side thwarts
substantially like k, k, this frame is divided longitudinally along its centre, and
is attached by hinges, as shewn in the Drawings, to the standards h, h, the
whole construction being such that the thwarts may be turned down into
place for use when the boat is expanded, as shewn in Figures 3, 4, and 7, or
may be raised out of the way, as in Figures 5 and 8. This frame fitting
close either to the ledges or the sides of the boat, stiffens ber materially when
expanded ready for use, and may be held down by spring catches, as shewn at
In order to prevent the boat from being spread too widely apart, I
attach to the inside of opposite sections chains or rods of metal linked together,,
such as shewn at n, n, and of such length that they will, when the boat is open,
extend in a straight line from one side to the other; and I intend at times to
introduce in these chains as part of thein screw buckles, by means of which
their length can be altered, intending by such contrivances to compress the
sides against the thwart frame when the boat is expanded, so as to increase
the stiffness of the whole, and meaning to slacken these buckles so as to
increase the length of the chains before the boat is collapsed.
m, m.
The boat may be converted into a life boat in various ways; either by
making the sections hollow or by attaching to her inside or outside air
chambers or cork in sheets, or cork or other light material enclosed in bags.
The plan preferred is to provide bags filled with cork, substantially the same
in section, as shewn at o, o, in Figures 4, 5, and 6, and to attach such bags by
one edge to the sides of the boat, at or near the water line. When the boat
is shut up these bags will occupy the position shewn in Figure 5, and take

page_text: up no useful space; when the boat is expanded they are to be turned up on
their lines of attachment as a hinge, so as to occupy the position shown in
Figure 4, being secured there by lanyards, attached at one end to the bag of
cork and secured at the other to cleats or other proper contrivances on the
inside of the boats. These bags of canvas enclosing cork will in this latter
position serve as fenders, also as buoyants, and further, will if the lanyards bo
drawn taut, tend to stiffen the whole fabric. The standards supporting the
thwart frame at the two ends of the boat are of the best form when shaped
as shewn in Figure 7, so as to fit the inside of the steru closely when the
boat is expanded, and they may be provided with sockets into which tongues
attached to the stern post and stem fit; these tongues must be arcs of circles
and will slide into and out of the sockets as the boat is expanded or collapsed.
The principle on which this boat is built is susceptible of modification; as,
for instance, several straight lines may be provided for in the original mode!
leading upwards at various angles, as do the lines a, b, a, b, and there may be
divisions and binges along such lines, and there may be two or three longi-
tudinal divisions along lines parallel or nearly so to b, b. The boat will, when
thus made, occupy less room when shut up, but will be less stifl' when expanded,
as there will be more joints and more sections.
The Invention claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is a
collapsible boat having the appearance of an ordinary boat, and made up of
sections shaped, constructed, and attached to each other substantially in the
manner described; and also a thwart frame constructed, hinged, and operating
substantially as herein-beforo specified, in combination with a sectional boat
constructed substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
W. S. HARRISON,
New Court,
St. Swithin's Lane.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (Ls.)