IMPROVED APPLIANCES FOR RELIEVING LIFEBOATS FROM WATER
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Sinclair Robertson, of The Limes, Hale,
near Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Sinclair
Robertson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 29th May 1873.
I, GEORGE SINCLAIR ROBERTSON, of The Limes, Hale, near Liverpool,
in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED APPLIANCES FOR RELIEVING LIFEBOATS FROM WATER,"
to be as follows:-
This consists in constructing each lifeboat with two or more transverse
partitions extending from side to side of the boat, and preferably placed
under the thwarts. The said partitions divide the boat into three or
more compartments, rise up to the level of the thwarts or to the gun-
wale, and are provided with valves so arranged that any water contained
in the compartments is, when acted upon by the motion of the boat, free

page_text: The water which flows into the retaining compartment or compart-
ments above-mentioned is discharged through relieving plugs, preferably
opening outwards instead of inwards, as at present. The said retaining
compartment or compartments may be provided with one or more
longitudinal partitions.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Sinclair Robertson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
SINCLAIR ROBERTSON, of The Limes, Hale, near Liverpool, in the County
of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth-ninth day of May 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 George Sinclair Robertson, Her special
license that I, the said George Sinclair Robertson, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Sinclair
Robertson, 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 APPLIANCES FOR RELIEVING LIFEBOATS FROM WATER," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Sinclair Robertson,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Sinclair Robertson, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement in writing, reference being
had to the accompanying Sheet of illustrative Drawings, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :—
This consists in constructing each lifeboat with two or more transverse
partitions extending from side to side of the boat, and preferably placed
under the thwarts. The said partitions divide the boat into three or
more compartments, rise up to the level of the thwarts or to the gun-
wale, and are provided with valves, so arranged that any water contained
in the compartments is, when acted upon by the motion of the boat, free
to flow into one or more compartments, preferably near the centre, and
is there retained.
The water which flows into the retaining compartment or compart-
ments above-mentioned is discharged through relieving plugs, preferably
opening outwards instead of inwards, as at present. The said retaining
compartment or compartments may be provided with one or more
longitudinal partitions.

page_text: It will be obvious that more than two water-tight valved partitions
might be used, that each partition might be provided with more than
one valve, and might be sub-divided by one or more longitudinal
partitions without departing from my Invention.
It will also be obvious that water might be caused to flow into more 5
than one retaining compartment, and that the position of the said
retaining compartment or compartments might be varied.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and par-
ticularized the same, so that others will be enabled to carry my
improvements into effect, I would have it understood that I do not 1
confine myself to the precise details and arrangement of parts herein
described and illustrated, as many modifications can be made.
Second. The self-relieving lifeboat, as herein described and illus-
trated.
Third. The relieving plugs 9, operating substantially as described for
the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Sinclair Robertson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal the Twenty-eighth day of
November, in the year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.
G. SINCLAIR ROBERTSON. (L.S.)
In the presence of
J. JOHNSON,
Clerk to J. T. King,
Solicitor of Patents,
Liverpool.