IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTS OF SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS, AND IN THE MODE OR METHOD OF USING OR EMPLOYING SUCH PARTS AS A MEANS OF SAVING LIFE AT SEA, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry William Hire, Captain in Her Majesty's
Navy, and John White, of West Cowes, Isle of Wight, Shipbuilder, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTS OF SHIPS
AND OTHER VESSELS, AND IN THE MODE OR METHOD OF USING OR EMPLOYING
SUCH PARTS AS A MEANS OF SAVING LIFE AT SEA, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 30th November 1866, and dated the 31st May 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry William Hire
and John White, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 31st May 1866.
We, HENRY WILLIAM HIRE, Captain in Her Majesty's Navy, and Jonn
WHITE, of West Cowes, Isle of Wight, Shipbuilder, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
PARTS OF SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS, AND IN THE MODE OR METHOD OF USING OR
EMPLOYING SUCH PARTS AS A MEANS OF SAVING LIFE AT SEA, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES," which Invention we believe will be of great public utility, that we
are the first and true Inventors thereof, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing certain parts of ships or other
vessels in a novel manner, that they may be utilised or employed when
occasion requires or whenever desired either for the purpose of saving life at
sea or elsewhere, or for transporting men and materials, such as landing
passengers, troops, ordnance, and baggage, as also for laying out bower and
other anchors in case of need, and performing these and other operations with

page_text: perfect safety, and without the risk of their being sunk in the event of
shipping a sea whilst so employed.
For instance, in sailing ships and screw or paddle steam vessels, instead
of the bridge being merely a platform constructed of planks, and used for
crossing from side to side, or for passing forward and aft, or communicating
with the poop or forecastle, we construct it in the form of a lifeboat, with
the necessary amount of buoyancy and stability, which we obtain by combining
the well-known principle upon which Lamb and White's lifeboats (Patent No.
145 of 1862) are built, viz., with end compartments and side water-tight
cases divided by bulkheads, so that in the event of any part of the lifeboat
bridge being damaged by striking on a rock or otherwise the other parts
still remain uninjured and buoyant, and sufficient displacement is thereby
secured to convey the maximum weights with which it may be loaded. As
the screw has nearly entirely superseded the paddle wheel as a propeller
it has also occasioned the loss of the covering over the paddle boxes, which
were in many cases constructed to serve as boats and occasionally as lifeboats.
One or more lifeboat bridges may be fitted as may be desired, either trans-
versely or longitudinally on each side, and also in the midships, and be used
to connect the transverse bridges together, and form a means of com-
munication. By thus forming lifeboat bridges we can provide the means of
saving the whole of the crew and passengers in case of shipwreck or disaster
by fire at sea. For the purpose of launching these bridges with the greatest
facility without depending upon the use of the ship's tackles, which under the
ordinary circumstances of loss of spars may not be available for the purpose,
we provide a mounted, hinged, or vibrating framework upon which these life-
boat bridges are supported. This frame being generally supported upon a
bearing or axis in the centre, and upon stanchions at the ends, upon their
being relieved at one end the framework or launching ways will be lowered
to the required declivity, and the lifeboat bridge be launched without trouble.
The framework and launching ways can be suspended at either end, if
preferable, so that the opposite end to that which is hinged is allowed to fall,
and permit of the lifeboat bridge sliding off readily.
By the use and application of our Invention on board of ships of war, troop
and emigrant ships, and under other similar circumstances, the lifeboat bridge
and other similar applications of the same mode or method of construction
to other parts of ships usually only constructed of planking for and used as a
platform, the following are some of the uses to which our Invention may be
applied with advantage, viz., saving life in the event of shipwreck or fire at
sea; landing passengers, troops, ordnance, accoutrements, and baggage; con-

page_text: converting them into gun boats for stratagetical purposes; navigating shallow
rivers from which the ordinary ship's boats are precluded; watering or coaling
the ship, and a variety of other purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry William Hire and John White in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 30th November 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ПENRY
WILLIAM HIRE, Captain in Her Majesty's Navy, and JOHN WHITE, of West
Cowes, Isle of Wight, Shipbuilder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Henry William Hire and John White, Her special license that we,
the said Henry Wiliam Hire and John White, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry William Hiro
and John White, our executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PARTS OF SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS, AND IN THE
MODE OR METHOD OF USING OR EMPLOYING SUCH PARTS AS A MEANS OF SAVING
LIFE AT SEA, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Henry William Hire and John White, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our hand and seal, or
under the hand and seal of one of them, 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 we, the said Henry William Hire and John White
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement and accompanying Sheets of Drawings :—
This Invention consists in constructing certain parts of ships or other

page_text: vessels in a novel manner that they may be utilised or employed when occasion
requires or whenever desired either for the purpose of saving life at sea or
elsewhere, or for transporting men and materials, such as landing passengers,
troops, ordnance, and baggage; as also for laying out bower and other anchors
in case of need, and performing these and other operations with perfect
safety, and without the risk of their being sunk in the event of shipping at
sea whilst so employed.
For instance, in sailing ships and screw or paddle steam vessels instead of
the bridge being merely a platform constructed of planks, and used for
crossing from side to side, or for passing forward and aft, or communicating
with the poop or forecastle, we construct it in the form of a lifeboat, with
the necessary amount of buoyancy and stability, which we obtain by combining
the well-known principle upon which Lamb and White's lifeboats (Patent
185, dated January 20, 1862) are built, videlicet, with end compartments
and side water-tight cases divided by bulkheads, so that in the event of any
part of the lifeboat bridge being damaged by striking on a rock or otherwise
the other parts still remain uninjured and buoyant, and sufficient displacement
is thereby secured to convey the maximum weights with which the lifeboat
may be loaded. As the screw has nearly or entirely superseded the paddle
wheel as a propeller, it has also occasioned the loss of the covering over the
paddle boxes, which were in many cases constructed to serve as boats, and
occasionally as lifeboats. One or more lifeboat bridges may be fitted as may
be desired, either transversely or longitudinally on each side, and also in the
midships, and be used to connect the transverse bridges together and form a
means of communication. By thus forming lifeboat bridges we can provide
the means of saving the whole of the crew and passengers in case of ship-
wreck or disaster by fire at sea. For the purpose of launching these bridges
with the greatest facility without depending upon the use of the ship's tackles,
which, under the ordinary circumstances of loss of spars may not be available
for the purpose, we provide a mounted, hinged, or vibrating framework
upon which these lifeboat bridges are supported; this frame being generally
supported upon a bearing or axis in the centre, and upon stanchions at the
-ends. Upon their being relieved at one end the framework or launching
ways will be lowered to the required declivity, and the lifeboat bridge be
launched without trouble. The framework and launching ways can be
suspended at either end, if preferable, so that the opposite end to that
which is hinged is allowed to fall, and permit the lifeboat bridge sliding off
readily.
By the use and application of our Invention on board shins of war.

page_text: troops and emigrant ships, and under other similar circumstances, the lifeboat
bridge and other similar applications of the same mode or method of con-
struction to other parts of ships, usually only constructed of planking for and
used as a platform, the following are some of the uses to which our Invention
may be applied with advantage, videlicet, saving life in the event of shipwreck
or fire at sea; landing passengers, troops, ordnance, accoutrements, and
baggage; converting them into gun boats for strategetical purposes; navi-
gating shallow rivers from which the ordinary ship's boats are precluded;
watering or cooling the ships, and a variety of other purposes.
This description of lifeboat bridges constructed in the manner herein-before
described, as well as some of the modes in which we propose to place and
secure them above the deck of the ship, are illustrated in Figures 1, 2, and 3,
Sheet I, and Figures 4, 5, and 6, Sheet 2.
Figure 1 is a cross section of the upper deck portion of a ship, representing
at the same time a longitudinal section of a lifeboat bridge; Figure 2 is a
plan of a lifeboat removed from the frame or launching ways, whilst Figure 3
is a plan of Figure 1, shewing a portion of the ship's deck, the lifeboat being
removed for the purpose of exhibiting more clearly the arrangement of the
frame or launching ways.
Figures 4, 5, and 6, Sheet 2, represent a similar combination, differing from
the first in so far as the apparatus for launching the lifeboat is arranged in a
modified manner as hereafter described.
Figure 4 is a cross section of the upper deck portion of the ship and a
longitudinal section of the lifeboat, whilst Figures 5 and 6 represent respec-
tively a cross section and a front elevation of the lifeboat, the first showing at
the same time the apparatus for launching; the second, the launching part
or opening in the bulwark through which the lifeboat bridge is launched forth
as a lifeboat.
In the lifeboats shewn in Figures 1 and 2, and in Figures 4
and 5, the construction of the water-tight compartments A, A, is identically
the same, conformably to the description herein-before given. The guns
M, N, with which the lifeboat may be furnished are shewn in elevation in
Figures 1 and 4, and in plan in Figure 2.
Figures 7 and 8, Sheet 2, are plans of lifeboat bridges combined together.
In Figure 7 two lifeboats A, A, are mounted transversely above the gunwale,
and connected with two lifeboats B, B, mounted longitudinally (that is
parallel to the keel of the vessel), and forming passage ways or means of
communication in such a manner that they may revolve horizontally on a
pivot or step B, B, to be launched afterwards from a frame or launching
11349

page_text: In the arrangement, Figure 8, there are also two lifeboats A, A, mounted
transversely, but instead of a lifeboat mounted longitudinally on each side of
the vessel there is only one of the latter mounted in a line with the keel of
the ship, and connected to the two lifeboats A, A, in a similar manner.
It
is to be borne in mind that lifeboat bridges constructed according to our
Invention may be used either amidships, forward, or aft.
In the usual mode of applying and fitting lifeboats on board ships or
vessels, the tackle of the latter is generally employed both for suspending and
working, launching, and raising the lifeboats; the wear and tear which the
tackle is thus liable to undergo while the lifeboats are out of use frequently
render it unfit for effective service in cases of emergency when it becomes
necessary to launch the boats instantaneously. By this Invention we are
enabled to dispense with davits for suspending, or launching, or hauling in
the lifeboats, as we prefer to employ the yard tackles for raising or hauling
in, and assisting in lowering them.
In Figures 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6, arrangements of frames or launching ways
are shewn.
In all the Figures the same letters of reference denote similar
parts of the apparatus.
The lifeboat rests on a frame D (Figure 3), the longitudinal portions of
which form the launching ways. In the arrangements shewn in the accom-
panying Sheets of Drawings the frame consists of three longitudinal pieces,
the central piece d (Figures 3, 5, 6,).forming a kind of rail for the keel e of
the lifeboat, whilst each of the two side pieces d', d', forms only a kind of
support for the sides of the lifeboat, although the latter may be furnished
with side pieces e', e', to slide against d₁, d, as shewn in Figure 5. The
ties ff, connect d, d', d', together, and thus form the frame as shewn in
Figure 3; however, any other suitable kind, description, or configuration of
frame may be used or employed. A pivot or horizontal axle E, on which
the frame D vibrates or describes an arc of circle on launching or raising the
boat resting thereupon, may be placed in the centre of the frame D, as shewn
in Figures 1 and 3, or at one side or the other of the ship, as shewn in
Figure 4. The axle or pivot E is supported in standards 9, one of which
may be placed on each side of the frame D, as shewn in Figures 3 and 5.
The centre and one extremity of the frame D (as in Figure 4), or only the
two extremities (as in Figure 1), are supported by adjustable stanchions F, F,
upon which the frame D rests while the apparatus is out of action. In order
to enable the boat or boats to be launched the stanchions F, F, may be readily
lowered, as shewn in Figures 4 and 5, and the proper inclination given to the
launching frame. Above the posts G, G, G¹, G', enclosing the frame D (sec

page_text: Figure 2), davits may, if desired, be mounted for the purpose of hauling in or
assisting in lowering the lifeboats. These davits, however, have not been
shewn in the accompanying Sheets of Drawings, as their construction has no
feature peculiar to our Invention.
Although we have in the accompanying Sheets of Drawings shewn only
some of the ordinary forms and proportions upon which lifeboats are ordinarily
constructed upon the principle of the Invention patented by Andrew Lamb
and John White (on the 20 January 1862, No. 185), yet other proportions.
of length to breadth and depth of such boats may be employed, as in each
case lifeboats for the construction of lifeboat bridges must be constructed of
a length suited to each particular application, and the proportion of breadth
and depth to length may be varied within limits, whilst the external form of
midship section and bow and stern lines may be varied to suit the particular
service to which the lifeboat bridge may be destined, as a ship's boat, as for
instance when intended to be used as a gunboat, or when intended to carry
small bow and stern guns, or when intended to be employed for the purpose
of conveying troops, stores, and war materials, or, if required, for the
purpose of carrying out the ship's anchor or anchors. The lifeboat would in
each case have to be suitably fitted; and, for the purpose of increasing the
platform area of the lifeboat bridge, gratings may be fitted within or over the
gunwales and stanchions for hand railing may be fitted into the rowlock
holes.
<
In Sheet 2 we have shewn in Figures 7 and 8 two arrangements.or
modifications of the mode of mounting the longitudinally placed lifeboat:
bridges employed as connecting platforms or passages between the transverse
lifeboat bridges, and have also shewn arrangements for swivelling or turning
such longitudinal boats and their platforms, together with means of connecting.
the bow and stern of one longitudinal boat with the sides of the transverse
boats; but it must be understood that we do not confine ourselves to the
precise mode or method therein shewn, as we do not intend to exclude our-
selves from employing in lieu thereof other mechanically equivalent means
for those purposes respectively; and, moreover, although we have only
illustrated our Invention as applied to the midship part of steam and sailing
ships yet it is self-evident that similar arrangements of supporting frames and
launching ways combined with lifeboat bridges may be applied to or erected
on any other part of a ship. And, instead of erecting, setting up, and fitting,
lifeboats upon standards, and at a convenient elevation from the deck, one or
more lifeboats may be fitted into suitable channels, recesses, or spaces formed
in a raised poop or forecastle, or in any deck-house or other structure upon

page_text: the deck of the ship, so that such boat or boats may form a moveable part
of any such structure, and by being grated over or fitted with gratings or
other flush or sunken covering or decking be made either part of a roof
deck, or promenade, or form a bridge or standing place; and when required
for use they may be hauled out horizontally by means of tackles or by the
necessary inclination being given to the frame by which they are ordinarily
supported; or, in case of the ship sinking, they will be readily disengaged,
and float out with their freight or load.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in the Construction
of Parts of Ships and other Vessels, and the Mode or Method of Using or
Employing such Parts as a Means of Saving Life at Sea, and for other
Purposes," and illustrated the same by the annexed two Sheets of Drawings,
we wish it to be understood that what we claim is,-
. First, the construction of parts of vessels as herein described respectively
in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth.
Second, the combination of lifeboats, as herein described, with supporting
frames and launching ways, for the purpose of converting such boats into
bridges or platforms as herein set forth.
Third, the modes or methods of supporting and securing in position life-
boats, as also of launching them from the deck and over the ship's side, as
herein described, and as illustrated in the accompanying two Sheets of
Drawings.
Fourth, the use or employment of a lifeboat as a bridge, platform,
promenade, or as a part roofing or decking of any deck house, raised poop,
or forecastle, or other erection upon the deck of a ship or other vessel, and
forming a removeable portion thereof, for the purpose of affording means of
saving life when required.
In witness whereof, I, the said John White, on behalf of the said
Henry William Hire and myself, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
WM. LAMBERT,
Cowes.
JOHN WHITE. (L.B.)