AN IMPROVED LIFE CAR OR BUOY
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Frederick Stansbury, of the firm of Nourse
& Co of No 17 and 18, Cornhill, London, American and Coneral
Patent Agents, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED LIFE CAR OR BUOY."—
A communication from F. Z. Tucker, of Brooklyn, in the State of New
York and United States of America.
Patent Agents, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED LIFE CAR OR BUOY."―
A communication from F. Z. Tucker, of Brooklyn, in the State of New
York and United States of America.
Sealed the 15th June 1855, and dated the 18th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Frederick
Stansbury at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 18th December 1854.
I, CHARLES FREDERICK STANSBURY, of the firm of Nourse & Co., of No. 17
& 18, Cornhill, London, American & General Patent Agents, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED LIFE CAR OR BUOY,"
a communication from F. Z. Tucker, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York
and United States of America, to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in forming a life car or buoy of a series of hollow
cylinders constructed of sheet metal, wood, or other suitable materials, such
cylinders being air-tight, & divided into compartments by air-tight partitions.
Any number of such cylinders may be connected together by rods running
through tubes in the cylinders, & having heads on one end, & screws &
nuts on the other. Thus connected, the cylinders should have at each end

page_text: two transverse bars, one on the upper & one on the under surface, and con-
nected together by bolts, which, like the rods before mentioned, pass through
air-tight tubes to prevent leakage. The ends of the cylinders may be rounded,
conical, or of any desired form. Ropes or chains should be attached to the
surface of the car.
This Invention is designed to serve the purpose of an ordinary life boat.
The car or buoy thus described may be suspended in various parts of a ship,
without occupying much room, or the cylinders, detached from each other,
may be stowed away in any convenient place until required for use, when they
may readily & speedily be fastened together to form the life car or buoy.
One of the cylinders in each car may be used for storing provisions. This
life car may be launched without the care necessary in lowering away boats,
as it cannot be filled with water, & the partitions prevent danger from the
partial breaking of a cylinder. The ropes or chains serve as holdfasts for
the passengers, and the surfaces of the cylinders answer for scats, while the
spaces between them afford room for the feet.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Frederick Stansbury in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
FREDERICK STANSBURY, of the firm of Nourse & Co., of Nos. 17 and 18,
Cornhill, London, American and General Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Frederick Stansbury, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Frederick Stansbury, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, 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
"AN IMPROVED LIFE CAR OR BUOY," a communication from F. Z. Tucker, of
Brooklyn, in the State of New York and United States of America, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, by

page_text: an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 I, the said. Charles Frederick Stansbury, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
making a part of this Specification, in, which.
Figure 1 is a view of my improved life car in a suspended state.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of one of the tubes of the same.
Figure 3 is a transverse section of the series of tubes connected together
to form the improved life car.
The nature of the Invention consists in forming a life car or buoy of a series
of hollow cylinders constructed of sheet metal, wood, or, other suitable
materials, such cylinders being air-tight, and divided into compartments by
air-tight partitions.
Figure 2.
Ropes or
The ends of the
chains should be
In Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings A, A, A, A, A, represent the
series of metal cylinders, any number of which may be used. They are con-
nected together by transverse rods or bolts (a), (a), which pass through them,
and have nuts (6) at one end, and heads (c) at the other. At each end of
the cylinders there are two transverse bars (d, d), one on their upper, and the
other on their lower surface, and these bars are fixed to the cylinders by bolts
marked (e) in all the Figures. The bolts or rods (a), as well as the bolts (e),
pass through tubes (f) in the cylinders, as shewn in Figures 2 and 3, in order
to prevent leakage. Each cylinder is divided into a number of compart-
ments by water-tight bulkheads, as shewn in
cylinders may be of a conical or taper form.
attached to the surface of the car, as shewn in Figure 1.
This Invention is designed to serve the purpose of an ordinary life boat.
The car or buoy formed as described may be suspended in various parts of a
ship without occupying much room, or the cylinders, detached from each other,
may be stowed away in any convenient place until required for use, when
they may readily and speedily be fastened together to form the life car or
buoy. One of the cylinders in each car may be used for storing provisions.
This life car may be launched without the care necessary in lowering away
boats, as it cannot be filled with water, and the partitions prevent danger
from the partial breaking of a cylinder. The ropes or chains serve as holdfasts

page_text: for the passengers, and the surfaces of the cylinders answer for seats, while the
spaces between them afford room for the feet.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, what I claim under the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
A series of cylinders connected together by rods or bolts in the manner
described, each cylinder being divided by water-tight partitions into several
compartments as described, the whole forming a portable life car or buoy for
the use of ships and other vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Frederick Stansbury, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
CHARLES FREDERICK STANSBURY.
(L.8.)