Improvements in or relating to Ships and Vessels.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Aug., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 9th Jan., 1896-Accepted, 22nd Feb., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Ships and Vessels.
I, MATHURIN PICARD, of 51, Rue de Belleville, Paris, France, Artist, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows
--
The object of this invention is to provide ships and vessels with means whereby
the vessel is kept afloat even when filled with water.
On the outside of the ship or vessel is fitted a hinged cover which extends all
round the vessel and reaches from the gunwale to a convenient distance down.
This cover is normally held close to the sides of the ship or vessel by a number of
catches each of which is attached to or forms one end of a lever whose other end
is secured to a float inside the vessel. Under the hinged cover is a rubber or
other expansible reservoir in which air under pressure is stored.
Should the ship or vessel fill with water the raising of the floats would operate
the levers and remove the catches from the hinged cover which, under the action
of the compressed air, would then open out after the manner of a parachute.
Dated this 9th day of August 1895.
F. W. GOLBY,
36 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agent for the Applicant.
Improvements in or relating to ships and
I, MATHURIN PICARD, of 51 Rue de Belleville, Paris, France, Artist, 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 :-
The object of this invention is to provide ships and vessels with means whereby
the vessel is kept afloat even when filled with water.
The invention is represented in the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a cross
section of the hull of a ship fitted with this invention; Figure 2 is a similar view
shewing the hull filled with water sufficiently to cause the apparatus to come into
operation, and Figure 3 shews it with the apparatus fully opened out. Figures 4
and 5 are respectively elevation and plan of the vessel with the apparatus fully
opened out as in Figure 3. The same letters of reference represent the same or
corresponding parts in all the figures.
On the outside of the vessel is fitted a parachute A, formed of any suitable
number of metal plates a, joined to the hull at their upper ends by means of
hinges D. The water tightness of the plates along the line of the hinges and
the hull is secured in any suitable manner. Each plate a, composing the
parachute is furnished at its extremities with bellows G of leather or other suitable
material joined to the hull and the plate in an air and water tight manner.
angle pieces, the exterior ends of which form hooks to secure the plates a, and
which pass through apertures in the sides of the vessel. Inside the vessel the
nieces. B carry floats b.
B are

page_text: The apparatus works in the following manner;—
Supposing a collision occurs or a blow under water and water begins to show
itself in the ship and pumping is impossible or useless. The water rises in
the ship and will reach the floats b which are lifted, thereby causing the fall of the
hooks B which will render the plates a of the parachute A free, which under the
action of a spring placed for this purpose, will spread out from the hull thus giving
freedom to the bellows G and those of the reservoirs of air F which will form
in their turn floats around the hull having the effect of maintaining the ship on
the surface and preventing it from sinking. Valves opening at the exterior or the
interior allow the entry of the air into, and its imprisonment in, the reservoirs F.
It will be apparent that the invention is not restricted to the details of construction
herein before described. For example the hooks B, may be held by an electro
magnet released by a current in an electrical circuit which is completed by the
raising of the floats or operated from any convenient part of the vessel. Or
the raising of the floats or the completion of an electrical circuit may serve to
open the valves and allow compressed air to pass to the reservoirs.
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 ;-
The combination with a ship or vessel, of plates a articulated around the hull
to which they are attached at the upper ends by hinges D and at the lower ends by
bellows G in an air and watertight manner, so that they can open out and form
or enclose air reservoirs F around the ship, the said plates a being held against
the side of the vessel by hooks B furnished with floats b, all arranged substantially
as described and illustrated and for the purpose stated.
Dated this 9th day of January 1896.
F. W. GOLBY,
36, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agent for the Applicant.