IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE SAVING APPARATUS APPLICABLE FOR SEATS IN OCEAN GOING AND RIVER VESSELS
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Eardley Pinhey of Oxton in the county of
Chester, Master Mariner for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE
SAVING APPARATUS APPLICABLE FOR SEATS IN OCEAN GOING AND RIVER
VESSELS
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Eardley Pinhey at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th March 1883.
ROBERT EARDLEY PINHEY of Oxton in the County of Chester, Master Mariner
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE SAVING APPARATUS APPLICABLE FOR SEATS IN OCEAN
GOING AND RIVER VESSELS"
In passenger steamers especially for river navigation it is very desirable to
provide means of escape available at a moments notice so as to avoid such fearful
catastrophes as occurred at the running down of the Princess Alice by the Bywell
Castle some years ago. Boats are of little use as they are often not available and
almost impossible to launch at a moments notice, life buoys are rarely at hand
when wanted or of sufficient numbers to supply all passengers. The mode I prefer
for getting over this difficulty is to form the seats so that they shall themselves
prove life rafts. Now the most usual way to do this has been to form them with
cushions stuffed with cork-but such cushions exposed as they would have to be to
the elements and to constant washing would soon absorb moisture become water-
logged and be useless, besides being very damp and subject to decay. Experience
has shown that the best form of seat for open air or deck use is one formed of
narrow pieces of wood with air spaces between, said seat being shaped so as to give
an approximation to the contour of the natural curves of an adult when sitting.
Now to avoid any interference with this and to make the life saving apparatus as
unobtrusive as possible has been my aim. I place immediately below the seat
and preferably transversely a series of hollow cylinders preferably of copper closed
at each end and firmly and securely clamped to the underside of seat. If the seat
have a back to it I may also place a copper cylinder near the top of the latter and

page_text: in such case may place the copper cylinders under the seat longitudinally and close
to the front edge; by this means the hollow of the seat becomes a sort of canoe or
trough capable of retaining benumbed people more than the open seat would. As
a rule however it is the simple benches with transverse cylinders that will be most
used. I do not however bind myself absolutely to the position of the copper
cylinders as with different forms of seats different modes of attaching the cylinders
must be resorted to. The object in making them of copper is that copper is lighter
tougher and less liable to rust than other comparatively cheap metals. As it is
absolutely necessary on ship board that the seats should be well secured and as
securing the seats with stanchions in the ordinary manner would defeat the object
I wish to apply them to, I form the connection with the deck with cast iron or
other supports having holes on the top to receive cone shaped studs secured to
underside of the seat and to insure the seats to be readily removable these studs
are made of brass or gun metal.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Robert Eardley Pinhey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th September 1883.
ROBERT EARDLEY PINHEY of Oxton in the county of Chester, Master Mariner
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE-SAVING APPARATUS APPLICABLE FOR SEATS IN OCEAN-
GOING AND RIVER VESSELS
"
In passenger steamers, especially for river navigation, it is very desirable to
provide means of escape available at a moment's notice in case of collision and fire.
The means at present adopted are very imperfect; boats are provided which take
long in launching, life rafts which are in the way and difficult to launch in case of
a fire, life belts, cork jackets, and life buoys which get packed away and are not
ready when wanted.
The great desiderata in life saving apparatus are that it shall always be at hand
when wanted, shall perform a useful purpose when not in use for life-saving and
thus not uselessly take up space, and that it shall be loose and sufficiently light to
launch overboard, while at the same time so fixed as not to be washed overboard
easily or upset.
All these desiderata I have supplied in my invention, which consists in forming
the seats so that they shall themselves act as life rafts without altering their surface
shape as seats, so that persons using them cannot tell they are different from
ordinary seats. The plan I prefer for most purposes is an ordinary seat with a
hollow air tight chamber or air space or a series of canisters or cylinders fixed to
the underneath side of the same, said seat being prevented from being overturned
or floated overboard by being fitted with conical pins, fitting into sockets in its
supports, which are screwed or bolted or otherwise fixed to the deck. The size and
form of the seat is immaterial and the floating cylinder or cylinders can be placed
in any convenient part or parts, that may be found best. I prefer however to place
them in backless seats or forms underneath the same transversely as set forth in
the drawings in which :-
Figs 1 and 2-are respectively a side and sectional view of seat with canisters
attached.
Fig 3-view with canister removed, shewing means for fastening the canisters.
Fig 4 sectional enlarged view of part of seat, shewing attachment between the
seat and its support or legs.
Fig 5-end elevation of double row of seats, fitted with a longitudinal pontoon
below, and with backs fitted with a small longitudinal air tube, oval, oblong, or
rounded parallelogram in section, A¹, so that when thrown into the water wrong
way up or upset, the back may have a tendency to right itself, and either form a
trough with the seat, or stand bolt upright, or if it be a folding form the back can
be arranged so as to be capable of standing out level with and parallel with the
seat, or be folded up under or upon said seat. In this case the seats of several
forms with their backs in line or above or beneath them braced together with
transverse timbers could be promptly made into an admirable flat raft. I merely
mention this as a useful variation, when folding seats are used. Practically seats
well pontooned or canistered below will be found most suitable as floats without
the use of backs to form additional floatation.
In these drawings, A is the front edge of bench. B B the canisters. B' B¹
pontoons or air chambers. C laths of the seat. D leg bracket with socket I fitting
pin E loosely. E slightly conical pin, fixed by flange F to frame K of seat, by
means of screws G, and further held in place by the projection H. The socket

page_text: pin E with its flange for fastening it on, are preferably made of brass or gun metal
so as to prevent any chance of the pin rusting fast. It is obvious however that the
form of fastening may differ widely, just as the attachments of castors to furniture
differ, the main point being that the bench shall be pegged so as to be prevented
from lateral movement, while free to be lifted off vertically, or even by tilting up
at one end more than at the other.
The pin is slightly conical to prevent it sticking in the socket, and it is obvious
that it could be placed in the leg frame, and a metal socket let into the seat in
place of the exact arrangement shown. The canisters B are preferably of copper
hermetically sealed and have slightly projecting ends or flanges so as to enable the
iron or preferably copper bands J to have a firm and secure hold on them, otherwise
the canisters might be forced loose. These copper bands J are fitted to clasp the
canisters tightly, and hold them to the seat; the bands are screwed to the seats with
wood screws L. These canisters are much superior to cork stuffing for this reason,
they are more buoyant and they do not easily decay, whereas it is no uncommon
thing to find a cork buoy so sodden with moisture as to almost or quite sink when
thrown into the water.
The invention is fitted to the seats of the Birkenhead Ferry boats at Liverpool,
and looks very elegant.
Having now described my invention and the best mode known to me of carrying
it into effect, I claim as my invention :-
1st. The manufacture of seats for ships' use, of ordinary contour for sitting upon,
but fitted with floatation cylinders placed below the seat, substantially as and for
the purposes described,
2nd. The manufacture of backed forms whether foldable or with rigid backs, of
ordinary comfortable contour for sitting upon, having pontoons or air canisters or
chambers in bebind or forming part of their backs and beneath or forming part of
their seats, substantially as and for the purposes described.
In witness whereof I the said Robert Eardley Pinhey have hereunto set my hand
and seal this fifth day of September in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight
hundred and eighty three.
DADT T
זגזמ