IMPROVEMENTS IN. LIFE- PRESERVING. SEATS.
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathan Thompson, junior, of New York, in the
United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN. LIFE-
PRESERVING. SEATS.
Sealed the 19th December 1854, and dated the 16th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathan Thompson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th October 1854.
I. NATHAN THOMPSON, junior, of New York, in the United States of
America, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LIFE-PRESERVING SEATS" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in improvements on the life-preserving seat, patented
by me on the Eighteenth day of September, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four. In place of hinging or fixing the water-tight compartments to the
sides of the seat, so that they may be opened out.by being pressed against the
body of the person, I permanently attach the said water-tight compartments
to the sides of the seat; besides which I divide the top of the seat and upper
water-tight compartments into two parts, which I hinge together. When in
ordinary use, the two parts of the seat are held together by a spring; but
when it is used as a life preserver the spring yields, so as to allow the person
to enter between the two water-tight compartments.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Nathan Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NATHAN
THOMPSON, junior, of New York, in the United States of America, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October, 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 Nathan Thompson, Her special licence that I, the said Nathan Thompson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Nathan
Thompson, 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, excrcise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE-PRESERVING
SEATS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Nathan Thompson,
by 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 Nathan Thompson, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof (that is to say):-
This Invention consists in improvements on the life-preserving seat, patented
by me on the Eighteenth day of September, One thousand cight hundred and
fifty-four. In place of hinging or fixing the water-tight compartments to the
sides of a seat, so that they may be opened out by being pressed against the
body of the person, I permanently attach the said water-tight compartments
to the sides of the seat; besides which I divide the top of the seat and upper
water-tight compartment into two parts, which I.hinge together. When in
ordinary use, the two parts of the seat are held together by a spring; but when
it is used as a life preserver the spring yields, so as to allow the person to
enter between the two water-tight compartments.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will procced to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is an end view, Figure 2, a section, and Figure 3 a side view,
of a seat arranged according to this Invention. a is the top of the seat, which
is divided into two parts and hinged together at b; c is a piece of leather
with which the joint is covered; d, d, are two water-tight compartments
formed under the two parts of the top of the seat; e is a spring of vulcanized
india-rubber, by which the hinge b is kept closed; f, f. are two other water-
tight compartments attached to the sides or legs g, g, of the seat. When
seats of this description are employed for sustaining persons in the water,
the person, by pressing against the compartments f, f, forces them into the
position shewn in dotted lines in Figure 3, until the person has passed into
the space h, between the sides or legs g, when the spring causes them to
resume their original position. i, i, are notches, for the accommodation of the
arms of the person using the apparatus. It will be seen that life-preserving
seats arranged as herein described are less complicated than when arranged
as described in the Specification of my former Patent, as in this arrangement
only one hinge and one spring is required, and the lower water-tight compart-
ments are fixed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described; but what I claim is, the mode of arranging a
life-preserving seat as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nathan Thompson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
0 Witness,
J. BASSET,
2, Rue Drouot.
NATHAN THOMPSON, Jr. (L.S.)