IMPROVEMENTS, IN LIFE BOATS
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Daniel Climic at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th September
1864.
I, DANIEL CLIMIE, of Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop, Engineer, do.
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for," IMPROVEMENTS, IN
LIFE BOATS," to be as follows;:-
Life. boats as heretofore fitted and furnished, are oftentimes rendered.useless
from their inability to face a storm, or to be propelled at a sufficient speed to
arrive at a wreck in time to be of any service in saving life. In many cases
a life boat from the violence of a storm is unable to put off at all, and even
if successful, is frequently driven back by reason of the want of power in the
oarsmen to propel her, and also in the mode of applying such power. In
propelling a life boat by oars the oars are all lifted from the water at the
same time while making the return stroke; during this time the boat remains
without propelling power, and if the momentum she possesses be inadequate
to the resistance she is driven backwards. Now according to my Invention
I apply the propelling power continuously, and instead of oarsmen I apply the
power of steam. For this purpose I employ boats larger than ordinary life-
boats, and suitable to carry an engine or pair of engines about, say, ten or, other
number of horses' power. I make the engine and boiler of the lighest, con--
struction, and if the boat be propelled by means of one, two, or three-screws.
it may be convenient to employ one or more rotary engines; but if propelle!
by paddles, a reciprocating engine will be preferable. I cover or deck in the

page_text: compartment enclosing the engine and boiler, and carry up trunks or channels
from which air is drawn for the supply of the fire and engineer, so that the sea
may not wash into that compartment, all other parts being water-tight. The
other parts of the boat may be open, or it may be decked throughout as may be
found most expedient; in either case I provide air cells or compartments
stuffed with cork or other suitable material that will give the necessary
buoyancy to the boat even although some of her compartments become filled
with water. In order to better ensure against damage to the engine com-
partment and the ingress of water thereto (which would render the boat
useless), I build her with a double-skin or bottom-at that part, each skin.or
bottom being in itself water-tight, and being disposed some few inches from
each other, although one part may become penetrated or strained, so as to
.leak, the other skin may remain tight, and the utility of the boat preserved
intact. The space between these skins may also be filled up with cork or
other suitable material:
As a boat of this description must necessarily be larger and heavier than
ordinary life boats, and therefore more difficult to launch from. and draw up
on the shore, I provide a cradle for her on suitable wheels, according to the
beach, and, if desirable, ways may be laid down on which the cradle may
travel in launching or drawing her up.
I prefer the boat to be built of sheet steel, as affording great strength with
lightness. Steel plates may also be used for the boiler, which I make multi-
tubular or of other arrangement, affording a great amount of heating surface,
together with lightness.