Improvements in Boat Lowering and Disengaging Apparatus.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Oct., 1891-Accepted, 5th Dec., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Boat Lowering and Disengaging Apparatus.
I, JAMES ROBERTS, temporarily of Queen Street, Melbourne, in the Colony of
Victoria, late Chief Engineer of the Steam Ship Gambier, 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 :-
This invention relates to apparatus, generally known as 'davits,' for use with
boats on passenger steamers or other vessels; its objects being, first, to enable the
boats to be got out more readily than at present, and, secondly, to permit the boat
to disengage itself automatically from the davits of a sinking ship.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the way in which I prefer to carry out my
invention;
Fig. 1 being an end, and Fig. 2 a side, elevation.
a is the improved davit, which is pivoted on the pin a¹. It is preferably straight
and may be made of wrought iron. The free end of the davit contains a slot b for
the reception of one end of a beam c, to which the boat is attached in the usual
manner. Near the pivoted end of the davit, there is a slot d in which works a
slide-block e. In the bottom of this slot, there is an india-rubber cushion f. The
slide-block e is connected by a pair of links g g¹ to pins h h¹ secured to a forked
stand on the deck of the vessel. The davit can be rocked through an
angle e a cx, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, and can be locked in
either extreme position by a bolt held in slots in the stand i v.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-If the ship were sinking, and the
boat in its normal position, then, after the water had reached the boat, the continued
sinking of the ship would lift the boat from the chocks and cause it to strike against
the beam e; throwing the latter out of the slots in the ends of the davits. The
boat would thus automatically disengage itself. When there is time to get the boat
clear of the ship's side, the bolt is withdrawn, the chocks are knocked out, and
the davits pushed over, carrying the boat with them; the bolt k being afterwards
reinserted.
The boat can then be lowered in the ordinary way.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim:
:-
1. In boat-lowering apparatus, a straight davit a pivoted at a' and furnished
with means for regulating its movement about that pivot, substantially as described
with reference to the accompanying drawings.
2. In boat-lowering apparatus, a straight davit a pivoted at a' and furnished
with a slot d containing a slide-block e, the latter being connected to a stand i à¹
by links 9 g, substantially as described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
3. In boat-lowering apparatus, a straight davit a pivoted at a¹ and connected by
links g g with a stand, the davit being held in either extreme position by a
bolt, substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
4. In boat-lowering and disengaging apparatus, a davit a formed with a slot 6 for
the reception of one end c¹ of a beam c to which the boat is suspended, the slot b
permitting the automatic disengagement of the boat, substantially as described with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 30th dox of October 1891
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
191, Fleet Street, London, E.C., Chartered Patent Agent.