Improvements in Fittings or Appliances to be Attached to the Person for use in Swimming.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Apr., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 25th Jan., 1893-Accepted, 22nd Apr., 1893
PROVISIONAL SETTONION.
Improvements in Fittings or Appliances to be Attached to the
Person for use in Swimming.
I, JOSEPH SEARGEANT, of Cemetery Road, Middlesbrough-on-Tees, in the
County of York, Signalman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
My invention relates to fittings or appliances to be attached to the person for
use in swimming.
The object of my invention is to provide simple and reliable means for enabling
persons immersed in water to swim with greater ease and safety than is possible
with the unaided buoyancy of the human body, and to employ fittings or appliances
for this purpose which can be readily attached to the person and effectively used
by such efforts of the swimmer as require no skill.
My invention can be advantageously used as a life-saving appliance in case of
shipwreck, or the like exposure to the risk of drowning.
The nature of my invention is as follows:-I attach to suitable parts of the
body, such as the wrists, ankles, back and chest, flaps of cork or other suitable
material, the action of which is similar to the fins of a fish or the web of a swan's
foot, that is to say, the said flaps expose a rigid broad side against the water in
one direction, and close in against the person in readily yielding to the resistance
of the water in the opposite direction.
This is effected in the following manner: -Each flap is hinged to a packing
piece in such a manner that the flap opens out to a right angle relatively to the
packing piece as one of its extreme positions, and closes upon it as its other
extreme position by being suitably hinged thereto; a series of such packing pieces
with their flaps hinged thereto are connected to one or more straps and bound
round each wrist and ankle, and are similarly slung over the chest and back;
these being considered the most advantageous positions of attachment for the
purposes of my invention. When the body as a whole moves forward, or either
wrist or ankle is moved through the water in the direction in which no resistance
is required, the flaps close against the packing pieces like the fins of a fish, but
when the body and the aforesaid limbs are moved in the opposite direction the
resistance of the water is brought to bear upon the flaps which open out and
present their broad sides to the water in such a manner as to materially aid the
swimmer in effecting his propulsion.
To be used as a life-saving appliance in case of shipwreck, instead of attaching
the flaps to the back and chest or to each wrist by separate straps, I prefer to
permanently attach these to a waistcoat or the like equivalent garment, such as a
combination garment, which can be put on and closed to the person like an ordinary
waistcoat.
G. J. CLARKSON,
Stockton-on-Tees, Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Fittings or Appliances to be Attached to the
Person for use in Swimming.
I, JOSEPH SEARGEANT, late of Cemetery Road, and now of 54, Shakespeare
Street, Middlesbrough-on-Tees in the County of York, Signalman, 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:-
--
My invention relates to fittings or appliances to be attached to the person for
use in swimming.
The object of my invention is to provide simple and reliable means for enabling
persons immersed in water to swim with greater ease and safety than is possible
with the unaided buoyancy of the human body and to employ fittings or appliances
for this purpose which can be readily attached to the person and effectively used
by such efforts of the swimmer as require no skill.
My invention can be advantageously used as a life saving appliance in case of
shipwreck or the like exposure to the risk of drowning.
In carrying my invention into effect I attach to suitable parts of the body, such
as the ankles, back and chest but more particularly the wrists, flaps of cork or
other suitable material the action of which is similar to the fins of a fish or the web
of a swan's foot, that is to say, the said flaps expose a rigid broad side against the
water in one direction and close in against the person on rapidly yielding to the
resistance of the water in the opposite direction.
But in order that my invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect I will refer to the accompanying drawing in which the human figure is
illustrated as furnished with a swimming jacket to which my improved fittings and
appliances are attached in a manner convenient for the purposes of my invention.
In the figure a, a, a are flaps attached to the sleeves and if preferred to other parts
of the swimming jacket c which is shown in the form in which it would be useful as
a life saving appliance and consisting of a long sleeved waistcoat, padded with
cork about the chest and back and clasped together by any convenient means.
Each flap is hinged to its own packing piece which packing piece is stitched into
or otherwise secured to the sleeve of the swimming jacket, the flap and its packing
piece being so hinged and fitted together that each flap opens out freely until it
reaches its extreme outward position which is usually that shown on the arm bor
somewhere about at right angles to its packing piece, when it at once becomes
rigid to all further movement in the same or outward direction and so presents a
surface of resistance to the water coming against it in the direction indicated by
the arrows, but readily closes down upon its packing piece as shown on the arm C,
so as to offer no resistance to the water in the opposite direction. A series of such
packing pieces with their flaps hinged thereto are connected to a swimming jacket
or life saving appliance of the kind shown in the drawing or are connected to one
or more straps or cuffs which are bound or clasped round each wrist and ankle and
are similarly slung or braced over the chest and back, or in such positions of
attachment as may be considered most advantageous for the purposes of my inven-
tion, which is not limited to any precise means by which the hinged flaps are
attached in the positions as and where required but relates more essentially to the
means afforded by which the human body is furnished with flaps to resemble in
their action and effect the fins of a fish, so that when the body as a whole moves
forward or either wrist or ankle is moved through the water in the direction in
which no resistance is required the flaps close against the packing pieces like the
fins of a fish to its body but when the body or the aforesaid limbs are moved in the
opposite direction, the resistance of the water is brought to bear upon the flaps,

page_text: which open out and present their broad sides to the water in such a manner as to
materially aid the swimmer in effecting his propulsion.
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 use of fittings or appliances for enabling persons immersed in water to swim
with greater ease and safety than is possible with the unaided buoyancy of the
human body, the said fittings or appliances consisting of flaps constructed to act
like the fins of a fish by being attached to the person as part of a swimming jacket,
or by means of straps, cuffs or their equivalents, substantially as hereinbefore
described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
Deted this 24th dow of January 1892
G. J. CLARKSON,
Chartered Patent Agent,
Stockton-on-Tees, Agent for the Applicant.