CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING OF SHIPS, BOATS, BUOYS, RAFTS, AND OTHER VESSELS AND APPLIANCES FOR PRESERVING LIFE AND PROPERTY AT SEA
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HARCOURT BROWN, of Fir Cottage, Putney, Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of February,
(One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one,) in the Fourteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Harcourt Brown, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Harcourt Brown,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Harcourt Brown,
my exors, admiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Planta-
tions abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND
BUILDING OF SHIPS, BOATS, BUOYS, RAFTS, AND OTHER VESSELS AND APPLIANCES FOR
PRESERVING LIFE AND PROPERTY AT SEA;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso that I, the said John Harcourt Brown, shall cause a parti-
cular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Harcourt Brown, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists, first, in constructing ships, boats, and other vessels
with double keels, and double or duplex rudder, adapting the screw propeller
or paddle wheel for the propulsion of the same; secondly, in constructing
ships, boats, rafts, buoys, and other vessels out of hollow tubes or cases, which
comprise the framework of the same, and composed of gutta percha by
itself, or in combination with suitable substances; reference being had to the
figures in the Drawing hereto annexed, and to the letters of reference thereon
marked.
Drawing I. represents the plan of a life boat, showing deck passengers hatch
the india rubber and comens for men holes.
Drawing II. is a section of the plan of a life boat.
Drawing III. is a horizontal section through the middle of a life boat.
In Drawing IV., Figure 1 represents the view of a life boat with oar swivels ;
Figure 2 is a section through the middle of the boat, showing her hollow ribs,
curved bottom; Figure 3 represents the same section, with internal arrange-
ments for bread, water, &c.; Figure 4 represents the bottom of a life boat,
with double circular keel; Figure 5 is a flanged piece of iron or wood, to
strengthen the tubes or cases. In Figure 6, No. 1 is half of the cup for the
reception of the swivel ball No. 5 in the same Figure; No. 2 is the upper part
of the cup, that is to say, the part screwed on to the lower half of the cup in
which the ball revolves; No. 3 is that portion of the gunwale to which the cup
is affixed by a nut passing through a block of oak inserted in the tube No. 4;
No. 6 represents the rest for the oar, which is screwed into the swivel ball;
A is the hinge; B the latch and pin to relieve and admit the oar. This is to
be composed of gun metal or galvanized iron. Figures 7 and 8 represents the
duplex rudder, the red lines in the Figure shew the position of the old keel, in
ships, boats, &c.
.
For the first part of my Invention, I place the keels in parallel lines with
each other, so that they are parallel with the line that was the centre of the
keel, as in Figure 4, Drawing IV., each keel being the portion of an arch or
corrugation, varying in distance from each other of twelve inches, and being from
fifteen inches in depth to any other required space. I remove the ordinary
keel from its present position, and I raise both stem and stern, so as to com-

page_text: mence at the cut-water, by the water line forward lying on the top of the
corrugated portion of the two keels, and inclining downwards to the midship
section (taking the former keel line), where it begins to incline upwards, until
it terminates at the water line of the midship of the stem, as shewn in Figure 7
and Drawing IV. Each keel has its usual stern post A, A, upon which the
rudders B, B, are hung in the usual way. The keels are bound together with
stout arched framework, and well tied together with stays and knees on the top
of the arch, as represented in c, c, c, Figure 2, and also with braces beneath to
strengthen them, as d, d, d, Figure 4. The timbers forming the arch from
centre raised keel piece are carried down and steeped into the keel on each
side. The steering of the rudders may be either by wheel or common tiller, or
by any other suitable contrivance.
In the second part of my Invention, I cast or otherwise form the whole
framework of ships, boats, rafts, and buoys of hollow tubes or cases, of such
dimension as may be required, out of gutta percha, either by itself, or in com-
bination with a pigment. These tubes, which are represented in Figure 2,
Drawing IV., are stayed across, and have insertions of timber at certain dis-
tances, as Figure 3 of the same Drawing, for securing the bolts, pins, knees,
and other fastenings. These tubes form the ribs, timber, and other parts of
the vessel, and may be employed in conjunction with flanged pieces of wrought
or cast galvanized iron or other metals, or with wood or other substances
usually employed in naval architecture, as shewn in Figure 5.
My Invention embraces the application of any suitable material in the
building of ships, vessels, boats, rafts, and buoys; and I do not confine myself
to casting, moulding, or pressing the gutta percha of any particular form or
configuration, but in forming the whole or parts of ships, vessels, boats, rafts,
and buoys, as may be most easily adapted to the building and constructing of
the same.
To construct life boats, I combine gutta percha with india rubber, wood, and
other materials. In Drawing I., D represents the deck of the life boat, and
E, E, the comens for man holes. It will be seen that the boat is water-tight,
the deck D being composed of planking, of gutta percha, and the comens, in
which are inserted india rubber of sufficient elasticity and thickness to admit
the body of a man, woman, or child through the apertures or slits, and beneath
which are seats and slings to rest upon. The rest of the boat is composed of
gutta percha combined with wood, india rubber, and other materials.
And having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood, that I do not restrict

page_text: myself to the precise details, shape, or proportions I have herein-before described,
provided the general features of my Invention be preserved; but what I
claim as my Invention, and intended to be protected by the herein in part
recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the constructing of ships, boats, and other vessels with double keels,
as herein-before described, reference being had to Figures 2, 3, and 4,
Drawing V.
Second, the constructing the frameworks of ships, boats, and other vessels
with hollow tubes or cases of gutta percha, combined with india rubber and
other substances as herein-before described, reference being had to Figures 1,
2, 3, 5, Drawing IV.
Third, the adaptation to ships, boats, and other vessels of a duplex rudder
as herein-before described, reference being had to Figures 7 and 8, Drawing IV.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Harcourt Brown, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-one.
JOHN HARCOURT (L.S.) BROWN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of August, in the
year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid John Harcourt Brown came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form.
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-one.