IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RELEASING SHIPS' BOATS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Leeman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th November 1875.
I, JOSEPH LEEMAN, of Aberdeen, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RELEASING SHIPS'
BOATS," to be as follows:-
The object of the Invention is to effect the self-releasing of ships'
boats from their suspending means on their being waterborne by the
water into which they are to be lowered. For this purpose the hooks or
connections in the boat for connection with the suspending tackle are
applied to or actuated by an axis or axes, or are otherwise simul-
taneously operated by a weight or weights with a tendency to release
the boat from its suspending tackles. This tendency however is counter-

page_text: acted by the friction arising from the weight of the boat so long as
the boat remains suspended without being waterborne, but so soon as
the boat comes in contact with the water so as to be waterborne then the
tendency for the connections is to be simultaneously released, and the
boat is freed from its suspending means.
The connections may be locked or may be released by hand when
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Leeman in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
LEEMAN, of Aberdeen, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Leeman, Her special
license that I, the said Joseph Leeman, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Leeman, 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, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR RELEASING SHIPS' BOATS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Joseph Leeman, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Leeman, 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 :-
The object of the Invention is to effect the self-releasing of ships'
boats from their suspending means on their being waterborne by the
water into which they are to be lowered. For this purpose the hooks or
connections in the boat for connection with the suspending tackle are
applied to or actuated by an axis or axes, or are otherwise simul-
taneously operated by a weight or weights with a tendency to release
the boat from its suspending tackle. This tendency however is coun-
teracted by the friction arising from the weight of the boat so long as
the boat remains suspended without being waterborne, but so soon as the
boat comes in contact with the water so as to be waterborne, then
the tendency for the connections is to be simultaneously released, and
the boat is freed from its suspending means.

page_text: in a direction for the release of the hooked ends c of the arms & to relcase
themselves from the eyes b.
The operation of this apparatus is as follows:-In order to suspend a
boat by these means the eyes 6 of the blocks a are passed through the
respective openings / formed for them in the thwarts i. The arms d
are then turned so that the hooks c thereof are passed into these eyes,
and until the boat is in position for the weight of it to be bearing by
these hooks in those eyes the hooks may be held in the eyes by the
arm g being locked up by a chain j, as shown by Figure 4, or otherwise,
so as to prevent the weight from acting to release these hooks. When
however the full weight of the boat is hanging on the suspending tackle,
the friction of the hooks c in the eyes b is sufficient to counteract the
effect of the weight on the arm g and to keep the hooks c in the eyes b,
and then when the boat is required to be in a position for use the chain
or other holding means may be released, and then on the boat becoming
waterborne the tendency of the weight of the arm g, or it may be arms,
will be to release the hooks from the eyes of the blocks, and the boat
will at once be free at both ends from the suspending means to float on
the surface of the water.
Having thus described my Invention and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise arrangements of parts shown and
described, as the same may be varied without departing from the
peculiar character of my Invention; but what I do claim is, the adap-
tation or combination of means whereby the releasing of ships' boats
from their suspending means may be effected automatically, as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Leeman, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of May, in the year of
JOSEPH LEEMAN. (L.s.)