A MACHINE FOR SAVING PERSONS, THOUGH IGNORANT OF THE ART OF SWIMMING, FROM DROWNING, WHICH IS PROPOSED TO BE CALLED A COLLINETTE
Year: 1801

page_text: TO ALL PERSONS TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
LAURENCE COLLIN, of King Street, Portman Square, in the Parish of Saint
Marylebone, in the County of Middlesex, and JAMES BUTTERS, of Wigmore
Street, Cavendish Square, in the same Parish, Tinmen, severally send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the
Third day of December last, hath given and granted unto the said Lawrence
Collin and James Butters, their executors, administrators, and assigns, special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, to make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, during
the term of fourteen years from the date of the said Patent, an Invention of
"A MACHINE FOR SAVING PERSONS, THOUGH IGNORANT OF THE ART OF SWIMMING, FROM
DROWNING, WHICH IS PROPOSED TO BE CALLED A COLLINETTE;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, making it necessary for the said Lawrence
Collin and James Butters, or one of them, by an instrument in writing under
their hands and seals, or the hand and seal of one of them, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of their said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same
(relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that the said Lawrence Collin and James Butters, in
obedience to and compliance with the said recited proviso, do hereby declare
that the form and nature of their said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed or made, is particularly described, laid open, or
explained in the annexed Drawings, and the following description or account
thereof:
The principle of this Invention consists in the confinement of a quantity of
air adequate to the weight of the person to be supported in the water, who is
so supported upright or nearly upright with his head and shoulders out of the
water. The form or figure of the Invention is delineated in the Drawing,
Figure 1. It should be flat or nearly flat on the side next to the body, so as
to sit close and round externally, and the bulge or swell of the outward sides
will be seen from the Drawings. One of these machines, measuring from one
end to the other on the outside fifty-five inches, and round the thickest part in
front twenty-one inches, was found equal to the support of a man measuring
five feet ten inches, and weighing about eighteen stone. If the person using it
should be tall, the machine will of course be shorter, and must, therefore, to
hold sufficient air, be larger; if for a short and large person, as its length will
be greater, it need not be so large or thick. These circumstances must be
considered in adapting it to persons of different sizes and shapes. The opening
should be such as will just admit the body sideways at the smallest part, and
by turning it when on and raising it close up to the arms, it should become
fixed firmly to the body. This is supposing it expressly made for a particular
person, but when made for general use it will be sufficient to have them of such
a size as to admit a body as large as is commonly to be expected to be met with..
If several are to be provided, it would be best to have some variation in the
sizes, as the more nearly it fits the better. In all cases it should have straps
of girth, web, or other materials the least likely to be stretched, contracted, or
changed by the water, and affixed to the machine, as delineated in the Drawing,
Figure 1. One strap goes over one shoulder, one over the other reversed, and
another round the body, as delineated in the Drawing. These straps are to be
fixed on the machine by means of copper or tin loops, soldered or rivetted at
the places pointed out in the Drawing, and the buckles should have sharp
tongues to penetrate the straps or web with facility. To obviate accidents,
which might destroy its buoyancy or injure and lessen its imperviousness to air
and water, it is to be divided in the inside into six, seven, or more divisions,

page_text: each internally, equally air and water tight with the outside, as is shewn in
the Drawing or Sketch, Figure 2, of the internal part of the machine, so that
if one chamber or division should have a hole, or by any accident lose its
imperviousness, the others may possess sufficient buoyancy to support the body.
The machine may be made with joints, and to encompass the body entirely, or
in a greater or smaller degree, and still effect the purposes desired. Of the
various materials which may be used for the purpose of holding a sufficient
quantity of air, copper appears to us to be the most convenient, as being a
malleable substance impervious to air and water, and not so subject as other
materials of equal expence to be corroded by water. It may be tinned both
inside and outside, and painted, japanned, or lacquered, which will contribute to
its preservation. In the experiments for completing this Invention, various
other materials have been tried and considered. Silver would answer best, in
the opinion of the Inventors, by its nature and properties, and has nothing
against it but the expence. Compounds of metals, or of other matters possessing
the properties necessary for the purposes of this Invention, may be also used;
also tin, leather, cane, wood, cork, brass, india-rubber, iron, and some other
substances may be applied, so as to answer the purpose, with more or less
advantage and duration. The substance most perfectly possessing the
properties before described will be the most proper. The mode of working
the materials of copper or tin has nothing peculiar in it, but is the
common and ordinary method generally adopted by tinmen and brasiers,
and the working up the materials is not attended with any special or par-
ticular process, or any previous unusual preparation of the copper or tin
necessary, but the copper may, by hammering, stamping, or casting, or by
benling sheet copper, be brought to the form required. The joining of
the copper or tin, supposing one of those materials to be used, is effected by
rivets or solder in the common mode generally used in the trade for joining
such materials, always observing to render the machine as light and the thick-
ness throughout as equal as possible. Other materials must of course be
manufactured, used, and worked up according to their several natures, so as
to be air and water tight, and give the other properties before described, as
necessary for effectuating the purposes of this Invention.
In witness whercof, the said Laurence Collin and James Butters
have hereunto set their hands and seals respectively, this Second
day of January, One thousand eight hundred and two.
LAURENCE COLLIN. (L.s.)
JAMES BUTTERS.
(L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED; that on the same Second day of January,
in the year above mentioned; the aforesaid Laurence Collin and James
Butters came before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Second-day of January, in the year above written.