IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS AND SIMILAR VESSELS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frank Limouzin, of Oakfield Road, Penge,
in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS AND SIMILAR
VESSELS."
SMALL
Scaled the 11th January 1876, and dated the 11th August 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frank Limouzin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th August 1875.
I, FRANK LIMOUZIN, of Oakfield Road, Penge, in the County <of
Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS AND SIMILAR SMALL
VESSELS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is,–
Firstly. To construct boats and other similar small vessels in such a
manner that increased buoyancy can be obtained without interfering
with the capacity or increasing the width thereof.

page_text: Secondly. To construct boats from longitudinal trunks, keyed or
otherwise secured into end timbers or blocks or caissons.
Thirdly. To construct boats with 'end blocks or caissons and bilge
portions as separate structures, and then to attach the upper sides by
trenails or keys.
=
According to the first part of my Invention I form the bottom solid
or hollow (cellular) with the bilge, and taper it off fore and aft. The
bilge portions are carried up to about the water line, or just below it,
side
and with nearly vertical sides, from which the sides or upper proper
of the boat in a bellied form start. About level with the top of the
bilge portions I lay a deck, this resting upon transverse timbers, which
bind the bilge portions on either side to each other. The bilge portions
СС run to "
referred to extend from quarter to quarter or from
run,"
according to the shape of the boat, and their shape and form permit of
the boat having a comparatively flat bottom to sit upon the water, the
extended upper sides, when submerged to the water line, offering a
resistance to rolling motion as well as increasing the buoyancy to a great
extent.
د,
In the case of fitting lifeboats according to the foregoing, I purpose
making apertures through the solid bottom from the keel up to the deck
planks to enable any washed in sea to escape.
According to the second part of my Invention I make a trunk to
serve as the bilge portions; each end of the trunk has springing from
it a kind of caisson, peaked and pooped like the ends of any ordinary
lifeboat. This trunk and end caissons are shaped to receive longitudinal
side plates or planks which act as the ordinary sides, but of a width
greater than that of the bilge portions of the trunk. The side planks
or plates can be strengthened by ribs, stringers, or other bars running
from side to side and upon the bilge portions, above which ordinary
planking can be fitted to serve as a floor.
The bilge portions or trunk may be divided into compartments for
the reception of valuables or provisions, the compartments having
sliding doors or flaps to prevent the contents becoming dislodged should
the boat from any cause be thrown over too great an extent.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frank Limouzin in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANK
LIMOUZIN, of Oakfield Road, Penge, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August, 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 Frank Limouzin, Her special
license, that I, the said Frank Limouzin, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frank Limouzin, 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,
" IMPROVE-
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS AND SIMILAR SMALL VESSELS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frank Limouzin, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frank Limouzin, 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 this Invention is,―
Firstly. To construct boats and other similar small vessels in such a
manner that increased buoyancy can be obtained without interfering
with the capacity or increasing the width thereof.
Secondly. To construct boats from longitudinal trunks, keyed or
otherwise secured into end timbers or blocks or caissons.

page_text: Thirdly. To construct boats with end blocks or caissons and bilge
portions as separate structures, and then to attach the upper sides by
trenails or keys.
According to the first part of my Invention, as represented in the
accompanying Drawings, I form the bottom A solid or hollow (cellular)
with the bilge B, and taper it off fore and aft. The bilge portions are
carried up to about the water line, or just below it, and with nearly
vertical sides, from which the sides or upper sides proper C of the boat
in a bellied form start. About level with the top of the bilge portions
I lay a deck D, this resting upon transverse timbers, which bind the
bilge portions on either side to each other. The bilge portions referred
to extend from quarter to quarter or from "run" to " run," according
to the shape of the boat, and their shape and form permit of the
boat having a comparatively flat bottom to sit upon the water, the
extended upper sides C, when submerged to the water line, offering a
resistance to rolling motion as well as increasing the buoyancy to a
great extent.
In the case of fitting lifeboats according to the foregoing, I make
apertures E through the solid bottom A from the keel up to the deck
planks to enable any washed-in sea to escape.
According to the second part of my Invention I make a trunk F to
serve as the bilge portions; cach end of the trunk has springing from
it a kind of caisson G, peaked and pooped like the ends of any ordinary
lifeboat. This trunk and the end caissons are shaped to receive longi-
tudinal side plates or planks C, which act as the ordinary sides, but of
a width greater than that of the bilge portions of the trunk. The side
planks or plates C are strengthened by ribs, stringers, or other bars H
running from side to side and upon the bilge portions, above which
ordinary planking is fitted to serve as a floor.
The bilge portions or trunk F is divided into compartments I for the
reception of valuables or provisions, the compartments having sliding
doors or flaps to prevent the contents becoming dislodged should the
boat from any cause be thrown over to too great an extent.
Longitudinal tubes or compartments J are sometimes fitted for the
same purpose, or to act as air vessels to give buoyancy in the case of the
boat being capsized.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,
the improvements in the construction of boats and other small vessels,
as herein-before described and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frank Limouzin, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-six.