A NEW AND USEFUL LIFE-PRESERVING BED
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Asa Green Haskell, of the State of Massachusetts,
of the Republic of the United States of America, for the Invention
of "A NA AND T
D
5
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Asa Green Haskell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 27th July 1875, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ASA GREEN
HASKELL, of the State of Massachusetts, of the Republic of the United
States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "A NEW AND
USEFUL LIFE-PRESERVING BED," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am
the true and first Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the sad Asa Green Haskell, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal, fully
describes and ascertams the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following state-
ment, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, making part
thereof, of which Figure 1 is a top view, Figure 2, a longitudinal
section; and Figure 3, a transverse section of it as open, Figure 4 is a
top view of it as closed for use as a bed or cushion.
The article herein-after described answers not only as a bed or clastic
scat for a person to repose or sit on, but as a life preserver, it being
intended for use on shipboard and for the saving of life and property in
case of shipwreck or foundering of a vessel at sea, or of a person
accidentally falling overboard It is composed mainly of a rectangular
or other proper shaped floatable body A, which I usually make of cork
covered externally by a covering a of cloth and four floatable cushions
B, B', C, C', liinged to the sides of the body at their upper edges. The
end cushions represented are right angled triangular, and the side ones
trapezoidal in shape. Each of the said cushions I prefer to make hollow,
air-tight, and inflatable, and to this end I combine with cach a flexible
and clastic pipe 6 to open out of it and extend from its middle to and
through the body part A and to open against an inflating mouth-piece
D arranged at the centre of the said body part This mouth-piece
(shown in Figure 5 on an enlarged scale) consists of a cylindrical box
provided with openings c, c, in its ends, and having within it a disk
valve d and also having a holo e made through its side, all as shown.
By revolving the mouth-piece so as to bring the hole e opposite or in
connection with either pipe b, a person by blowing into either hole c can
inflate the cushion connected with said pipe b. When air is being
blown into either of the holes c, c, the valve or disk & will be against or
be thrown against the other hole so as to cover or close it.
b
After the cushion may have been suitably inflated by turning the
mouth-piece so as to move the orifice e beyond the pipe such pipe will
be closed by thic mouth-picce Such a mouth-piece enables the cushions
to be inflated whichever sido up the life preserving bed may be, whether
in or out of the water.
The inflation may be accomplished by applying the mouth directly to
and blowing into the opening c by means of a pipe inserted and fitted
therein For holding such a pipe I usually make in cach side of the
body A a cavity 9 in which I place the pipe, and maintain it therein by
a band wound around it, the band at its ends being fastened to the
body, or other suitable appliances may be used.

page_text: To enable one or more persons when the bed may be in the water to
sustain themselves thereon I usually apply to it in manner as shown
one or more straps or bands i going through the body part, buckled
together and looped around each of the inflatable cushions.
By such
the side cushions by a person may be pulled out into a plane with the
body in case the bed when thrown into the water may rest bottom
upward thorcon or the said cushions may be turned and kept at or about
at right angles with the body in order to convert the bed into a boat or
an approximation thereto.
In the Drawings two of said bands i arc shown, cach being provided
with a buckle k at one end and there are four slots or holes l, m, n, o,
made through the body to receive such bands or straps Each band is
first passed through one of the holes, thence to and transversely around
the next adjacent side cushion, thence back through the same hole,
thence across to the opposite next adjacent hole, thence through that
hole and around the other cushion, and next back through the same
hole, after which it is run through the first hole and buckled to the
other band. In this way the bands become connected on the opposite
sides of the body A, whereby a person when on either side may operate
I claim,
1. The life-preserving bed composed of the floatable body A and
serics of cushions B, B¹, hinged together and arranged as specified.
2 The combination of the rotary mouth-piece D and the series of
pipes or conduits & with the body A. and its series of inflatable cushions,
arranged and combined substantially as explained.
3. The strap or straps combined and arranged with the floatable
body A. and scries of cushions B, B', substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I the said Asa Green Haskell, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of July, 1875.