AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN GARMENTS FOR SAVING LIFE IN CASE OF IMMERSION AT SEA OR OTHERWISE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Dannatt and Thomas Scott Turnbull,
both of Sunderland, in the County of Durham, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN GARMENTS FOR SAVING LIFE IN
CASE OF IMMERSION AT SEA OR OTHERWISE."
Scaled the 27th April 1869, and dated the 2nd November 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Dannatt and
Thomas Scott Turnbull at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 2nd November 1868.
We, JAMES DANNATT and THOMAS SCOTT TURNBULL, both of Sunder-
land, in the County of Durham, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN GARMENTS FOR
SAVING LIFE IN CASE OF IMMERSION AT SEA OR OTHERWISE," to be as
follows:-
This Invention is applicable principally to what are called reefing
or pilot jackets as ordinarily worn by seafaring men, but with slight
modifications (according to the form of the garment) is equally
applicable to other garments intended to be worn by either males or

page_text: females at sea or at other places where there is danger of the wearer
being immersed in the water.
The Invention consists principally of an inside double lining to be
applied to the jacket or other garment, the said double lining forming
an air chamber, being made of india-rubber or other air-proof material,
and provided with a flexible tube having a mouth piece with a valve
opening inwards, by means of which the wearer can at any time inflate
it when required. A broad hem runs round the bottom, breast, and
arm-holes, for attaching it to the outside and inside lining of the
garment without perforating the air chamber. There are also rounded
straps or bands passing from back to front, and from the hips round
the inside of the legs, for the purpose of keeping the jacket in its place
when inflated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Dannatt and Thomas Scott Turnbull in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st May 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
DANNATT and THOMAS SCOTT TURNBULL, both of Sunderland, in the
County of Durham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said James Dannatt and
Thomas Scott Turnbull, Her special licence that we, the said James
Dannatt and Thomas Scott Turnbull, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Dannatt and
Thomas Scott Turnbull, our 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN GARMENTS
FOR SAVING LIFE IN CASE OF IMMERSION AT SEA OR OTHERWISE," upon the

page_text: condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Dannatt and
Thomas Scott Turnbull, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our, or one of our, 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 per-
formed, 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 James Dannatt, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, that is to say:-
This Invention is applicable principally to what are called reefing
or pilot jackets as ordinarily worn by seafaring men, but with slight
modifications (according to the form of the garment) is equally
applicable to other garments intended to be worn by either males or
females at sea or at other places where there is danger of the wearer
being immersed in the water.
The Invention consists principally of an inside double lining which
is applied to the jacket or other garment, the said double lining forming
an air chamber, being made of india-rubber or other air-proof material,
and is provided with a flexible tube having a mouth-piece with a valve
opening inwards, by means of which the wearer can at any time inflate
it when required. After the jacket or other garment has been inflated
the air is kept inside the same, and is prevented from escaping by
turning a screw attached to the mouth-piece.
A broad hem runs
round the bottom, breast, and arm-holes (of the jacket for example),
for attaching it to the outside and inside lining of the garment without
perforating the air chamber. There are also rounded straps or bands
attached to the garment, and passing from back to front, and from the
hips round the inside of the legs, for the purpose of keeping the jacket
in its place when inflated. Suitable attachments or straps are also
provided for other garments than jackets. This jacket or other garment
can be worn at any time. When the jacket, for instance, is intended to
be put on it must be drawn on over the head in the same manner as a
"Guernsey frock," and in case of immersion in water the wearer has
only to inflate it by means of the mouth-piece, and after the jacket has
expanded about six or more inches from the back, sides, or front of the

page_text: body to shut the air in the air chamber by turning the screw attached
to the mouth piece.
Having now described the nature and object of our said In-
vention for "An Improvement or Improvements in Garments for
Saving Life in case of Immersion at Sea or otherwise," together with
the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried
into practical effect, I would remark in conclusion that we claim as our
Invention, the improvement or improvements in garments for the
purposes herein-before set forth, substantially as described, or any mere
modification or variation thereof applied and used in the same or a
similar manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Dannatt; have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
JAMES DANNATT. (L.S.)