AN IMPROVED MODE OF COMMUNICATING FROM VESSELS TO THE SHORE OR FROM ONE VESSEL TO ANOTHER."
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Jamieson Sibbald, of Paddington, Edge
Hill, West Derby, in the County of Lancaster, Surgeon, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF COMMUNICATING FROM VESSELS
TO THE SHORE OR FROM ONE VESSEL TO ANOTHER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Jamieson
Sibbald at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 21st November 1853.
I, ROBERT JAMIESON SIBBALD, of Paddington, Edge Hill, West
Derby, in the County of Lancaster, Surgeon, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF COMMUNICATING
FROM VESSELS TO THE SHORE OR FROM ONE VESSEL TO ANOTHER" to be as
follows:-
By means of a float or buoy formed of an inflated bag or balloon
made of any water or air proof material or materials, and to which a
cord is attached, and which line is wound round the float or placed any
other convenient way, so that when the float is cast into the sea and

page_text: 66
one end of the cord held on board the vessel it will unwind or
pay
out as the float is blown to leeward by the wind, so that the float has
not to drag the rope after it in its progress but mearly to "uncoil" it.
It is prefered to construct the floats or buoys of a spherical or oval
shape of india-rubber, gutta percha, or other flexable air-proof material,
and to keep them distended in one direction by means of ribs or rings,
so that when not inflated they will lay flat and be portable. And that
they may be readily inflated, it is proposed to pass through one end of
the bag and fix to the interior of the other a standard or hollow staff;
provided with a valve for the admission of air into the interior of bag,
so that when it is required to inflate the apparatus all that is requisite
is, to force out the bag by means of the staff until it is fully distended,
then close the valve. It is intended to construct pockets or small
depots in or upon the floats, so that letters or other small articles may
be deposited and conveyed therein.
By this mode it will be seen that a rope, letters, or other small
articles can be readily sent from a vessel to a lee shore, or from a vessel
to windward to one to leeward, without inconvenience or danger, by
mearly casting the apparatus overboard and keeping hold of the end of
the cord attached thereto.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Jamieson Sibbald in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 20th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ROBERT JAMIESON SIBBALD, of Paddington, Edge Hill, West Derby, in
the County of Lancaster, Surgeon, send reeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Jamieson Sibbald, Her
special license, that I, the said Robert Jamieson Sibbald, my executors.

page_text: administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Jamieson Sibbald, 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 the Isle of Man,
an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF COMMUNICATING FROM VESSELS
TO THE SHORE OR FROM ONE VESSEL TO ANOTHER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Robert Jamieson Sibbald, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is 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 Robert Jamieson Sibbald, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (that is to say)
My said Invention consists in using a light buoyant float or buoy
formed by an inflated bag or balloon, made of any water or air proof
material or materials, to which is attached a cord, and which cord or
line is wound round the float or upon a real attached thereto or placed
upon or within the float, so that the coil of cord is carried by the float
in such a way that when the apparatus is cast into the sea and one end
of the coil is held on board the vessel, it will unwind or "pay out" as
the float is blown to leeward by the wind; by this arrangement the
float has not to drag the rope after it in its progress, but merely to
uncoil it.
Although I do not confine myself to any particular shape or material
used in the construction of the floats, I prefer those made of a spherical
or oval shape, of india-rubber, gutta percha, or other flexible air-proof
substance, and to keep them distended in one direction by means of
ribs or rings, so that when not inflated they will lay flat and be portable.
And that they may be readily inflated I use a hollow staff or standard,
which is passed through a valve placed at one end of the bag and into

page_text: a socket fixed on the inner side of the reverse end, so that when the
apparatus is required to be inflated all that is requisite is to force'
out the bag by means of the staff until it is fully distended, then close
the valve. I construct pockets or small depots in or upon the floats,
into which letters or other small articles can be placed and conveyed
therein.
:
That this Invention may be the more readily seen and understood I
have hereunto annexed a Drawing of an apparatus constructed according
to my plan with the cord rolled round the float, which is here shewn of
an oval shape. Like letters refer to similar parts. A, an oval shaped
hollow float. B, a long cord wound round the float. C, a wooden
socket at the pole of the float into which the hollow staff or standard
is fixed. D, valve through which the hollow staff is introduced into
the interior of the float. E, a small pocket formed on the outside of
the float for the reception of letters or other small articles. The in-
ternal frame work of the float is shown by the dotted lines; a 1, a 2,
a 3, a 4, a 5, and a 6, indicate the position of six circular hoops or
ribs. b, hollow pole or staff, extended through the centre of the float
from C to D. By the use of apparatus constructed as herein-before
described, it will be seen that a rope, letters, or other small articles can
be readily sent from a vessel to a lee shore, or from a vessel to wind-
ward to one to leeward, without danger or inconvenience, by merely
casting the apparatus overboard and keeping hold of the end of the
cord attached thereto. I have found by experience that with only
a very light wind a spherically shaped float of only two feet diameter
readily carried out a stout cord 2,000 feet long. Should the cord
attached to one float not be found of sufficient length; I propose to
attach the near end thereof to a second float, in such a way that it
(the second float) can revolve upon its axis to allow the rope attached
to it to uncoil itself as it is drifted to leeward, one end of the cord
being held on board, in the same way as the cord of the first float
herein-before described.
"
Having now described my said Invention, and in what manner the
same may be performed, what I claim as my Invention is, the apparatus
herein-before described (or any near modification thereof), and the use

page_text: of the same as a mode of communicating from vessels to the shore or
from one vessel to another, substantially and in the manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Jamieson Sibbald, have
heretofore set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
Witness,
WILLIAM WALKER.
ROBERT JAMIESON (L.s.) SIBBALD.