IMPROVE- MENTS IN LIFE BOATS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JONAS
BATEMAN, of Upper Street, Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Cooper,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her présent most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of
November (One thousand eight hundred and fifty), in the fourteenth year
of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Jonas Bateman, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Jonas Bateman, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jonas Bateman,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LIFE BOATS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said Jonas Bateman, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in
Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jonas Bateman, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed; that is to say:-
Let a boat frame be constructed of any approved material, and of dimen-
sions suitable for the number of persons it is intended, the boat frame being
strongly fastened, by means of any approved fastenings, to cross partitions
about one inch and a half in thickness. It is necessary that the deck and
bottom of the boat should be precisely similar in size, and the deck must have
circular holes cut to receive cylinders, to be hereafter described, viz:-Strong
water-tight cylinders, about sixteen inches in diameter, and thirty-six inches
in depth, passed through the holes in the deck, and resting on the bottom
of the framing of the boat, on the inside thereof, the space between the
bottom of each cylinder and the bottom of the boat being filled in with
wood, to give it a solid resting on the bottom of the boat frame; then
insert strong metal screws sufficiently long to pass through the entire sub
stance of the bottom of the cylinder and the bottom of the boat frame, to
give strength and prevent any inclination of the cylinder to rise from the
pressure of water from beneath when immersed; then with prepared cork
entirely fill the whole of the interstices between each of the cylinders and the
inside of the boat frame, so as to render the whole a solid mass, with the
exception of the interior of the cylinders, each of which is intended to receive
one person; then drive a stout wood hoop upon each of the cylinders upon
the deck, and fasten such hoop to the cylinder by means of screws sufficiently
long to pass from one cylinder to the next in position, after which pass
a flexible waterproof article round the open end of each cylinder, attaching
it thereto by a similar wood hoop; the flexible article is to be tied round the
waist of the person using the boat, and will effectually prevent the sea from
breaking into the cylinder, and consequently keep the persons dry, but it need
not be so tight as to prevent the persons placing themselves in a sitting posture
upon the upper part of the boat. A strong wrought-iron keel, about three inches
wide by two inches thick, is to be fastened to the outside of the bottom of the
boat (running the whole length thereof) by means of strong iron bolts passing
through the entire depth of the boat; such bolts are to have strong metal eyes
to screw on their upper ends down upon the deck. The keel and bolts will give
additional strength to the whole and assist to prevent its upsetting. The eyes
screwed on the ends of the bolts are intended to have ropes or chains passed
through them, to hoist and lower the boat in or out of the ship, or attach it

page_text: thereto until the persons are placed. The upper end of each of the cylinders
are to have covers constructed upon any approved principle and of any
approved material, to keep out the water and prevent injury to the cylinders
when the boat is not in use; any number of additional fastenings may be used.
that are thought necessary.
I do not claim as my Invention any of the articles of which the boat is
constructed, separately considered; but I do claim as my Invention the com-
bination of the several articles, agreeably to the arrangement herein-before
described, for the purpose of a life boat that will give perfect security in
shipwreck.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonas Bateman, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one