Improvements in Cork Life Jackets for Supporting Persons Immersed in Water.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Mar., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 29th Dec., 1899 -Accepted, 3rd Feb., 1900
PROVISIONAL, SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Cork Life Jackets for Supporting Persons
Immersed in Water.
I, ANTOINE SAIGNAC, of Jarnac (Charente), in the Republic of France, Boot-
maker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The present invention has for its object improvements in cork jackets for saving
life in the case of immersion in the sea or other water, the person wearing the
jacket being sustained sufficiently out of the water so that, even though unable
to swim, he may be able to save himself, or to wait the arrival of succour if the
shore be too distant for him to reach.
The improved apparatus or safety jacket consists of suitable fabric, such for
example as cloth, waterproof or not, and cork, the latter being used partly in
the form of sheets or plates about three centimetres thick, and partly in the
form of cork dust or small fragments, round and near the arm holes, so as not to
injure or interfere with the movements of the arms.
The armless jacket made of a suitable fabric as described carries the pieces
or plates of cork of convenient size and shape, and arranged at sufficient distances
apart, to allow the jacket to be easily doubled into a small space when not in
use.
In order not to hinder the movements of the person wearing the jacket, when
in the water, the parts round the arms and neck, instead of being provided with
plates of cork, are provided with pockets filled with dust or small fragments of
cork, so as to allow sufficient flexibility to these parts, and to allow the arms to be
used without fear of injury. The plates of cork described are provided with a
covering of cloth or other material, so that they are held between the two thick-
nesses of material.
The safety jacket (or waistcoat) is fastened round the wearer by buttons or
other suitable fastenings.
Dated this 200 day of March 1909
EDWARDS AND CO.,
Chartered Patent Agents,
55 and 66, Chancery Lane, London,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
The present invention has for its object improvements in cork jackets for saving
life in the case of immersion in the sea or other water, the person wearing the
jacket being sustained sufficiently out of the water so that, even though unable
to swim he may be able to save himself, or to wait the arrival of succour if the
shore be too distant for him to reach.
The improved apparatus or safety jacket consists of a suitable fabric, such for
example as cloth, waterproof or not, and cork, the latter being used partly in
the form of sheets or plates about three centimetres thick, and partly in the
form of cork dust or small fragments, round and near the arm holes, so as not to
injure or interfere with the movements of the arms.
The accompanying drawing is in illustration of my invention, and shows an
outside view of a jacket.
The armless jacket, made of a suitable fabric A as described, carries the pieces
or plates of cork B of convenient size and shape, and arranged at sufficient dis-
tances apart, to allow the jacket to be easily doubled and folded into a small
space when not in use.
In order not to hinder the movements of the person wearing the jacket, when
in the water, the parts C round the arms and neck, instead of being provided with
plates of cork, are provided with pockets filled with dust or small fragments of
cork, so as to give sufficient flexibility to these parts, and to allow the arms to
be used without fear of injury. The plates of cork described are provided with
a covering of cloth or other material, so that they are held between the two
thicknesses of material.
The safety jacket (or waistcoat) is fastened round the wearer between D and D¹
by buttons, or other suitable fastenings such as buckles, hooks and eyes, and
the like.
2
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 3
I claim is:-
A life-saving jacket, having a body of cloth provided with sheets or plates of
cork, arranged at sufficient distances apart to allow the jacket to be folded; the
sheets or plates of cork being in some parts replaced by cork in dust or small
fragments so as to give flexibility to the apparatus, substantially as described and 3
illustrated.
Dated thin 0011 1.