Improvements in Life-saving Appliances.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Dec., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 15th Sept., 1893-Accepted, 21st Oct., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Life-saving Appliances.
I ROBERT LETHBRIDGE TAPSCOTT of 62 Croxteth Road, Liverpool in the
County of Lancaster Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
Improvements in life-saving appliances consisting of a balloon and a parachute
kite or sail either combined or separate, but so arranged that the balloon shall rise
and draw the other up with it, when it will get filled by the wind and enable the
rope holding it to the stranded ship to carry a considerable weight, and will also
keep a second rope, attached to the life-boat fully stretched.
The accompanying drawings shew a combination of the balloon and a parachute.
Figure 1. shews the balloon and a section through the parachute.
Figure 2. shews the parachute and indicates the balloon beneath.
On the drawings the different parta are denoted by the following letters-
Balloon B, parachute K, balloon ropes t, parachute ropes r, collar to which balloon
and parachute ropes are attached 1, cables to the stranded ship on one side and to
the lifeboat on the other c, ropes for hauling life-saving basket m and n.
Dated this Fourteenth day of December 1892.
R. LETHBRIDGE TAPSCOTT.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Life-saving Appliances.
I ROBERT LETHBRIDGE TAPSCOTT of 62 Croxteth Road, Liverpool in the
County of Lancaster Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:—
The object of my invention is to provide means whereby persons may be rescued
from wrecks. For this purpose I provide a parachute attached to a balloon to
support a rope from the wreck to the lifeboat which has suspended from it the life-
saving basket and is hauled to and fro and lowered into the life boat by other ropes.
The parachute may be attached to the balloon above or below it.
On the drawings left with the Provisional Specification.
Figure 1. shews the balloon and a section through the parachute with the ropes
from the wreck and life boat.
Figure 2. shews the parachute in plan extending beyond the balloon.
The different parts are denoted by the following letters-Balloon B, parachute K,
balloon ropes t, parachute ropes r, collar to which balloon and parachute ropes are
attached, cables to the stranded ship on one side and to the life boat on the
other c, ropes for hauling life-saving basket m and n.
In applying this invention the balloon is carried in the lifeboat to the scene of
the wreck and is then filled with gas which is carried in the air chambers of the
life-boat.
When sufficiently inflated it is allowed to rise. In the meantime a rope has been
thrown to the wreck and attached to it at one end and at the other to the balloon or
parachute which are then allowed to rise, and when sufficiently high for the life-
saving basket to be at all times above the waves, the rope from them is secured to
the life-boat so that they rise and fall with it. The rope to the wreck and also the
rope to the lifeboat are kept tight by the force of the wind trying to blow away

page_text: the parachute. The life-saving basket is then hauled along the rope c from the
wreck to the balloon B and parachute K, and then lowered into the life-boat, being
guided by the other rope c.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is,
The application of the parachute substantially as and for the purpose herein
described and shown upon the drawings.
Dated this Fourteenth day of September 1893.
R. LETHBRIDGE TAPSCOTT.