IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING Loss OF LIFE AT SEA
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sara Spaldin, of Hull, in the County of York, Spinster,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING Loss
OF LIFE AT SEA."
Sealed the 6th February 1855, and dated the 18th August.1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sara Spaldin at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Pétition, on the 18th August
1854.
I, SARA SPALDIN, of Hull, in the County of Yorkshire, Spinster, do hereby.
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR PREVENTING LOSS OF LIFE AT SEA" to be as follows:-
A life buoy, of a circular or elliptical form, is made of a wicker frame filled
with cork shavings, having in the centre an aperture through which the person
to be rescued is placed, their arms resting upon the upper surface of the buoy.
Around the exterior surface of the buoy is a. looped rope, to which other
persons may cling if necessary. At convenient places. in the buoy there are
suitable water-tight receptacles, for containing solid and fluid provisions,
candles, and a candle lamp, so constructed and fitted with glasses as to be
protected from the action of the waves, as also a flag staff and rocket tube for
the purpose of making signals.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her, heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Sara Spaldin, Her special licence that I, the said Sara Spaldin; my executors,
administrators, and "assigns, or sucli others as I; the said Sara Spaldin, 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 Işle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING
Loss OF LIFE AT SEA," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Sara Spaldin, 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 was 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.
ו'.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Sara Spaldin, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My said Invention consists in the peculiar construction of life buoys
provided with signals, store receptacles for provisions, and other requisites.
I generally prefer to make the body of the life buoy of a light material,
portable size, and circular, elliptical, or other convenient form; it may be
manufactured either wholly or partly of cork, or cork enclosed in wicker work,
or waterproof material; and there must be a central aperture of sufficient
capacity to admit the body about the waist, where it may be retained by
girthing, straps, or other suitable appendages.
I provide that the sides and front of such life buoys' shall have receptacles
for storing provisions, spirits, clothing, papers, signal rockets, and the like, in
air and water tight boxes, cannisters, flasks, or other packages; and around
the exterior edge of each life buoy may be attached a looped rope, to which
other persons may cling if necessary.
At the front part of my improved life buoys, immediately facing the wearer,
I arrange a flag and lamp staff. The staff may be made of strong bamboo
or metal tube, reaching below the buoy, or may be screwed into a socket in
the same, or be secured by any like arrangement; it may also be jointed, to
assist in increasing or lessening its height, and render it convenient for

page_text: packing. The staff is to be surmounted by a candle or oil lamp, the foul air
to escape through the top of its glazed lantern, and the fresh air admitted
thereto by one or more perforated tubes or plates at bottom. The same staff'
will likewise serve to hoist a flag of distress.
It will thus be observed that the main principle of my said Invention
consists in the peculiar receptacles provided for the preservation of food and
property, and in furnishing conspicuous and ready means for signaling by
flags, or at night by rockets or by lights. It is obvious, therefore, that the
framing and body for my improved life buoys may be very variously con-
structed to answer particular desired objects. One or more receptacles may be
formed in the body of the buoy, opening on the top surface to receive the
requisite articles; or receptacles may be made, each of the form of the par-
ticular packages or other matters to be deposited therein, and it will generally
be desirable to place these depositories as much forward as possible to be
within easy reach of the wearer, and so as to keep the buoyant power most
favourable for maintaining the body in a convenient position in the water,
particularly while acted on by the accidents of violent weather and rough
seas, so that the life buoy, under the most adverse circumstances, shall always
right itself.
Having thus described the general mode of carrying out my said Invention,
I would here observe that I do not restrict myself to the precise form or
dimensions of the bodies of buoys constructed according to my improvements,
nor to their being entirely of cork, or framed only with wicker work, as other
cheap materials for framing and buoyancy might be used; neither do I limit
myself to the number and form of the receptacles introduced. And I do
declare that what I claim as my Invention is, namely, the peculiar construction
of life buoys as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sara Spaldin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord
Witness,
H. N. WALESBY.
H. G. BEARD.
SARA SPALDIN.
(L.S.)