Improvements in and connected with Rafts.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 20th May, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 17th Feb., 1892-Accepted, 7th May, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Rafts.
HENRY WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT Her Majesty's Prison Wandsworth in the
County of Surrey Assistant Warder do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to construct a combination raft or catamaran boat
which can be used with sails oars paddles or by a screw propeller worked by
pedals.
This invention consists of two hollow floats of triangular or other suitable shape
made of suitable wooden boards each float being divided into watertight compart-
ments the depth of each float being about twelve inches these floats are placed
about three feet eight inches apart (outside to outside) and secured to cach other
by wooden cross bars by means of the last mentioned bars, it can be adjusted to
any suitable width.
On the top of cross bars a wooden trellis is fitted to form a platform for seat
this seat may be an ordinary bicycle seat with pedals connected to an upright hollow
iron post fitted to platform the bottom part of iron post is made with a hinge to allow
it to be lowered on to the platform and when so lowered the seat becomes a sliding
one for rowing or paddling purposes the oars are worked in rowlocks fixed to
outriggers made of 3 iron bars so constructed with hinges to the bottom of float
so as to fall over towards the upright hollow post & form a stay thereto when such
post is used for seat and pedals to work the screw-propeller-a mast can also be used
by fitting it into top of hollow iron post.
The raft or catamaran boat is propelled by bicycle pedal gearing working a shaft
with screw attached thereto the steering is performed by the bicycle handle by
means of cords extending to two rudders.
Any one of the above modes of propulsion can be adopted in the course of two
or three minutes.
This raft or boat is unsinkable and non-capsizable.
BROWNE & Co.,
60, Chancery Lane, Agents to Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Rafts.
HENRY WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT 38 Warleigh Road Brighton Sussex, Wood
Carver, late Assistant Warder H.M. Prison Wandsworth London S.W. 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:
This invention is a double boat, formed of two hollow wooden floats A of an
irregular triangular section, each of the floats being 16 feet long, 11 inches deep,
and 9 inches wide in the centre of the deck, gradually decreasing from the centre
to both ends to form the stem and stern of the floats.
Upon the middle of the deck of each float two iron handles B are fastened, for
the purpose of holding the ends of two wooden cross bars C, each 5 feet long,
3 inches wide, and 3 inches thick, these cross bars have a wooden platform D
(5 feet long 3 feet broad inch thick), fixed upon them. The ends of the cross-
bars project, 9 inches, from underneath each side of the platform, and are passed

page_text: through the handles, and are fastened by pins on the deck of each float, thus
keeping the floats 3 feet 6 inches apart, and parallel with each other.
When the boat is borne by the water, the insides of both the floats will be
vertical, the decks will be horizontal, and the outsides will form a sharp angle from
the decks to the keels. thus offering very little resistance to the water, and the
vertical insides of the floats allow free passage for the water between them; when
the catamaran is propelled with speed.
Upon the top, and in the centre of the platform, is bolted an iron casting E,
this casting is slotted, to contain a cog wheel F 8 inches in diameter, the axle of
the wheel having cranks and pedals & affixed to rotate the wheel, the casting is
thirteen inches high, 14 inches wide, and Ard inch thick each side of the slot, at the
top of this casting is a circular projection, 2 inches high and 2 inches in diameter,
upon this projection a movable brass cap H fits, on each side of the cap are
projections I through which are passed steel tubes J, 1 inch in diameter, 2 feet
4 inches long. The bottom ends K of the two steel tubes project through the
side projections of the cap a distance of 4 inches, and are flattened and slotted for
3 inches of their length to permit a bolt L to be passed through them, and fastened
to the flat sides of the casting. This bolt fits easily in each slot and allows the
parallel tubes to be worked up or down, backwards or forwards, but not sideways,
as the flat ends of the tubes press the flat sides of the casting, and permits no side
motion. The two steel tubes project from the top of the brass cap a distance of
1 foot 8.inches, and are joined together by a cross piece of steel M 3.inches long,
thus keeping the tubes parallel and 3 inches apart. Above the steel cross piece
the tubes are bent backwards at right-angles for about 4 inches, then upwards,
3 inches, the ends of the parallel tubes then fitting into two short tubes N fastened
into a bicycle seat O, thus forming an upright seat for use when propelling the
canoe, or boat, by means of the pedals and screw propeller. From the front of the
steel crosspiece of the seat tubes a casting is fixed, 6 inches long, 1 inch wide,
in. thick, at the end of this casting are two steel legs Q, 7 inches long, inch
diameter, with a hinge R to the casting, to enable them to be opened out to an
angle, of 45 and no more. These steel legs are bent to enable a bicycle steering
handle bar S to be passed through, and work in them, when the legs are closed
together and fastened by a nut T at their extremities. The steering handle bar
has a hinge U at the bottom, so that the handle can be laid flat on the platform
when the boat is used for paddling, rowing, or sailing; at the bottom of the handle
bar a cross piece of wood V is fixed, fastened to the cross piece of wood are ropes h
that are fastened to the extreme end of the "traveller" W and propeller X
shaft. When the handle is moved these ropes traverse from side to side the
"traveller" W, and the propeller with it, so that the boat can be steered with
the propeller alone.
The propeller shaft X is a steel tube, I inch diameter, 9 feet long, with a
6 in. screw propeller at the end. This propeller shaft is rotated in a "traveller" W
a light hollow casting shaped like half a tube, 5 feet long, with bearings, Y at each
end. The front end of the "traveller" has a foot Z with a circular bottom 3 inches
in diameter. Through the centre of this foot is passed a thumbscrew to fasten the
foot down to the platform, close to the cogwheel, and allows a small cogwheel a
attached to the end of the shaft to fit into the teeth of the cogwheel in the casting,
thus producing a rotary motion in the shaft and propeller when the pedals are
worked by the foot. At 2 feet 6 inches from the foot of the "traveller," and
underneath it, a tongue of iron 62 inches wide is fastened, this, tongue fits easily
beneath a flat semicircular iron,flange c, fastened to the.stern end. of the platform,
and this allows the shaft of the propeller in the "traveller " to be traversed from
side to side, at the same time keeping the shaft from bending, and at a proper
angle to enter the water. Both the "traveller" and shaft of the propeller can be
instantly unshipped by unscrewing the thumbscrew d in the foot at the end of the
traveller," and drawing them on to the platform. The catamaran, can be directly
transformed into a sliding seat rowing boat ee, by lifting the bicycle seat..from

page_text: rower.
the top of the parallel tubes J, then lifting the tubes up until the brass cap H
fastened to the bottom of them is free from the projection on top of the casting,
and then bringing the parallel seat tubes over to the front of the platform, the two
legs at the top of the tubes, on the casting P, will then be underneath, and when
opened out will form a support for the ends of the tubes, and keep them in an
horizontal position, the bottom ends of the tubes are supported by the bolts L that
pass through them into the sides of the casting, a kind of railway ee is thus formed,
on which the bicycle seat slides backwards and forwards with the motion of the
The seat is prevented leaving the rails, or tubes, by the two small tubes N
under the seat passing down through the space between the parallel tubes, a very
comfortable rowing seat is formed about 1 foot above, and parallel with, the
platform. The rowlocks are the ordinary iron tube rowlocks, fitted with hinges at
the bottom, to allow them to be folded over and laid flat down on the platform
when not in use. To form a seat for paddling, f, or propelling the boat by means
of a paddle, the parallel seat tubes are brought over to the back of the catamaran,
and will then rest on the bent tubes at the top. These bent tubes will support the
parallel bars about 5 inches above the platform, the other end of the tubes being
suspended above the platform by the bolts through the slots in the casting, the
top casting and legs are now on the upper side of the tubes, and the legs opened
out, form a back-rest g, the bicycle seat being placed on the rails formed by the
parallel tubes, the result being a paddling seat with a gentle inclination backwards,
the scat being adjustable for any size person. To propel the boat by sail, the seat
is put up as for pedalling, and the mast fastened to the upright seat tubes and sail
hoisted, the boat being steered with an oar.
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:
1. That I invented the triangular shaped floats, and that the boat is practically
unsinkable, and cannot capsize, and can be taken to pieces in one minute.
2. Also the combination seat, before described, that can instantly be transformed
into a sliding rowing seat, or a paddling seat, or a seat for the propulsion of the
boat by means of the pedals and screw propeller.
3. Also the casting, described in the foregoing as the "traveller," by means of
which the screw can be instantly unshipped, and can also move the shaft and screw,
from side to side, thereby turning the boat in twice its own length.
4. In both paddle, and screw propulsion, the owner can see his course.
Dated this 15th day of February 1892.
HENRY WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT.