IMPROVEMENTS IN MATTRESSES, COUCHES, SEATS, LIFE BUOYS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES DESIGNED TO SERVE FOR USE AT SEA, AND GENERALLY FOR PREVENTING LOSS Or LIFE BY DROWNING
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Hannah Matilda Cornish at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the
17th February 1875.-A communication from abroad by Thomas
Cornish, of Sandridge, in the Colony of Victoria.
I, HANNAH MATILDA CORNISH, of Reigate, in the County of Surrey,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MATTRESSES, COUCHES, SEATS, LIFE BUOYS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES
DESIGNED TO SERVE FOR USE AT SEA, AND GENERALLY FOR PREVENTING LOSS Or
LIFE BY DROWNING," (a communication to me from abroad by Thomas
Cornish, of Sandridge, in the Colony of Victoria,) to be as follows:-
This Invention has reference to mattresses, couches, seats, life buoys,
and other similar articles intended for general use at sea or on the water,
and designed to be immediately available for saving life in case of
accidents by fire or shipwreck or other disasters. .
The Invention relates to a novel combination of materials constituting
a thoroughly floatable and buoyant stuffing for mattresses, couches,
seats, life buoys, and such like articles, whereby they are made to form
also comfortable beds or seats, and a method of applying bands, straps,

page_text: buckles, cordage and eyelet holes, in such mattresses, couches, seats, or
other articles, whereby means are afforded for readily saving life and for
the rapid construction of safe and commodious rafts capable of at any
time supporting numbers of persons on the water.
The stuffing consists of a mixture of cork shavings, ground cork, or
cork dust, with good clean pine or deal or other light wood shavings,
"fine
or dried bull rushes, properly prepared and "teased" into a
fibre."
A layer of the cork shavings is spread evenly over the bottoms of the
mattresses, couches, seats, and life buoys, and the upper part is duly
stuffed with the pine wood fibre or rush fibre.
The cases of the mattresses, couches, seats, and life buoys, can be
made of canvas, tick, rep, or any material that may be preferred, but for
the mattresses and couches the coarse Hessian canvas is preferred as it
affords the means of airing and drying quickly when damp. On the
outside of the mattresses, couches; seats, and life buoys are attached
strong bands of webbing or other material running lengthwise and
crosswise, preferring to use two bands lengthwise and three or four
crosswise, about equal distances apart, with loose ends about twelve to
eighteen inches long hanging from the sides and ends. These loose ends
are for the purpose of readily tying a number of the mattresses,
couches, seats, and life buoys together, thereby forming a safe and
commodious raft capable of carrying any number of persons in pro-
portion to the number of mattresses, couches, seats, and life buoys.
Every ordinary sized single mattress six feet by twenty to twenty-four
inches will be capable of floating one person. Where the bands cross
each other they are firmly sewn on to the cases, top and bottom, and
stitched through and through the stuffing. The bands are also firmly
sewn to the edges of the mattresses, couches, seats, and life buoys. The.
other parts of the bands are left loose, thus offering facilities for persons
when in the water to catch hold thereof, and to support themselves
thereby. As other means of fastening the mattresses, couches, seats,
and life buoys together are included eyelet holes and cordage for lacing
or tying them together, straps and buckles, hooks, and links or hooks:
fastening into eyelet holes, or cordage sewn round the edges with spans
left here and there, or cordage can be used instead of bands.
The improved mattresses when used in ships of war can be used as
hammocks, or when required by troops by placing them transversely on

page_text: each other, two or three deep; a raft can very readily be constructed for
safely conveying troops over a river, or for landing numbers of men and
material on a coast or through a surf where it would be dangerous or
impracticable to land with boats. They can also be used with great
advantage as a floating battery for the protection of troops when landing
on any coast. They can likewise be employed as temporary batteries on
land or on ships.
The improved mattresses for the use of soldiers or seamen can be made
with one or two joints so as to fold into a compact form for readily
stacking them together, or for convenience of carrying, or for using as a
means of defence.
The improved life buoys are stuffed with the same material as the
mattresses, and made in the same form, the casing being made of strong
canvas and painted at the side edges.
A small flagstaff with flag is attached, so that in case of a man falling
overboard and a life buoy being thrown to him he can readily sit or lie
on the life buoy, and untie the flagstaffs and fix them in the sockets
made to hold them, or he can wave the flag with his hand, and will be
visible for a long distance.
The buoyancy of these life buoys is such that any person can sit or lie
on one of them for days if necessary.
I do not bind myself to the precise details above set forth, as it is
evident they may be varied without departing from the nature of the
Invention..