Improvements in Apparatus for Propelling Boats and for Storage of Air in the same.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Oct., 1891-Accepted, 5th Dec., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Propelling Boats and for Storage
of Air in the same.
I, THOMAS DUNNILL CLAPHAM of Ashurst, in the Provincial District of
Wellington, in the Colony of New Zealand, Tailor, 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 objects of my invention are to provide an apparatus whereby the action of
the oars in rowing boats, and more especially in such as are used for saving life
may be used to store air in a receiver, such air when stored to be used to render
the boat more buoyant or for filling life belts with air, or when desired the air can
be pumped, and made to pass out of the boat underneath the water through
orifices, and thus pressing against the water in the opposite direction to that in
which the boat is travelling may be made to assist in propelling the boat.
I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawing
which is a sectional view taken through the gunwale of an ordinary life boat.
Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the view.
a is the gunwale of the boat.
is a plate firmly bolted inside the gunwale by the bolts b'.
c is a plate bolted to the top of the gunwale.
d is the rowlock.
e is a sliding block sliding freely in the guides e¹ e'.
ff are rubber packings to prevent concussion when the sliding block e reaches
the end of its stroke in either direction.
g is the cylinder of an air pump having suction valve g¹ and delivery valve 9'
as fitted to an ordinary air pump, is the cap for removing the valves.
his the piston of the air pump having a piston rod fixed to the sliding block e
by the cross head 2, having a guide attached to the cylinder g.
is the delivery pipe delivering the air into any convenient receiver or compart-
ment in the boat provided for that purpose.
It will be seen from this description of the several parts, and by reference to the
drawing that my invention consists in attaching an air pump to an ordinary life or
other boat in such a manner that with every stroke of the oar the slide block e is
made to traverse in the slides e el carrying with it the piston h, and thus actuating
the air pump, and delivering compressed air through the delivery pipe i into the
chamber provided for that purpose, and by this means the boat may be rendered
more buoyant, or the air may be used to fill air belts or allowed to escape into the
water in a contrary direction to that in which the boat is travelling by which means
power is returned to the boat.
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 attachment of an air pump to a boat in such a manner that force applied to
the oars may be utilised for working an air pump as and for the purposes,
substantially as set forth.
Dated this Second day of September 1891.
THOMAS DUNNILL CLAPHAM.