Improvements in or Appertaining to Life-boats or Life-boat Deck Seats.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 9th June, 1887
Complete Left, 9th Mar., 1888
Complete Accepted, 13th Apr., 1888
Improvements in or Appertaining to Life-boats or Life-boat Deck
Seats.
1, GEORGE HUGHES of 12, Wentworth Street, Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster, Naval Architect, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The great difficulty in the way of carrying sufficient boats to save all the ship's
company in case of shipwreck is that they cumber the decks so much as to impede
the working of the ship. The only way to avoid this is to convert them into useful
portions of the vessel, for the time being. In this way the seats have been formed so.
as to do duty as life rafts, and vice versa, but I know of no case where boats have
been converted into deck seats, and this latter plan forms the basis of my invention.
My life boat is formed of steel, iron, copper wood or other material, or a com-
bination of these as may be desired. It is formed in two halves hinged together at
the keel. The bottom, sides and ends are formed of tanks or flotation compartments.
One or more strips of india rubber are sunk in or attached to the keel, and up both
bow and stern on one or both halves, and sometimes I may form corresponding
grooves in the opposite halves. These, when the two are locked together by means of
suitable fastenings form a water-tight joint. The upper part of the sides are formed
as cupboards or lockers, in which are stored the rowlocks oars (preferably five in
number one being used for steering if required) the rudder, and the mast and its
appurtenances, and on the doors of these lockers the thwarts are attached and swivel.
The lockers being open the ends of the thwarts rest on them and by suitable details
are locked in place. The mast can be fixed in a socket in the end compartment,, and
is stayed to points at the sides and bow and stern.
When the boat is used as a seat, it is opened and attached to the skids by hooks
and eyes or other fastenings, preferably jointed together, so as to all be loosed or

page_text: fastened simultaneously. The sides of the boat thus become a double seat, its bottom
the back, and its end compartments the arms. Both ends can be bow shaped and
carry rudder attachments, so that the rudder can be fixed at either end. The sides
and bottom of the boat inside are padded or lined with laths, so as to form a
comfortable seat. Life guards can be attached all round. Any one or more of the
compartments can be used as a locker for provisions, water or other stores.
Dated this 8th day of June 1887.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or Appertaining to Life-boats or Life-boat Deck
Seats.
I, GEORGE HUGHES, of 12, Wentworth Street, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Draughtsman 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 has for its object a life-boat, which can be used on ordinary occasions
as a deck seat.
Referring to the drawings:
:-
Figure 1 is a plan of the boat arranged for launching.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same.
Figure 3 is a transverse section of the same.
Figure 4 is a transverse section of the boat when used as a seat.
Figure 5 is a plan of the boat when used as a seat.
Figure 6 is a front elevation of the same.
Figure 7 is an end elevation of the same, and
Figure 8, shows details of catch.
In these A, A, are water-tight compartments at the head and stern. These are
preferably made similar in contour. B, B, B, are other compartments with bulk-
heads at intervals, separating them into several compartments. In the drawing, the
entire boat is therefore composed of twelve separate compartments. Besides these
separate compartments, there are longitudinal bulk-heads b forming two further
compartments or rows of compartments alongside the keel or centre of the boat.
These two compartments are used to carry fresh water, and when this is exhausted,

page_text: they are filled with water ballast, by means of suitable valves or plugs not shown,
and forming no part of this invention, C, C, are lockers or chambers for holding the
masts, boat-hooks, oars, and rowlocks when the boat is being used as a seat. "The
doors D of these lockers are used to sit upon when the boat is used as a scat proper,
but when actually used as a boat, they stand out horizontally, and thwarts E arc
fixed to them, being swung into position in the manner set forth in Figure 1, where
the thwart E is being swung into place. The thwart E' is still in the position in
which it was in, when the boat was a seat, and the remaining thwarts are in their
right position. The screws fastening the thwarts to the locker doors, when in the
position for a seat, are used to fasten the ends of the other thwarts, when they are
placed in position for rowing. F, F, are battens which form the inside lining of the
boat, and also the laths to the back of the seat, and G are arms in the case of the
seat, between two or three passengers, and in the case of the boat, they form supports
for the seats D. The two portions of the boat are hinged together with strong
hinges H. These hinges extend almost from end to end of the boat. In order to
keep the boat water-tight between the two halves, a broad band of india rubber I, or
other soft yielding matter, of suitable character, is placed on one half, and the
corresponding metallic band with a salient rib J is placed on the other half of the
boat. When the two halves are held together to form a boat, the salient rib J is
compressed into the india-rubber or other soft yielding matter I, and this holds the
boat water-tight. K, K, are mast sockets, which are preferably placed at each end
of the boat, so that either can be used to hold a mast. L is the tiller, and M the
rudder. These, when not required, are shipped in the lockers, and in order to get
the rudder into the locker, it is formed in two parts m. m², hinged together, and
these two parts when in position for a rudder, are held in place by strong catches N,
only one of these is shown in the drawing, but there may be as many as are required,
and these are so fixed as not to be able to be unfastened by the waves. O is a catch
better shown in Figure 8, which fits into a hasp or rack P, on the other half of the
boat, and when not in this rack is prevented from falling too far back by the stop p,
whereby it stands in such position that the moment the two halves of the boat come
together, the catch at once falls into the rack. When the two boat halves are
brought together, or partially so, the catch O will fall and catch in the rack P,
holding it tight. Qis a hinged screw, and R a pair of abutments on the other half
of the boat. The hinged screw is thrown down between this pair of abutinents, and
the nut q is then tightened against the abutments until the two halves are brought
together, pressing the ridge J tightly into the band of india-rubber I. S, S, are the
rowlock holes. The rowlocks are placed in the lockers when not in use. T is a bar
or rail placed over the junction of the two halves of the boat, and over the hinge
when used as a seat. This hoard is held down by means of slip hooks, or right and
left hand screw fastening U, and mousing V to the deck, so as to hold the seat on
its chocks W. The fastening U being attached to the bar T by means of the
eyelets t, interlocking in the eyelet of the upper screw. These chocks W have two
longitudinal grooves X, into which the rails Y on the boat fit. The rails Y may be
placed flush with the gunwale or at any convenient distance therefrom. These rails
are fitted with holes y all along so as to act as life lines, or have life lines fitted to
them, so that any person swimming in the water can at once grasp the same, and be
drawn up by the people in the boat. Z, Z, are eyes to which the guy ropes holding
the mast in position are attached. z are eyes upon which the rudder is hung in the
usual manner.
The usual self-emptying life boat valves can also be attached to this life boat.
It has not been thought worth while, however, to show them in the drawings, as they
form no part of this invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
1 claim is
1. As a new article of manufacture, a ship's boat, formed in two halves, hinged

page_text: together or otherwise connected, and forming when open, a double deck seat, or when
disconnected, two single seats.
2. In a ship's boat opening in the centre, a strip of india-rubber, or other suitable,
soft, tough, yielding material I, along the entire length of one or both of the parts
that come together in combination with a salient ridge on the opposite half, and
mechanism for holding the two halves tight together.
3. The arrangement in a boat, of locker doors D, thwarts E, arms or supports G,
and their appurtenances, whereby the scats, can be at once improvised when required;
and can be put away so as to be ready when wanted, substantially as described.
4. In seats required to be joined together to form a boat, the series of arms G with
vertical ends, in combination with a hinged seat-front D capable of folding back onto
the said arms, whereby both arms and front seat are useful as support and seat, 'when
the two seats are clamped together to act as a boat.
5. Each of the following parts when applied to or forming a part of a combined
lifeboat and deck seat, and substantially as and for the purposes described:
(a) The folding rudder.