IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS' COTS OR BERTHS, AND IN. SUSPENDING AND ARRANGING SUCH COTS OR BERTHS, AND ALSO SHIPS' COUCHES AND HAMMOCKS
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edward Haughton at the Office.
of the Commissioners of Patonts, with his Petition, on the 7th
August 1874.
I, EDWARD HAUGHTON, of Upper Norwood, in the County of Surrey,-
Doctor of Medicine, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention.
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS' COTS OR BERTHS, AND IN.
SUSPENDING AND ARRANGING SUCH COTS OR BERTHS, AND ALSO SHIPS' COUCHES AND
HAMMOCKS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists (inter alia) in constructing and arranging
passengers' cots or berths on board sailing or steam vessels, as herein-
after described, in order to prevent or diminish the sea sickness ordinarily
caused by the motion of the vessel.
Instead of making the berth a fixture I make it in the form of a
separate frame or cot of a size and shape suitable for containing the
passenger and his bedding, and with a false bottom, which beside serving
to support any articles of which the passenger may have need, may
carry weights which are or may be placed in sockets or recesses in the

page_text: said false bottom, or may be hooked near it to steady the cot in caso it
is thrown out of balance by the movements of the said passenger, and I
suspend and balance the cot by one or other of the arrangements hercin-
after described, so as to prevent it as far as possible from sharing the
rising, falling, lateral,-and other motions of the vessel.
According to one arrangement I attach by a hook the upper part of
the frame of the cot at or about the centre thereof to acord or band_
which is itself non-elastic, or I attach it by a hook to the lower end of a
steel or india-rubber spring, or to the lower ends of several such springs,
the upper end or ends of which spring or springs is or are respectively
attached to a ring, hook, staple, or other connection or connections
affixed to the deck above. This mode of flexible suspension: admits of
the freo pendulous motion of the cot in all directions. In addition to
the aforesaid cord or band which may be termed the main support of the
cot, I attach to its corners, or to any other suitable parts, cords passing 1
through two sets of pulleys, the upper set being hooked to staples fixed
to the deck above, and the lower pulleys being hooked to the cot.
These cords serve for raising and adjusting the said. cot, and can also bo
used as check stays to limit the "play" of the cot when it has been
hooked to the central support as herein-after described.
.
In order to hold the cot steady while the passenger is getting into or
out of it, it is also provided with rigid stays which can be temporarily
connected to the side of, the vessel or to other suitable points. Tho said
cot is also provided with flexible stays which are or may be attached to
its sides, ends, and bottom, and connected respectively to the sides of the
vessel as occasion may require, and to the deck below or to any other
suitable points of attachment, whether in a vertical, horizontal, or
oblique direction.
In using the cot tho passenger cither gets into it while it is in a-
suspended position, or in the case of an invalid the said cot is lowered
by means of the cords and pulleys aforesaid, until its false bottom rests
on the lower deck. The passenger next gets into the said cot which is
then raised by the cords and pulleys to such a licight as to admit of its
being hooked on to the central elastic support, and the said cords are
then slackened so as to allow of the necessary "play," the ends of the
said cords having loops or being attached to eycletted' straps which may

page_text: bo led along the sides of the cot to within the reach of the passenger
(those nearest to the foot being passed under pulleys), and be hooked to
hooks in the said sides, or otherwise suitably secured.
According to another arrangement-I-dispense with the central elastic
or non-elastic support, and suspend the cot (constructed as described)
from the upper deck by four or more adjustable elastic springs, cords, or
bands, the said cot being also furnished with the rigid stays attached. to
its sides, and with elastic check stays leading from the sides and ends of
the cot in a horizontal direction, and from the bottom of the cot to the
lower deck as herein-before described with reference to my first arrange-
ment. The said cot should also be furnished with cords and pulleys for
raising and lowering it as herein-before described, so as to connect it
with or disconnect it from the elastic stays aforesaid.
In applying my Invention to a ship's couch I either suspend it from
four or more points by means of elastic cords or bands, or of non-elastic
cords attached to springs as aforesaid, and I affix to the sides. and
Cottom respectively the side stays and elastic check stays herein-before
described. Or I suspend the said couch from a central elastic support
with non-elastic stays above, and apply adjustable elastic stays from its
sides and ends in a horizontal direction as well as from below; in all cases
using the rigid stays only during the entry of the passenger into the cot
or his exit therefrom.
In applying my Invention to a hammock I attach it to a longitudinal
bar which I suspend either by a central clastic support with non-elastic
check stays above, and elastic check stays attached to the hammock
below, or I suspend the said bar by four elastic cords attached to its
ends, and attach elastic check stays to the hammock below. The said
hammock may be raised and lowered as required by means of cords and
pulleys as herein-before described with reference to cots, and may be
stiffened at the ends for the more convenient attachment of the end
supports, and of the check stays acting from beneath and in a horizontal
direction as herein-before referred to in connection with the arrangement
of cots.
:

page_text: the vessel (a purpose which I am award has been effected to a greater or
less extent by other Inventions), but also intercept or counteract tho
sudden jerks caused by the rising and falling of the vessel in a sen way,-
and also. many other irregular and. disagreeable movements so as thereby
to obviate the principal cause of sca sickness...