IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE BELTS OR BUOYS AND SIMILAR APPARATUS
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
I, STEPHEN ALLEY, of Sentinel Works, Polmadie, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE BELTS OR BUOYS AND SIMILAR APPARATUS" to be as
follows, that is to say :-
My said Invention has principally for its object the making of a life belt or buoy
so as when not in use for floating, to be of a closed or collapsed form occupying
small bulk, in order that it may be carried upon the person without inconvenience;
and so as immediately on being immersed in water to become automatically inflated
with gas and ready to act as a float. My Invention is applicable to all kinds of
apparatus or articles which it may be desired to render capable of acting as floats
when immersed in water.
In carrying out my Invention in the case. of a life belt according to one
modification I take a tube or long bag of thin rubber (or caoutchouc) of good
quality and enclose it in a larger bag of silk or other suitable flexible material,
this outer bag being intended to limit' the expansion of the inner tube or bag of
rubber and to give strength thereto when expanded. Or a tube or bag of rubber
or combined rubber and cloth may be used of sufficient strength to do without an
outer covering. A small bottle or vessel is connected to the rubber tube or bag
and is provided with a valved inlet through which the water has easy access on
the bottle becoming immersed. In the bottle or vessel I put a chemical substance,
compound or mixture which on water coming into contact or becoming mixed with
it evolves gas which inflates and expands the rubber tube or bag and thereby
converts the apparatus into an efficient life buoy. The valve is arranged so as to
close with internal pressure in order that. the gas may not escape after being
generated; and a check valve may be provided between the bottle or vessel and
the rubber tube or bag. Various substances or chemicals may be used but I believe.
that the simplest and most convenient will be such as generate carbonic acid gas.
Thus a mixture of about equal parts by weight of dry bicarbonate of soda and dry
tartaric acid may be made and two to three ounces of this mixture will supply.
ample floating power for a single life belt.
A belt of this kind when collapsed may be worn as a scarf or as a sash; or the
rubber tube or bag may be placed within the folds of any suitable article of dress;
space being provided for its full. expansion between the outer material and the
lining of the dress or in any other convenient way.
I
100%
This fifteenth day of tho 100 A
it.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, STEPHEN ALLEY, of Sentinel Works, Polmadie, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE BELTS OR BUOYS AND SIMILAR APPARATUS," and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention has principally for its object the making of a life belt or buoy
80 as when not in use for floating, to be of a closed or collapsed form occupying
small bulk, in order that it may be carried upon the person without inconvenience;
and so as immediately on being immersed in water to become automatically inflated
with gas and ready to act as a float. My Invention' is applicable to all kinds of
apparatus or articles which it may be desired to render capable of acting as floats
when immersed in water.
In carrying out my Invention in the case of a life belt according to one-
modification I take a tube or long bag of thin rubber (or caoutchouc) of good
quality and enclose it in a larger bag of silk or other suitable flexible material, this
outer bag being intended to limit the expansion of the inner tube or bag of rubber
and to give strength thereto when expanded. Or a tube or bag of rubber or
combined rubber and cloth may be used of sufficient strength to do without an
outer covering. A small bottle or vessel is connected to the rubber tube or bag
and is provided with a valved inlet through which the water has easy access on the
bottle becoming immersed. In the bottle or vessel I put a chemical substance,
compound or mixture which on water coming into contact or becoming mixed with
it evolves gas which inflates and expands the rubber tube or bag and thereby
converts the apparatus into an efficient life buoy. The valve is arranged so as to
close with internal pressure in order that the gas may not escape after being
generated; and a check valve may be provided between the bottle or vessel and.
the rubber tube or bag. Various substances or chemicals may be used but I believe
that the simplest and most convenient will be such as generate carbonic acid gas.
Thus a mixture of about equal parts by weight of dry bicarbonate of soda and dry
tartaric acid may be made and two to three ounces of this mixture will supply
ample floating power for a single life belt.
..
A belt of this kind when collapsed may be worn as a scarf or as a sash; or the
rubber tube or bag may be placed within the folds of any suitable article of dress,
space being provided for its full expansion between the outer material and the
lining of the dress or in any other convenient way.
On the accompanying sheet of explanatory drawings, figure, 1, is a vertical
section of a simple and convenient form of vessel and apparatus to contain the
chemicals for evolving the buoyant gas, and to to be attached to the rubber bag
intended to act as the float. Figure, 2, shows the application of my Invention to a
jacket represented as being worn by an individual and in its uninflated state. In
figure, 3, the individual is represented as having become immersed and with his
jacket float in its inflated state.

page_text: The vessel, A, for containing the chemicals is in the form of a short cylindrical
tube which is attached to. as low a part as possible of the rubber bag, B, its top
being in communication with the interior of the otherwise completely closed bag.
The lower end of the vessel, A, is provided with a screw plug, C, to the centre of
which is fixed a rod, D, extending inwards, and having fixed on it a disk, E,
forming the bottom of a wire-gauze cylinder, F. This wire-gauze-cylinder, F, is
provided with a cover, G, which is put on and secured by a nut, H, screwed on the
inner end of the rod, D, when the charge of chemicals has been placed within the
cylinder. The chemicals are put in, in a dry mixed state, being enclosed in thin
porous paper or other suitable material through which water will easily penetrate.
When the plug, C, is unscrewed and withdrawn it carries the wire-gauze-cylinder, F,
with it so that a charge of chemicals can be very easily introduced. The plug, C,
is made with valve apertures which are ordinarily closed by a valve disk, J, of
rubber or other suitable material guided on the rod, D; and held close by a light
spring, K. When the vessel, A is dipped into water the water raises the valve
disk, J, and entering the vessel wets the chemicals in the wire-gauze cylinder, F.
This causes the evolution of gas which inflates the bag, B, its pressure at the same
time closing the valve, J, and preventing its escape.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The providing of life belts or buoys and similar apparatus with means for
automatically inflating the same when immersed in water, such means consisting of
a vessel containing chemicals which evolve gas on being wetted and having a
check valve which after admitting the water closes by the pressure of the gas
substantially as hereinbefore described.