IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Gumm, of Change Alley, Cornhill, in the
City of London, Ship Broker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS."-A communication.
Sealed the 12th February 1858, and dated the 14th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Gumm at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
August 1857.
I, CHARLES GUMM, of Change Alley, Cornhill, in the City of London, Ship
Broker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of life boats,
and consists in forming a boat with her bottom deeply bellied or curved,
having each end so high above the water as to prevent the sea breaking into
her; this shape will enable her also to ride more easy in the sea and meet
the waves with greater ease and safety. Instead of being built upon a keel,
she should be built upon a plank about one foot wide in the middle and
narrowed at each end; by her bottom being thus shaped, she will be flat and
will draw less water than if she had a keel. The bottom of the boat I fit with
a ballast or water tank, which can be filled with fresh water and carefully
secured; but if the water be only intended for ballast, when fresh water is no
object, and where the weight would be an objection, I can let out the water

page_text: through the bottom. The boat is provided with chambers at each end thereof
filled with cork shavings. Now, when the boat has been capsized, she will rest
upon the two cork chambers at each end of the boat, so high from the centre
of motion that the weight of the water tank will cause her to right herself,
while the cork chambers will keep her afloat, and the water she has shipped
will escape from the sides of the boat (through suitable valves which open out-
wards) to a sufficient degree to allow the crew to again board her, when she
can be bailed or pumped out. I would here observe, that lines about 20 or
30 feet in length may be fastened to the gunwales of the boat, which lines may
be fitted with clasps or snaps at their ends, to which the crew could attach
themselves by a belt with a ring in it around their waists, and guard against
being thrown so far from the boat as not again readily to reach and climb on
board.
The rowlocks are fitted so that the boat may be rowed either end foremost,
by placing therein a double set of thole pins, which divides the distance equally
between the thwarts, and having one more thwart than there are rowlocks
upon either gunwale. By this means the rowers instead of having to turn the
boat with her side to the wind, will only have to lift their feet from one side of
the thwart to the other, that is, to turn their faces towards the steersman, and
when they are seated to pull in the reverse direction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Gumm in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
GUMM, of Change Alley, Cornhill, in the City of London, Ship Broker, send
greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Gumm, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Gumm, or my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Gumm, or my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUC-
TION OF BOATS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Gumm, or my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Gumm, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a side view of my improved boat; Figure 2 is a bottom view,
shewing her lines; Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section, showing the
internal arrangement and construction.
The nature of my Invention consists in giving to a boat the peculiar form
herein-after described, and in the employment in a boat, of such peculiar form, of
self-acting forcing valves, a water-ballast tank, and buoyant end chambers, the
latter possessing such an amount of buoyant power, as when the boat is bottom
upwards, to place the centre of gravity in an unstable position, so that it is
free to descend, and in doing so must "right" the boat.
The peculiarity of form consists, as will be clearly seen by inspection of the
Drawings, in her lines being the same fore and aft, and in the unusual amount
of sheer and counter. The Drawings are made on the scale of a twelfth, and
the lines of the boat are correctly laid according to that scale, so that a prac-
tical man might build a boat from them.
In the Drawings the same part is indicated by the same letter in all the
figures.
A marks the bow; B, the stern; C, the bottom; D, D, the buoyant chan-
bers;
E, the water tank; F, F, F, the baling or forcing valves; G, G, G, &c,
the thole pins; H, H, H, &c., the thwarts or seats; J, J, deck of chambers;
K, K, K, &c., the timbers or ribs; M, M', N, N', 0, 0, P, P, Q, Q', R, R',
S, S', T, T, represent the lines of the boat, which are vertically six inches
from one another.
The great sheer and camber of this boat are given to her not only to make
her self-righting but to make her dry and easy in a sea, and enable her to be
turned readily both in the water and on the strand. She should be built upon
a plank about one foot wide in the middle, in order to diminish her draught
and facilitate handling on the beach. Her timbers K, K, K, &c., should be

page_text: young white oak splits, sprung into her from gunwale to gunwale, in order to
give her lightness and elasticity. The thole pins, as seen in the Drawings, are
put in double, i.e., three pins to a rowlock, and I also give her one more
thwart than there are rowlocks; her lines being, the same at both ends she can
be rowed either end foremost with equal ease, and by shifting the steering oar
and the other oars, she can be managed without winding or turning. A
becket for the steering oar should be placed at either end. The double sets of
thole pins G divide the distance equally between the thwarts, and secure a
proper position of the oars whichever end may be rowed foremost; they also
afford a spare lock for oar in case a thole pin should be broken.
1.
In the boat I place a water tank E, oblong in form, and secured firmly to
the bottom in the position shown. An arrangement may be made, if desired,
for filling the tank for ballast through the bottom of the boat by means of a
tube with a stop-cock and a spicket or vent in the top of the tank; but I
prefer keeping the tank constantly full of fresh water for the double purpose
of ballasting the boat and affording drinking water to the crew in case of need.
In the sides of the boat I place any required number of self-acting, freeing,
or baling valves, opening outboard, for the purpose of enabling-the boat to free
herself of water. The line at which these valves are placed is that to which
the boat will settle with the plug out and her crew on board.
The buoyant end chambers I fill with cork shavings in preference to air, as
being less liable to accidental injury. I prefer to make these chambers sepa-
rate from the boat, & so as to be shoved under the decks J, J, and removable
at pleasure, when they or the boat need repairs. To the gunwales-of the boat
I fasten long lines having balls of wood attached to their ends, in order to
give the men a ready means of reaching the boat in case of their being thrown
out by her capsizing.
The form of this boat would be likely to prevent her from upsetting, 'büt in
case such an accident should occur, she would rest upon her buoyant ends, her
centre of gravity being high above a line drawn between them, and free to fall
to either side upon the slightest disturbance of its equilibrium. It could not
remain balanced in that position for an instant in a rough sea, and the
moment it lost it the weight of the water tank would co-operate with that of
the boat to bring her right side up. The water with which she filled in
turning would then run out through the valves F, F, F, until she was
sufficiently free for her crew to get in and bale out the remainder.
Having thus described my Invention, I wish it to be understood that I do
not claim separately the buoyant chambers, the valves, or the water tank; but
what I do claim is, constructing a boat of the peculiar form herein-before

page_text: described and represented, and giving to a boat of that form buoyant ends, a
ballasting tank, and freeing valves, all constructed and operating substantially,
as described, and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth
day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.
CHARLES GUMM. (L.S.)
CHARLES GUMM. (L.S.)