IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE BOATS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th May 1878. A communication
from abroad by Martin Bourke, David M. Wilson, Benjamin John Morris, Henry,
Bryson Shields, David S. Williams, Thomas Morris, and David Thompson
Harriett, all of Youngstown, in the County of Mahoning and State of Ohio,
United States of America.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE BOATS." [A communication from
abroad by Martin Bourke, David M. Wilson, Benjamin John Morris, Henry Bryson
Shields, David S: Williams, Thomas Morris, and David Thompson Harriett, all of
Youngstown, in the County of Mahoning and State of Ohio, United States of
America.]
The object of this Invention is, first, to produce a life boat which will ensure
perfect protection to the passengers from the waves, which shall be of such a shape
that it cannot remain capsized, and also combine maximum strength, lightness, and
cubical capacity.
The object is, secondly, to provide a life boat with a deck or cover to perfectly
protect the passengers from wind and waves, and which may be readily detached
by the passengers to facilitate their escape when the boat is about to encounter
reefs, rocks, or other obstacles, or is otherwise in extreme danger of destruction.
The third part of the Invention relates to propellers or paddles, which may be
held locked in such position that they will not impede the progress of the boat
when sails are being used.
The Invention relates, fourthly, to an improved construction of dead lights.
According to this Invention the boat has a vertical and blunt bow and stern, and
straight keel. The bottom is slightly rounded, and the greatest breadth of the
boat is at a point just below or at the water line, while the top is angular, being
shaped like a gable roof, by which form the boat is adapted not only to resist the
action of the waves in such manner that it can be capsized only in extreme cases,
but is absolutely prevented from remaining capsized, and has also a maximum

page_text: strength and lightness, combining with great and available cubical capacity qualities
more desirable and necessary in life bonts than any other.
The general outline of the body of the lull or hull proper approximates that of a
certain class of sen going vessels; except that the greatest breadth of the latter is
usually at a point above the water line; but the angular shape of the top or cover
taken in connection with such form of hull imparts a new configuration to the boat
as a whole, and secures the desired qualities above named.
The capacity of the boat for resisting, and, as it were, shedding the waves which
pass over it, is due chiefly to the angular forni of the top or cover, and the desired
vertical space within the boat along the centre of the same is also obtained by such
form, but the incapability of remaining capsized is due rather to the shape of the
boat as a whole.
The upper bearing of the vertical rudder post is in a box or hollow conical pro-
jection of the stern of the boat, which also contains the tiller. By means of said
box I am enabled to make the main body of the boat shorter in its top portion
than would be otherwise practicable, and at the same time secure protection for the
tiller without taking up space for it within the boat proper. If the entire top of
the boat were made sufficiently long to enclose and protect the tiller the boat would
be overweighted, and tend to prevent it righting itself, if capsized.
The entrance to the boat is effected through a hatchway, which is located in the
middle of the deck, or top portion, and provided with a hinged hatch or cover.
The entire deck is made removable, so that it may be detached when danger of
encountering a reef or rocky coast is imminent.
The means of attachment are screw bolts, which enter a flange attached to the
cover, and have narrow heads to enable them to pass vertically through notches or
open slots formed in the flange attached to the upper edge or rim of the body of the
boat.
When the screw heads are turned crosswise of the slots or notches the top or
cover is held firmly in place, but when it is desired to detach the cover the screws
aré turned one-quarter round to bring their heads parallel to the sides of the slots,
so that they will pass through the slots, thus allowing the cover to be raised off the
body, and be completely removed.
The flanges may be continuous around the boat, or made in sections, as preferred,
but in either case they will impart strength and rigidity to the boat, and enable the
body of the boat to be made thinner than would be otherwise practicable.
Rubber packing will in practice be employed to form a perfectly water-tight
joint between the flanges.
When sails are employed to propel the boat, and also occasionally at other times,
it will be requisite that the padilles shall be held up out of the water; for this
purpose I employ a locking device, which consists of a bar pivoted to the side of
the boat, and provided with a square socket or open slot in its free end; the said
socket or slot is adapted to receive and closely fit the contiguous portion of the
square crank shafts, and thus, when the paddles have been adjusted in the horizontal
position, the locking device will so hold or maintain them by preventing rotation of
the crank shafts.
The shanks of the paddle blades are inserted in sockets formed or suitably secured
upon the outer end of the crank shafts, which have their bearings in the middle
portion of the sides of the boat. The said blades are thus adapted to be readily
détached by removing the fastening rivets, pins, or bolts when required for trans-
portation, repair, or other purpose.
The boat is provided with dead lights, which are composed of three parts-first,
a screw threaded cylindrical tube having an exterior and interior flange formed on
oné end; and, second, a circular nut which screws on the other end. The third
purt is an exteriorally threaded tube, which screws into the flanged tube, and secures
the glass.
To apply the dead light to the boat a hole sufficiently large to receive the first-
mentioned tube is made in the proper place, and said tube inserted therein. The

page_text: nut is then screwed on its inner end till the outer flange is drawn up against the
bull; the glass is then inserted, and the inner tube screwed in to secure the glass
between its inner end and the inner flange of the socket tube.
Gaskets or washers of rubber or other elastic material are placed between the glass
and inner tube and between head and nut of the socket tube and the hull to form
perfectly water-tight joints.
The glass may be readily removed and another inserted, and the entire dead
light may be quickly attached and detached from the boat, as occasion requires.
The improved life boat may be constructed of wood, iron, or other suitable material,
and owing to its shape the hull may be made very thin, so that its weight shall be
reduced to a minimum.
The cover of the boat is provided with hand holes or guards around the edge and
along the ridge. Ventilating tubes also extend up a few feet above the cover.
Provision is also made for sectional masts to be erected and properly stayed upon
the cover.
The boat is designed to be launched from the deck of a vessel by aid of an apparatus
for which I have made application for Letters Patent of even date herewith.