IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR METHOD OF SECURING AND LAUNCHING LIFE RAFTS OR DECK HOUSES
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Rowe Jolley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th July 1875.
I, WILLIAM ROWE JOLLEY, of St. John's Parsonage, Birkenhead, in
the County of Chester, Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OR METHOD OF SECURING AND
LAUNCHING LIFE RAFTS OR DECK HOUSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates especially to life rafts of the kind described in
the Specification of a Patent granted to me, and bearing date 20th
March 1873, No. 1029, and has for its object the securing and launching
of such life rafts or deck houses by the means and in the manner herein-
after stated.
For the purpose of securing the saloon or deck house as required it is
made to rest on a strong frame which consists of two long pieces of
timber of about the length of the saloon with cross pieces at con-
venient distances apart. Along the bottom of the saloon are fastened
lengths of angle iron in such a manner as to form a groove or race for
the frame to which the saloon is secured as to its horizontal position by

page_text: means of pins or bolts which moveable in a vertical direction by screws,
such pins or bolts being let down through the floor of the saloon
into the frame. This supporting frame rests upon a wheel or turntable
of suitable diameter, and the frame is adapted to move or traverse on
the wheel or turntable in the direction of a straight line parallel to its
length, to which it is capable of becoming locked when required.
The wheel or turntable rests or revolves on fixed metal bearings, on
which it is capable of turning as required, and is kept in position by a
strong pin or spindle passing through its centre and the ship's deck.
The wheel or turntable is made to lock at right angles, that is to
say, when the position of the saloon is either fore and aft or athwart
ships.
In order to secure the saloon further, the frame on which it is placed
is supported and steadied by skids and chocks, which are fitted closely to
it and which rest on the ship's deck; and in bad weather the saloon can
be gripped by strong fastenings from the top leading down to the ship's
deck.
For the purpose of launching the saloon the arrangements are as
follows: The bulwarks in the vicinity of the saloon being removeable
are unshipped, the skids and chocks are also removed, and the saloon by
means of the wheel or turntable is turned round into an athwart ship
position, its launching end being at the lower side if the vessel has a
list.
The frame with the saloon upon it is now made to traverse the wheel
or turntable until a certain point in it reaches the circumference, when
the frame is caused to cant down at an angle, and almost simultaneously
becomes locked near the waterways of the ship. By means of a screw
lever at its higher end the frame is raised until it acquires the necessary
slope, guy ropes being attached in order to control its movement as
required. The bolts are now raised or screwed upwards on the inside of
the saloon from the frame, and a slip bolt being drawn the saloon is
free to glide off into the water.