IMPROVED APPARATUS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Reynold Gade, of Addison Road,
Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, Merchant, and Under-
writer at Lloyd's, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS for
Sealed the 20th December 1875, and dated the 12th July 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Reynold Gade
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th July 1875.
I, WILLIAM REYNOLD GADE, of Addison Road, Kensington, in the
County of Middlesex, Merchant, and Underwriter at Lloyd's, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
SAVING LIFE IN CASE OF SHIPWRECK," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to provide travellers by sea, whether
seamen or passengers, with a ready and certain means of preservation
from drowning in case of shipwreck,

page_text: The means which I propose to provide will not add appreciably to the
bulk of a passenger's or a seaman's luggage, as nearly all seamen
already use a chest, and a passenger will simply have to substitute a
chest in lieu of the portmanteau or other packing case which he might
otherwise carry.
I propose to take a seaman's chest or to make a wooden chest of, say
30 inches long by 20 inches wide, and 24 inches deep, outside measure-
ment. In the centre of this chest, traversing it in its entire height, or
nearly so, or passing through the top, I propose to fix a hollow tube,
and to place within this tube a rod of about equal length passing
through the bottom of the chest, weighted at its lower end with, say,
one cwt. of lead or other suitable material, and with its upper end in
connection by a series of arms, by springs, or in any other suitable
manner, with wooden flaps at each side and end of the chest, the lower
part of these flaps being hinged to the outside of the chest, say, at about
half its depth, and a piece or pieces of some flexible water and air-proof
material passing over these flaps and the whole or part of the top
of the chest, the loose parts of this waterproof material folding between
the flaps and the sides of the chest when the chest is stowed in its usual
place.
I propose to divide the lid of the chest into two parts, so that one
half may open from either end to furnish it interiorly with receptacles
for water and provisions, these receptacles being if desired made to
collapse and lie close against the inner sides of the chest when empty,
and to make the chest thoroughly waterproof in every part.
Assuming a ship to be in danger of foundering, and the number of
boats insufficient to carry all the passengers and crew, the passenger or
seaman for whom there is no room in the boats empties his chest,
brings it upon deck, stows food and water in the receptacles provided
for that purpose, and opening one of the lids sits or stands within the
chest, accordingly as he has to launch himself, or that he may be
launched by others by means of a boom or otherwise.
As the bottom of the chest reaches the water the occupant releases
the catch which holds the weighted rod within its tube, and the rod
drawn down by its weight causes the arms or other mechanism with
which it is connected to push open the flaps outside the chest, thus
giving a greater length and breadth of beam to the chest, this increased

page_text: length and beam being an air-tight chamber or chambers formed by the
spreading out of the loose waterproof material above mentioned, valves
being provided for the admission of air into these chambers during the
opening of the flaps. The top of the weighted rod will now be held in
its tube, but its lower weighted end will form a ballast or counterpoise
carried in the water, say 2 feet below the bottom of the chest, and in
conjunction with the aforesaid air chambers will render the chest
perfectly safe from capsizing even in the roughest sea.
length and beam being an air-tight chamber or chambers formed by the
spreading out of the loose waterproof material above mentioned, valves
being provided for the admission of air into these chambers during the
opening of the flaps. The top of the weighted rod will now be held in
its tube, but its lower weighted end will form a ballast or counterpoise
carried in the water, say 2 feet below the bottom of the chest, and in
conjunction with the aforesaid air chambers will render the chest
perfectly safe from capsizing even in the roughest sea.
The air chambers have also the effect of lifting the body of the
chest well out of water, so that the occupant will be but little expose
to spray.
The lids will close in a perfectly water-tight manner, and a breathing
pipe being provided the occupant when worn out with fatigue may
sleep entirely enclosed within the chest if sufficiently large.
I have mentioned certain dimensions of chest and weight of ballast,
believing them to be sufficient to carry a person of average size and
weight, while not being too great to raise objection to the chest being
stowed in cabins or forecastle, but such dimensions and weight as well
as the shape of the chest will be regulated according to requirement.
The essential feature of my Invention is the use of the counterweight
to give the occupant of this life buoy "free board" and keep the chest
from capsizing, and although I have herein described its application to a
chest it might be applied to various other means of keeping a person
afloat; for example, the ballast might be at the end of a long pole, and
the seat be a simple ring or a cross bar with air chamber, the weighted
end of the pole having an immersion in the water about equal to the
diameter of the life buoy, say about six feet, and I might use water in
lieu of lead or other solid material as ballast placing a suitable reservoir
at the end of the pole or rod.
In conclusion I wish it to be understood that I do not propose to
limit myself to the use of any particular materials or to any particular
mechanical arrangement for expanding the air chambers, as this may
be effected by many well-known mechanical contrivances, as also the
movement of the weighted rod, which might for example slide along
the outside of a solid rod instead of within a tube as above described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Reynold Gade in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 12th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
REYNOLD GADE, of Addison Road, Kensington, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Merchant, and Underwriter at Lloyd's, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Reynold Gado, Her special licence,
that I, the said William Reynold Gade, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Reynold Gade, 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 Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for " IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR SAVING LIFE IN CASE OF SHIPWRECK," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Reynold Gade, 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 William Reynold Gade, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
The object of my Invention is to provide travellers by sea, whether
seamen or passengers, with a ready and certain means of preservation
from drowning in case of shipwreck.
My improved apparatus consists essentially of a chest or trunk having
folding sides, and ends or flaps forming water-tight compartments around.

page_text: it, to give greater length, beam, and buoyancy to the trunk when afloat,
and ballast or counterweight suspended beneath it to prevent capsizing,
and give the occupant of the trunk free board.
My Invention also comprises in combination with the above a garment
of special make, receptacles for food and water, and the means of
guiding and propelling the apparatus.
On the accompanying two Sheets of Drawing,―
'
Figure 1 (Sheet I.) represents a chest or trunk embodying my
Invention packed and ready for shipment as seen from above.
Figure 2 is a similar view but with the sides and ends distended as
when in use.
Figure 3 is a plan of the inner portion of the trunk showing position
of water cans, as also bags for stowing provisions and accessories.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section through the trunk with end flaps
distended showing general construction and mode of securing flaps in
position; Figure 5 is a cross section of same.
Figure 6 (Sheet II.) illustrates the apparatus when in use in stormy
weather; and Figure 7 same in fine weather.
!...,
A is the chest or trunk, to which are hung the flaps B, B, B, B; C is
the cover or lid; D, waterproof coat secured on the top of trunk A;
E, the rudder; F, mast or signal post, through which is a passage x for
the admission of fresh air to the trunk A; G, seat or air cushion;
a, a, a, a, water-tight compartments; b, b, b, b, bags for stowing
provisions; c, c, fresh water cans; d, d, struts for securing flaps B, B,
when distended; e, e, cords for drawing up the struts d, d; f, f, spring
catches to hold struts d, d; g, g, eye bolts for lowering trunk; h, cleat;
i, i, eyes, through which run the four cords k, kc, for sustaining ballast
weight W; 1, 1, braces for securing passenger on to the bottom of trunk;
M, flexible socket for mast to pass through; n, flexible tube to allow of
the escape of foul air from trunk to the top of the mast, and also
arranged so as to support weight of coat D.
.
Assuming a ship to be in danger of foundering and the boats
inadequate to carry the passengers and crew the passenger or seaman for
whom a proper boat is unavailable empties his trunk of its usual.

page_text: contents, brings it upon deck (or the trunks may always remain on deck
ready for use), stows food and water in the receptacles b and c, and
drawing up the struts d to the catches f by means of the cords e
distends the flaps B, as at Fig. 4; he then hooks the weight W on to
the four cords and takes his seat or stands within the trunk, accordingly
as he has to launch himself, or that he may be launched by others by
means of a boom or otherwise.
As the bottom of the trunk A reaches the water the weight W taking
the position shown, Fig. 4, the apparatus is thereby almost absolutely
secured from capsizing even in the roughest sea, and if by any possibility
upset would immediately right again.
The rudder E may be shipped when the apparatus is afloat, or before
launching it, as may be most convenient.
The waterproof material by which the top of each flap is attached to
the top of the trunk A prevents any water entering the compartment a,
and no water can wash into the actual trunk, because the skirt or lower
part of the waterproof coat forms a perfectly water-tight joint at the top
of the trunk.
The flaps as shown form the sides of the trunk when closed, but
instead of the body A of the trunk being an open frame it might have
solid sides and the flaps fold against them.
A sail may be kept stowed within or fastened outside the trunk, and a
telescope or folding yard and boom for spreading it when required.
Paddles or oars may also be similarly stowed.
The sleeves of the coat have india-rubber or other elastic material at
the wrists to prevent any water getting up the arms, and the collar is
made to draw either around the neck or over the head in stormy
weather, and is fitted with an inner lining to make the same water-
tight.
The weight of the ballast for a chest or trunk, say 30 inches long by
20 inches wide, and 18 inches deep, will be from about 1, a hundred-
weight to one hundredweight; it will hang about 3 feet below the
trunk, and usually about 3 ds the length from the stern, but when
sailing it will be preferable to draw it by the cords close under
the bows.

page_text: The mast may be made in two or more lengths, the first length only
being used in rough weather as a signal staff, see Fig. 6, Sheet II.
It will be evident that my improved life-saving apparatus will not
add appreciably to the bulk of a passenger's or a seaman's luggage, as
nearly all seamen already use a chest, and a passenger will simply have
to substitute a trunk in lieu of the portmanteau or other packing case
which he might otherwise have in his cabin; or my life-saving trunks
might be easily stowed so as to form seats under the bulwarks of the
ship, and without greatly increasing the dimensions capable of holding
two or more persons, and I may provide them with fastenings, by
which several trunks might be attached so as to sail or drift in
company.
I desire it to be understood that I do not limit myself to any par-
ticular shape and dimensions of trunk, nor to any particular form or
number of flaps or expanding water-tight compartments, using such as
will best accommodate themselves to stowage on board ship; that I
propose to use any suitable material as ballast; that as set forth in my
Provisional Specification I may suspend the ballast by a rod from the
centre or other part of the bottom of the trunk (or by four rods adjusted
like the cords), and make the dropping of the ballast cause the expansion
of the flaps, although I have found it preferable to make the ballast
and the flaps independent in their action, and to suspend the ballast by
cords, as shown in the Drawing; that I might provide the trunk with
a lid divided into two parts, one half opening from either end and
closing in a perfectly water-tight manner, although I have found it
preferable to cover the top of the trunk with a waterproof material
forming a garment, as herein-before described; that I may vary the
position of the receptacles for provisions, the seat, and other fittings of
the trunk, and use any suitable means of strengthening and staying,
moving, and securing the various parts of my apparatus, in the con-
struction of which I propose to use any material or combination of
materials which I may find most suitable for my purpose.
In practice I have found wood very suitable for the body of the
trunk, and waterproof twill or canvass for connecting the flaps (also of
wood) with the body of the trunk.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is or may be performed, I claim

page_text: as of my Invention and secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent,-
Firstly. The combination of chest or trunk with expanding sides or
flaps, substantially as and for the purposes specified.
Secondly. The combination with chest or trunk having expanding
flaps of a suspended ballast, substantially as and for the purpose
specified.
Thirdly. The combination with chest or trunk having expanding
flaps of a waterproof coat or garment covering the occupant, and
preventing entrance of water by the top of the chest, substantially as
described.
And, lastly. The general combination and arrangement of the entire
apparatus, as herein-before described and shown on the accompanying
Sheets of Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Reynold Gade, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.