IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE RAPTS AND SURF BOATB
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE RAPTS AND SURF
BOATB." A communication from abroad by Edward Livingston Perry,
of New York, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th September 1865.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE RAFTS AND SURF
BOATS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct a life raft which shall combine
great buoyancy, strength, and portability, and which shall ride securely over
surf and breakers.
A strong wooden framing composed of cross timbers (thwarts and gunwales)
rests upon and is secured to buoyant cylinders securely braced together, and
which form the body of the raft. The thwarts furnish seats for the rowers and
passengers, and the gunwales serve to hold the spars or thwarts in their proper
position, and furnish means for supporting rowlocks. The cylinders forming the
body of the raft are composed of "duck "or other suitable woven fabric, and may

page_text: gunwales, so as to give additional
Attached to the outer cylinders are
beneath each thwart, and they are
be of a diameter commensurate with the intended capacity of the raft. The.
cylinders are made by joining their seams securely in the best manner, and
they are permanently connected together so that the several cylinders compose
a single body or structure by means of similar fibrous material to that of
which the cylinders are made. The fibrous material is attached to the several
cylinders at opposite points in the same horizontal plane. On the outer sides of
the outer cylinders are also bands or strips which extend from about the middle
of the outer sides of the cylinders up to the thwarts, to which they are lashed
in a secure manner and thus forms stowage room for provisions. They are also
lashed to the gunwales by means of ropes which pass through eyes made near
their top edges, and thence over the
security and steadiness to the gunwale.
transverse bands, one of which is placed
connected by ropes to the ends thereof. The top of each cylinder is provided
with two cloth stays; which are drawn together by lacing cords when it is
desired to decrease the diameter of the cylinders. The ends of the cylinders
are open and are furnished with eyelets, which receive lacing: cords by means
of which their ends or the edges of their open sides can be brought.close
together so as to be in contact. Each cylinder is furnished with an inner
cylinder or tube made of gutta percha or india-rubber, or compounds of either,
or of cloth combined with one or the other of such materials so as to be air
and water tight, and provided with nozzles for admitting air for inflation.
The gunwales are made in sections, the inner ends whereof are secured
together by an overlap joint. The outer ends of the sections are pivotted to
the ends of the outer thwarts respectively, so that when the lashings are
slipped the sections of the gunwales can be swung around to lie upon the
thwarts to which they are pivotted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the '3rd March 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS., SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.,
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent; bearing date the Fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord s
Que thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigus, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LIFE RAFTS AND SURF BOATS," being a communication from abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed; and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to construct a life raft which shall combine
great buoyancy, strength, and portability, and which shall ride securely over
surf and breakers.
Fig. 1 represents a plan of a life raft made after this Invention; Fig. 2 is
a transverse section of the same taken on the line a in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a
side view of the raft shewing one of the membranes or wings h; similar letters
of reference indicate like parts.
A represents the raft ready for receiving its load. A wooden or other
framing composed of thwarts a, and gunwales b, rests upon and is secured to
the body of the raft. The thwarts a furnish seats for the rowers and passen-
gers, and the gunwales 6 serve to hold the spars or thwarts in their proper position
and furnish means for supporting rowlocks. The body of the raft is composed
of two or more cylinders made of "duck" or other suitable woven fabric, of
the requisite strength and flexibility, and of a diameter commensurate with
the intended capacity of the raft. The cylinders are made by joining their
seams securely in the best manner, and they are permanently connected
together so that the several cylinders compose a single 'body or structure by
means of membranes e of duck or of similar material to that of which the

page_text: cylinders are made, which membranes are either joined to the body of the
cylinders at their sides or along the lines of their seams, or form an unbroken
or uncut part of the duck or other material. These membranes e are attached
to the several cylinders at opposite points in the same horizontal plane. On
the outer sides of the outer cylinders are also membranes h, h, which extend
from about the middle of the outer sides of the cylinders up to the thwarts a,
to which they are lashed in a secure manner. These membranes should be
equal in length to the membranes e. They are lashed or secured to the gun-
wales b by means of ropes which pass through eyes made near their top edges,
and thence over the gunwales, so as to give additional security and steadiness
to the gunwale. In addition to these membranes, h, h, and outside thereof,
there is likewise attached to the outer cylinders C a series of sectional mem-
branes e¹, one of which is placed beneath each thwart. They are connected
to the ends of the thwarts by means of ropes f. The membranes e are nearly
of the same length as the cylinders, and are also lashed to the thwarts by
ropes f. The top of each cylinder is provided with two stays D, of duck or
other suitable material, which are drawn together by lacing cords d when it
is desired to decrease the diameter of the several cylinders. The ends of the
cylinders are open and are furnished with eyelets i, which receive lacing
cords g, by means of which their ends or the edges of their open sides can be
brought close together so as to be in contact. Each cylinder C is furnished
with an inner cylinder or tube O, made of gutta percha or india-rubber, or
compounds of either, or of cloth combined with one or the other of such
materials, so as to be air and water tight; nozzles t are fitted in the tubes O,
near their ends, by means of which they are inflated and collapsed. These
nozzles are each to be fitted with suitable air valves, which can be opened and
closed at pleasure. The nozzles t are passed up through collars made in the
cylinders C for that purpose. The thwarts and gunwales are lashed to each
other and to the sectional membranes e by means of ropes, which are reeved
through holes V cut in both the thwarts and gunwales. The gunwales b are
made in sections, the inner ends whereof are secured together by an overlap
joint at 8, the said joints being fastened by means of the rope which passes
through the holes V. The outer ends of the sections are pivotted to the ends of
the outer thwarts a respectively, so that when the lashings which pass through
the holes V are slipped the sections of the gunwales can be swung round to
lie upon the thwarts to which they are pivotted. It will be seen that the
deck of the raft is substantially composed of the upper surfaces of the cylin-
der C and the membranes e and h. The membranes h complete the deck of
the raft on each side and furnish ample storage room for provisions and water

page_text: for the passengers, as shewn in Fig. 2. It will be observed that they are
stayed by the sectional membranes and the ropes f, so that when the
pockets formed by the membranes h, h, are filled, the said membranes will
rest against the sectional membranes e¹ and the ropes f, and thereby be secured
from injury and from becoming ruptured by their loads. When the raft is to be
stowed away it is first hoisted out of the water and laid upon the deck of the
vessel to which it belongs, when the gunwales are laid upon the outer or end
thwarts as above explained, and the valves in the nozzles t are opened to
allow the air vessels or tubes O to collapse. The raft is then rolled up or
folded upon itself like a carpet and laid away for future use. When occasion
arises for its use it is unrolled and spread out; the gunwales are secured in:
their positions as seen in Fig. 1; the air vessels are inflated through their
nozzles when the valves of the nozzles are closed, and the raft is thrown
overboard. The air vessels O are wholly encased and protected by the cylin-
ders C, the material of which is to be of such a character as to be able to.
endure the strain of the inflated air vessels without injury and without being
weakened thereby, and also to protect the air vessels from fracture or injury
from abrasion or blows when the raft is in a surf or passing through breakers,
or when it comes in contact with any other obstacle. The cylinders C and
the air vessels O are constructed of such lengths and diameters relatively,
that the latter cannot be inflated when enclosed in their cylinders to their full
capacity, and if the cylinders should stretch by use to a diameter which will
permit the inflation of the air vessels to their full measure, their diameters are
to be diminished by lacing up the stays D until they are reduced to a proper
size. The stays can be shortened by cutting off their ends and making new
eyelet holes therein. The object of this method of construction and adjust-
ment of the relative sizes of the cylinders and air vessels is to preserve the
latter from becoming weakened or strained by the elastic force of the air
compressed therein, and to cause all that force to be sustained by the several
cylinders C.
The air vessels therefore by this Invention will never be inflated to their
full capacity.
In cases of shipwreck, and whenever the raft is used as a means of rescuing
human life, the thwarts a can be filled with passengers and rowers, and the
construction of parts is such as to allow a great number of ropes to be
lashed to the rafts as holdfasts and supports.
The gunwales can be supplied with rowlocks and masts can be stepped in
the thwarts if desired, and a stern oar may be provided if necessary or
desirable, the gunwales in this example of the Invention are made of wood,

page_text: but they may be made of rubber or gutta percha permanently lashed to the
thwarts. When so made they need not be swung around to lie upon the
outer thwarts, nor need they then be made in sections.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in
Life Rafts and Surf Boats," as communicated to me from abroad, and explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,―
!
First, enclosing the elastic cylinders O within the cylinders C; and
attaching these cylinders C by membranes to the framing of the raft,
and providing the same with stays and lacing cords, substantially as described
and represented.
Secondly, providing pockets for provisions in the sides of the raft by means
of membranes h, h, the same being secured to the gunwales by proper lashings;
and supported by the outer membranes e¹ and the ropes f, substantially 'as
shewn..
i In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have' hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Third day of March, in the year of our
Lord. One thousand-eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
A
J. W. MOFFATT,-
66, Chancery Lane.
"A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)