MENTS IN SELF-INFLATING PONTOONS AND LIFE PRESERVERS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Goodyear, of No. 42, Avenue Gabriel,
Champs Elysées, in the City of Paris, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN SELF-INFLATING PONTOONS AND LIFE PRESERVERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Goodyear at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
April 1855.
I, CHARLES GOODYEAR, of No. 42, Avenue Gabriel, Champs Elysées, in the
City of Paris, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SELF-INFLATING PONTOONS AND LIFE PRESERVERS" to be as follows:-
The pontoon is made of india-rubber or waterproof fabrics in a series
of compartments or chambers, each chamber being distinct and seperate
from the others, so that in case one is perforated the rest remain air and
water tight. The partition between the several compartments is formed of a
plate or pannel of "india-rubber whalebone," or stiff waterproof partition,
the object of the whalebone or partition being to prevent the pontoon from
collapsing laterally, while it is distended lengthwise by a spar of wood. Each
compartment has a tube or passage, by which the pontoon is self-inflated when
drawn out. Loops or rings are attached to the pontoons at each end of every
compartment, by which they may be fastened to spars or boats, or lashed
together to form rafts or bridges. The life preservers are made in the same
way as the pontoons, but without rings and loops to the separate chambers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Goodyear in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
GOODYEAR, of No. 42, Avenue Gabriel, Champs Elysées, in the City of Paris,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Goodyear, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Goodyear,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Goodyear, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-
INFLATING PONTOONS AND LIFE PRESERVERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles Goodyear, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 Goodyear, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof (that is to say):-
The pontoon is made of india-rubber or waterproof fabrics in a series of
compartments or chambers, each chamber being distinct and separate from
the others, so that in case one is perforated the rest remain air and water
tight. The partition between the several compartments is formed of a plate
or pannel of "india-rubber whalebone," or stiff waterproof partition, the
object of the whalebone or partition being to prevent the pontoon from col-
lapsing laterally, while it is distended lengthwise by a spar of wood. Each
compartment has a tube or passage by which the pontoon is self-inflated
when drawn out. Loops or rings are attached to the pontoons at each end of
every compartment, by which they may be fastened to spars or boats, or
lashed together to form rafts or bridges. The life preservers are made in

page_text: the same way as the pontoons, but without rings and loops to the separate
chambers.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section, Figure 2 a side view, and Figure 3
an end view, of a pontoon constructed according to my Invention, in an extended
state; Figure 4 is a side view of the same pontoon when collapsed. A, A,
are the partitions of india-rubber whalebone, or other suitable light and stiff
material; B, B, is the skin or outside of the pontoon, which is formed of sheet
vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable waterproof fabric, which is connected
to the partitions A, so as to form a series of chambers 1, 2, 3, &c.; C, C,
are tubes of vulcanized india-rubber, one of which is connected with each
chamber to admit the air when the pontoon is extended, which tubes are then
closed by a ligature, or in other suitable manner; D, D, are rings connected
with the partitions A, by which the pontoon is lashed to the spars E to keep
it extended. When several pontoons are lashed together the upper edges of
the partitions A serve to support a deck or staging. The same apparatus when
made on a smaller scale may be used as a life preserver.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described; but what I claim is, the manner of constructing
self-inflating pontoons and life preservers, herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Goodyear, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
W C. DE TROSUT,
New Haven, U.S.
H. B. GOODYEAR,
London.
CHARLES GOODYEAR. (L.S.)