IMPROVEMENTS IN SAFETY APPARATUS FOR SAVING LIFE AND PROPERTY AT SEA
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Chapman, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Master Mariner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SAFETY APPARATUS FOR SAVING LIFE AND PROPERTY AT SEA."
Sealed the 6th March 1874, and dated the 18th September 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Chapman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the.
18th September 1873.
I, CHARLES CHAPMAN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Master Mariner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAPETY APPARATUS FOR SAVING LIFE AND PROPERTY AT
SEA," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
the construction of apparatus for saving life and property at sea in case
of shipwreck or other emergency.
I construct a water-tight and buoyant vessel preferably of sheet iron,
the said vessel being at its middle part nearly of a cylindrical figure.
The said vessel tapers towards each end but its upper and under sides

page_text: are not symetrical, the curvature of the upper side being of much
shorter radius than that of the under side.
The middle part of the bottom of the vessel consists of a flat hollow
compartment or chamber furnished with a man-hole. This part serves
as a foundation on which the vessel is built, the ribs of angle or T iron
constituting the framing of the vessel being fixed to the upper side and
edge of this part. The said middle part serves to ballast the vessel and
may be used for storing fresh water and provisions, and when a steam
engine is employed to propel the vessel the said steam engine is fixed
on the said middle part.
The ends of the vessel consist of conical air-tight bulkheads by which
such buoyancy is given to the vessel that it is unsinkable. The arrange-
ment of the said bulkheads with respect to the hollow compartment or
chamber forming the foundation of the vessel is such that the vessel
always rights itself. The vessel has a keel which extends from the
front to nearly the after end. The lower side of the keel is straight and
the upper part follows the outline of the under side of the vessel, the
said keel being made of iron and fixed by being rivetted between flanges
on the middle plates of the under side of the middle compartment.
The rudder is situated at the after end of the vessel immediately
underneath the air-tight bulkhead. The rudder is worked by a rudder
post or shaft passing through stuffing boxes in the bottom and top of
the vessel, so that the said rudder can be worked either from the inside
or from the deck of the vessel. The vessel is provided with a mast or
masts and sails. The said vessel is entered from the deck, the opening
being capable of being closed from the inside or outside and made
water-tight.
The interior of the vessel may be fitted with seats or other fittings
and provided with pumps for forcing out the vitiated air, and introducing
fresh air when from the roughness of the sea the ordinary means of..
ventilation are not available.

page_text: |SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Fatent,
filed by the said Charles Chapman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th March 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
CHAPMAN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Master Mariner,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Charles Chapman, Her special license that I, the
said Charles Chapman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Charles Chapman, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 SAFETY APPARATUS for
SAVING LIFE AND PROPERTY AT SEA," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles Chapman, 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 Charles Chapman, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
the construction of apparatus for saving life and property at sea in case
of shipwreck or other emergency.
I construct a water-tight and buoyant vessel preferably of sheet iron,
L
next noon of a selin

page_text: f
The said vessel tapers towards each end, and its upper and under sides
are not symmetrical, the. curvature of the upper side being of much
'shorter radius than that of the under side.
The middle part of the bottom of the vessel consists of a flat hollow
compartment or chamber furnished with a man-hole. This part serves
as a foundation on which the vessel is built, the ribs of angle or T iron
constituting the framing of the vessel being fixed to the upper side and
edge of this part. The said middle part serves to ballast the vessel and
may be used for storing fresh water or provisions, and when a steam
engine is employed to propel the vessel the said steam engine is fixed on
the said middle part.
The ends of the vessel consist of conical air-tight bulkheads by which
such buoyancy is given to the vessel that it is unsinkable. The arrange-
ment of the said bulkheads with respect to the hollow compartment or
chamber forming the foundation of the vessel is such that the vessel
always rights itself. The vessel has a keel which extends from the
front to nearly the after end. The lower part of the keel is straight and
the upper part follows the outline of the under side of the vessel, the
said keel being made of iron and fixed by being rivetted between flanges
on the middle plates of the under side of the middle compartment.
The rudder is situated at the after end of the vessel immediately
underneath the air-tight bulkhead. The rudder is worked by a rudder
post or shaft passing through stuffing boxes in the bottom and top of
the vessel, so that the said rudder can be worked either from the inside
or from the deck of the vessel. The vessel is provided with a mast or a
masts and sails. The said vessel is entered from the deck, the opening
being capable of being closed from the inside or outside and made
water-tight.
:
The interior of the vessel may be fitted with seats or other fittings
and provided with pumps for forcing out the vitiated air, and introducing
fresh air when from the roughness of the sea the ordinary means of
ventilation are not available.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying
Drawings, the manner in which my Invention is carried into effect.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation; Figure 2 a longitudinal vertical a

page_text: An examination of the Drawings will show the several peculiarities in
the figure of the vessel herein-before referred to. The lower edge of
the keel e is rectilinear but terminates in a curved end ƒ at the fore end
of the vessel. The upper edge of the keel follows the figure of the
under side of the vessel; g is the rudder, and h is the tiller, and i is the
rudder post passing through air-tight stuffing boxes in the rear bulk-
head d; k is a hollow column fixed on the compartment b. To the
flange on the top of this column a socket is hinged carrying the mast k².
The mast is capable of turning on the hinge at the top of k after the
manner in which the chimneys of river steam boats turn upon a hinge,
so that the mast can be readily raised or lowered as occasion may
require; 1, are stanchions fixed on the ribs or framing of the vessel
herein-after referred to or passing down to the top of the compartment 6.
A wire or hemp rope passes through eyes in these stanchions, and a
wire or rope netting extends from one to another to prevent persons
being washed off the deck; m, m, are rings to which life lines m² are
made fast. These rings are carried by eyes or screw bolts which pass
through the plates of the vessel, and may have similar eyes in the
inner ends; the last-named eyes serve for the suspension of hammocks
and for other like purposes; n, n³, are hatchways raised above the deck
and having flanges carrying iron lids which can be secured down water-
tight on the said hatchways; p, p, are dead lights, a row of which is
situated on either side of the vessel. These may either be circular or
elliptical in figure and are capable of being opened and closed. These
dead lights are of sufficient size to permit an adult to pass through in
case of necessity. One light on the starboard side is of green glass, and
one on the port side of red glass.
The method of building the vessel is best seen in Figures 2, 3, and 5.
The several nearly circular ribs q situated in vertical planes perpendicular
to the axis of the vessel, and of different diameters are made of iron of
the kind known as T iron. The upper part of each of the ribs q is of a
circular figure, but the lower part of each of the said ribs excepting
each end rib marked q², q³, is flat, the flat parts of the said ribs being
secured by rivetting to the top of the compartment 6 constituting the
foundation of the vessel. The end ribs q², q², (see Figure 5), are curved
at their lower sides of the same curvature as the lower sides of the
bottom of the vessel at that part, and are rivetted to the bottom of the
vessel.
The convex ends d², d², of the vessel are each made by preference

page_text: of a single disc or plate of iron raised by stamping or otherwise into the
required shape.
The body of the vessel is made by rivetting plates of iron to each
other and to the ribs q, q³, and convex ends d³, d³, of the vessel in the.
manner practised in the manufacture of steam boilers, gasholders, and the
like. The keel consists of a thick plate of iron r connected by plates of
angle iron s, s, to the under side of the vessel as will be understood by
an examination of Figures 5 and 6.
The manner in which the compartment or foundation 6 of the vessel
is made, and the ribs connected to it will be best understood by an
examination of the cross section Figure 6, which represents a portion of
the vessel drawn to a larger scale. Figure 5 also illustrates the con-
struction of the foundation or bottom part 6 of the vessel; q, Figure 6, is
one of the ribs having a flat bottom q³, and between it and the flat
rib b², forming the upper part of the framing of the compartment 6, the
deck plate or top 63 of the said compartment 6 is rivetted. The way in
which the other plates are secured to the ribs q, q%, and to each other I
do not think it necessary to illustrate.
The mast, sails, and other parts with which the vessel is or may be
provided, but which parts resembling like parts in other vessels and
constituting no part of my Invention, I have not thought it necessary
either to represent or describe, and I believe my Invention will be the
better understood by the omission of the said parts.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention of improvements in safety
apparatus for saving life and property at sea,-
First. Constructing the said apparatus of a buoyant water-tight vessel
capable also of being made air-tight, having a weighted base or
foundation with an air-tight bulkhead at each end, the said weighted
base or foundation and bulkheads having the relative positions illustrated
in the Drawings, which combination of weighted base or foundation and
bulkheads in conjunction with the configuration represented and
described makes the vessel not only unsinkable but gives it the property
of always righting itself.

page_text: Secondly. The general construction of the body of the apparatus or
vessel herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say, making the vessel of greater convexity in
longitudinal section on its upper side than on its lower side, as best seen
in Figures 1, 2, and 4, of the accompanying Drawings.
Thirdly. Making the apparatus or vessel in cross section of the
following construction, namely, the air-tight bulkheads or ends of a
circular figure, and the intermediate parts of a circular curve in their
upper parts of much shorter radius than the circular curve of the lower
part, as best seen in Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Chapman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
B. WILLCOX,
Clerk to H. H. Murdoch,
7, Staple Inn,
W.C.
t
C. CHAPMAN. (L.S.)