IMPROVE- MENTS IN VENTILATING INDIA-RUBBER GARMENTS AND IN RENDERING SAME APPLICABLE FOR LIFE SAVING PURPOSES, PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE FOR LIFE SAVING ADDADAMUSHO Life Saving ADDADAMUSES GENERALLY REQUIRING TO BE INFLATED.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles William Meiter, of 87, Gracechurch
Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN VENTILATING INDIA-RUBBER GARMENTS AND IN
RENDERING SAME
APPLICABLE FOR LIFE SAVING PURPOSES, PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE FOR
LIFE SAVING ADDADAMUSHO
Life Saving ADDADAMUSES GENERALLY REQUIRING TO BE INFLATED.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles William Meiter
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th August 1875.
I, CHARLES WILLIAM MEITER, of 87, Gracechurch Street, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING INDIA-RUBBER GARMENTS AND IN RENDERING
SAME APPLICABLE FOR LIFE SAVING PURPOSES, PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE for
LIFE SAVING APPARATUSES GENERALLY REQUIRING TO BE INFLATED," to be as
follows:-
:—
The first part of my said Invention consists in adapting to india-
rubber garments a loose lining composed of woollen, cotton, or other

page_text: suitable fabric, which lining may have openings made therein so that
air may pass between the lining and the india-rubber instead of the
lining being fixed entirely to the india-rubber as heretofore, and which
renders the garment very warm.
The second part of my said Invention consists in attaching to the
said lining (between the lining and the rubber) a life belt, which belt
having an improved construction of inlet valve (hereafter described)
may be inflated very rapidly and thereby render the garment useful for
saving life. The improved valve above referred to consists simply of
two pieces of india-rubber or other suitable material cemented together
at their sides and left open at bottom, and at the top I fix a tube for the
air to pass through. The effect of a valve thus constructed will be to
admit the air easily upon blowing into the aforesaid tube, but to become
perfectly tight when the blowing is discontinued, so that no air escapes.
It will be obvious that this peculiar construction of valve will be
applicable to life saving apparatuses gencrally requiring to be inflated,
only when this valve is employed an outlet valve must also be used if it
is required to discharge the air at any time.
Garments may be made with the aforesaid loose lining either with or
without the life saving apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles William Meiter in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 12th February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WILLIAM MEITER, of 87, Gracechurch Street, in the City of London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, 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 Charles William Meiter, Her special licence,
that I, the said Charles William Meiter, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles William Meiter,

page_text: 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 VENTILATING INDIA-RUBBER GARMENTS AND IN RENDERING
SAME APPLICABLE FOR LIFE SAVING PURPOSES, PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE FOR
LIFE SAVING APPARATUSES GENERALLY REQUIRING TO BE INFLATED," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles William Meiter,
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 William Meiter, 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, that is to say :-
The first part of my said Invention consists in adapting to india-
rubber garments a loose lining composed of woollen, cotton, or other
suitable fabric, which lining may have openings made therein so that
air may pass between the lining and the india-rubber instead of the
lining being fixed entirely to the india-rubber as heretofore, and which
renders the garment very warm.
The second part of my said Invention consists in attaching to the
said lining (between the lining and the rubber) a life belt, which belt
having an improved construction of inlet valve (hereafter described) may
be inflated very rapidly and thereby render the garment useful for saving
life. The improved valve above referred to consists simply of two pieces
of india-rubber or other suitable material cemented together at their sides
and left open at bottom, and at the top I fix a tube for the air to pass
through. The effect of a valve thus constructed will be to admit the air
easily upon blowing into the aforesaid tube, but to become perfectly
tight when the blowing is discontinued, so that no air escapes. It will
be obvious that this peculiar construction of valve will be applicable to
life saving apparatuses generally requiring to be inflated, only when

page_text: this valve is employed an outlet valve must also be used if it is required
to discharge the air at any time.
Garments may be made with the aforesaid loose lining either with or
without the life saving apparatus.
And in order to explain my said Invention more fully I now proceed 5
to describe in detail the means by which my Invention may be carried
into practical effect by reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawing
and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked thereon
respectively, as follows:-
Figure represents the inner side of an ordinary macintosh or
waterproof coat with my improved loose lining adapted thereto.
Figure 2 represents the inner side of an india-rubber garment manu-
factured according to my said Invention with a life saving belt between
the lining of the coat and the surface of the material of which the coat
is made; Figure 3 represents a side elevation of the outside of the coat
as it would appear when ready for use; Figure 4, the coat as it would
appear when in use; Figures 5 and 6 are detached parts hereafter
described. At each of the above-mentioned Figures similar letters of
reference are employed to denote corresponding parts.
As regards Figure 1, A marks an ordinary waterproof coat; B, a
loose lining, adapted thereto in the following manner:-The lining B is
connected by its outer edge to the back of the coat at the inner side
thereof except at the part marked X, X, at which part the lining is
left loose for air to pass between, the heated air passing out at the
upper part of the coat near the collar thereof. The lining B is prevented
from coming into close contact with the inner surface of the coat by
affixing tubes or solid cords or pieces of vulcanized india-rubber or other
suitable appliance at the back of the lining B at b, the said tubes or
cords being affixed to the said lining partially by the eyelets c. D marks
the arm holes of the coat. I would here remark that the tubes
represented at 6 are not intended to be used for air to pass through, but
simply to keep the lining B from the coat, as above stated, and are
preferred for their flexibility to solid cords, and tubes used for this
purpose may have their ends closed.

page_text: I now proceed to describe another mode of manufacturing waterproof
garments with loose linings and life saving belts, as represented at
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of the accompanying Drawing, as follows :—
D' marks a coat made of any waterproof material; E, a loose lining of
any suitable material or fabric. The holes at a, which aro cyelets, are
for admitting air between the lining and inner surface of the coat.
G arc short tubes or solid cords fixed to the lining partially by the
cyclets g, the said tubes or cords being employed for keeping the lining
free from the coat, as before stated with reference to Figure 1. k marks
other perforations for the passage of air underneath that part of the
sleeve of a coat known and distinguished by tailors as the "syc," or
those parts which when a coat is in use come under the "armpits" of the
wearer, the intention of this part of my said Invention being to allow a
free passage of air beneath the "armpits" by preventing the sleeves at
those parts coming into contact with the body of the coat, as represented
at Figure 6, which may be effected by affixing to the sleeve and body a
picce or picces of flexible tubing, or solid cords of india-rubber, or other
suitable material, marked i at Figures 1 and 4. In addition to the perfora-
tions at the outside of the coat I also make holes or perforations in the
sleeve linings, as represented at Figure 1. At Figure 27 marks cyclet
holes for the passage of air between the lining B and the coat around the
arm holes and at that part of the coat which comes between the shoulders
of the wearer. The life belt above referred to is placed between and fixed
to the lining of the coat at any convenient part thereof, and the material
of which the coat is made and the said life belt may be inflated by
blowing into the tube H at the mouth-piece m; the lower end of the
tube H is fitted with a valve of any suitable construction, by preference
that represented full size at Figure 7, where n marks a short tube of
india-rubber, the end o whereof is flattened and the other end fixed to
the tube as a mouth. The effect of a valve thus formed is to open
slightly upon blowing into the tube to which the said valve is connected,
but upon the blowing being suspended the flattened parts of the tube
will immediately close by the pressure of the surrounding air thereon,
and in this manner and by these means the life saving belt may be
readily inflated. To discharge the air from the life belt when it is not
required to be used the belt must be provided with an ordinary outlet
valve.

page_text: at Figure 1 the loose lining thereof should be extended under the
facings of the coat.
Having now described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention for "Improvements in Ventilating India-rubber Garments
and in rendering same Applicable for Life Saving Purposes, Part of
which is Applicable for Life Saving Apparatuses generally requiring to
be Inflated," and the means by which it may be effected, I hereby
declare my Invention to consist in and I claim,―
First. Adapting to ordinary waterproof garments, such as coats, a
loose lining for the passage of air for ventilation, substantially as above
described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying
Drawing.
Second. Manufacturing ventilating waterproof coats with a life
saving belt adapted between and fixed to a loose lining of any suitable
material and the waterproof material of which the coat is made; also
the manner of inflating the life belt with air, as described and represented
at Figures 3, 5, and 7. And especially I claim the tubes or cords
marked b, i, and G, either separately or in combination with the holes
a, c, ŋ, k, l, for ventilating waterproof garments by the passage of air
between the lining and the coat, and particularly the method of
arranging the said tubes or cords so as to leave a free passage for
ventilation under the armpits when the arms of the wearer are down,
substantially as above described with reference to Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, of
the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles William Meiter, have i
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-