CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LIFE AND PROPERTY, AND IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE THERETO
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLOUGHBY
THEOBALD MONZANI, of Wellington Terrace, Ramsgate, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Third day of July, in the eighth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Willoughby Theobald Monzani, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Willoughby Theobald Monzani, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Willoughby Theobald
Monzani, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, aud
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in
the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOATS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LIFE AND
PROPERTY, AND IN APPARATUS APPLICABLE THERETO;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Willoughby Theobald
Monzani, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Willoughby Theobald Monzani, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My improvements in the construction of boats for the preservation of life
and property, and in apparatus applicable thereto, consist,-
Firstly, in a peculiar method of forming, connecting, and fitting together
certain parts, so as to produce a skeleton boat by the combination of a bottom
or platform with frames and supports (to which flexible air chambers may be
attached), the outer part or hull of the boat being produced by a casing of
canvas or other suitable material, rendered as nearly waterproof as practicable;
which boat so constructed will be capable of collapsing, for the purpose of
stowage, in a comparatively small space, and of being readily opened out and
prepared for usc.
Secondly, in a novel construction of rudder, the outer part of which is
enabled to rise and fall upon joints or in grooves, in order to prevent the
derangement or fracture of the rudder in the event of its striking upon a rock,
or coming in contact with the ground.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a horizontal view of the
skeleton boat; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of the same; and Fig. 3, a
transverse section. a, a, a, is the horizontal platform made of wood or of other
suitable material. The construction of platform which I prefer is a double or
treble series of wooden planking of oak or ash, so connected that the grain or
fibres of the upper and lower, and central (if there be three courses) boards
shall cross each other, the whole being braced by bars of iron or other secure
mode of fastening. The platform must be made firm, as it has not only to
sustain the burthen to be carried in the boat, but also to support and hold
-securely the framing of which the boat is constructed. The gunwale of the
boat is formed by a strong rail b, b, b, of wood or of some other suitable material,
which is to extend entirely round the upper edge of the boat in one connected
piece or frame, and which is braced firmly by transverse thwart rails or bars c, c.
A similar rail or frame d, d, d, of rather smaller compass than the former, and
braced together in like manner by transverse rails e, e, is intended to extend
round the boat at about midway between the bottom or platform and the top

page_text: rail or gunwale, as shewn in Figures 2 and 3.
These two rails or frames
band dare connected to the platform a by strong flexible straps, made of
broad flat ropes or other suitable materials, or chains would answer the
purpose. The straps f, f, f, connect the upper rail b with the platform a;
the straps g, 9, g, connect the lower rail d with the platform a; and the
straps h, h, h, connect the upper and lower rails together. When the two
rails and dare lifted up from the platform a as high as the lengths of the
straps will allow, the levers or stauncheons i, i, i, are to be raised upon their
hinge joints, and brought under the respective thwarts of the rails for the
purpose of supporting them and keeping the skeleton framework distended;
and also the ends of the framework may be made more firm by means of
struts k, . The outer coating or canvas which is to cover the skeleton must
be made very securely fast round or under the edge of the platform, and also
round the edge of the gunwale frame, so that when the framework is ex-
panded the covering may resemble the hull of a boat, and be as nearly as may
be proof against the admission of water to the interior. Fig. 4 is a side view
of my improved boat in its distended form; and Fig. 5 is an end view of the
same, as described above and ready for use, having longitudinal air vessels or
air bags o attached to its sides. When the boat is out of use and required to:
be stowed away, the air vessels being removed, the struts must be displaced,
and all the stauncheons or levers i, i, i, let down, when the flexible straps f. g.
and h, will allow the frames b and d, with the canvas covering j,j, to collapse
and fall together upon the platform a, into the compact state shewn in the.
edge view at Fig. 6. In constructing the moveable frames and their thwarts,
which are to form the skeleton of my improved boat, I do not intend to
confine myself to making them of wood, as iron rods might be combined and
bent round to the required figure, or whalebone and some other materials
might be found to answer the purpose; but it must be made into a firm
structure, and if slightly elastic will best resist any shocks to which the boat
may be subjected. The outer coating may be of any strong flexible material;
stout canvas or sail cloth, for instance, well paid with oil and other waterproof
matters, as solutions of indian rubber, or of the material called Mackintosh
cloth, or of some kinds of leather, painted or varnished to resist water. The
stauncheons i, i, i, which I have found convenient and well suited to the
purpose, are made of iron rods bent into semicircular or segmental shapes,
their ends being turned at right angles to form axles or pivots, which work in
staples fixed in the floor or platform, and so constitute hinge joints; but I do
not intend to confine myself to these particular constructions of stauncheons.
These stauncheons, when the boat is required to be used,, are readily raised

page_text: and brought up under the thwart pieces of the framing, where,' coming against
stops with springs, or bolts, or other contrivances, they form sufficient supports
to keep the moveable framework or skeleton of the boat distended and firm.
The struts h, k, have each a shoulder or fork at their upper end to bear
against the under edge of the top frame, and are wedge-formed at bottom to
fit sideways into a chock or block fixed on the floor or platform. If it should
be required to cover a portion at each end of the boat, so as to form a sort of
false deck or secure place for luggage, the struts may then be otherwise fitted
at the discretion of the boat builder. Chocks are to be affixed to the upper
frame b in such places as may be required to insert pegs or forked rowing pins l.
On the sides of the boat at the bottom, that is to the edge of the platform, are
to be attached strong cords, chains, or flexible straps m, which are passed
through staples n, fixed in the outer parts of the frames b, and rings or links p
sewn on or otherwise very securely attached to the canvas covering j, for the
purpose of attaching air vessels or bags o to prevent the boat from sinking
should it become filled with water. As air bags or air vessels have been
commonly attached to life boats or life rafts, I do not claim them as any part
of my Invention, but use them as necessary appendages under some circum-
stances; therefore I do not confine myself to any particular construction of air
bags or air vessels, but prefer to use those made of prepared canvas or other
suitable material similar to the casing of the boat, and of cylindrical forms, with
wooden disc-shaped partitions, having small apertures for the passage of the
air from one compartment to the other, and with a stopcock or plug at one
end, as shewn attached to the boat in Figs. 4 and 5. These cylindrical bags
when opened out or distilled fill themselves with air through the open stop-
cocks or plugholes, which being then closed confine the air within. These
canvas bags are, when so filled with air, to be attached to the sides of the boat
by means of the outer straps m drawn tight and made fast to the top rails, and
the ends of the bags are connected together by ropes or small chains, secured
to the upper rail near the head and stern. I have also to observe, that air
bags or air vessels may be introduced or attached to other parts of my improved
boat, both within and without, to render them more buoyant; but I do not
claim them as new.
My improved construction of rudder is represented in the accompanying
Drawing at Figures 7 and 8. a, a, is the sternpost of a vessel; b, the rudder,
swinging by its pintles and gudgeons or by any other convenient or ordinary
means. This rudder has the part d made moveable and capable of rising and
falling upon lever arms or joint straps e, e, e. The weight of the part d'will
be sufficient to keep it down, as in Fig. 7; but should the stern of the vessel

page_text: strike upon a rock or take ground, the part d will rise upon its lever joints
as shewn in Figure 8. I do not confine myself to any particular form or
dimensions of rudder, nor to the precise mode of attaching it to a vessel; it
may be hung to a strut at the stern of my improved boat, as shewn at Fig. 4,
or it may be connected in any other suitable way. Nor do I confine myself to
the construction of lever joints shewn in the Drawing, as various other modes
might be suggested equally efficacious, provided the hinder part of the rudder
is enabled to rise freely when it strikes upon any resisting substance, and by
which rising the rudder may be relieved from strain or fracture, and on passing
over the obstruction be enabled to fall again into its former position as at
Fig. 7.
Lastly, I desire it to be understood, that the improvements in the construc-
tion of boats for the preservation of life and property, and in apparatus appli-
cable thereto, which I claim as of my Invention, and secured to me under the
above in part recited Letters Patent are,--
Firstly, the peculiar mode of constructing a skeleton boat as described
above; and
Secondly, enabling the hinder portion of a rudder to rise and fall in the way
described, for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Willoughby Theobald Monzani, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
WILLOUGHBY THEOBALD (L.S.) MONZANI.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Third day of January, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Willoughby Theobald Monzani came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.