Improvements in Partly Collapsible Life and other Boats.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Nov., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 14th Aug., 1889-Accepted, 14th Sept., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Partly Collapsible Life and other Boats.
We WILLIAM CHAMBERS, Engineer, HUGH CHAMBERS and JAMES (HAMBERS)
Carpenters all of Strathleven Place Dumbarton in the County of Dumbarton do
hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows :-
This Invention relates to life and other boats the sides of which, for purposes
of stowage, are capable of folding downwards and the present Invention is a
further development of the Invention for which Application for Provisional Pro-
tection dated the Twentieth day of October 1888 No. 15,093 was made by the
present Applicants.
The Invention has for its object to cause the sides or bulwarks of the boats,
and which are composed of canvas or the like surmounted by a rail or gunwale
of wood or iron and supported by hinged stanchions placed at desired distances
apart, to fold downwards towards the unidship or centre of the boat and in a
direction parallel to its longth. For this purpose the gunwale or rail on each
side is cut or divided amidships the two sections being connected together by n
chain or other flexible coupling and the stanchions supporting the sections of the
gunwale or rail, between which and the body of the boat the canvas bulwark is.
stretched, are so hinged to the gunwale or rail and to the body of the boat as to
work, in rising and falling, through an arc parallel to the contour or longitudinal
axis of the boat.
Dated this Fifteenth day of November 1888.
CRUIKSHANK & FAIRWEATHER,
62, Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Partly Collapsible Life and other Boats.
We, WILLIAM CHAMBERS, Engineer, HUGH CHAMBERS and JAMES CHAMBERS,
Carpenters, all of Strathleven Place Dunbarton, in the County of Dumbarton, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This Invention relates to life and other boats the bulwarks of which for purposes
of stowing the boat into smaller space on board ship when not in use are made
of stout canvas or other like flexible material and are capable of being folied
down on to the body of the boat and the Invention has for its object the provi-
sion of improved means in conjunction with the said canvas sides or bulwarks for
folding the same down and for maintaining the sides in their raised position when
desired. On the accompanying drawings figure 1 is a side elevation of a life boat
having its canvas sides or bulwarks furnished with the improved means consti-
tuting this Invention for folding down and raising up and maintaining the same:
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section shewing one end of the side or bulwark folded
down and the other end raised. Figure 3 is a plan shewing the side a of the
bulwark in its raised and the other side b in its folded position. It is however
to be understood that in practice the gunwale or rail c is continuous round the
ends of the boat, and is not divided at the point y as shewn by these figures.
The gunwale or rail c to which the top edges of the canvas sides or bulwarks are
attached is cut or divided at d at or near midships of each side of the boat the cut
being bevelled or rebated. At the joints there are secured to one half of the rail or

page_text: gunwale projecting pins or staplos e and to the other half folding claspsf which have
slots capable of being passed over the said staples or pins, the clasps when
so passed over holding the two sections of the gunwale together. The lower
edge of the canvas bulwark is secured to the upper edgo g of the boat proper
and the sections of the gunwale or rail are also connected to the boat by stanchions h
each of which is composed of two rigid struts arranged like shear legs the apex of the
shears that is to say the upper ends of both struts of one pair being connected to the
gunwale by a pin or bolt whilst the lower ends are separately connected to the body
of the boat by pins or holts j, k. The end stanchions h¹ are each composed of one
strut only the second rigid strut having substituted for it a length of chain or rope!
which is hooked or otherwise fastened at its upper end to the gunwale or rail c, and at
its lower end to the body of the hoat as seen inore particularly on figure 2; or in lieu
of the said chain or rope a strut sliding at its lower end in a slot or guide may be
substituted, in which case a pinching screw or other provision for retaining the lower
end of the sliding strut in its adjusted position in the guide is made. All the pins or
bolts i, j, are so arranged that in folding down or raising up the bulwark the motion
of the stanchions h and of the sections c of the rail or gunwale is in a direction parallel
to the length of the boat whilst at the same time in folding down the motions of the
two sections of the gunwale and of their respective stanchions are both towards the
point Y the inner ends of the section c of the gunwale when folded lying on the top
of the inner ends of the section c. By this arrangement the entire bulwark and
gunwale c can be raised at once by simply lifting the sections c of the gunwale and
similarly the entire bulwark and rail can be folded down at one operation by depressing
the section c¹ of the gunwale the inner ends of which are bevelled or rebated over the
inuer ends of the sections c as before set forth.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
In a partly collapsible life or other boat a gunwale or rail divided at or near mid-
ships into two sections c, c¹ said sections being connected to the boat by stanchions
which in raising and lowering the bulwark move through arcs parallel to the longi-
tudinal axis of the boat the stanchions supporting one section of the rail moving in
a direction opposite to those supporting the other section, substantially as described.
Dated this Thirteenth day. of August 1889.
CRUIKSHANK & FAIRWEATHER,
62, Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow, Agents.