VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN BEACON BUOYS, CAN BUOYS, NUN BUOYS, MOORING BUOYS, AND LIFE BUOYS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1816

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FOULERTON, of Upper Bedford Place, Russell Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Esquire, and an Elder Brother of the Trinity House, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of June, in the fifty-sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Foulerton, His especial licence that I, the said John Foulerton, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Foulerton,
my exors, admiors, 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
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "VARIOUS
IMPROVEMENTS IN BEACON BUOYS, CAN BUOYS, NUN BUOYS, MOORING BUOYS, AND
LIFE BUOYS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES;"
and in which said Letters Patent there contained a proviso, obliging me,
the said John Foulerton, 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 His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Foulerton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained
in the following explanation thereof, that is to say:-
The term nun buoy is applied generally to that description of buoy which is
fastened by a rope to a ship's anchor, by which you may know where the
anchor lies. To make a cork nun buoy on my improved plan, a quantity of
cork must be prepared and shaped into the size of the buoy intended to be
made, and pegged together by oak or other wooden pegs, in such manner as to
connect all the pieces of which it is composed. The joints are to be filled with
a mastic or cement. This cement may be formed of a composition of equal
parts of red oaker, white lead, and lamb black, with such a proportion of boiled
linseed oil as will give it the consistence of putty round the centre or bilge; an
ash or oak hoop is worked in with the cork, and a head of elm or other wood,
turned to a proper size, is placed on each end. An iron, copper, or mixed
metal spindle passes through the whole lengthwise, with a common screw and
knob and ring on one end, and a common eye bolt ring and swivel on the other,
or a plain lancer-headed bolt for slinging. The whole mass of cork terminated
by the wooden heads is then pressed strongly together, and the knob upon the
screw is turned to hold it fast in that state. The projecting end of the screw is
then cut off and the end strongly riveted. The pressure is effected by means
of a pressing machine, acting by the operation of screws, which forms no part
of my present Invention. After the cork is pressed together it forms a kind of
solid substance, and it must then cut and rasped till it is correctly formed in
the shape and size required, and if not intended to be covered, it is then finished
by painting and varnishing; otherwise it is put into a cradle for covering, where
it receives a coat of hot pitch and tar, or other mixture that will fill up the
crevices, and render the cork less liable to absorb water, previous to putting on
the covering, which may consist of hide, leather, iron, copper, zink, or other
mixed metal or substance, sewed or soldered strong together with leather
throngs or solder, meeting in the middle at the wooden hoop in the centre or
bilge of the buoy, where it is nailed with mixed metail nails or soldered, and a
hoop of iron, copper, zink, or other mixed metal or hide soldered or nailed
round it. It is then put into a drying room to be finished, with a common
lacquer paint or varnish, to be applied until it is sufficiently hard and dry
for use. A buoy constructed as above described will unite all the requisites
of a machine of this kind better, in my judgment, than any other mode
hitherto in use.
It is to be observed, however, that I do not claim an exclusive right to the

page_text: use of cork in the construction of buoys, or to the joining cork together with
wooden or other pegs, nor to the composition of the above mástick or cement,
nor to the covering buoys with leather, hide, or metal, or with paint, lacquer,
or varnish. The general meaning of the term can buoys signifies a vessel made
of staves or plank close at both ends and shaped like a cone or sugar-loaf. I
construct my improved can buoys as follows:-
In the first place, a piece of oak or other fit timber must be prepared of
sufficient size for the fore part or nose of the buoy, with a rabbet to receive the
stavės or plank, to which they are fastened with bolts or nails; there are then
one or more rings or circles in the inside of the buoy for bearers, to which the
planks are bolted or nailed; they are made of oak or other timber so fastened
by doubling in the joints as to give sufficient strength. The head or broad end
circle, made of oak or other timber, is prepared to receive the ends of the
planks, forming the sides and head of the buoy, which are to be secured with a
filling piece, covering the ends of the staves or planks, which are to be of the
shape of a wedge, and drove from the broad to the small end, being bolted
or nailed on the several bearers or circles, and to the circle at the broad end of
the buoy. It is to have cross bearers with a solid piece in the centre, to which
the staves or planks are to be fitted in the shape of wedges and drove from the
outside circle, the whole being secured with bolts or nails. The inside of the
buoy is to be paid over with a composition of pitch and tar, or what is usually
known by the name of soft stuff, and a bolt with a ring is to be fastened
through the small end for the moorings. The buoy may be filled with pressed
cork where the situation requires it. It may also have a spindle of iron,
copper, or mixed metal, carrying a ball, triangle, or other shaped distinguishing
mark, fixed on a piece of timber fitted to the broad end of the buoy, and varied
according to the line of flotation, so as to render it more conspicuous by keep-
ing the spindle as nearly as possible perpendicular to the horizon. A keel of
wood with a female dovetail is fastened to the buoy to receive another dovetail
of iron, lead, or other metal, for the purpose of adjustment; a pendulum may
also be used for the same purpose.
The buoy is to be covered or sheathed with iron, copper, zink, or other
mixed metal, as the situation where it is to be placed may require. To make
an improved cork can buoy, fastened with copper, mixed metal, or iron bars,
you must prepare a sufficient quantity of cork, pegged together and shaped
into the size and form of the buoy required, which must be worked round four
or more bars in the inside, connected with a head of mixed metal or iron at
the small end, and upwards the broad head or end, which must also be of metal
and framed, of sufficient dimensions to cover the head of the buoy, and round

page_text: the outside, connected with both ends, there must be a frame strongly fastened
from one end to the other; or, extending as far from the small end as may be
thought sufficient for strength, there must be a bar of metal to secure the
moorings, the whole being strongly pressed and screwed together, then cut
and rasped into the form required, and covered with wood, iron, copper, or
mixed metal, or pitch, tar, varnish, or paint, or such other composition as may
be most proper to preserve the cork.
To build an improved punt-bottomed beacon buoy, a proper nose piece must
be prepared of oak or other timber, and a rail for the bottom to be fastened to,
which goes round the buoy, and is nearly in the shape of a pear, the bottom is
then laid and crossed by other plank diagonally, the whole being bolted and
nailed. The second rim or rail, which is of the same shape as the former,
is then scarfed and jointed into the nose piece at such height as is thought
necessary from the bottom, according to the size of the buoy, and supported
strongly by timber; then the side planks, made in a wedge-like form, are drove
tight round, the whole bolted or secured to the rails at bottom and top with
copper, iron, or mixed metal bolts and nails. A curve or arched brace is then
fitted from the nose piece to the stern or after rail, to which is fitted all the
other beams composing the upper part of the buoy, for receiving the planks
or filling pieces that are fitted to them; when the whole is finished by caulking,
and coppered or sheathed, in the same manner as the can buoys, before
described. A pendulum or keel is then fitted, and an iron or mixed metal
spindle for carrying a distinguishing ball or other shape, as before described,
to be secured by the main beam and stopped below; also a bolt for the moor-
ings to pass through the nose piece, to be secured in the inside, and a pump
placed near the fore part of the buoy. The beacon buoy may be filled with
pressed cork if thought necessary.
The different buoys constructed as above described will unite all the requi-
sites of machines of this nature better, in my judgement, than any other mode
hitherto in use. It is to be observed, however, that I do not claim an exclusive
right to the construction of can buoys, or to the covering or sheathing them
with metal, or to covering them on the inside with the above-mentioned
composition, or to the use of a spindle and ball, triangle, or other distinguishing
mark, or to the application of a keel to the buoy for adjustment, or of a
pendulum for the same purpose, or to the use of cork in the construction of
them, or to the use of pitch, tar, varnish, paint, or other composition for the
purposes above mentioned; nor to the construction of beacon buoys or punt-
bottomed beacon buoys, or to the caulking, coppering, or sheathing the same,
nor to the application of a keel or pendulum to them, or of a metal spindle

page_text: for carrying a distinguishing ball or other shape, nor of a bolt for the moorings,
nor of affixing a pump to the buoy.
To make an improved mooring buoy, as many circles of wood of equal
diameter as may be thought necessary, according to the size of the buoy, must
be prepared in the same manner as those used in making the improved can
buoy, also a sufficient number of planks shaped in a wedge-like form, the
whole being put together and secured to the inside beams by bolts or nails,
in the same manner as the can buoys above described; the heads or end pieces
being fitted in the same manner as the large end of the improved can buoy;
there must be a bolt in the middle at equal distance from the ends to receive
the moorings. The buoy may be painted or sheathed with any of the metals
before-mentioned, and payed over on the inside with the same composition as
is used for the improved can buoy, as above described.
The life buoys are constructed like the nun buoys or cork can buoys, above
described; but instead of the iron on the outside of the can buoy, it will be
sufficient to bind it with rope. These buoys must have loops or straps of rope
at different places on the outside for the purpose of laying hold of them; they
may also have a small flag or distinguishing mark affixed to them; but I do
not claim an exclusive right to construct life buoys or mooring buoys except
as above, nor to the use of straps or loops, or of a distinguishing mark or flag,
as described above.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Foulerton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth of December, in the year of our Lord One