IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE BOATS AND THE MODE OF PROPELLING AND VENTILATING THE SAME, THE SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE TO STEAM TUGS, PILOT BOATS, TENDERS, AND OTHER FLOATING BODIES
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Carl Wolfgang Petersen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd June 1869.
I, CARL WOLFGANG PETERSEN, of Norton Folgate, in the City of
London, Master Mariner, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE BOATS AND THE MODE OF PROPELLING
AND VENTILATING THE SAME, THE SAID IMPROVEMENTS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE TO
STEAM TUGS, PILOT BOATS, TENDERS, AND OTHER FLOATING BODIES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists principally in propelling life boats by steam
or other power and screws instead of oars worked by hand.
In carrying out this Invention I propose to construct the life boat
with one or more water-tight chambers for the purpose of rendering the
boat self-righting in the event of its being capsized. This chamber or
chambers which may be provided with an air shaft or shafts and with
glazed openings for admitting light may also be applied to steam tugs,
pilot boats, tenders, and other floating bodies, and may serve as a saloon

page_text: cabin or for other purposes. In order further to assist in the righting of
the boat when capsized I dispose the coal bunkers at the bottom of the
boat, and provide them with lids, hinged or otherwise, and with suitable
fastenings, to prevent the coal falling out when the boat is bottom up,
the said bunkers also serving as seats for the crew. I propose to use
one or more propellers at each end of the boat, placed in connection
with the power employed to work the same. The rudder also may be
readily unshipped and applied at either end of the boat by means of a
hinge formed in the following manner:-The stem and stern post are
reduced so as to form a kind of circular bead, on to which the rudder is
hung by means of a tube fixed thereto having a longitudinal slit to
enable the said tube to embrace the bead, which forms a pivot for the
rudder. In addition to the rudder I provide two steering oars, one at
each end of the boat, to supply the place of the rudder should it be
carried away or rendered unserviceable, each steering oar being placed
in a rowlock formed of a metal ring pivotted in any convenient position.
In order to prevent the loss of the steering oars, they are each provided
with a cross head or collar to prevent their slipping through the
rowlocks.
⚫ Another feature of novelty in this Invention consists in adapting a
wheel to the lower edge of the rudder to enable it to roll over any solid
or hard substance it may happen to come into contact with, and thereby
prevent the rudder from being carried away, as is now the case with
rudders of the ordinary construction.
I further construct the funnels and air shafts of steam life boats, tugs,
and tenders with self-closing caps to prevent the extinction of the fire.
and keep the water out of the boat should it capsize. These self-closing
caps I construct in the following manner:-The cap is hollow and
hinged or pivotted to the top or inside of the funnel or air shaft, and is
provided with a pounterbalance lever weighted to keep the cap open
whilst the boat is in its proper position; a chain or cord is attached to
the lid on the opposite side to the hinge, which chain passes down into
the boat, its other end being fastened to one or more weights or rollers
contained in a chamber within the boat. These weights are placed in a
slight depression or recess in the floor of the chamber, so that when
the boat is inclined at a certain angle they will escape from the said
recess and close the lid by drawing on the chain. The counterbalance.

page_text: weight and the pressure of the water also assist in keeping the lid closed
when the boat is capsized. Instead of hinging the cap or lid to the
funnel or air shaft I may make it to slide in guides, and cause it to
be retained in its raised position by means of springs. This cap is
connected as before by rods and chains with weights placed on either
side of the funnel, so that when the boat is inclined at a certain angle
towards either side one of the said weights (each of which I prefer to
form of a pair of rollers coupled together) will descend towards that side,
so as to close the cap before described. When this sliding cap is
employed I surround it with a suitable cowl to keep out the spray, as
herein-after described. I also provide a grating placed above the fire-
bars to prevent the fuel becoming displaced when the boat capsizes. I
do not however intend to limit or confine myself to the precise arrange-
ments above described, as other mechanical equivalents might be
employed for effecting the same. The hatchways, of which there may
be two or more, are provided with coverings of canvass or other
suitable material attached to the sides thereof to prevent the inflow of
the water at the sides when the hatchways are open. The cowl, which
is to be applied to the air shaft or shafts as well as to the funnel, is
pivotted in such a manner that it cannot be carried away by the wind
or capsizing of the boat; this I effect by the following means:-At
the top of the funnel I fix a vertical rod, upon which the cowl hangs
and rotates as on a pivot.
In propelling life boats by steam I propose for the purposes of this
Invention to form the steam chest of the boiler separate from the
body of the water in the boiler, and I lead the steam from the boiler
into the aforesaid steam chest by a pipe or pipes fitted with a cock,
on which is fixed a weighted lever, the weight being so placed as to
keep the cock open when the boat is in its right position, but when
capsized the weight will operate so as to shut the cock, and thus prevent
the water from passing out of the boiler and choking the engines or
scalding the persons in the boat.
I propose to ventilate life boats when necessary by means of a fan
shaft driven from the engine, or by hand, the fan being placed in the
funnel on which the ventilating cowl is placed. By these means
perfeot ventilation may be obtained, and the furnace fire supplied with
air when the batchways are closed.

page_text: Lastly. I propose to lash the boiler to the boat's bottom, at opposite
sides thereof, to prevent displacement of the boiler when the boat
capsizes, the lashings being fixed to planks running from stem to stern
of the boat at the bilge, which planks serve also to strengthen the boat
at these parts.