Buoyant Apparatus.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Jan., 1888
Specification Accepted, 10th Feb., 1888
Buoyant Apparatus.
I, FRANCIS WENTWORTH BREWSTER, of Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Manufacturer of Life-Saving Appliances, do hereby declare the nature of the said
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 certain improvements in or applicable to life-saving buoys
and analogous buoyant life-saving appliances (hereinafter referred to under the general
term "
buoys") and has for a principal object the improved construction of such
apparatus in such a manner as to effect a considerable economy in the space ordinarily
occupied by them, to permit of their being more conveniently and compactly stored or
secured ready for instant use, and to render them capable of being applied to other
purposes of utility than that for which they are specially constructed while remaining
available for instant use for their primary purpose of utility.
In life-saving buoys as at present constructed, the means of imparting the buoyant
quality thereto is permanently disposed about or around the opening or inner circle
through which the body is passed, and thus such appliances at all times occupy a space
equal to their full size besides which they are not adapted or applicable for any other
purpose than for their intended use in the water.
The present Invention consists essentially in constructing buoys with a circular or
other suitably shaped permanent or separable rigid frame, and in applying the buoyant
material thereto in such a manner as that it will ordinarily occupy the space within
such frame which will consequently at such times be exterior thereto, and at which
times the buoys may be applied to or used as seats or seat-cushions or for other
analogous purposes of utility, and as that when the buoy is required for its primary
purpose of utility the buoyant material may be instantly caused to assume an upward,
downward or outward position relatively to the said frame, leaving the whole space
within the latter free and open, and permitting of the buoy being placed around the .
body or of the body being passed therethrough and of the buoy being used as
ordinarily.

page_text: The principle of the present Invention is illustrated on the accompanying drawings
in Fig. 1, which represents a circular life-saving buoy constructed in accordance
therewith.
1 represents the frame of the buoy which may be made of a circular, elliptical,
oblong, angular or of any desired shape and of any suitable size or dimensions, and
may be made of bent wood or of thin metal tubing enclosing air or a filling of
any suitable buoyant substance, or may be made of any other suitable substance.
The frame, 1, is made of a rigid construction, and may be made in one continuous
piece, or in separable pieces which may be telescoped the one into the other or other-
wise rigidly fastened together and if necessary retained together by any suitable
automatic means of fastening.
In Fig. 1, the frame, 1, is shown as made of one continuous piece, and of a size a
little larger than the usual opening of a circular life-saving buoy of ordinary
construction and around which the buoyant material is ordinarily disposed.
The buoyant material is, in accordance with the present improvements, applied to
the frame of the buoy in independent segments or sections, 2, radially or otherwise
disposed relatively to the frame and hinged or flexibly jointed thereto at one or more
parts in such a manner as to permit of being turned about such hinged or flexible
connections from the said normal inward position, upwards, downwards or outwards
as aforesaid when required for life-saving use.
The sections, 2, may be made of any suitable shape depending principally upon the
form of the frame, 1, to which they are intended to be applied, and may be made of
solid cork, or may consist of air cushions, vide Fig. 2, or of casings of any suitable
fabric or material enclosing any suitable buoyant material, and they may be applied to
the frame 1, in various ways either by being hinged or equivalently connected thereto
by wire or like means of connection engaging with staples as represented at 3, or by
the containing fabric of the casing, or straps bands or like means applied thereto,
being continued round the frame, 1, vide Fig. 2, and cemented or otherwise suitably
secured thereto in such a manner as aforesaid.
The buoyant sections may be kept in their normal position of and in a plane within
the frame, 1, by coiled or other suitable springs, 4, suitably applied thereto and having
a constant tendency to keep them in such position, but the resistance of which would
be readily overcome in the act of passing the head and shoulders through the frame, 1,
in placing the buoy around the body for use in the water. Or, such springs may
be reversely disposed so as to have a tendency to open the said sections, in which
case the sections may be retained in their said normal position till required for use in
the water by a canvas bottom or by cross webbing or by a readily detachable central
bolt or other fastening, 5, passing through or otherwise securing a series of staples, 6,
or other like or suitable means of fastening projecting from the sections, 2.
Similar means of fastening or supporting the buoyant sections are also applied and
used when the buoy is intended to be used as a seat without other means of under
support, an example of which application is illustrated in Fig. 3 in which suitable
cleets or staples, 7, are applied to opposite parts of the outside of the frame, 1, and in
which legs, 8, are removably placed so that the buoy can be utilized as the seat of a
chair or campstool and can be immediately rendered fit for use in the water by
withdrawing the legs and unfastening. the central connection of the sections.
In the modification represented in Fig. 4, which is a plan view of Fig. 5. a series
of buoys constructed in accordance with the present improvements are represented as
used as a seat cushion applied to a supporting seat framing, 9, which may be made
in any suitable manner, and provided with supports, 10, to support the frames of the
buoys, and with other supports, 11, to support the sections, 2, or with a boarded
bottom to support both the frames, 1, and the sections and permit of their being sat
upon, in which case the sections would not require to be fastened together for such
purpose. The frames of the buoys are preferably simply secured in the frame, 9, by
buttons or like means, 12, so that they may be instantly removed for life-saving use.
As thus applied, a number of the buoys can be stored in a small space and. in a
position at hand for instant removal and use in the water; as represented, the

page_text: construction of the outer supporting frame allows of the back of the seat being closed
down in bad weather thus keeping the buoy-cushions dry.
The buoyant sections may also be made of such a thickness as that they will
collectively equal the buoyancy of an ordinary life-buoy of equal inner capacity, or
the buoys may be made of any greater or less buoyancy; and they may be adapted
or formed with top, bottom or intermediate strengthening boards to which the means
of hinging and connecting them may be advantageously applied.
Circular, hexagonal, square or other shaped buoys constructed in accordance with
the present improvements can be stowed away side by side in an upright position in
a case or locker of such dimensions as can be utilized as an ordinary deck seat
vide Fig. 6.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is.
1. The construction of life-saving buoys and analogous buoyant apparatus with a
rigid frame to which the material upon which the buoyancy is principally dependent
is hinged or otherwise flexibly jointed or applied in independent sections which
normally occupy or are caused to occupy a position within and in the same plane as
the frame and which when required can be caused to assume an upward, downward or
outward position relatively to the said frame leaving the space within the latter free
and open, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
2. The application to life-saving buoys and analogous buoyant apparatus constructed
with a rigid frame, of the material upon which the buoyancy is principally dependent
in independent sections hinged or otherwise flexibly jointed or applied to the frame
in such a manner as to be capable of being caused to assume different positions
relatively thereto such as within and in a plane therewith, and upwards, downwards
or outwards, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
3. The rendering buoys of such construction available for and useful as seats, by
providing or adapting the same with means of temporarily supporting or fastening
the independent sections thereof together, substantially as hereinbefore described.
4. The application and use of buoys of such construction as seat cushions in
combination with supporting frames or suitable means of supporting the same
substantially as hereinbefore described.
Teted this 2nd law of La 1000
DAY, DAVIES, & HUNT,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.