IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE BUOYS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ernest Bazin, Civil Engineer, and Chevalier of
the National Order of the Legion of Honour, of No. 16, Place
Vendome, Paris, France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LIFE BUOYS."
Scaled the 23rd June 1874, and dated the 30th December 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ernest Bazin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th December 1873.
I, ERNEST BAZIN, Civil Engineer, and Chevalier of the National
Order of the Legion of Honour, of No. 16, Place Vendome, Paris, France,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LIFE BUOYS," to be as follows:-
:-
The collar or life buoy referred to consists of a ring or tube of india-
rubber a surrounded by a second ring or tube b, see Figure 1, which is
a section at A, B, of Figure 2, which is a plan.
The second ring b is interrupted at the point where the inner ring a is
straightened at c, but the same thickness of material is maintained to

page_text: admit of the stretching to which it is subjected to pass it over the head
so as to reach the neck, when it reoccupies the original diameter and is
perfectly adjusted. The narrow or flattened part c is placed behind the
head, whilst the larger part rests under the chin, so that the face is kept
gently raised.
The buoy may also be made of larger dimensions to admit of its being
passed under the arms, the second ring 6 being dispensed with, the
ring a and flattened part o being retained.
The buoy is or may be supplied with a whistle or alarm for signaling
the position of the castaway, and is attached to the collar by metallic
fastenings; it is also provided with one or more flagons containing
liquors or cordials.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ernest Bazin in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ERNEST
BAZIN, Civil Engineer, and Chevalier of the National Order of the
Legion of Honour, of No. 16, Place Vendome, Paris, France, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Ernest Bazin, Her special
licence that I, the said Ernest Bazin, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ernest Bazin, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIFE
Buoys," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ernest Bazin,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,

page_text: whistle h are passed. In this bottle 9 cordial is contained to give sus-
tenance to the castaway until succor reaches him. The whistle h is of
wood and is intended to signal distress.
The mode of using the life buoy consists in passing it over the head
as far as the neck by stretching or elongating it so as to allow the face
to pass easily. Arrived under the chin the india-rubber returns to its
normal dimensions, and the collar is perfectly fitted so as to prevent the
submersion of the head.
Finally, I claim as my Invention the herein described life buoy
especially characterized by its elasticity, by preference of india-rubber,
and formed without fastenings, and remarkable for its contracted or
shrunken part, and of a section admitting of the rapid and ready intro-
duction of the head so as to embrace the neck and raise the chin so as to
keep the face well out of the water, one of the distinguishing features
of the system being the mode of construction with the external
and internal solderings at the points indicated by the Drawings so
as to produce the greatest possible elasticity, and the combination
with the life buoy of the india-rubber flagon or flask containing cordial
and the whistle or other alarm for signaling the whereabouts of the
victim.
The form and dimensions of the apparatus may vary so as to adapt
them under the arms.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ernest Bazin, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.