US258191A - Life-raft - Google Patents

Description

(N0` Model.)

MFE. BEASLBY.

LIFE BAPT.

No. 258,191.. `Patelltesd May 16, 1882.

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' 4UNITED STATESA PATENT OFFICE.

MARIA E. BEASLEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

LIFE-RAFT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 'No. 258,191, dated May 16, 1882,

Application filed January 17, 1881. (No model.)

To all lwhom it may concern Beit known that I MARIA EBEASLEY, of the city and county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Lifesaving Rafts for Use in Gase of Shipwreck; and I do hereby declare the following to be a sufficiently i'ull,elear,and exact description thereof to enable others skilled in the art to make and use the said invention. y

The object of this invention is to improve the raft described and claimed in my Letters Patent of the United States numbered 226,264, and dated April 6, 1880, so that it may be more readily used.

rlhe nature of my invention may be hrieliy stated to consist in making the ends of' the floats ofthe raft with a bevel upon both sides, attaching the railings by hinges so constructed as to be erected securely upon either surface, and in forming doors and stoppers for the water and provision compartments that may be opened upon either side, in addition to which I sometimes make the railing double, so that in the event of its being overturned inthe water it can be instantly used without any delay in righting or adjusting it.

I will now proceed to particularly describe 'the construction and operation of my invention, referring in so doing to the drawings annexed and the letters of' reference marked thereon.

Figure l shows theinvention in perspective as when` in use. Fig. 2 shows the invention as folded for stowing; Fig. 3, a float in section in middle transverse.

A are flat rectangular4 metallic ioats, having both sides of the ends beveled. These are fastened to each other by hinges B. In some or all of these floats A are formed cavities or chambers C, provided with stoppers D, holding provisions, accessible upon both sides of the floats. Bars E are pivoted upon both sides of the floats and engage in hooks F, fastened firmly to the sides of the other floats, and when engaged in the hooks F the bars E hold the iioats in the same dat plane, and when turned in parallel position with the floats A the bars E make no impediment in the folding of the raft, the positions of the pins of the hinges B being in such relation tothe upper surfaces of the floats A that a space adequate to receive the bars E and hooks Fis provided when the oats A are folded. Upon the sides of the outer floats are hinges G, capable of turning in both directions, either upward or downward, attaching a grated railing, H, provided with a strong upper rail, J, with rowlocks K thereon. At the opposite endof each of the railings H are hinged gates L, made also of gratings, which, fastening to the other end of the opposite railing or grating H, form a complete rectangular inclosure. The railings and gates may be made double, so that one set may be turned upward whiletheotherisdownward. (Indicated iu the dotted portion of Fig. l.) The construction may be further modified by substituting a rail or cross-bar for the gates, the function of the rail being the same as that of' the gateviz., to brace the side rails when in use and prevent persons washing overboard. When folded, the railings Hand gates L lie in parallel position with the iioats A. Seats or thwarts M are placed across the raft, resting, when in use, on the meshes of the gratings H, and when stowed are placed parallel with the floats A and the gratings H.

A dag-staff, N, is placed in rings O and P in one of the gates L. The flag-staff N, 'together with oars and a boat-hook, is placed parallel with the thwarts when the raft is stored.

vThe provision-receptacles being air-tight, provisions can be safely stored therein without deteriorating from drying up or by encroachment by vermin, and are accessible from either side.

Having described my invention and the mode of making and operating the same, what I claim therein as new and of my own original and first invention is l.. The hollow rectangular metallic floats united by hinges, so as to present parallel fiat surfaces of the oats to each other when either folded or extended, and with beveled ends adapted to ride with either surface upward.

2. In a reversible life -raft composed of hinged sections susceptible of folding and extension into a flat plane, the combination of a guard-railing attached thereto by hinges susceptible of turning with said railing through a sufficient arc of a circle to present the .railin g above either fiat surface of the raft, substan` tially as and for the purpose described and shown.

MARIA E. BEASLEY. Witnesses:

J. DANIEL Env, ALEX. H. SIEGEL.

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