US1302362A

US1302362A - Life-boat.

Info

Publication number: US1302362A
Application number: US24945518A
Authority: US
Inventors: Frank Archie Graham
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1918-08-12
Filing date: 1918-08-12
Publication date: 1919-04-29
Anticipated expiration: 1936-04-29

Description

F. A. GRAHAM.

LIFE BOAT- APPLICATION FILED AUG. 12. 191B.

Patented Apr. 29, 1919.

INVENTOR A TTOR/l/EVS m: NnRRIs PEYERS co..Pno1o-|.1mo., wAsruNcrrw FWK ARCHIE GRAHAM, OIE HARBOR SPRINGS, MICHIGAN.

LIFE-BOAT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented A191". aefiaia.

Application filed August 12. 1918. Serial No. 249,455.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK A. GRAHAM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Harbor Springs, in the county of Emmet and State of Michigan, have invented a new and Improved Life-Boat, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. i

Among the principal objects which the present invention has in .vieware: to provide boats of the character mentioned which may be stored within small compass; to provide boats of the character mentioned with full service equipment at all times; to provide means for manually operating means for propelling the boat; and to provide'a center-board for steadying the action of the boat'in the seaway. To provide lightness and strength by form of keel acting as skeg at stern, tunnel sides for propeller box for centerboard and support for center of seat grating.

Drawings.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a boat constructed and arranged in accordance with the present invention, the section being taken as on the median line thereof;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the boat;

Fig. 3 is a detail view on an enlarged scale showing in vertical section the mechanism employed for propelling the boat;

Fig. 4 is a cross section on an enlarged scale, the section being taken as'on'the line 44inFig.2;

i Fig. 5 is a detail view on an enlarged scale, the section being taken as on the line 5-5 in Fig. 2; i

Fig. 6 is a detail view in section on an enlarged scale, the section being taken as on the line 66 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a side elevation showing several boats constructed and arranged in accordance with the present invention in their nested or stowed relation. 1

Description.

boats constructed and arranged in accord ance with the present invention may be disposed one within the other when stowed. In this position it will be' noted that the gunwales 12 are disposed in superposed relation. These boats may be provided with jury masts for propelling the boats by sails.

,The masts preferred and the sails used in conjunction therewith are shown in a companlon application, Serial No. 190,7 52, filed September 21, 1917, for improvements in 1 life boats, to which co-pending application in nested position.

As shown in Fig. 1, the center-board 26 normally extends below the bottom of the keel and of the boat. The ocket 25 is covered tightly by aflooring 27, which prevents the admission of water to the body of the boat when the boat is in active service. The header 24 forms a terminal wall of the pocket 28. The pocket 28 is provided for the mounting of a transmission mechanism, by means of which the propeller 29 is operated. The propeller 29 is disposed in a pocket 30, which is separated from the pocket 28 by the inclined wall 31. The rear of the pocket 30 is sealed by an inclined wall 32, which joins the flooring 33 to form the bottom at the rear end of the keel.

The transmission mechanism which operates the propeller consists primarily of a bevel or spiral gear wheel 34. The teeth of the gear wheel 34 are meshed with the teeth of a pinion or worm 35 at the inner end of a shaft 36. Additional or different gears may be provided to produce the number of revolutions necessary for ethcient operation of the propeller. The shaft 3o extends through bearings 37. The bearings 37 are provided with gland nuts 38 which prevent seepage through the said bearings to the interior of the boat.

The gear wheel 34 is suitably mounted on a stud shaft 39. The stud shaft, as seen best in Fig. 2 of the drawings, is mounted in a standard 40 at one side of the gearwheel 34 to enable the same to be rotated by a crank pin extending from the back of the said gear wheel and to which a connecting...

rod 41 is attached. The connecting rod 41 is pivotally attached to a crank 42, on a rocking shaft 43. As shown best in Fig.- 2 of the drawings, the rocking shaft 43 is connected by means of rods 44, with swinging bars 45. The bars 45 are pivotally attached to rocking sockets 47 The sockets 47 are provided for receiving in active service, the swinging bars 45 which are inserted therein. When inactively disposed, the bars 45 are lifted from the sockets, which may be folded below the level of the gratings 19, and thereby avoid interference with the nesting or stowing of the boats.

Before or after one of the boats is launched, the rudder 48 is shipped, the same being connected with the boat by means of apivot pin 49. The pivot pin is suitably mounted in a bracket 50. The rudder 48 is provided with a tiller bar.

The gunwales 12 are constructed in any suitable manner either as hollow pontoons or from some suitable solid floating material, such as cork.

To prevent the drag of the water in the chamber 30 thereof, I provide an air pump 52, having a delivery pipe 53, the delivery end whereof enters the ocket 30 in front of the propeller 29. Wien air pressure is supplied by the pump 52 to the pocket 30, the water in the said pocket is forced therefrom and through the blades of the pro peller 29.

It is obvious that when provided with boats constructed and arranged in accordance with the present invention, an increased number may be carried on a vessel, owing to the fact that the boats are arranged to nest one within the other. Also it is obvious that when boats constructed and provided as above described are launched, they are fully equipped with the necessary means for propelling the same, thus avoiding disasters which have resulted from launching boats without proper propelling means.

When these boats are launched, the swinging or lever bars 46 are taken from their lashings and placed in the sockets 47. It will be observed that there are four or more such lever bars. The occupants of the boats may be employed in rocking the lever bars 46, the connecting bars 45, through the con- 1 netting rods 44, rotating the shaft 43. The

shaft 43 being rotated, the gear wheel 34 is rotated with the result that the propeller 29 is driven.

It will be understood that no special instruction being required for operating the lever bars 46, all the passengers or occupants of a boat could contribute to the necessary labor for driving the boat to a port.

It will also be understood that as each boat is lifted from its nested position, the center-board 26. of each drops to the service position, such as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Any sudden eflort to capsize the boat will be counteracted by the resistance of the center-board.

When the boats are lifted from the water or originally stowed on deck, the centerboards 26 are held each in its pocket 25.

When the rudders 48 are unshipped and the levers 46 lifted from the sockets 47, they are stowed in the recesses below the gratings 19. The sockets 47 are disposed in lowered position as also is accomplished with the pump 52, so that no projection extends above the gratings 19 in each of the boats. It is obvious that in this position the boats may be stowed in the manner described. It is equally obvious that when the boats are launched, all of the essential devices necessary for the propulsion of each boat will be found therein.

Claims.

1. A boat comprising a box-like keel; means for dividing the keel to form alternately upwardly-opening and downwardlyopening pockets; a center-board pivotally mounted in to be retracted within one of the downwardly-opening pockets; and means for propelling said boat, said means embodye ing a propeller disposed in service in one of the downwardly-opening pockets, and operating means for said propeller disposed in an adjacent and upwardly-opening pocket.

2. A boat comprising a box-like keel; means for dividing the keel to form alternately upwardly-opening and downwardlyopening pockets; a center-board pivotally mounted in to be retracted within one of the downwardlv-opening pockets; and means for propelling said boat, said means embodying a propeller disposed in service in one of the downwardly-opening pockets. and operating means for said propeller disposed in an adjacent and upwardly-opening pocket, said means embodying a driving mechanism having a rocking shaft, a plurality of rocking levers connected therewith for rocking said shaft from different parts of said boat, and translating mechanism for connecting said propeller and said shaft for changing the reciprocatory movement of said shaft to a rotary movement for said propeller. V e i 3. A boat comprising a box-like keel; one of the downwardly-opening pockets, and means for dividing the keel to form alteroperating means for said propeller disposed l0 nately upwardly-opening and downwardlyin an adjacent and upwardly-opening opening pockets; a center-board pivotally pocket, said means embodying a manually mounted in to be retracted Within one of the driven shaft, and means for translating a downwardly-opening pockets; and means reciprocatory movement to a rotary movefor propelling said boat, said means emment for said propeller. bodying a propeller disposed in service in FRANK ARCHIE GRAHAM.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.