US1130569A - Life-boat-launching apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

R. R. COOKING.

LIFE BOAT LAUNOHING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 1; 19131 Patented Mar. 2, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

R. R. COOKING.

IJFE BOAT LAUNCHING APPARATUS APPLICATION FILED DEOQl, 1913.

Patented Mar. 2, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

a s rlllFliL THE NORRIS PETERS 60., PHOTO-LITHO.. WASHINCION. D. c

'R. R. GOCKING.

LIFE BOAT LAUNGHING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 1, 1913.

1,1 30,569. -Patented Mar. 2, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 l 341W 12E. 6 00 7215;

LIFE-IBQAT -LAUNCHING APPARATUS.

Specification of letters Batent.

RALPH commie. LA sears. ILLINQI-,

aten ed Man a Application fited December 1, 1913 Serial 110. 803,975.

' i To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RALPH R. COOKING, a citizen of the United States, residing at La Salle, in the county of La Salle, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Life-Boat-Launching Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the fol-' lowing to be a full, clear, andIeXact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in apparatus for launching boats and particularly to an apparatus for launching life boats from a ship. at sea.

The object of the present invention resides in the provision of meanswhereby a plu rality of life boats may be safely launched from a vessel in comparatively rapid sucsession and reach the water at a suificient distance from the vessel to avoid the danger of being battered by the wash about the hull of the vessel. i

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of an apparatus of the class described which when in inoperative position does not mar the general appearance of the vessel and which may be readily actu Zted to operative position for launching the oats.

A still further object of the invention resides in the provision of buoyant means for supporting that end of the life boat launching apparatus adjacent the water, said means being detachable so that it may serve itself as a. life-boat for the relief of those persons necessarily retained on board to launch the life boats from the deck, so that the safety of all persons on board the ship is insured.

TVith these and other objects in View, the invention resides in the novel combination, formation and arrangement of parts to be more fully hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings and particularly pointed out in the claims here'- to appended.

Reference is had to the accompanying drawings wherein similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views and in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a ship, showing the life-boat launching apparatus associated therewith, with the trackways thereof in inoperative position, Fig.2 is a transverse sectional view through a portion of the ship, showing one of the trackways'in extended position, Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is aside elevational view of one of the trackways in a partially raised position, Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken through one of the turntables on the line 55 ofFig. 1, Fig.

6 is a side elevational View of the pivoted end portion of one of the trackways, Fig. 7 is a sectional View on the line 77 of Fig. 6 and showing the means for retracting the sections of the trackway, Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion ofthe trackway, Fig. 9. is a View of the outer end of one of the trackways, Fig. 10' is an enlarged side elevationalview of the means for raising the trackway, Fig. 11 isa detail sectional view of the means for releasing the tilting platform,"and Fig. 12 isa detailview showing the pivotal connection between the end of the trackway and its buoyant supt j I 1 Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, A designates generally thehull of a vessel, which includes the main deck '5, the saloon deck 6 disposed thereover and the boat. deck 7 disposed over the saloondeck. Carried'by thezsides of the front and rear portionsiof the boat deck are turntables B and disposed about each of the turntables and in alinement with the center. of the turntable are a plurality of grooves 8 in the boat deck, adapted to receive the keel ribs of the life-boats 9. These grooves are adapted to selectively aline with a groove 10 in the. turntable whereby the boats may be readily run onto the turntable 'l' and from thence,"through the medium of a pivoted platform 11 carried in the turntable launched onto a trackwaydesignated generally at C, on which it slides downwardly to the water. i i

It is observed that there are thus provided four turntables with a corresponding number of trackways G disposed at the sides of the vessel outwardly of the turntable. The

series of grooves 8 form each a magazine for storing theboats. To provideadditional means for storing boats,- grooves 12 extend longitudinally along the sides of the boat deck and communicate at each end with an adjacent groove 8. i i

' Each of the trackways 0 comprises a plurality of telescopingsections A pair of spaced standa rd members 14 extend upwardly from the main deck 5 outwardly of each turntable B and carried by thesestand.-

ards at a point below the saloon deck is a transverse shaft 15 on which is pivotally mounted a pair of spaced ears 16 carried by the largest section 13 of the trackway adjacent the inner end thereof.

For extending and retracting the sections 13, a drum 17 is loosely mounted on the shaft 15 between the ears 16 and journaled in each of the upright members 14 is a shaft 18 carrying at its inner end a gear pinion 19 meshing with a gear wheel 20 fixed to one side of the drum, the outer ends of the shaft 18 being provided with crank handles 21. Cables 22 are wound on the drums and extend to the inner end of the smallest section 13. Thus rotation of the shaft 18 will retract the sections 13 of the trackway, the sections being extended by gravity when the retracted sections are disposed at the proper angle.

For raising the trackway when its sections are in retracted position, so that the trackway lies wholly between the standards 14, a sheave 23 is carried at the upper end of each standard and cables 24 are secured to the outer end portions of the larger section 13 and trained around the sheaves 23, pulleys 24 at the lower portions of the standards, pulleys 25 depending from the saloon deck and are wound about a drum 26 fixed to a shaft 27 j ournaled in uprights 28 on the main deck. Carried by the shaft is aratchet wheel 29 and a gravity pawl 30 is carried by one of the uprights to engage the teeth and prevent retrograde movement of the drum. Thus it is observed that the trackways may be readily and safely lowered and extended to operative position and may, if desired, be retracted and raised.

Each of the sections 13 of each trackway C comprises corner angle strips 31 and a substantially channel shape track 32 having at its sides laterally directed flanges 33. Brace bars 34 are secured to these flanges and to the adjacent sides of the upper angle bars 31, brace rods 35 preferably arcuate in elevation are secured to the adjacent sides of the lower angle bars and diagonal side brace rods 36 are secured to the remaining sides of the angle bars. Each of the sections is preferably tapered longitudinally so that when it is in extended position it forms with the other sections a substantially rigid structure.

For supporting the free end of the outermost section 13 when in operative position, a float member is provided which comprises a boat 37. Depending from the end of the outer section 13 are ears 38 disposed in spaced pairs and upstanding from the boat 37 are ears 39, bolts 40 being passed through said ears to form a hinged connection. The side of the boat opposite that which carries the ears 39 is provided with a transverse rib 41 and pivoted at 42 to the outer portion of the outer section 13 are diagonal bars 43 having secured at their lower ends a foot portion 44. When the sections are in a re tracted position, the members 43 are swung by engagement with the end of the adjacent section 13 inwardly to lie within their section 13. When the members are extended the sections 43 swing outwardly and rest on the top of the boat 37 to hold it with relation to the trackway.

It is observed that the boat 37 has a covered top portion to prevent its swamping and guide rails 45 are carried by the sides of the boat. When desired, the bolts 40 may be retracted from the ears 38 and 39 and the boat 37 thus detached from the track way so that it may be used as a means of escape by those who are not enabled to use the life-boats launched in the usual manner. It is observed that as the trackway is pivotally connected to the vessel the small boat 37 will always hold its free end adjacent the top of the water. It is further observed that considerable play may be given the free end of the trackway, on account of waves but the movement of the inner end of the trackway is comparatively limited so that the tilting platform will always discharge the life boats properly onto said inner end of the trackway.

For receiving each turntable B, the boat deck is provided with a circular recess 46 and the peripheral portion of the under face of the turntable carries rollers 46 which ride on the bottom of said recess. The turntable is provided with a substantially rectangular cutaway portion 47 opening at one end upon the periphery of the turntable. Disposed in this cutaway portion is the pivoted platform 11 which is provided with a pair of depending ears 48 disposed in alinement with ears 49 on the under face of the turntable, a bolt 50 being passed through the ears to pivotally sup port the platform. It is observed that the pivotal connection of the platform is adj acent its inner end so that the platform is normally adapted to swing in a counterclockwise direction. To prevent swinging of the platform past the angle at which it is best adapted to discharge onto the trackway, an arm 51 depends from the inner portion of the platform and has a lateral extension 52 adapted to engage the turntable. The

boat deck is cutaway adjacent each trackway C. Thus the platform 11 can only tilt when it is in alinement with the adjacent trackway, as its outer edge is otherwise in engagement with the bottom of the recess 46.

To prevent tilting movement of the platform even when it is in alinement with the trackway, adj acent portions of the turntable and platform 11 are provided with upstanding ears 53 having bores 54 adapted to aline when the platform is in a horizontal posiof substantially 45 degrees, the sections are then extended by means of the cables 22, said sections being held against outward disengagement by stops 57 A boat is then run onto a turntable B, the turntable is then swung until its pivoted platform 11 is in alinementwith the adjacent trackway, and the platform is allowed to swing upon with drawal of the shaft v56, as described. It is noted that the platform 11 swings to its proper discharging position before the lifeboat thereon has gained any substantial momentum. Thus the boat slides easily onto the trackway. The keel rib of the boat seats in the channel track 32 and is thereby held on said track.

It will be understood that various minor changes and modifications of structure and operation may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing in any manner fromthe spirit of the invention,

What is claimed is:

l. A life boat launching apparatus comprising the combination with a vessel, of a trackway at the side thereof, a turntable mounted adjacent the trackway and a pivoted platform carried by the turntable and adapted to swing to discharge a boat onto the trackway.

2. A life boat launching apparatus comprising the combination with a vessel, of a trackway at the side thereof, of a. turntable adjacent the traclrway, a pivoted platform carried by the turntable, said'platform and turntable being provided with jalining grooves and boat guiding grooves in the vessel adapted to selectively aline with the firstnamecl grooves; r J

8. A life boat launching apparatus'comprising the combination with a vessel of a trackway pivoted to the side thereof and comprising a plurality of telescoping sec-' tions, means for telescoping said sections,"

a shaft carried the standard, a trackway comprising a plurality of telescoping sections, thelarger section being pivoted to the shaft, means for swinging the trackway vertically and means for, telescoping the sections including a drum on the shaftand a cable wound on the drum and secured to the smallest section. r

5. A life boat launching apparatus comprising the combinationwithfa vessel of a trackway pivoted to the, side thereof and comprising a plurality-of telescoping sections, means for telescoping said sections,

means for swinging the trackway vertically, j

a fioat pivoted to the outer end of the smallest section and a brace rod pivoted to the intermediate portion of the smallest section and adapted to engage the float to prevent,

pivotal movement thereof a 6. A life boat launching apparatus com prising the combination with a vessel of a trackway pivoted to the side thereof, a turntable carried by the deck of the vessel adjacent the trackway, said turntable being pro--; added with a cutaway portion, a tilting plattrackway carried thereby and having its re- V ceiving-en'd disposed below the boat deck, a

turntable carried by the boat deck adjacent the trackway, the turntable being provided with a cutaway portion opening upon the periphery thereof, a tilting platform pivoted in the cutaway portion and extending adjacent the periphery of the turntable and the boat deck adjacent the receiving end of the trackway being cutaway to permit the platform to swing upon coming into aline ment with the trackway.

8. In a life boat launchi turntable provided with a cutaway portion,

ng apparatus, a

a tilting platform pivoted in the cutaway portion, ears on adjacent portions of the platform and turntable provided with bores in alinement when the platform is horizontally disposed a lever pivoted to the turn; table and a shaft loosely pivoted to the lever and adapted to engage the said bores.

'In testimony'whereof, I afiix my sigriature, in the presence of two witnesses RALPH COCKING. l Vitnesses: A

GE RGE H. ll/IATTHEWS, JO N JENKIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

- 1 Washington, D. 0.

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