WAISTCOAT-POCKET LIFESAVERS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 677, 13 June 1914, Page 7

WAISTCOAT-POCKET LIFESAVERS.

WONDERFUL LIFEBUOYS, LIFEBELTS. AND MATTRESS-RAFTS HAVE ALL BEEN PATENTED. Every big shipwreck brings forward a number of inventors who have discovered an absolutely perfect method of saving life at sea. Needles to say, nine-tenths of these inventions are utterly useless. Most inventors have turned tluir energies to making a ship unsuitable. In fact, the ideas for unsiikable ships are simply legion. 'When the ill-fated Drummond Castle went down off Ushant, drowning every soul save two, a Frrn?h camo forward with a scheme for making ships un-dnkablc, no matter how much damage they had sustained. His idea was to have a number o! waterproof, air-tight bags attaebzd to receptacles containing carbide. As soon as water enters the ship anl wets the carbide volumes of acetylene gas are produced, turning th2 gas-tight bags into balloons. Even if the ship was completely waterlogged, it was stated that these tags would be sufficient to keep it afloat. So far the invention has not *tecn taken up. One "would have thought that l'febelts could hardly be improved upon. Mr. Robert Whitby invented tome y:avs ago, however, a lifebuoy which carries a night-light with it, and signals its position on the water en the darkest night. The buoy is capable of keeping four to six people afloat for an indefinite period. Another lifebuoy that was considered by the Admiralty a tew years ago was fitted with an ingenious series of water-tight compartments. end contained food, waller, and brandy sufficient for three days. The limit, however, was reached by the in<*en tor of this lifebuoy when he provided his apparatus v.V.lh a light and a selection of hooks to read while the unfortunate "man overboard" was waiting to be rescued ! An ingenious substitute fpr the lifebelt was tested somei time ago, but, like many more of these inventions, it has not come into universal use. This invention was a kind of waistcoat with rubber air-bags which fitted over the shoiilders. These air-bags were four in number and separate from one another. Many cf them were capable of supporting a man. The waistcoat idea- cny weighed 41b., and the bags could be infatcd and the whole thing slipped on t'n less than thirty seconds. The waistcoat was fitted with special watsrtight pockets, which contained sufficient biscuits and fresh water to last for five days. An ounce and a half is not mueh to carry about, yet this is, tip. weight of a pocket life-saver patcnisd shortly after the loss of the Drummond Castle. It fitteel into tha waistcoat pocket, and contained a eart'ridge, which exploded on contact ' with water and gave out sufficient supply of gas to keep a heavy man afloat for some days. If every passenger on the Titanic had carried cn2 of these there would have- been no loss of life —according to the inven'or.

A Captain Chard indented a patsnt mattrcss-raft wltf.ch was car able of raving any number of lives. Th?s2 mattressesi were made of practically "iinpunoturable material, and were fitted with hooks at tho side-, eo that a large number of them could be lashed together to form a frig unsinkable raft in a very short time. But perhaps the most extraordinary invention was that put forward in 1900. The inventor sjgjestrd that tho deck-house of a ship should be so constructed that by pull ng pit a few bolts it.could be detached from the rest of the vessel. It was made in the form of a flat-bottom:d pontoon, fitted with sails, and car a le of taking everyone on board safely to land.-» 'Tit Bits."