DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0155
OP THE WORLD'S 3KDUSTEY. 127
for the decks of passenger steamers; and a marine floating chair for three persons.
There were likewise exhibited Carte's life-buoy (circular belts); swimming-gloves, web-
fingered ; and swimming-boots, the soles fastened to flat pieces of wood, to which are
attached flaps or leaves working by hinges; India-rubber cloaks, capable of being inflated,
when they become small buoys or boats; and Caulcher's cork-ribbed jacket, to be worn,
without inconvenience, whilst rowing a boat. In the American department were several
buoyant contrivances, made of vulcanised India-rubber, for saving life under peculiar
circumstances. The apparatus of the Royal Humane Society was exhibited ; including
their ice-boat, constructed of wicker-work, covered with raw bides, and from its lightness
easily propelled on the ice to the broken spot; the breaker ladder, with air-tight barrels,
on wheels ; the ice-sledge—two canoes united by thwarts into a floating platform ; rope-
drag, and pole-drag; the latter by an air-tight cylinder rendered a floating-drag. Here,
too, were exhibited the life-boat and models of the National Institution for the Preservation
of Life from Shipwreck. There was also shown Light's invention for rendering ships'
boats so buoyant that they become life-boats; by filling the spaces between the timbers
- and beneath the thwarts with a very light material, and covering it with thin boards; and,
should the bottom be stove in, the frame, held together by the fibrous material, would float
as a raft. The process can also be applied to any part of a ship, or boat, its mattresses, or
other furniture, so that each may become a hfe-buoy. Grapnel shots, with mortars for
their projection, to aid wrecks, were exhibited. The shot had attached to it a strong
but light line; and consisted of loose curved arms, which fly out on being disengaged
from the gun: when the line being pulled from the shore, the implement fixed in the
bottom, anchor-like, and the boat's crew had the means of warping themselves off. Of
the same class was the rocket-gun, for carrying a 600-yard line from the shore to a wreck,
or vice versa. Another model proposed to project a small anchor to the wreck; another
to propel a line without the use of gunpowder; and next were shown the life-boat and
mortar apparatus of Captain Manby, the venerable patriarch of this family of humanities.
Sir W. S. Harris's Lightning Conductors for Ships.—Among the nautical inventions,
were exhibited practical models to illustrate the system of Conductors, invented by Sir W.
Snow Harris, and now employed to protect the ships of her Majesty's navy from lightning.
In the principal model was shown the line of conduction on the masts from the vane-
spindle to the step; to the keel at the sides, and at stem and stern; and in the other
models were seen the plan and construction of the conducting plates, showing the alternate
jointing of the plates, &c. Copper was selected as the best conducting metal, and was in
rods three-quarters of an inch in diameter; each mast having its conductor, " permanently
fixed and connected with bands of copper passing through the sides of the ship, under
the deck-beams, and with large bolts leading through the keels and keelson; and including,
by other connections, all the principal metallic masses employed in the construction of the
hull. Under such a system, a discharge of bghtning falling on a house or a ship, finds
its way to the earth or the sea, without the possibility of danger. The great principle in
applying such conductor, is to place the ship or building in the same electrical condition
it would assume supposing the whole were a solid mass of metal, or as nearly as may
be; and the conductor should be applied so that a discharge of lightning falling on the
general mass cannot enter upon any circuit of which the conductor does not form a part."
Since these conductors have been employed in our navy, no damage from lightning has
been recorded.
for the decks of passenger steamers; and a marine floating chair for three persons.
There were likewise exhibited Carte's life-buoy (circular belts); swimming-gloves, web-
fingered ; and swimming-boots, the soles fastened to flat pieces of wood, to which are
attached flaps or leaves working by hinges; India-rubber cloaks, capable of being inflated,
when they become small buoys or boats; and Caulcher's cork-ribbed jacket, to be worn,
without inconvenience, whilst rowing a boat. In the American department were several
buoyant contrivances, made of vulcanised India-rubber, for saving life under peculiar
circumstances. The apparatus of the Royal Humane Society was exhibited ; including
their ice-boat, constructed of wicker-work, covered with raw bides, and from its lightness
easily propelled on the ice to the broken spot; the breaker ladder, with air-tight barrels,
on wheels ; the ice-sledge—two canoes united by thwarts into a floating platform ; rope-
drag, and pole-drag; the latter by an air-tight cylinder rendered a floating-drag. Here,
too, were exhibited the life-boat and models of the National Institution for the Preservation
of Life from Shipwreck. There was also shown Light's invention for rendering ships'
boats so buoyant that they become life-boats; by filling the spaces between the timbers
- and beneath the thwarts with a very light material, and covering it with thin boards; and,
should the bottom be stove in, the frame, held together by the fibrous material, would float
as a raft. The process can also be applied to any part of a ship, or boat, its mattresses, or
other furniture, so that each may become a hfe-buoy. Grapnel shots, with mortars for
their projection, to aid wrecks, were exhibited. The shot had attached to it a strong
but light line; and consisted of loose curved arms, which fly out on being disengaged
from the gun: when the line being pulled from the shore, the implement fixed in the
bottom, anchor-like, and the boat's crew had the means of warping themselves off. Of
the same class was the rocket-gun, for carrying a 600-yard line from the shore to a wreck,
or vice versa. Another model proposed to project a small anchor to the wreck; another
to propel a line without the use of gunpowder; and next were shown the life-boat and
mortar apparatus of Captain Manby, the venerable patriarch of this family of humanities.
Sir W. S. Harris's Lightning Conductors for Ships.—Among the nautical inventions,
were exhibited practical models to illustrate the system of Conductors, invented by Sir W.
Snow Harris, and now employed to protect the ships of her Majesty's navy from lightning.
In the principal model was shown the line of conduction on the masts from the vane-
spindle to the step; to the keel at the sides, and at stem and stern; and in the other
models were seen the plan and construction of the conducting plates, showing the alternate
jointing of the plates, &c. Copper was selected as the best conducting metal, and was in
rods three-quarters of an inch in diameter; each mast having its conductor, " permanently
fixed and connected with bands of copper passing through the sides of the ship, under
the deck-beams, and with large bolts leading through the keels and keelson; and including,
by other connections, all the principal metallic masses employed in the construction of the
hull. Under such a system, a discharge of bghtning falling on a house or a ship, finds
its way to the earth or the sea, without the possibility of danger. The great principle in
applying such conductor, is to place the ship or building in the same electrical condition
it would assume supposing the whole were a solid mass of metal, or as nearly as may
be; and the conductor should be applied so that a discharge of lightning falling on the
general mass cannot enter upon any circuit of which the conductor does not form a part."
Since these conductors have been employed in our navy, no damage from lightning has
been recorded.