60 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November 1, 1913. 



One of the Early 



Life-Preserving 



Vests. 



four men garbed in the Boyton pattern of life-saving suits made 

 the round trip between Calais and Dover in cold and stormy 

 weather with comfort. 



We can verify many kindred performances by reference to the 

 periodicals of the later -'seventies." One of the amusement fea- 

 tures for big excursion boats at that time was to go seaward, put 

 Boyton overboard, and. after he had paddled about for a while 

 to watch him prepare a liot meal for himself on the rolling 

 waters. 



The United States, the French and the British navies recom- 

 mended the purchase of a few Boyton suits, but this encourage- 

 ment was not enough to save the enterprise from disaster, and 

 the investors lost the half million 

 which they put in the project. It has 

 been said that the main factor against 

 the sale of the invention was the con- 

 servatism of ship owners, who consid- 

 ered the old life-preserver of cork and 

 canvas quite good enough. This is 

 hardly correct. It was not conserva- 

 tism but economy that constituted the 

 prime obstacle to adoption. A cork 

 life-belt cost comparatively but a trifle, 

 and where the crews were numerous 

 and the passenger lists big, this phase 

 of the matter made the supplying of 

 Boyton suits impracticable. Indeed, the exigencies of "business" 

 rather than the need of improved safeguards for travelers upon 

 the water have generally prevailed, unless legislative enactments 

 have forced changes. 



It is a matter of common knowledge that life-boats have been 

 carried for years without being put in the water, and cork life- 

 belts have become virtually useless through dry rot in the course 

 of years of non-use. Ship owners, therefore, have widely grown 

 to look upon these protective facilities much in the light of waste- 

 _ ful expenditures — capital 



that they could have used 

 to their own profit in other 

 directions. Every confer- 

 ence dealing with safety 

 upon the sea has met with 

 no end of opposition 

 whenever it undertook to 

 declare certain things to 

 be needful for the better 

 security of travelers and 

 crews. It is apparent, 

 then, that the inventor 

 must labor in the direction 

 of economy and for the 

 attainment of efficiency 

 plus compactness. This ex- 

 plains the reason for so 

 many of the life-belts and 

 life-vests and -jackets that 

 have come into being of 

 late years. 



Rubber has seemed the ideal material for most of these latter- 

 day inventions, its elasticity permitting an article of small com- 

 pass to be filled with air to provide the desired measure of buoy- 

 ancy, while combining both water- and air-tightness. Some of 

 our illustrations clearly indicate the general trend of these de- 

 vices. In one case, we have a man inflating the annular folds of 

 a rubber belt, and a modification of this idea is found in a double- 

 walled waistcoat — the compartments being readily inflated by the 

 wearer. Naturally, the man seeking protection in this fashion 

 would wear the article of dress described whenever he ventured 

 upon the water, and certainly there would be reassurance in 

 knowing that it would not be necessary to rush for a cork life- 



belt in tlie moment of danger and possibly not be able to reach 

 it in time. 



For a good many years the United States Lite Saving Service, 

 now merged in the 

 United States Coast 

 Guard, tested all sorts of 

 life-saving apparatus 

 reasonable promise, n 

 many of these have been 

 and are extremely in- 

 genious. One of them re- 

 ported upon in 1890 

 showed plainly the pio- 

 neer influence of Boy- 

 ton. This suit was of 

 two parts — head cover 

 and a one-piece garment 

 for the entire body — not 

 unlike a modified diving 

 dress. The hood cov- 

 ered the head completely 

 and had wire-gauze pan- 

 els in the face for the 

 admission of light 

 air and to enable the 

 wearer to look out. The 

 body portion was gath- 

 ered in around the neck 

 by a drawing-string, and 

 the hood secured outside 

 of this band. The suit 



was composed of rubber 



cloth, and for additional ^TnfXoIj.'^rY" ^""^ Vnier^ooi 6- 



buoyancy there were rub- Doxxing the Edluni. Life- 



ber floats arranged on a Preserving Suit. 



belt to be fastened about 



the waist. About the same time an inflatable rubber belt, capable 



of being filled by means of an air bulb, was offered to the service 



for trial. The buoyant tubes were made of rubber. 



The Bunsen life-saving and swimming apparatus was sub- 

 mitted for test in 1900. The life-preserver consisted of three rub- 

 ber sacks encased in sateen covers. The sacks were designed to 

 be strapped about the body and to be inflated through small rub- 

 ber tubes, which closed automatically by spring clamps. The 

 swimming attachment consisted of umbrella-shaped propellers, 



Life-Presi:rvixg Ukvu k ok F 

 Years Ago. 



Consisting of Coil of Rubber Tubi 

 Mouthpiece. 



As THE Edlund Suit Looks on the Water. 

 attached to the wrists and ankles by elastic bands. The idea was 

 that the propellers would open and shut with the movements of 

 a swimmer's limbs and thus propel him through the water. The 

 official board, while recognizing the possible usefulness of such 

 an equipment, considered the apparatus rather cumbersome and 

 not susceptible of quick adjustment. 



