Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/866

 �A Raft-Deck Life-Saver

In a disaster at sea a detachable upper deck slips over the side of the ship and becomes a giant raft

��A GIGANTIC raft capable of holding all the passengers and crew at one time, is the newest life-saving inven- tion of Nathan Rubenstein of New York. It consists of a number of wooden sections joined together and mounted on airtight pontoons set down on the uppermost rear deck of the vessel. When not in use as a raft it forms an integral part of the ship and is used as a promenade deck.

When a vessel has received its death wound and lists dangerously over to either

���In less time than it would take to man and lavmch a single lifeboat, the raft is floated with all on board

raft is equipped with small cabins for food and with a com- plete wireless telegraph outfit.

The evident advantages of a raft of this type are comprised in the fact that it saves life wholesale and is launched and manned with all on board in less time than would be required for one of the twenty or thirty conventional life-boats that are usually carried. The fact that it takes up no space that might be used for other purposes is also an advantage, and its wireless out- fit is perhaps its trump card.

Against

��Guard rai!

„ ^J°P^ Roirers

��Rack bar

��Raft section

��Floals

��Raft -tilting

��I yy^.^^.^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^

��Diagram showing the launching ways cm which the floatable deck is mounted on the vessel

���side, the raft is merely released from its moor- ings so that it can slide over the lower rail into the water. When it has been launched successfully, the passengers slide down to it in canvas bags or on ropes and sus- pended seats like breeches buoys. The

���The deck-raft as it appears ordinarily on an ocean liner. It is used as a promenade for the ship's passengers

��these advan- tages it is wise to consider the fact that such a raft places the passengers and crew in the position of the eggs which the old woman car- ried all in one basket. It is a case of all be- ing saved or none. Again, due to its great size, it is liable to be damaged or to capsize in launching, or to be torn from its moor-

��850

�� �