The original LR-1 one-man life raft

Fred sailing with his family

Notable alum of Valley Forge Military Academy and College (see bio).

The one man raft was the beginning of it all. No pilots of one or two seat Bi-planes had a life raft at that time. Fred's brother, Bob, who was a pilot, was flying off the aircraft carrier Lexington in formation over waters off Cuba when one of the planes clipped his wing in a turning maneuver. Bob perished in the accident but might have survived had a life raft been available. Fred stopped what he was doing and started designing and developing the first one-man raft in the basement of his apartment. He and his wife were down there cutting and gluing until the neighbors upstairs complained of the stench from the glue. He had some trouble convincing the Navy that they needed them until a 'big wig' went down, survived by the skin of his teeth, and said, 'where is that guy with that little raft', and the rest is good history.

Cover of Us magazine

The first documented inflatable sailing life raft designed to enable our air crewmen to sail toward land or out of harm's way

US Magazine

Excerpts from Us Magazine issued by the United States Rubber Company in 1943:

The proof of the pudding.

Fred Patten, Development Engineer, and Paul Kaley, also of our Woonsocket Plant, demonstrate that our inflatable life rafts can now be navigated on a fixed course to nearest land or friendly base by airplane crews downed at sea. Patten and his wife sailed this boat from Woods Hole to Maratha’s Vineyard and back in variable winds and in good time.

Our lifeboats and rafts are fine examples of our progressive products. Fred Patten, of our Woonsocket Plant, is typical of our development men who are never satisfied by anything but constant improvement. He has been working with the Army and Navy all along, not just to keep our airmen from drowning when they are forced down on the sea, but to give them the best chance of being rescued in the best possible condition. In previous issues of Us, we have told of the progressive improvements in design and construction that have enabled our life rafts to afford greater protection, comfort, life-sustaining equipment affording an outstanding advantage. Instead of having to drift aimlessly at the mercy of currents and winds, hopefully awaiting the chance of rescue, occupants of our life rafts may now set a course for a chosen point of land and sail to it with every reasonable assurance that they will effect their own rescue.

Stocked with provisions as life rafts now are, with medical supplies and protection from sun and rain, inflatable rubber boats that have greater buoyancy than more rigid craft should now afford the best possible chance of making port promptly and safely to all who can navigate them.