The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-31 00:00:00

of dock extension, which appeared in the Albion of Mon-
day last. Eventually, Mr. Evans, not directly disavow-
ing- the authorship, hut fully ado

g the writer's views,

declared that he had no intention to impute pecuniary
motives to Mr. Nicol, whereupon the matter dropped,
and the committee adjourned.

LIVERPOOL DISTRICT COURT OF

BANKRUPTCY

TUESDAY

(Before Mr. Commissioner PHILLIPS

RE PHILLIPS

Mr. PAYNE complained to the Court of the report of
this case, which appeared in the Journal and Chronicle,
and was copied into the Albion. He said he believed it
was furnished by the messenger's (Mr. Gaskell's) clerk.
He did not find fault with its accuracy, but he thought,
as the insolvent had been sent out of Court during the
statement of the opposing solicitor, such statement, being

ex parte, should not have been publishe"
His HONOUR expressed his
strong terms of any officer sending re
papers, and said the application to hill. _
time of the Courts as he had no power to prevent any one
(except his own officers) from reporting.

disapprobation in very

Is to the news-
is a waste of the

RE WILSON, INSOLVENT

This was the day appointed for granting the final order.
The examination took place on the 2nd instant, when,

after an opposition which was over-ruled, and no materia
objection made by the official assignee to the schedule
this day was fixed for the final order. _ .

Mr. GREEN appeared for the insolvent, and said he un-
derstood his friend Mr. Payne intended to oppose.
Mr. PAYNE disclaimed any such intention. No other
creditor opposed.
Mr. Turner, the official assignee, was absent on account
of indisposition, and Mr. BIRD officiated for him. The
papers were furnished to Mr. Turner, on the 4th of Sep-
tember.
His HONOUR took a course not very usual in this stage
of the proceedings. He subjected the insolvent to a rigid
examination, from which it appeared that he had been
partner in several concerns, all of which had been wound
up, and were unprofitable. From one he was to receive
£350, but he had drawn £lOO only, the other portion
having been retained to meet the losses of the concern,
and monies advanced to the insolvent on his private ac-
count. He was now disconnected from any firm, and de-
pendent on his own exertions, and had no certain income.
There was an agreement given up to the official assignee,
by virtue of which the insolvent, in consideration of un-
dertaking the management of some chemical works, was
entitled to a third of the profit on the sale of borax, ashes,

The insolvent had, also, been
strv, from which he had derived some

unknown to the insolveut

a lecturer

His IIoNouR inquired of the official assignee whether
he had investigated the insolvent's claim under the agree •
ment, and Mr. Bird having answered that he had not, his
Honour said he should adjourn the case for three months
that the official assignee might see whether any proposal
could be made for the creditors, and he should send the
case back to Mr. Commissioner Skirrow's court.
Mr. GREEN urged that the insolvent had given the best
account he could, that he had no income, and that the re-
sidue of the £250 had been taken to make up the losses of
the concern; that the insolvent could get no employment
until he had passed the court, and pressed for a shorter
adjournment, and that the heari
that court

t take place in

His HoNouß appointed the lith November, and or-
dered the case to be heard before Mr. Commissioner
Skirrow.

NEW AND INGENIOUS MODE OF REEFING TOPSAILS.
—We have been much gratified by an inspection of the
apparatus, or large working model, for reefing_ topsails,

invented and patented by our townsman Mr. Winspear,
erected in the yard of his premises, No. 52, Sparling- ,
street, and representing the foremast, fore-topmast, &c.
of a schooner of considerable burthen. The plan, though
by no means complicated, is somewhat difficult to describe
without the aid of diagrams, and we would therefore ad-
vise those of our nautical friends who feel an interest in
inventions having for their object the facilitating and im-
proving the usual and long-adopted mode of working the
topsails of vessels, to visit the yard, and, taking into ac-
count the differences that may arise between the working
of such an apparatus when fixed on terra firma, and when
rolling about in a sea-way, with occasional adverse winds
—to judge for themselves of its practicability. Many
years ago the writer of this conceived the notion that it
might be possible to abridge the labours of the seaman in
reefing topsails, by means of a roller working in the centre
of the topsail yard ; the latter being made of a tubular
form, with a narrow groove or opening below to admit
the sail as it was rolled up, in the manner of an encased
window blind. On suggesting such a plan, however, to
some nautical friends, he found that he had been fore-
stalled in the idea by several innovators who had thought
of some similar contrivance, which, if ever fairly tested,
(which is questionable,) was abandoned, from the neces-
sity found of making a hollow yard to contain a large roll
of the sail (when double or close reefed,) so thick and
clumsy as to give it the requisite strength, that its weight
and the displacement it would require, would more than
counterbalance any advantages that might arise from the
comparatively easy and rapid manner in which reefs might
be taken in by mechanical agency without going aloft.
This was on the supposition that the yard was to be of
wood ; but in these ingenious days of working in metals—
when even iron ships are built lighter and more buoyant
than those of oak, it may perhaps be not too much to as-
sume that hollow yards of iron or copper might be made
by which the principle might be carried out. Be this as
it may, the plan proposed by Mr. Winspear, though to a
certain extent similar—inasmuch as the sail is reefed on a
roller—appears to us to be more immediately available,
being more simple in itself, and so much less of an inno-
vation on the accustomed plan, that the prejudices of
" the old school" will not be so strongly arrayed against it,
and masters of vessels may more readily give it a trial. In
announcing his plan, Mr. Winspear states that, by means of
it, " topsails may he reefed in the short space of one minute,
without leaving the deck, and at a considerable saving of
expense ;" and adds that " all reef-tackle, reef ear-rings,
reef bands, reef points, and cringles are dispensed with—
rendering the sail much lighter and more manageable,"
The yard is the same as that at present used, but in front
of, and parallel to it, at the distance of a few inches, and
in a downward diagonal position from it, is a roller of wood,
through the middle of which runs a strong iron rod.
This rod or spindle is secured in iron work, or eye bolts
at a short distance from either end of the yard, so as
to allow of its being turned. The roller is also supported
at different points (the number to be determined by the
length) by what are called in iron-work S's, or more
properly by pieces of iron resembling in shape the inter-
rogation in printing (?), but longer in the shank or
straight part, which part or portion of which last is driven
through the yard and secured to it by rivetting, while the
outer part, projected ,clear from the yard, and forming
rather more than a semicircle, serves as a hook to sup-
port the roller at each requisite point. The brass hooks
used for supporting a telescope horizontally against a
wall, are somewhat similar, and the rounded part or
hook is flattened and covered with leather to prevent
the sail when rolled up from being chafed or worn
by the friction in rolling up or loosening out a
reef. There were four of these for the sail we saw. There
are also other securities in bent iron rod-work near each
end, which tend to the tight and even and compact rolling
up of the sail. At each end of the long roller there is a small
iron roiler or reel on the same spindle, round which these
is a coil of chain leading to the middle of the yard, and
hence down to the deck. If a reef is wanted the yard is
lowered, and by clapping on to a tackle attached to the
lower ends of each of the two chains, the whole spindle
along side the yard is easily turned by a few hands, and
the sail taken up or reefed to any required extent,—half
a reef, three-fourths, a whole reef, or two or three reefs.
The sail we saw was readily reefed by only one man, who
pulled down a chain with each hand with the simple pur-
chase of a single block and fall ; and we should think a
very large topsail might be reefed by four men, two to
each tackle. The iron rollers, at the extremities, on which
the chains work are proposed to be 8 to 9 inches long, and
about 3 inches diameter in a vessel of about 400 tons bur-
then. From the gradual widening of the sail towards the
lower yard, the bolt ropes do not ride over each other in
reefing, and the whole apparatus is so snug, that though
additional to the usual topsail-yard, it presents no eye-
sore, the roller being scarcely observable at a moderate
distance. One considerable advantage appears to be, that
as there is a space between the main roller and the yard,
the sail spills itself to a considerable extent through this
opening at the top when the yard is lowered for reefing,
and thus facilitates the operation of reefing. But though
much reefing gear is saved by the plan, it does not so
clearly appear to us that reef-tackles can be altogether
dispensed with, as we think that by lifting the sail to-
wards the yard they would relieve considerably the power
otherwise required in rolling up the sail, and would be at-
tended with very little additional trouble. This, however,
may be better decided by practice. Meantime we think
the invention worthy of the consideration of ship-masters,
and are glad to learn that it has already been applied to a
ship's wizen top-mast that recently left this port for New
Orleans, so that we may hereafter be enabled to report
progress. Several naval officers have, we learn, given
their testimony in its behalf, and amongst others the gal-
lant Admiral Napier, whose only demur was, that it would
render the men so lazy that they might lie in their berths
and order the ship-lads, when a reef was wanted, to hand
them down the ropes, that they might reef the sails while
they lay in bed !