The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-02
INVENTION OF NEW ANCHOR.
Old style Form, which Has Figured
in History and Poetry, Is Gone.
From the Chicago Reco

From the Chicago Record.
For hundreds, perhaps thousands of
years, the general shape of the anchor
has remained unchanged. The one found
in the woods of a West India island and.
supposed to have been brought over from
Spain by Christopher Columbus differs lit
tie from those in use at the present day,
though somewhat .onger in the shank.
The appearance of the old-style anchor
IS familiar to every one, but the details
of its operation, which is not so simple as
it seems. may not be so well known. 1t
consists of a long. straight shank bearing
at its end two recurved branches, or arms,
called the flukes. Each fluke is broadened
at its outer end into a shape somewhat re-
sembiing that of the well-known ace of
spades At the other end of the shank is
"a ring to which the cable is attached, and
Jusf be.ow the ring is a straight Cross
piece called the stock, longer than the
hukes and at right angles 10 them. Now,
as the flukes and the stock are at right
angles to each other it follows that they
cannot both lie fiat on the ground at the
same time, and as the stock is the longest
1t generally assumes a recumbent position
and the hukes are forced to stand upon
end, one pointing up into the air or the
water and the other downward into the
ground. AS soon as the strain comes upon
the cable the fluke which is pointing down
ward strikes into the sand, mud or gravel
of the bottom, just as plowshare strikes
into the ground when the horses start.
The only use of the stock is to keep the
fiukes in a position where they will bite
instantly when the strain comes.
The device aDQaniOnS bI1t haS Soma
serious defects. Perhaps the worst of
these is that one of the fiukes or one end
of the stock is always pointing upward
and that the cable is liable to catch upon
is and turn the anchor around so that the
fiukes will not catch and the anchor will
drag. Its unwieldiness is another objec-
tionable feature, for, with the stock point
ing in one direction and the fiukes in an
other large, heavy anchor is one of the
most unwie.dy objects imaginable. 1t is
sometimes so constructed that when not in
use the stock can be folded against the
side of the shank, but even then it IS one
of the most inconvenient and unhandy ar
ticles in the vessels equipment and it is
fortunate that the sailors of the lake ma
rine are so seldom called upon to make
use of their ground tackle
Last fall, however, an anchor was pat
ented that does away with all these dis
advantages, and already It has been adopt
ed by some of the largest vessels on the
lakes 1t has no stock, and can be stow
ed by hauling in the cable until the shank
is drawn up into the hawser pipe, leaving
only the head and firkes projecting, and
| these lying fiat against the side of the
| vessel The head and flukes are cast i'm
! one solid piece and attached to the shank
! by ball and socket joint which permits
| them to rotate freely for a certain distance
| in any direction. Thus when the anchor
is dropped to the bottom it lies fiat upon
| the ground, and there are no projecting
| parts of the cable TO catch upon. AS soon
| as the strain comes the flukes turn down
| ward till they form an angle of about As
| degrees with the shank, and strike into the
| ground just as the blade of hoe will
| strike into soft sand when drawn forward
| by the handle. In the old anchor only one
| fluke took hold at time, but in the new
| one both work together, giving much
| greater holding power.
Lloyds shipping register gives a table
! showing that sailing yacht of three to
! five tons requires forty-pound bower and
| a twenty-pound stream anchor, while one
| of thirteen to nineteen tons should be
| provided with a bower weighing liz pounds
and steam anchor of seventy pounds A
| fisherman who has made a practical test
| states that a twelve-pound anchor of the
new type will hold an eighteen-ton boat
| in tidewater, and that il is entirely too
| heavy for small boats, being exceedingly
| difficult to pull out when once it has taken
| hold upon the bottom.