OPERATING THE SAILS OF VESSELS FROM THE DECK BY MEANS OP VERTICAL SHAFTS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George W. La Baw, of Jersey City, in the County
of Hudson and State of New Jersey, United States of America, for the
Invention of "OPERATING THE SAILS OF VESSELS FROM THE DECK BY MEANS
OP VERTICAL SHAFTS."
Sealed the 15th December 1857, and dated the 20th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George W. La Baw
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th June 1857.
I, GEORGE W. LA BAW, of Jersey City, in the County of Hudson and
State of New Jersey, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "OPERATING THE SAILS OF VESSELS FROM THE DECK BY
MEANS OP VERTICAL SHAFTS," to be as follows:-
In order to operate the sails of vessels from the deck, I mount loosely on a
vertical shaft (set either before or behind the mast); a series of hollow shafts,
one for each sail, and I connect the sails thereto respectively. These hollow
shafts I connect with the internal shaft by means of clutches, so arranged
that one or more of the outside shafts to which the sails are attached may be
operated at the same time, and caused to furl the sails. The yards are hung
outside the hollow shafts upon supports carried by the masts.
The sails are attached in the middle to the hollow shafts, so that on rotary

page_text: motion being communicated to the shafts the sails will be furled. The central
shaft is driven by gearing on the deck, and it has an up-and-down motion
given to it to enable its clutch pins to engage with either of the hollow shafts
as required.
The sails are shaken out by ropes which extend from the corners of the
sails to the ends of the yards, then along the yards over the pullies, and down
the mast to drums on the deck around which they are wound.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George W. La Baw, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
W: LA BAW, of Jersey City, in the County of Hudson and State of New
Jersey, in the United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, A.D. One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said George W. La
Baw, Her special license, that I, the said George W. La Baw, my execu
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George W.
La Baw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "OPERATING THE SAILS OF
VESSELS FROM THE DECK BY MEANS OF VERTICAL SHAFTS," upon the condition,
amongst others, that I, the said George W. La Baw, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be.
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George W. La Baw, do hereby.
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
My said Invention consists in a series of vertical shafts, so connected with

page_text: the sails of a vessel as to furl them by their rotation, in combination with a
continuous shaft or its equivalent extending to a convenient position for
operating, when the continuous shaft or other device for communicating power
is so arranged in connection and combination with the shafts to which the
sails are attached, that one or more of the several sails upon the same mast
may be furled at the same time, and by the same rotation of the power shaft,
as herein-after more fully set forth.
In the Drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of a mast and rigging with my
improvement attached; the plane of elevation being transverse to the keel
of the vessel, some of the parts being shown in section, or represented only
by dotted lines, to allow a clearer view of others.
Figure 2 is an elevation; the plane of projection being parallel with the'
keel.
Figure 3 is a horizontal section, showing more in detail the mode of
connecting the shaft to which the sails are attached to the power shaft.
A is the mast; B, B, are the yards, which are hung outside of the shafts
D and E, upon the braces K, K; C, C, are the sails, the outlines of which
are represented only in dotted lines, as the full representation of them would
obscure the view of other parts; D is a shaft which extends from a convenient
position for operating near the deck of the vessel, upwards as far as is neces-
sary to operate the shafts E, to which the sails are attached in the middle, as
shown in the Drawings, and by the rotation of which the sails will be furled
or wound around them. Each of these shafts E carries a pinion m upon its
lower end, which, when the parts are thrown in geer, meshes into one of the
pinions n, placed upon the shaft D in proper position for that purpose. This
shaft D is made in sections which correspond with the lengths of the shafts E,
and are connected by universal joints, or at least by joints which allow the
shaft D to vibrate sufficiently at the point where it geers with the shaft E to
permit the pinions to be thrown into and out of geer. This operation is per-
formed by means of the levers F, F, which are so attached to the bearings
which support the shaft D, and so hung upon the stationary fulcrum at q, that
the downward motion of the end to which the rope g is attached will throw
corresponding pinions m and n into geer, so as to rotate the corresponding
shaft E by turning the shaft D. The rope g extends to the deck for this
purpose, and the pinions are ordinarily kept out of geer by the spring h.
There may be various arrangements of the shafts D and E, in relation to
each other, by which the same object may be accomplished substantially in the
same general manner as that herein described, as, for instance, the shafts E
may be made hollow, the shaft D placed within them, and by means of

page_text: clutches the shafts E may be connected by an end motion of the shaft D, as
described in my Provisional Specification.
The shaft D is operated by means of cranks 1, 1, on the crank shaft L,
which last connects by bevel geering to the shaft D, as represented. The
sails C are shaken out or thrown to the breeze by means of the halyards I
and J, attached to their corners as represented in the Drawings. These
halyards are spliced or otherwise united above the deck, so as to form each
pair into a single rope where they are taken hold of to operate them, by which
arrangement a square action upon the sails is secured.
I claim the arrangement of vertical shafts in front or in rear of the mast,
and operated by mechanism from the deck of the vessel, whereby I am
enabled to operate separately or simultaneously the several sails on the mast
from the deck of the vessel, substantially as described, and irrespective of
the mechanism employed for working the vertical shafts.
In witness whereof, I, the said George W. La Baw, have hereunto
şet my hand and seal, this First day of December, A.D. One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.
GEORGE W. LA DAW. (L.S.)