IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM WINDLASSES AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING AND SECURING CHAIN CABLES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Horatio Harfield, of No. 28, Cornhill, in
the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM
WINDLASSES AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING AND SECURING CHAIN CABLES"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Horatio
Harfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 26th July 1870.
I, WILLIAM HORATIO HARFIELD, of No. 28, Cornhill, in the City of
3 London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN STEAM WINDLASSES AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING AND SECURING
CHAIN CABLES," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention relates to improvements in steam
windlasses. In order to work windlasses by steam power I place either
in front or at the back of the windlass barrel a small steam engine, and

page_text: by preference employ a double cylinder engine. The two cylinders of
the engine are inverted and are mounted on the top of a bed plate
carried by a hollow standard, within which are contained the crank shaft
of the engine and the gearing for transmitting motion from it to the
windlass barrel; the gearing is thus protected from water splashing
over it and from ropes getting jammed between the wheels. Openings
are formed through the sides of the hollow standard, which are fitted
with doors or cover plates, so that the gearing can readily be got at
when required. On the crank shaft is a pinion which gears with an
intermediate toothed wheel on a horizontal shaft, upon which are two
pinions that gear with two toothed wheels fast on the axis of the
windlass barrel. These wheels on the windlass axis have also working
with them nipping or other pawls mounted on the short arms of levers
the larger arms of which project into the hollow standard of the engine;
the ends of these are connected by rods passing up through the bed
plate on the top of the standard to the two opposite ends of a lever,
which is mounted on a horizontal pin or axis above the bed plate; this
lever is formed with sockets to receive hand levers, so that the pawls
which when the steam engine is at work prevent the windlass turning in
the reverse direction, are available also when required for working the
windlass by hand labor either to assist the steam power or to work the
windlass independently. The pinion on the crank shaft of the engine is
capable of being slid endwise on the shaft, so that it may be thrown out
of gear with the windlass barrel. When it is desired to work the windlass
barrel by hand labor, I by preference arrange the axis of the windlass
barrel to carry chain flanges in such manner that they may be rendered
fast or loose at pleasure.
·
Also according to my Invention I construct a riding bit for a chain
cable with a bar passing through it, one end of the bar being centred in
such a manner as to allow the motion of the bar in a vertical plane.
The bar is acted on by means of a vertical screw which can be turned by
a hand wheel upon it. By turning this screw the extremity of the bar
can be caused to press on the chain and either check it or entirely stop
it in proportion to the force put on the screw.
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, and dated the
13th of March 1869, No. 774, is described a chain controller and stopper
in which a sliding block moved to and fro by means of a lever is caused

page_text: to press against the chain to check or arrest its running out; according
to my present Invention Igive motion to the sliding block of such a
controller by means of a screw capable of being turned by a hand wheel
upon it; the hand wheel I also form with sockets to receive lever
handles..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters. Patent,
filed by the said William Horatio Harfield in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th January 1871..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WILLIAM
HORATIO HARFIELD, of No. 28, Cornhill, in the City of London, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Horatio Harfield, Her special
licence that I, the said William Horatio Harfield, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Horatio
Harfield, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM WINDLASSES AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING AND
SECURING CHAIN CABLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the.
said William Horatio Harfield, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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.

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
The first part of this Invention relates to improvements in steam
windlasses. In order to work windlasses by steam power I place either
in front or at the back of the windlass barrel a small steam engine, and
by preference employ a double cylinder engine. The two cylinders of
the engine are inverted and are mounted on the top of a bed plate
carried by a hollow standard, within which are contained the crank
shaft of the engine and the gearing for transmitting motion from it to
the windlass barrel; the gearing is thus protected from water splashing
over it and from ropes getting jammed between the wheels. Openings
are formed through the sides of the hollow standard, which are fitted
with doors or cover plates so that the gearing can readily be got at
when required. On the crank shaft is a pinion which gears with an
intermediate toothed wheel on a horizontal shaft upon which are two
pinions that gear with two toothed wheels fast on the axis of the
windlass barrel. These wheels on the windlass axis have also working
with them nipping or other pawls mounted on the short arms of levers,
the longer arms of which project into the hollow standard of the engine;
the ends of these arms are connected by rods passing up through the
bed plate on the top of the standard to the two opposite ends of a
lever which is mounted on a horizontal pin or axis above the bed
plate; this lever is formed with sockets to receive hand levers, so that
the pawls, which when the steam engine is at work prevent the
windlass turning in the reverse direction, are available also when
required for working the windlass by hand labor either to assist the
steam power or to work the windlass independently. The pinion on
the crank shaft of the engine is capable of being slid endwise on the
shaft, so that it may be thrown out of gear with the windlass barrel.
When it is desired to work the windlass barrel by hand labor I by
preference arrange the axis of the windlass barrel to carry chain flanges
in such manner that they may be rendered fast or loose at pleasure.
Also according to my Invention I construct a riding bitt for a chain
cable with a bar passing through it, one end of the bar being centred
in such a manner as to allow the motion of the bar in a vertical plane.
The bar is acted on by means of a vertical screw which can be turned
by a hand wheel upon it. By turning this screw the extremity of the

page_text: bar can be caused to press on the chain, and either check it or entirely
stop it in proportion to the force put on the screw.
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, and dated the
Thirteenth day of March One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine,
No. 774, is described a chain controller and stopper, in which a sliding
block moved to and fro by means of a lever is caused to press against
the chain to check or arrest its running out. According to my present
Invention I give motion to the sliding block of such a controller by
means of a screw capable of being turned by a hand wheel upon it; the
hand wheel I also form with sockets to receive lever handles.
T
3 L
max ha menst full damtand
Figure 1 is a side view, Figure 2 a transverse section, Figure 3 a
plan, and Figure 4 a back view of a steam and manual power windlass,
constructed according to my Invention. a, a, are standards carrying
the windlass axis b; c is another standard at the back of the windlass, it is
hollow, and at its top it forms a bed plate or table to receive the
cylinders d, d, of the steam engine; e is the crank shaft of the engine, it
is contained within the standard c, and has upon it the pinion f, which
can slide with a groove and feather on the shaft into or out of gear
with the intermediate wheel g; a suitable lever, not shown in the
Drawings, is provided for moving this pinion; c¹, c', are openings in the
standard, fitted with covers or doors, by which access may be had to the.
gear. The pinion ƒ drives the wheel g, and on the axis of this wheel
are two other pinions h, h, which work with and drive the wheels i, i,
fixed rigidly upon the windlass axis b. The wheels i, i, are provided
with flanges which receive nipping pawls k, k. The longer arms k¹ of
the levers of these pawls project into the hollow standard c, and are by
rods 1, 2, connected with a rocking lever m carried by the horizontal pin
or axis m¹ on the top of the standard c. The nipping pawls prevent the
windlass turning backwards, or by inserting windlass bars into sockets
prepared for them in the ends of the rocking lever m motion may be.
given to this lever and to the nipping pawls, and the windlass axis may
be driven by means of them independently of the steam power.
n, n, are

page_text: chain rings or flanges to receive and hold the chain cables; either of
them can at pleasure by means of the hand wheel n¹ be made fast with
the axis b, or released so as to be able to turn upon it..
Figure 5 is a vertical section, Figure 6 a horizontal section, and
Figure 7 a plan of a riding bitt, with a checking and stopping apparatus
arranged according to my Invention combined with it. a, a, is a strong
casting adapted to be firmly bolted to a.vessel's deck, and to receive turns
of the chain cable around it. 6 is the chain cable passing through a guide
passage in the bitt.
c is a bar centered at c¹ to the casting a, and
controlled by the screw d, the stem of which passes through the bar.
The screw d works in a corresponding internal screw e in the cover e¹,
which is fixed on the top of the casting a, and closes it. dis a head
or hand wheel on the top of the screw d, with recesses in its periphery
to receive hand spikes. When the screw is turned, collars on its stem,
as is shewn, act on the bar c, and press it down on the cable or
lift it from it. The bar is pressed down to check the chain when it is
running out, and so gradually to stop it, and then the cable is made fast
by taking turns around the bitt.
Figure 8 is a plan, and Figure 9 a longitudinal section of a screw
chain controller and stopper arranged according to my Invention. a is
a guide mouth for the cable, it is firmly fixed to the ship's deck; b is a
slide capable of traversing in the mouth a to and from the cable c; dis
a screw on which the slide 6 works as a nut, it has a collar upon it at d',
bearing against an abutment a', and a hand wheel'd² with recesses for
band spikes is secured at its outer end. When the slide is moved
forward by the screw it checks the cable c running out through the
guide mouth, and when the slide is brought to the position represented
in the Drawings the cable is securely locked.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim a
the combination with a windlass barrel of steam driving gear and
nipping levers so arranged as to serve both to pawl the windlass and to
heave by manual power, substantially as described.
I also claim the general arrangement of the steam driving gear of a
windlass, substantially as described.
I also claim the general arrangement of a riding bitt, substantially as
described
3

page_text: I also claim the general arrangement of a screw chain controller and
stopper, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Horatio Harfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
- and seventy-one.