CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON BANDS OR HOOPS FOR SECURING MADE OR OTHER MASTS, BOWSPRITS AND YARDS, AND APPLI-- CABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
FALCONER ATLEE, of Prospect Place, Deptford, in the County of Kent,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight, and the eighth year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said James Falconer Atlee, His especial
licence, that I, the said James Falconer Atlee, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said James Falconer Atlee, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His said Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON BANDS
OR HOOPS FOR SECURING MADE OR OTHER MASTS, BOWSPRITS AND YARDS, AND APPLI--
CABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso that I, the said James Falconer Atlee, shall cause a particular descrip-
tion of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patcnt, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Falconer Atlee, do hereby declare that the nature and particulars of
my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed and
carried into effect, is herein-after fully set forth and described, that is to
say:
My Invention consists in a new and more efficient mode of applying screws
and in the use of what are generally known and distinguished by the name of
right and left handed male screws formed on the two ends of the same cylin-
ders of iron, steel, or other material, with the head or boss for turning such
male screws in the centre between them, and of applying such screws to the
putting together and tightening or loosening of the metal bands or hoops that
are used to encompass masts, yards, bowsprits, and other parts of ships, or for
other purposes; and likewise of a new form and construction of such metal
bands or hoops by making them in more pieces or segments than heretofore
used or not at pleasure, and of terminating each end of each of such separate
pieces or segments by a solid boss or lump of metal, each of which contains
a hollow or female screw to receive one of the two ends of the double male
screws herein-before mentioned; but which said female screws do not pass
entirely thro' the said bosses, but leave sufficient metal to form then into boxes
for containing oil, tar, or other lubricating materials, as will be distinctly seen
in Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawing, which represents an horizontal section of
one of my said bands or hooks as made in four distinct pieces or segments
A, B, A, B, A, B, and C, C, C, C, are the four double male screws for uniting
or bringing them together; D, D, is a view of one of the double male screws
aforesaid drawn to a larger scale, in order to show the different directions of
the threads of the screws of the two ends; and E is the central boss which
may have one, two, or more holes made quite through it to receive a metal
lever for turning the screws round in either direction. The parts coloured
black, and marked f.ff.f, &c. at the ends of the screws C, C, C, C, in
Fig. 1, show the holes or recesses that are to be filled with oil or other
unctuous matter when the bands or screws are put together, and which matter
will be pressed out into the threads as the screws advance, thereby keeping them
free from rust, and in a constant state for easy motion.
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of my aforesaid improved bands or
hoops as it appears when put together for use; and in this instance such band
or hoop is made of three distinct parts or segments; but their number may
be increased or diminished at pleasure; and whenever it may be desirable to
keep the bosses down or from projecting so far as shown in Fig. 1, the
heads or bosses of the said screws may be made to touch the mast or other

page_text: body cucompassed by the said hoops or bands, or such head or boss may bo
partly let into the same, by which means there will be little or no projection
where the said screws occur. The use and construction of my improved bands
or hoops is so simple that it will be needless to enter into a further descrip-
tion of them; and I shall therefore only point out how they differ from the
bands or hoops already in use, and the advantages they possess over them.
Bands or hoops as usually constructed either overlap and fit each other at
their ends, and are fixed and drawn together by keys or wedges, or else they
have their ends turned up as parts of radii to the circle they encompass, and
the screws that unite thom have heads or collars, and are tapped at one end
only into the hole in the turned-up end of the piece they are to fit into. The
consequence of this is, that in either case a great number of sharp points are
presented to catch into and engage with the rigging and sails, and nearly the
whole of the screws or wedges are exposed to the weather, and become cor-
roded; while, in my aforesaid improved bands or hoops, it will be observed,
there is not a single point or angular projection in any part that can produce
this inconvenience, from the screw acting in both directions at once. It will
also be obvious that my aforesaid bands or hoops can be tightened or slackened
with greater rapidity and fewer turns of the screw than where a single-threaded
screw is made use of; and as the ends of the screws are so adjusted as to
length as to bring the parts or segments of the band or hoop quite up or into
close contact with each other, without the necessity of the female screw pass-
ing through the boss, so the greatest part of the acting portion of the screw
will not be exposed to the weather, or liable to get rusty or decay. I hereby,
however, declare, that I do not consider it essential to my aforesaid Invention
that the male and female screws should not pass entirely thro' the bosses,
but I consider it best, for the protection of the said screws, that they should
not do so. In the construction and formation of the said segments for form-
ing the said bands or hoops I further recommend that the same sized screws,
both as to diameter and pitch and rake of thread, should as far as possible be
used, so that all the screws shall fit in common, or at any rate that the same
screw as aforesaid should be used for the same diameter and size of band or
hoop, and that one boss of each segment of the band should be tapped with a
right-handed and the other end with a left-handed female screw, to the end
that if any segment or screw should be broken or injured by any means its
place may be immediately supplied by another. And lastly, I must observe,
that the holes to be made in the said bosses for the formation of the said
female screws must be made in the direction of tangents to that circle which
the said segments will form when they are put or joined together, by which

page_text: form a due action of the screw will be obtained without any tendency to break
the same. The said bands or hoops and screws may be made of iron, steel,
copper, or any other metal, their strength and dimensions being determined by
the use to which they are to be applied and the strain may be required to
resist; and the size or sectional area of the screw should contain as nearly as
possible the same area as a transverse section of the hoop, in order that all
parts may be as nearly as possible of the same strength; consequently, in very
large and wide hoops I occasionally introduce two or more such screws as
have been above described into each boss, placing one above the other, by
which means each screw may be less in diameter than would otherwise be
necessary.
After the above description of the form, construction, use, and advantages
of my said improved bands or hooks, I deem any further observations upon
them unnecessary, as it will be evident that such bands or hoops will be appli-
cable not only to masts, bowsprits, yards, booms, capstans, and other parts of
ships where binding hoops are necessary, but likewise to mill shafts, casks,
vats, and many other purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Falconer Atlee, have hereunto set
my hand and seal this Twentyeth day of June One thousand eight