IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DEAD EYES POR THE PURPOSE OF SETTING UP THE RIGGING OF SHIPS AND OTHER SAILING VESSELS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
PERKINS CHATTEN, of Saint Martin's Court, in the City of Westminster,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-second day of May, in the seventh year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James
Perkins Chatten, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said James Perkins Chatten,
my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said James Perkins
Chatten, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DEAD
EYES POR THE PURPOSE OF SETTING UP THE RIGGING OF SHIPS AND OTHER SAILING
VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that I, the
said James Perkins Chatten, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, under my
hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in.
part recited Letters Patent, 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 Perkins Chatten, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
And
The nature of my said Invention consists in certain improvements in dead
eyes, whereby the setting up of the rigging of vessels is effected with less labour
and much greater celerity than by means of the dead eyes now in use.
these improvements are of three different varieties, which are distinguished in
the Drawings hereunto annexed by the letters A, B, and C. Figures 1, 2, 3,
and 4 represent a set of dead eyes of the variety marked A; Figures 1 and 2
being front and edge views of the lower dead eye; and Figures 3 and 4, front
and edge views of the upper dead eye; Figure 5 shews the manner of setting
up the rigging of ships by means of the said dead eyes. Both eyes are of a
flat circular form, bulging outwards in front and back, and grooved on their
peripheries (like the common dead eyes) for the reception of the shrouds. The
lower dead eye, Figures 1 and 2, is intended to be secured as usual to the
chain plates on sides of vessels. In the middle of it, but nearer the bottom
than top, there is an open rectangular space D, in which is inserted a capstan,
which turns freely on an axis (a) passed through the dead eye and capstan from
side to side. This capstan approximates in form to two cones placed apex to
apex, and carries two ratchet wheels I, I, one at each end, with holes b, b, in
them for the reception of the capstan bars; G, G, are palls let into the body of
the dead eye immediately over the ratchet wheels upon which they are intended
to act; H', H, H³, H', are four rectangular openings in the top of the dead
eye, in which are inserted four grooved pullies K, K, K, K, which turn on a
common axis c passed through the dead eye and pullies from side to side;
K', K³, are two plain holes, one on each side of the pulley openings H. The
upper dead eye, Figures 3 and 4, round which the ends of the shrouds are to
be passed, has six rectangular openings L, L, L, L, L, L, in the centre
of it, (similar to the H, H, of Figures 1 and 2), in which are inserted the like
number of grooved pulleys M, turning on a common axis d, passed through the
dead eye and pullies from side to side. To connect these dead eyes together
one lanyard is first brought through the hole K' of the lower dead eye, and
secured to the back thereof by one end, which is knotted for the purpose; it
is then passed successively through the openings of the upper and lower dead
eyes L¹, H', L³, II, and L³, taking into the grooves of the pulleys in each
opening, after which it is drawn down to and through the orifice D, and carried
once or twice round the capstan E, at which point it meets another lanyard,

page_text: which has in like manner been rove successively, but in the opposite direction,
through the openings in the upper and lower dead eyes marked K², L', H*, L',
H³, and L', and over the pulleys within them respectively, (the opening K³
only excepted). When the rigging is to be set up, one person takes fast hold
of the two ends of the lanyards hanging from the capstan, and another works
the capstan; or, where great force is required, the capstan may be worked by
two or more hands, one to each wheel on both sides of the capstan. Every
time the capstan bar or bars are taken out the palls lay fast hold of the ratchet
wheels, and prevent any purchase that is once gained from being lost. The
power which two or three hands are enabled by these means to exert in setting
up the rigging is greater than many hands can exert with the common dead
eyes, and in some instances than is to be obtained at all in the ordinary way.
The variety marked B, Figure 6, is precisely similar in respect of its mode
of action to that which has been just described, but it differs from it in the
following points of detail:-First, the capstan instead of being fixed in the lower
dead eye is fixed in the upper; second, instead of four openings in the lower
dead eye, and six in the upper, with pulleys in each, there are only three in the
former, and two (with a plain hole K³ having no pulley) in the latter; third,
the pulley openings are arranged differently; and, fourth, instead of two lan-
yards one only is made use of, which is first made fast by knotting (as before)
to the back of the plain hole K³, and then rove successively through the different
pulley boles till it is wound round the capstan.
The third variety, marked C, Figure 7, is also worked on the same principle
as the two others, and with the capstan in the lower dead eye and two lanyards,
as in the first case; but, first, the dead eyes are of an oval or pear-shaped
form instead of being circular; second, there are but two openings with pulleys,
and two plain holes K, K³, in the lower dead eye, and four openings with
pulleys in the upper dead eye; and, third, each lanyard is made fast at its
lower end by a loop (as shewn separately in the edge or side view, Figure 8,)
to one or other of the holes K', K, and then rove through three pulley holes,
two at top and one below, before it is wound round the capstan. In all the
three varieties the parts may be made either of wood or metal, with the excep-
tion of the axes and bushes of the capstan and pulleys, and the ratchet wheels
and palls, which must in every case be of metal.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim the mere
combination of a capstan with dead eyes, for the purpose of setting up the
rigging of vessels, being aware that the same thing has been before suggested;
but that what I claim is, the setting up of the rigging of ships and other sailing

page_text: vessels by means of dead eyes, constructed, connected, and worked in the par-
ticular manner, and according to any of the three varieties herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth
day of September, One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid James Perkins Chatten came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-four.