IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE PASSAGE AND CONTROL OF CABLES AND OTHER CHAINS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Maze Kilner, Chaplain of Chester Castle,
in the County of Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
Sealed the 5th March 1872, and dated the 27th September 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Maze Kilner at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th September 1871.
I, JAMES MAZE KILNER, Chaplain of Chester Castle, in the County of
Chester, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE PASSAGE AND CONTROL OF CABLES AND OTHER
CHAINS," to be as follows:-
This Invention is for improvements in the Patent granted me by Her
Majesty in 1870, No. 175.
I form a strong abutment near the trunk of my sliding hawse pipe
or the ordinary hawse pipe of a ship. Abaft the abutment I place on

page_text: the deck an oblong sliding box or wheeled carriage. Two or more iron
rods pass from the abutment through each end of the box and terminate
in supports from the deck abaft the box. Between the abutment and
the box the rods are encircled by alternate washers of metal and india-
rubber, as are the rods of buffers in railway carriages. In the box thus
arranged I place my self-acting grab link stopper, as drawn and
described in the Specification of my Patent referred to. There are
holes or openings in each end of the box and in the abutment for the
passage of chain cables from the windlass to the anchor, in riding at
which by the stopper alone the whole strain of the ship is brought to
bear on the abutment, the fore end of the box, and the intermediate
washers.
A distinctive feature of this Invention is the exemption of the buffer
rods from all tensile and compressive strains, their use being merely as
guides throughout the length of the apparatus, which is always in its
place and ready for its important object, namely, the ease and safety of
the ship when riding, especially in an exposed position or in a sea-way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Maze Kilner in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th March 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MAZE KILNER, Chaplain of Chester Castle, in the County of Chester,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in
the thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Maze Kilner, Her
special licence that I, the said James Maze Kilner, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Maze
Kilner, 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
.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 are from photographs of working models of
my Invention.
Fig. 1A, abutment covering inner lip of a modern inclined hawse
pipe at the fore end of a ship's deck. B, breakwater, closed only when
anchor is up, to prevent the flooding of deck by sea water. C, carriage:
travelling fore and aft (on wheels or sliding on grease), as affected by
the alternate upheaving and depression of ship's bows. The grab link

page_text: self-acting stopper is secured to the bottom of carriage by bolts, and to
its sides by the pivot pin on which the instrument works. D, D, directors
encircled between A and C by alternate washers of metal and india-
rubber (or otherwise by spiral steel springs). The " buffers" thus
formed may be multiplied so as to give sufficient elastic resistance for
the heaviest of ships.
N.B. The directors are subject to neither tensile nor compressive
strain, hence it is optional whether they be made of solid or tubular
metal or even of hard wood. There may be two or more of them on
each side of the stopper if needful.
E, E, bit heads, which are not a part of the apparatus, but merely
introduced to render more manifest its exceedingly simple working,
which is as follows:-
"
To ride by the elastic stopper ease up the cable" from the windlass
or bits at any time when the anchor is down, and the stopper will 1
immediately assume its entire strain by a reliable and uninjurious hold
on two of its links.
To transfer the strain from the stopper to the windlass or bits "haul
staut and make fast the rope" when the buffers are compressed by the
upheaving of ship's bows; it will follow that on the subsequent expan-1
:sion of the buffers and the consequent recoil of the carriage (when the
-strain on the cable is lessened by the pitching of the ship at her anchor)
the grab link will be "tripped" from the cable and the ship will ride
by the windlass or bits. The "tripping may also be effected by a
handspike or other lever. The anchor when hanging "apeak" may be
chain
"let go "by the latter method. Preparations for "veering out
are thus made at any moment with little or no labour. For "heaving
in" the stopper is always ready to do its duty, alternately missing one
link and locking two as the cable is drawn along its smooth unbroken
channel, offering the minimum of frictional resistance to its inward
progress, but safe to resist (and avert the disastrous consequences of) any
sudden rush out.
Fig. 2. Scale: A to D, 15 links of chain or a deck length (which
may be much curtailed if needful) of 5 feet for inch cable, 7 feet for
1 inch, 10 feet for 2 inch, and other sizes in proportion.

page_text: Fig. 4 is my self-acting grab link stopper, as which it is used in
Figs. 1 and 2, and used also as a cable brake (A end downwards) in
Fig. 3.
In lieu of a grab link stopper with one, two, or three eyes, I may
prefer to fix in the carriage of Fig. 3, a grab link with a tripping 5
shackle or my horse-shoe stopper, both of which are hereafter described.
For attaching rope hawsers to Fig. 3 I secure across the doorway in
the position of eye bolt E a piece of timber, like the cross bit in Fig. 1,
around which the end of a tow rope may be belayed.
No tug steamer should be without such an elastic connection as this 1
for the vessels she takes in tow, as many ships are annually lost through
the parting of hawsers at critical periods.
Figs. 5 and 6 fore-and-aft and thwartship views of my grab link
cable brake connected with elastic buffers beneath a ship's deck.
"
The standing part S of a rope is secured in a direct line with one of 1
the three eyes of the grab link, thence it passes twice round a double
block under the buffers, and finally through a third eye to the hands of
any requisite number of men, who, with or without the additional aid
of a tackle, maintain a continuous even strain on an outgoing cable.
For connecting the cable brake with the buffers I pierce the deck with 2
holes and fit them with hawse pipes, which may be easily plugged
when not in use. I sometimes fit pulley wheels within instead of
beneath the carriage C.
Figs. 7, 8, and 9.-My Invention the Horse-shoe Grab.-I form the
horse-shoe and its flat and tapered shelf in one forging. The collar C 2
is also forged and shrunk on. I form the three eyes E in a cast
metal block, which I rivet to the flat shelf.
In working the "horse-shoe grab" the collar falls or is compressed
on each successive horizontal link as a cable is drawn in or veered out,
and so it prevents the passage of the subsequent vertical link.
"
The "horse-shoe grab is an alternative for the grab link as an
elastic stopper, or for other purposes in which it may be preferred.
Figs. 10 and 11.-Plan and fore-and-aft section of a life-boat fitted
with "horse-shoe grabs," the levers of which are connected by a small
galvanized chain (beneath the bottom boards), with a "lock" somewhat
like one of those in common use for "cat-head stoppers,"

page_text: Through the round hole in the centre of Fig. 10 is seen the bolt of
the lock encircled by a thimble, which is connected by a tightly "set
up" lanyard with that in the bight of the chain. The larger chains,
by which the boat depends, are securely held by the "horse-shoe grabs,"
but directly the handle turns the crescent support of the bolt with its
cusps downwards the bolt radiates on its pivot pin, the thimble falls
from it, and the boat is released instantaneously both ends at the same
time, no matter what her weight or at what speed the vessel may be
going.
The chain I prefer for connection with the lock is Weston's half ton
(or stronger) pulley block chain galvanized. The thimbles may be
connected with galvanized wire in the case of boats seldom used; thus
with Muntz metal pivot pins to prevent rust there would be nothing in
the whole apparatus that could be prejudicially affected by weather, and
boats so equipped might lie on the decks of ships for months or even
years unused with perfect certainty of simultaneous release for both
their ends on being lowered in any emergency.
I may add that forelock pins inserted in the final links of the chain
pendants may serve as "tell-tales," for so long as these can be easily
withdrawn it is manifest the boat must be safely under the control of
the central lock and vice versa, should the pins be tightly toggled and
themselves sustain the weight of the boat.
Fig. 12. A boat fitted with my original boat lowering grab links,
with my improved levers and ram's horn ends for convenient fastening.―
Boats may be fitted by either of the alternative methods shewn in
Fig. 12, and in either case the levers may be held in position (so as to.
keep the boat secure in the event of one end touching the water first)
first by hand; or second tripped by hand so as to free the boat with or
without strain on the tackles; or third connected in the centre of the
boat with a barrel, by heaving which round the levers are simultaneously
ripped, and both ends of the boat released at any time.
Figs. 13 and 14, front and side views of the horse-shoe. grab
arranged for fastening to a boat in an upright position, the fastenings
being differently placed from those in Figs. 10 and 11.
A is the ram's horn at the extremity of the lever; B is a projecting.
shelf, beneath which is a niche or slot to receive the final or any other
-

page_text: link of a chain which abuts against the shelf, and sustains the boat so
long as the horse-shoe compresses it. When relieved from compression
it immediately flies out of its niche and releases the boat however great
her weight or at whatever speed the vessel may be going.
The ram's horn A furnishes a ready means for securing the lever,
whether by a chain connected with a lock as in Figs. 10 and 11, or by
a rope lanyard passed round the boat's stanchion E.
D shews the head of one of the davits to which the boat is suspended.
It is tapped with a screw worm for the reception of my Invention the
"davit jack."
The usual method of lifting a heavy boat from a ship's deck to swing
her over the side requires a number of men to pull the tackle falls,
stretched across the deck for the purpose. When the boat is thus
lifted from her chocks the falls have to be belayed or otherwise fastened
before the boat can be swung. The operation altogether is one involving
considerable manual power and no little time and difficulty. The latter
I overcome by my "davit jack," which when not in use is kept closely
screwed down, well greased, and covered with canvas for protection
from the weather. The tackles are hauled moderately tight, securely
'racked," and kept so.
When the boat is wanted in an emergency the screw jacks are easily
revolved by levers (one man at each), the boat is thus lifted, while
other men clear the tackle falls, and she is swung over the side and
ready to be lowered much more easily and expeditiously than by the
cumbrous method in common use, it being remembered that cases occur
in which expedition and delay are merely convertible terms for salvation
and loss.
Fig. 15.-Section of a boat suspended, the davit jack having raised
the upper tackle block close up to the davit head, above which the spare
part of the screw projects.
Fig. 16 is my grab link cramp commended for compressing the cable
brake, as described under Fig. 3.
Fig. 17. My Invention the improved "double grab swivel hook."-
The upper chain is supposed to be that of a crane "reefed" or shortened.
The object suspended is a rough crucible cast-steel grab link of larger

page_text: size. We may suppose it to be a heavy gun or other object. A guy
rope is spliced into the revolving thimble T; the sketch is from the
photograph of a model.
Figs. 18 and 19.-Sketches shewing the adaption of my grab link
elastic stoppers and my system of passing mooring chains through the
bottoms of ships for the utilization of ordinary iron sailing ships or
other structures of sufficient strength, as breakwaters for the formation
of harbours on exposed coasts.
For the above purpose I dismast and entirely dismantle a ship and
relieve her of all bulwarks and deck hamper. I let all rails and
stanchions remain standing to assist in breaking the water; I sometimes
secure outriggers (R) as additional aids for this purpose.
I pierce my ship with four trunks, two for "seaward", and two for
in-shore mooring chains; the former I make much heavier than the.
latter. Each seaward trunk I enlarge towards the deck in the shape of
an oblong box, in which I place my elastic stopper (Fig. 3 inverted)
with its abutment downwards.
To secure the chain cable within the carriage I prefer a stopper in the
form of my boat-lowering grab link inverted, with a lever attached to
the tripping shackle, from which a rope to the deck affords all the required.
control, (vide Fig. 12.)
.
The ship would also have two anchors laid out, with cables extended
from the bower hawse holes and corresponding ones from her stern.
Each seaward cable should be secured by a grab link elastic stopper,
(Fig. 2.)
Assuming a vessel thus moored to be struck by a sea a great part of
its force would be expended in careening her over, and the remainder
would be almost absorbed by the direct resistance of the elastic stoppers
in the trunks in bringing her gradually up.
I assume my ship's centre of gravity to be properly adjusted by
ballast, which with the weight and tension of the undership cables
would ensure a recoil roll after each successive wave.
The idea of the Moncreiff gun carriage would thus have its counter-
part afloat for saving instead of destroying human life.

page_text: Fig. 20 shews another method by which the "horse-shoe grab" for
cables may be forged in two parts, so as to form in one of them a collar
to impinge on successive horizontal links of chain, and also a shelf for
connection with the triple eye casting. Vide E, Fig. 7.
1
Retrospective. I may adapt either of my buffer carriages for
mounting a piece of artillery with its breech towards the abutment,
which I secure to a strongly pivoted platform equal in area to that
of the apparatus. Thus the muzzle of the gun before firing would
project, as does the extended chain E, Fig. 2, and its radial line of fire
compass any range admissible by the port or embrasure through which
it
may be directed. I provide a ratch and pawls to retain the gun when
discharged at its maximum recoil for reloading.
For the formation of my springs I do not confine myself to india-
rubber of any particular thickness, or to spiral steel springs only; I
may prefer in connection with my apparatus any of the methods in
current use for the buffers of railway carriages not barred by the Patent
rights of other persons.
As a cable brake I improve grab link, Fig. 4, by forging it with
shoulders less defined, so that they may impinge on a broader part of
each successive horizontal link of cable than the Drawing shews. By
this improvement the brake arrests an outgoing cable with greater ease
and less jumping motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Maze Kilner, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-fifth day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-