IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS' DAVITS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR STOWING, LOWERING, AND SECURING BOATS."
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Clifford, of the Inner Temple Lanc, London,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS' DAVITS, AND IN APPARATUS
FOR STOWING, LOWERING, AND SECURING BOATS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Clifford at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
March 1858.
I, CHARLES CLIPFORD, of the Inner Temple Lane, London, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS' DAVITS, AND IN
APPARATUS FOR STOWING, LOWERING, AND SECURING BOATS," to be as follows:-
According to this Invention, in place of employing a pair of davits of the
ordinary description for raising and lowering boats, a single davit having two
heads is used. This davit consists of an upright pillar, carried by bearings at
the ship's side, and furnished with two arms, which, as they spring from the
pillar, make an obtuse angle one with the other. The arms at their ends are
fitted up like ordinary davit heads, and are stiffened' by ties running to the top
of the central pillar. By using a davit of this: construction a boat may be
turned from out-board in-board, and vice versa, simply by causing the pillar of
the davit to make a semi-rotation in its bearings. In order to complete the
stowage of the boat, it is (after turning in-board) secured by a lashing, so
arranged as to hold the boat safely while the davit is turned in-board, but be
disengaged when it is turned out-board to lower the boat. The lashing is con-
nected to the two heads of the davit, and passes down from each of them under
the boat till the two ports meet at a point near the pillar of the davit, and at
this point an eye is formed. This eye is connected with another eye passing

page_text: over a prong on the outside of the ship by a cord passing two or three times
through each of the eyes, and the cord in passing from one eye to the other
passes partly round the pillar of the davit, consequently when the davit is
turned out-board the cord becomes slack and allows the eye to fall off the
prong so as to disconnect the lashing, or the apparatus may be so arranged
that the semi-revolution of the davit by drawing a pin from a socket, or in other
manner, disengages the lashings.
!
In lowering ships' boats according to a method for which a Patent has been
granted to me ropes pass from the davit heads to a roller mounted in the
boat, and they are wound on this roller, but the ends of these ropes are secured
only bypassing through a hole in the roller. Now, in order that the roller
may hold the ends of the ropes more securely, and so that they may not
become free until the very last convolution is unwinding, I make a slot in
the roller from the periphery to the centre line, and at right angles to the
hole through which the els pass, and in this slot I mount a moveable tongue
hinged at one end. When the ends of the ropes are put through the hole
the tongue rests on them, and as the ropes are wound on the roller they press
the upper edge of the tongue, and force it firmly down on to the ends of
We rones
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Lotters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Clifford in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd September 1858.
C TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
CLIFFORD, of the Inner Temple Lane, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Clifford, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Clifford, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Clifford, 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 SHIPS' DAVITS,
AND IN APPARATUS FOR STOWING, LOWERING, AND SECURING BOATS," upon the

page_text: condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Clifford, 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 per-
formed, 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 Charles Clifford, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to. be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
According to this Invention, in place of employing a pair of davits of the
ordinary description for raising and lowering boats, a single davit having two
heads is used. This davit consists of an upright pillar carried by bearings at
the ship's side, and furnished with two arms, which, as they spring from the
pillar, make an obtuse angle one with the other. The arms at their ends are
fitted up like ordinary davit heads, and are stiffened by ties running to the top
of the central pillar. By using a davit of this construction a boat may be
turned from out-board, in-board, and vice versa, simply by causing the pillar of
the davit to make a semi-rotation in its bearings. In order to complete the
stowage of the boat, it is (after turning it in-board) secured by a lashing, so
arranged as to hold the boat safely while the davit is turned in-board, but be
disengaged when it is turned out-board to lower the boat. The lashing is
connected to the two heads of the davit, and passes down from each of them
under the boat till the two parts meet at a point near the pillar of the davit,
and at this point an eye is formed; this eye is connected with another eye
passing over a prong on the outside of the ship by a cord passing two or three
times through each of the eyes, and the cord in passing from one eye to the
other passes partly round the pillar of the davit, consequently when the davit
is turned out-board the cord becomes slack and allows the eye to fall off the
prong so as to disconnect the lashing; or the apparatus may be so arranged
that the semi-revolution of the davit by drawing a pin from a socket, or in
other manner, disengages the lashings.
In lowering ships boats according to a method for which a Patent has been
granted to me, ropes pass from the davit heads to a roller mounted in the
boat, and they are wound on this roller, but the ends of these ropes are secured
only by passing through a hole in the roller. Now, in order that the roller
may hold the ends of the ropes more securely, and so that they may not
become free until the very last convolution is unwinding, I make a slot in

page_text: the roller from the periphery to the centre line, and at right angles to the
hole through which the ends pass, and in this slot I mount a moveable tongue
hinged at one end. When the ends of the ropes are put through the slot the
tongue rests on them, as is shewn in Figure 4 of the Drawing, and as the
ropes are wound on the roller they press on the upper edge of the tongue,
and force it firmly down on to the ends of the ropes.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
a is a
Figure 1 is a side view partly in section, and Figure 2 is a plan of a ship's
davit, with a boat fitted according to my Invention hanging from it.
portion of the bulwarks of a ship; b is the pillar of the davit, which passes
through a collar c; it rests in a step at its lower end in the ordinary way;
d, d, are two arms springing from the pillar b, and they are strengthened by
the bars e, e, passing from their ends to the top of the pillar, and also at o, o;
ff, are the ordinary tackles for raising the boat; g, g, are the lashings,
made fast to the davit heads, and meeting in an eye under the boat at g¹,
which is connected by a rope h with another eye passing over the prong i on
the outside of the ship, and the lashing is drawn tight by means of the rope k.
When the boat is turned out-board for lowering, the eye falls off the
and the lashings are released.
prong i,
It is evident that the boat may when out-board be secured by self-liberating
lashings, as described in the Specification of a former Patent granted to me.
Separate views of the roller p (which is used according to my former Patent),
are shown at Figures 4, and these clearly indicate the manner in which the
ends of the ropes j and 11 are secured by being passed through the slot x,
across which which in another slot there is a moveable tongue y, which presses
on the ends as the ropes are wound on to the roller over the part where the
tongue is applied.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Clifford, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
CHARLES CLIFFORD. (L.S.)
Witness,
HENRY WILLIAM CARPMAEL.