IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING SAILS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury, in the County of Hants, Paymaster
and Purser in the Royal Navy, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirtieth day of
November, One thousand eight hundred and fifty, in the fourteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my exors, adñiors...
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from. time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING SAILS;" in which said
Letters Patent is. contained a proviso that I, the said Henry Duncan Preston
Cunningham, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High

page_text: .
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, do hereby declare that the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
are fully described and ascertained in and by the present Specification
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is
to say :-
My Invention has for its object the enabling of seamen, while standing upon
the deck of a ship or vessel, to reef and unreef the topsails, top-gallant sails,
and courses of square-rigged vessels, without having to go aloft for that
purpose, whereby the following advantages among others are secured, videlicet,
greater celerity of movement, more complete control over the motive power,
saving of labour and time, less exposure of the men to the inclemency of
weather and to accidents, diminution of wear and tear, and great encrease in
general efficiency.
The general principle of my improvements in reefing consists in winding
or rolling the sail upon the yard for the purpose of taking in a reef, instead
of gathering it up as usual and attaching it to the yards by reef points,
earings, &c.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is an elevation of a topsail yard, fitted according
to my
Invention, and Figures 2 and 3 are plans of the sail.
A is the topmast.
B, B, the yard. C, C, the top-gallant studding sail booms. D, D, are the
lift-rings or hoops, enlarged views of which are given separately in Figure 4
(a front view), and Figure 5 (an edge view). The eye E of the hoop is made
large enough to allow of its turning freely upon the yard, and the yard is.
fitted with metal ferrules at that part on which the hoops are placed. These
hoops are fitted with studding-sail boom irons c, c; eye bolts d, d, for braces;
eye bolts for lifts, and top-gallant sheet blocks or gins; eye bolts for-life line;
also two screwed sockets e, e, into which the boom irons may be shifted, or for
the reception of an eye bolt f, shewn separately in Figures 5 and 5b. This
eye bolt last mentioned is to be used for receiving the knuckle of an iron rod'
to be sometimes employed instead of the studding-sail boom. The heels
of the studding-sail booms are carried by goose necks, which take into eye
bolts fitted into the parrall F, on which there are two other eyes, which also
carry the top-gallant sheet blocks G, G. The object of placing the studding-
sail boomis in this position (that is to say, abaft and under the yard), and of
interposing the rod between the yard and the lee rigging, is to prevent the

page_text: sail, when rolled up, from chafing. In vessels which do not carry studding-
sail booms I also, employ for the same purpose a spar secured at each end to
the yard-arm hoops and parrall.
Figure 6 is a side elevation, and Figure 7 a plan, of the parrall detached
from the other parts. It consists of two hoops H, H, which are formed in
halves, the halves of each ring being connected together by double and single
joints, through which coupling pins a, a, are passed. The two hoops H, H,
are again joined together so as to form one piece or frame by means of the
bars b, b. When it is necessary to remove the parrall from the mast, the
coupling pins a, a, are removed, which admits of the hoops being opened up.
Or the rings of the parrall may be formed as represented in Figure 7º, in
which case one half of the rings are made of rope strop or curb chain.
The parrall just described forms the connection between the yard and mast,
which it loosely embraces, and upon which it is free to slide up and down.
The connection between the mast and parrall is effected by the following
arrangements:-I is a metal boss, which is separately represented in Figure 8
(a side elevation) and Figure 9 (an edge view), one half of both Figures being
'shown in section. This boss is securely fitted upon the middle of the yard, so
that the yard and boss must revolve together, and it occupies the position
generally assigned to the sling hoop. L, L, are two rings, which are con-
nected together by bolts M, M, as shewn in Figures 10 and 11. These rings
form a frame, within which the boss I, and of course the yard, is free to
revolve. For this purpose the rings L, L, are fitted upon the collars or
bearings N, N, of the boss, and the bolts M, M, keep them from slipping off.
Both rings are provided with lugs or radial pieces O, O; by which they
are connected to the two rings H, H, of the parrall, as will be readily
understood by referring to Figures 12 and 13, which are front and side
elevations of the parts just described when connected together. P, P¹, is
the bight of the topsail tye or haulyards, which is, formed of chain, and
rests within a groove R formed in the centre of the boss I. The sides
of the groove are studded with teeth or whelps, which take into and
embrace the several links of the tye or chain. When the fore end of the
tye P is fixed, and the other end P¹ is slackened out so as to allow the
yard to descend, the links of the chain take hold of the teeth of the groove
in the boss and cause the boss and yard to revolve, by which means the sail
is rolled up on the yard, and of course the area of its surface exposed to the
wind diminished. The weight of the descending yard is thus made to perform
a powerful part in reefing the sail. The shaking out of the reef is performed
by reversing the operation, that is, by again raising the yard by pulling that

page_text: "
r
end of the topsail tye which had been previously slackened out.
S,. S,
Figure 1, are battens for bending the sail to the yard. These encrease
in depth from the centre outwards towards the yard arms, so that they may
give a good set to the sail when any portion of it is reefed or wound
up. That the sail may be wound upon the yard by the means which have
just been described, it requires to be fitted with certain appliances whereby
it may be enabled to pass the centre fittings, that is to say, the boss and
the frame by which the boss is connected to the parrall. These appliances
are represented in Figures 2 and 3. T, T, is a slot or opening which is
formed in the sail, reaching from the top downwards to a little below the
close reef. The edges of the slot are roped" in the same manner as the
edges of sails are generally finished, and then covered with leather. The
ropes on the two sides of the slot or opening of the sail are connected
together by means of a set of stretchers or travellers S, S, Se, three
several varieties of which are shewn separately in Figures 14, 15, and 16;
that one which is represented in Figure 14 is made of wood, the others are
of metal. These stretchers are of the same length as the breadth of the slot
in the sail, and at each end have holes t, t, cut in them for the reception of
the "roped" edges of the sail, the spaces t, t, through which the sail itself
is passed being too small to allow the rope to get through. The metal
travellers (the upper one only excepted) are connected together at regular
distances apart. by means of grummet strops passed through the holes t³, t³.
The upper traveller differs from those below (see Figure 13) in consisting of
a solid piece having screw bolts projecting from its upper side for the purpose
of connection with the frame at the T bolt S³. Eye screws are applied to
the ends of the screw bolts after they have been inserted through holes in the
flat part of the T bolt S³. The set of stretchers are covered with two pieces
of canvas V, V, or sail cloth, as shewn in Figure 16%, one piece on each side
of them and also on each side of the sail; and these pieces of canvas are
attached to the travellers and grummetts and stitched together between the
slot, at the lower part of which they are connected to the sail, by which the
aperture of the slot is thus entirely closed up, as shewn in Figure 2. The
pieces of canvas are not, however, in any way connected with the sail except
at the bottom of the slot. When the sail rolls up on the yard the rope on
each side of the slot, and also the sail itself, are drawn through the holes t, t,
and the slits t', t, in the travellers, upon which the canvas attached to them,
as before described, necessarily slides down with them. When the sail again
is unreefed or hoisted, the pieces of canvas are by their connection with
the upper traveller drawn up, carrying of course with them the other tra-

page_text: vellers to which they are attached. W, W, are beckets, to which there
are attached small lines to pull the stretchers and their covering tightly
down after, the reef has been taken in. Y, Y, are eyes for the clew line
blocks, and Z, Z, are studs to which the inner leeches p, p, of the sail
are attached. A lap-over piece. is fitted to the. top of the sail to cover
the jack stay and prevent friction. It must be observed, that the jewel
blocks X, X, are attached to the yard arms so as to be moveable upon their
points of attachment, and so allow of the yard revolving without causing the
blocks to be canted over and twist the ropes.
Figures 17 and 18 are side and front elevations shewing another arrange-
ment for causing the yard to revolve when lowered down by slackening off one
end of the tye. In this case the yard is suspended by the tackle. A¹ which is
connected to the frame composed of the two rings L, L. B' is the tye, which
is either a rope or band wound upon the boss I, upon which it may be passed
round several times, according to the length of sail it may at any timė
be advisable to roll or reef upon the yard. If the upper end of the rope
or band B is fixed, and the yard at the same time lowered, by slackening off
the tackle A', the band B' will be unwound from the boss Ie, but will at the
same time cause the boss and yard to revolve, by which arrangement the sail
will be rolled up on the yard as in the former instance.
Figure 19 shews arrangements for causing the yard to revolve by. means of
a strap or band. A, A, is the yard. B, B, two bosses or collars upon which
there are formed bearings C, C, which take into the rings connected to the
parrall. D, D, is the strap.
:
Figure 20 is an elevation, and Figure 21 a plan of a top-mast head, with
one of the lower yards in the slings. These Figures are given as exempli-
fications of the manner of reefing the sail, when the yard does not descend for
that purpose.
A is the mast. B, the yard. C, the toothed pulley which is
affixed to the yard. D, 'D, the rings, which take upon the ends of the toothed
pulley C, and within which the yard is free to revolve when acted upon by the
chain E. E. The rings D, D, are attached to the mast by a jointed bow
piece F. In this instance the reefing and shaking out of the sail are effected
by causing the yard to revolve by means of the chain E, E, the yard being
constantly retained at the same height in relation to the mast.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim. is the
reefing of the topsails, top-gallant sails, and courses of square-rigged vessels
by the combination of means, all or any of them before described, that is to
say, by rolling the sails upon the yards by causing the yards to revolve for that