IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING FORE AND AFT SAILS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hart, of Sunderland, in the County of
Durham, Master Mariner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REEFING FORE AND AFT SAILS."
Sealed the 13th January 1865, and dated the 21st July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hart at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st July
1864.
I, JOHN HART, of Sunderland, in the County of Durham, Master Mariner,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REEFING FORE AND AFT SAILS," to be as follows:-
I use the gaff of a fore and aft sail, and make the same revolve, and roll the
sail upon and off the gaff, which is connected by jaws with a universal joint
and swivel in such manner as that the universal joint can be lifted up or down
without altering the position of the jaws.
I use two travelling bands, one at the throat of the gaff, with a middle ring,
to which the throat halyards and down haul are fastened. At the peak end of
the gaff I have the other travelling band, with a middle ring, to which the peak

page_text: halyards are fastened on the upper side, and to which an eye is bolted
on the under side, and to which eye a rope is attached. This rope is
fastened to a traveller, which traveller works up and down the lee or
leech of the sail in the manner herein-after described, and the said rope
after its attachment to the traveller is continued and carried down through a
sheave placed on or near to the end of the boom, and then a tackle is attached
to it which goes under the boom. The traveller is a semicircle of iron or brass
with the ends turned at right angles towards the centre. On each end a
roller is placed free to revolve. The lee or leech of the sail has a thicker
rope than ordinary, and the traveller goes up and down the lee of the sail,
the effect being to keep the sail extended during the operation of reefing.
I use a reef tackle, either of chain or rope; one end of the reef tackle is
fixed to the gaff, and to produce rotation a certain number of turns are taken
round the gaff.
To steady the apparatus before described as attached to the gaff by the
jaws with the universal joint, and to keep the sail in its place clear of the
reef tackle, I use two guards placed horizontally one above the other below the
gaff, and both connected with the middle ring of the travelling band at the
throat of the gaff, and also with a hoop placed round the gaff. To reef
the sail I slack the peak and throat halyards, and haul on the tackle
attached to the traveller at the peak, and the sail revolves round the gaff
by the reef tackle being unwound. To make sail I slack the tackle attached
to the traveller, hoist upon the throat halyards and peak halyards as usual,
which rolls the sail off and the reef tackle on. The gaff is strengthened by
two pieces of iron let into the gaff, one at the top and the other at the
bottom, from the throat to the peak halyards.
I use the ordinary hoops upon the mast attached to a strip of canvass,
and travellers similar to that before described. The effect of these travellers
is, at the same time as they keep the weather of the sail in position with
refercuce to the mast, to slide down the weather of the sail as the sail is
rolled round.
I use an ordinary sail, the ropes at the lee and weather being rather
thicker than those in ordinary use. I use no reef points or reef earings.
Instead of the gaff being made to revolve as above described, I place at
intervals from the peak to the throat halyards hoops or rings with eyes
in each ring for four or five rods. These rods form a frame, upon which
the sail is bent, and revolves by similar means to those before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hart in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HART, of Sunderland, in the County of Durham, Master Mariner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred' and sixty-four, in the twenty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Hart, Her special licence that I,
the said John Hart, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Hart, 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 "IMPROVEMENT IN REEPING FORE AND AFT
SAILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Hart, 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 performed, 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 John Hart, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 -
My Invention consists in using the gaff of a fore and aft sail, and
making the same to revolve and roll the sail upon and off the gaff.
For this purpose I fit the throat end of the gaff (which is marked A on
Figures 1 and 3 of the Drawings hereunto annexed) into a socket (marked
B on Figures 3 and 4) which is prolonged so as to form a strong pin (marked
C) in a line with the axis of the gaff. The pin passes through a hole in the
middle of a pair of (what I call) outer jaws (marked D), in which hole it
works as a swivel. The bead (marked E) of the pin is a nut; the two ends
of the outer jaws are fastened to the two sides of a pair of (what I call) inner

page_text: jaws (marked G), by pins or other means, so as to form two joints (marked
H), on which the gaff and outer jaws can be lifted up or down without alter-
ing the position of the inner jaws. The inner jaws embrace the mast, and
are free to move up and down upon it and round it. The swivel and the
inner jaws and outer jaws together form a universal joint. All the apparatus
between the throat end of the gaff and the mast is made of iron, but it
may be made of any other material suitable in point of strength and
durability.
I use on the gaff two travelling bands (marked W and X). Two eyes are
bolted to the middle ring of each of these travelling bands, one of such eyes
being on the upper side of the gaff, and the other being on the lower side of
it. One of the travelling bands (marked W) is at the throat of the gaff
(see Figures 3 and 4), and the throat halyards are fastened to the eye on the
upper side of its middle ring, and the down haul is fastened to the eye on
the lower side. At the peak end of the gaff I have the other travelling band
(marked X, Figure 1), and the peak halyards are fastened to the eye on the
upper side of its middle ring, and to the eye on the under side a rope (marked
U) is attached; this rope is fastened to a traveller (marked S), which works
up and down the lee or leech of the sail in the manner herein-after described;
and the said rope (U) after its attachment to the traveller is continued and
carried down through a sheave placed on or near to the end of the boom, and
then there is attached to it a tackle which goes under the boom.
The traveller (see Figure 5) is a semicircle of iron or brass with the ends
turned at right angles towards the centre. On each end a roller (marked Sa)
is placed free to revolve. The lee or leech of the sail has a thicker rope
than ordinary, and the traveller goes up and down the lee of the sail, the effect
being to keep the sail extended during the operation of reefing.
I use a reef tackle (marked Y, Figures 1 and 2), either of chain or rope;
one end of the reef tackle is fixed to the gaff, and to produce rotation a
certain number of turns are taken round the gaff (see Figure 1).
To steady the apparatus before described, as attached to the gaff by the
jaws and universal joint, and to keep the sail in its place clear of the reef
tackle, I use two guards (marked Z, Figures 1, 3, and 4) placed horizontally
the one above and the other below the gaff, and both being fastened to the
middle ring of the travelling band at the throat of the gaff (as in Figures 3
and 4). The after ends of the guards are attached to and support a hoop
(marked Za) which is placed round the gaff. To reef the sail I slack the
peak and throat halyards, and haul on the tackle attached to the traveller at
the peak, and the sail revolves round the gaff by the reef tackle being unwound.

page_text: To make sail I slack the tackle attached to the traveller at the peak, and
hoist upon the throat halyards and peak halyards as usual, which rolls the
sail off and the reef tackle on. The gaff is strengthened by two pieces
of iron, which are let into it the one on its upper side and the other on
its lower side, and both extending from the throat to the peak halyards.
I use the ordinary hoops upon the masts. Travellers (marked S, Figure 1),
similar to that before described, are attached either to the hoops themselves
or to a strip of canvas (marked Aa) of which the other side is attached to
the hoops. The top of this strip is attached to the hoop Za and to the jaws.
The weather of the sail has a thicker rope than ordinary, and the travellers
embrace that rope and keep the weather of the sail in position with reference
to the mast, and at the same time they slide up and down the weather of the
sail so as to allow the sail to be rolled upon and off the gaff. If the strip of
canvas be not used, I keep the lowest hoop and traveller in its proper place
by attaching the middle of a line to it, and by passing one end of such line
over a block at a convenient height from the deck, and then down to the
deck again. The other end of the line goes directly down to the deck, and I
keep all the hoops and travellers in proper relative position to each other by
making them fast at equal distances to a line hung from the jaws of the
gaff.
I use an ordinary sail, the ropes at the lee and weather being rather thicker
than those in ordinary use. I use no reef points or reef earrings. Instead of
the gaff being made to revolve as above described, I place at intervals from
the peak to the throat halyards hoops or rings with eyes in each ring for
four or five rods. These rods form a frame, upon which the sail is bent, and
is made to revolve by means similar to those before described.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
1. First, the connecting the gaff with the mast by the socket pin, jaws,
and swivel before described.
2. Secondly, the travelling bands on the gaff with two or more eyes
attached to them.
3. Thirdly, the guards and hoop attached to the travelling band at the
throat of the gaff.
4. Fourthly, the keeping the lee of the sail extended and the weather of
the sail to the mast by means of travellers at the leach and weather of the
sail, as above described.
5. Fifthly, the frame of hoops or rings and rods on the gaff.

page_text: 6. Sixthly, the rotation of the gaff or the frame on the gaff by hoops or
rings and rods on the gaff, as above described.
Lastly, the causing the gaff to revolve and roll the sail on and off the same
in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hart, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JOHN HART. (L.S.)