CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CON- STRUCTION OF SHIPS' CABLES AND HAWSER CHAINS
Year: 1828

page_text: HAWKS' SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
Hawks, of Weymouth Street, Portland Place, in the County of Middlesex,
Iron Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
in and by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Tenth day of July last, did give and grant unto me, the
said John Hawks, my executors, adiñors, and assigns, His Majesty's special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Hawks
my executors, adñiors, and assigns, and every of us, by ourselves and ou
deputies, servants, or agents, or such others as I, the said John Hawks, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, from time to time and at all times hereafter during
the term of years therein expressed, shall and lawfully may make, use,
exercise, and vend, my Invention for a "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF SHIPS' CABLES AND HAWSER CHAINS;" within that part of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Dominion of Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, my
executors, admors, or assigns, shall seem meet, and that I, the said John
Hawks, should enjoy the benefit and advantage from time to time accruing
and arising by reason of the said advantage, for the term of years therein
mentioned, to hold and enjoy the said licence, privileges, powers, and
advantages therein-before granted unto me, the said John Hawks, my
exors, adiñiors, and assigns, for and during the term of fourteen years
from the date of the now reciting Letters Patent, fully to be complete

page_text: and ended according to the Statute in that case made and provided; in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said
John Hawks, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing, under my band and cause the same to be enrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said
Letters Patent should be void.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Hawks, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention consists
in thickening the ends of the links at the points where the greatest friction,
and consequently the greatest wear takes place, whereby much greater
durability is given to ships' cable and hawser chains; for I have found by
experience that chain cables, by reason of the continual friction of the ends of
the links against each other, have a great tendency to wear away, and that
consequently after having been used for a short time the strength of the links
is in some measure diminished, and that after a lapse of one or two years a
very serious diminution of strength takes place.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said John Hawks,
do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed
by the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawing
annexed, and to the Figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :—
I form cylindrical bars of iron either by rolling, swageing, stamping, or any
of the known methods now in use for such purposes, of the form shewn in
Figure 1, with the projections or swells A, A, placed at such distances on the
bar as to come exactly opposite each other when the bar is formed or turned
into a link, by which means the extremities of the links are made thicker than
the sides, rendering a chain so constructed less liable to be injured by friction,
and thereby retaining its original strength for a much longer period than the
chains heretofore made. The extremities of the bar are scarfed at C, D, so as
to fold over each other, and are to be joined or welded at the sides of the link
in any manner the manufacturer may think best; Figure 2 shows the bar
bent or turned into a link ready to be joined or welded; these links may
have the usual or any other kind of stay added to them, or it may be altogether
dispensed with at the option of the manufacturer; Figure 3 shows such as
bar as aforesaid turned into a link and welded with a stay in the centre, such
as is now used for the purpose of chain cables; and Figure 4 represents my
improved link without such stay. It will be observed that similar letters are
used to denote similar parts in all the Figures.

page_text: The utility of my Invention consists not only in counteracting in a great
measure the effect necessarily produced by the wearing or chafing of the links
within each other, but the strength of the chain will be found to be considerably
increased with thickened ends, as herein-before mentioned. And I therefore
claim as my Invention the constructing of ships' cable, and hawser chains of
links formed as shewn in Figures 3 and 4 of the Drawings annexed.
And such my Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief
entirely new and never before used within that part of His said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said
Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my
said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or
disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent contained, wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hawks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.