IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR TRACKING OR TOWING BOATS OR OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
BOYDELL, junior, of Dee Cottage, near Hawarden, North Wales, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourteenth day of April, in the fifth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James
Boydell, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said James Boydell, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Boydell, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no other, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, us, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR TRACKING OR TOWING BOATS OR
OTHER VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I,
the said James Boydell, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High 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

page_text: James Boydell, do declare the nature of my said Invention to consist in the
construction and arrangement of certain apparatus or machinery by which
boats or other vessels may be tacked, towed, or moved in a manner professing
particular advantages under particular circumstances, as will be hereafter
explained, and the manner in which the same is to be performed or carried
into effect will be more clearly seen by reference to the annexed Drawing and
the following description thereof. It will be remarked that certain letters and
figures of reference are used in this description and Drawing, but that the same
letters when repeated indicate the same parts throughout.
Figure 1 represents a sectional view of a ferry or ford to which my improved
apparatus or machinery is applied; and Figure 2, a plan or birds-eye view of
part of the same machinery or apparatus. In these Figures, A represents a
ferry boat floating on the surface of the water; and a, a, the chain or cable,
which I call the bridle, by which it is held, and prevented from drifting by the
current or stream; b, b, indicate the high-water mark, and c, c, the low-water
mark, see Figure 1; this ferry being subjected to the influence of the tide.
B, B, represent two inclined planes or landing places of masonry, for the con-
venience of landing carriages or passengers at all times of the tide; C is a
whimsey, which may be worked by horse or other power, around the drum of
which is carried the endless chain d, d, d, d; this chain is carried across the
river or ferry, and on the opposite side to that on which the whimsey C is
placed, where the chain is passed round an horizontal warve or pully D, from
which it returns to the whimsey C, in a parallel direction to that in which it
was carried across the river, as best seen at Figure 2, where, as already stated,
the same letters indicate the same parts as in Figure 1. Now, by tracing the
revolution of the drum or barrel of the whimsey, round which the chain d,d, d, d,
is wound, it will be clear that the motion imparted to the chain will cause one
of the parallel lines of the chain at the bottom of the river or ford to move in
one direction, while the opposite line of chain is moving in the reverse direc-
tion, as indicated by the small arrows placed near the chain in the Drawing,
and also that the direction of motion of the chain must depend on the direction
of rotation imparted to the whimsey. The bridle a, a, which holds the ferry boat
A from drifting down the stream, is attached or fastened to one of the paralele
sides of the chain d, d, d, d, and it is by the motion of the chain d, d, d, d that
the ferry boat A is tracked or towed from one side of the ferry to the other,
and returned by the same means when the rotation of the whimsey C is
reversed. To prevent the chain d, d, d, d, bedding itself in the sand, and to
decrease the friction experienced in moving it across the bed of the river, I have
placed friction pullies to support it, as represented atf, and also four guide pullies

page_text: intersecting each other, as seen at F, and separate in a front view on a large
scale at Figure 3, for the purpose of keeping the chain d, d, d, d, at the bottom
of the river or ford; but the necessity or not of these precaution must greatly
depend on the extent of the ferry and nature of the bed of the river or ford,
and must in all cases be left to the judgment of the engineer, or parties
intrusted with the construction of the apparatus.
From the foregoing description of the annexed Drawings, it will be seen
that the ferry boat A, being held by her bridle a, a, and acted on by the stream,
would partake of the property of what is generally called a flying bridge, and
shear or move by the action of stream on the rudder when placed on the proper
angle, even supposing the chain d, d, d, d, to remain at rest, and this shearing
motion of the boat A, which is gained by the action of the stream on the
rudder, as is well known to seamen and persons conversant with marine affairs,
greatly assist the traverse of the boat across the ferry, and thereby greatly
diminishes the amount of force required to move the whimsey C. It will also
be remarked, that in such situations as are affected by the tide, I have found
it convenient to attach two bridles, one to each side of the moving chain, with
a small buoy to the other, to which the boat A is attached whenever the direc-
tion of the stream is reversed, thereby preventing any crossing of the chain
d, d, d, d, which would occur if this precaution was not adopted. The arrange-
ment and construction of parts shewn at Figure 1 and 2 are the most simple
(except the placing of a single chain or hawser with a whimsey on each side
of the river), and perfectly efficient where the bottom of the ford or river is
hard and tolerably level; but in some cases it may be required to place a guide
for the chain at the bottom of the river, which I propose constructing of the
form as seen at at Figure 4, which represents a plan, and Figure 5 a trans-
verse section of a tube provided with a longitudinal opening or slit. This tube
must be confined on the bed of the river by piles or other means, as circum-
stances may allow. In this position it will become a guide for the moving
chain d, d, d, d, one part of which is passed down the interior of the tube, and
the position at which the boat is attached will be sufficiently obvious by the
letters of reference. Although the above description refers to the moving or
passing a boat across a ferry or ford, which I have already put in execution, it
will be obvious that a similar arrangement of apparatus may be readily applied
for the purpose to tracking or towing boats on canals, through tunnels, and into
the floodgates of docks and similar places, and in long distances, such as
passing tunnels. Where the wight of the moving chain on the bottom or bed
of the navigation would cause too great an amount of friction, I adopt the
following means of lessening it:-

page_text: Figure 6 represents a side view of part of a moving chain, the links of which
are provided and filled with wood or any other buoyant material, the proportion
of which to the weight of the link of chain may be varied; by increasing
or diminishing the size of the link I am thus enabled to render a chain either
totally or partially buoyant, and to diminish the amount of friction in moving
such chain, inasmuch as its buoyancy is increased. The advantages arising
from this application of my Invention to ferries, similar to that set forth and
described at Figure 1 and 2, arc, that the ferry boat is passed across much
readier than by the ordinary method and at any time of the tide without
impeding the navigation of the river or canal, at the same time that the
natural position which the boat assumes with her bows to the stream, render
the passage of the boat much safer in rough weather, as well as much easier
moved under any circumstances. In tracking or towing vessels on canals, or
under long tunnels where canals occasionally are carried, the partial buoyancy
given to the chain, as described at Figure 6, will so decrease the friction of the
chain used for such purposes as to render the tracking of vessels in such
circumstances more advantageous and rapidly effected.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner in which
the same may be performed and carried into effect, I hereby declare that
I do not claim as of my Invention any separate or well-known part of
the apparatus or machinery herein-before described. But I do claim as of my
Invention the construction, arrangement, and adaptation of a moving chain,
rope, or hawser placed beneath the surface of the water of a navigable river,
lake, or canal for the purpose of tracking or towing boats or any other vessel,
as herein-before described at Figure 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; and I also claim as of
my Invention that peculiar construction of chain as set forth and described at
Figure 6, for the purpose of tracking or towing boats and any other vessels.
And these my improvements being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
new, and never before used, I deliver this as my true and faithful Specification
of the same.
In witness whereof. I, the said James Boydell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Tenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
JAMES (L.s.) BOYDELL, JUN.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said
James Boydell, in the presence of
RICH BARKER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord 1835, the aforesaid James Boydell came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
Inrolled the Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.