CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MASTS, SAILS, AND RIGGING OF SHIPS OR SAILING VESSELS
Year: 1818

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
ECCLES, of Edinburgh, Esquire, sendeth greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Ninth day of May, in the fifty-eighth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Eccles, His especial licence that I, the said Robert Eccles, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Eccles, my
executors, administrators, and 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, and also within all
His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MASTS, SAILS, AND RIGGING OF SHIPS OR SAILING VESSELS;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the
said Robert Eccles, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Eccles, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described in manner
following; that is to say:-
It is intended by these improvements to adapt the fore and aft rig to
vessels of larger construction than has been the practice heretofore; and the
Drawings hereunto annexed will shew the combinations by which it is to be
effected. By Figure No. 1 it will be seen that two slender masts A, A, are to
be placed in the vessel with a good deal of rake aft, and stepped below in the
usual manner, and two standards B, B, raking forward, are to be placed with
their feet at the lower part of the masts and secured to them by iron eyes,
the foot of the main standard being raised a little above the deck on the
mizen mast. The head of the main standard is to meet the head of the
main mast under the crosstrees and cap, where it is also to be secured by iron
eyes, see Drawing Z, and the head of the fore standard is to hang on a similar
angle over the bow. The head of the mizen mast is be connected with the
head of the mainmast by a wooden spar C, thickest in the middle, like a ship's
yard, the one end of which is to be secured with close iron hooks and eyes
to the mizen mast head, and the other end by the same means to the cap at
the crosstrees. From the fore part of the cap to the head of the fore standard
an extended line of wood D is to be drawn, secured also with iron hooks and eyes
to the points it meets at both ends. Another line of extended wood E is to
be drawn from the head of the fore standard to the boltsprit, near the stem of
the vessel, and hauled tort down by hempen lanyards through dead eyes. It
will then be seen by the Drawing that by the combination of the masts A, A,
with the standards B, B, connected aloft by the main jackstay C and the
fore jackstay D, and by the fore standard stay E to the foot of the bowsprit (all
of wood), that the masts and standards are secure from moving by pressure
fore or aft, independent of any hempen support (except the lanyard to the
fore standard stay). In addition, however, to these fore and aft supports of
wood, a shore I is placed with its foot resting on the boltsprit near the stem,
and the other end supporting the fore standard above the center, and a stay
of hemp F is to lead from the head of the fore standard to the boltsprit, and
another from the head of the mainmast below the crosstree to the mizen
mast at the point where the foot of the main standard meets it, to run parallel
and close to the standard. It is meant as a preventer in case of the standard
being broken, the latter being a very important support in the vessel, and
acting by extension, it being also subject to lateral pressure by the force of the
mainsprit G and spritsail which is to be set upon it, it should possess con-

page_text: siderable substance, being thickest in the middle. To make the terms I use
perfectly understood, I shall here observe, that by extension of wood, I mean
its resistance when drawn longitudinally end from end, like an extended rope;
by compression of a spar of wood, I understand the contrary, that is to say, a
pressure on it endways; and by lateral pressure I understand a pressure on it
sideways. The topmast it will be seen has a very firm stand, being effectually
supported fore and aft by hempen stays, which reeve at the heads of the fore
standard and mizen mast. Thus, the masts being all secured from moving
fore or aft, it remains to support them sideways from the tops, and being tall
slender masts, to give them all such center supports as they admit of. To
effect this, the Drawing will shew that a wooden shroud is to be drawn from
the top of the mainmast parallel with the mast to a chain plate at the
vessel's side, and drawn to it by means of hempen lanyards through dead
eyes, which lanyards are to be made very long and strong, particularly the
lanyards, to the main shrouds, as by their length some elasticity is obtained
to break the jerk of the ship's motion and ease the topmast, and strong,
because the great stress of the mast falls on it, as it will not yield with the
hempen shrouds which are combined with it. Three hempen shrouds are to
be brought from each mast head to the chains, the center shroud to go imme-
diately outside the wooden shroud. In the Drawing the center redish line in
the shrouds is wood, those at each side of it hemp. The reason that the third
shroud is not shewn in the Drawing is, that it would cover the wooden
shroud and hide it. The center hempen shroud is to be combined with the
wooden shroud by small hoops of wood attached and made fast at intervals to
the former, and sufficiently wide to move on the wooden shroud which is to
pass through them. Across the three hempen shrouds the ratlines are to be
drawn in the usual way, and the former are to be hauled to the chains in the
common manner; the lanyards in the three hempen shrouds being of equal
length. The wooden lines in the Drawing are represented redish or orange,
and the hempen lines black. One side only of the vessel's masts, rigging, &c.,
is shewn, to avoid confusion. The extended lines of wood, videlicet the fore
jackstay D. the fore standard stay E, and the three wooden shrouds (which
support the two masts and the fore standard, are intended as a substitute of
wooden stays for hemp, their security depending on their being drawn so tort
that they cannot bend sufficiently to break them. Three or four inches
diameter of tough wood (preserving the grain) will be found sufficient to bear
an immense strain by extension, provided the joinings in them are properly
made, and that the iron eyes are properly attached to their ends. These eyes
are to be fixed to close hooks at the mast heads, and to the shrouds below are

page_text: to be large dead eyes. The center supports of the masts consist of shores H,
to be fixed with clamps of iron, with cyes, to iron hoops on the masts, and the
feet of them are to be placed at the gunwales, sufficiently aft of the masts to
give a triangular effect, but not so far aft as to interfere with the play of the
booms, and at the gunwales they are to be secured. As the nature of wood is
not to yield by extension or compression longitudinally, it follows, that when
the shores are fixed and secured their positions will remain stationary. It,
however, may be found, that in hauling the stays from the head of the fore
standard tort down to the bowsprit, the vessel's length, or the combination of
her fore and aft supports, may yield a little, and consequently that the shore I
may require occasionally to be lengthened or shortened a little. To effect this,
a square bolt of iron with holes in it is to project from the foot of the shore,
and a socket into which it will fit to be attached to the boltsprit with cor-
responding holes; then by raising or depressing it in the socket, and passing a
side bolt through the holes in both, it will be secured at the desired length.
To support the center of the fore standard sideways, a line of extended wood L
is to be drawn parallel to it, and hauled tort with lanyards to the gunwale at
each side. It is shewn in the Drawing on the off side of the vessel, as being
more distinct on that side. The last manner of securing the different points of
conjunction in this combination will be simple and obvious to tradesmen, as
well as the substance that the different spars and lines of wood may require for
the force they are to sustain, and therefore I am less particular in the minutiae
of that part of the subject. By the Drawing it will be seen that a short yard
K, pretty substantial, is to be rigged on the mainmast head, and is to come
down close on the cap. It is to be braced tort by means of strong ropes to
the head of the fore standard forward, and to the head of the mizen mast aft.
This yard is to be always square. The use of it is to keep the fore sprit to
windward when the vessel fills aback in going about, and also to keep the
fore topsail sheet to windward, as well as to give it a slope to leeward when
trim'd to the wind, these sheets leading into the ends of the yard, and then into
blocks at the mast heads, and down the sides of the mast to the deck. A
middle sheet from the fore sprit is also to be rove at the mast head; guys to the
top maintopsail boom may also lead to the extremities of this yard. The side
supports of the topmast are to be as commonly in use by cutters, &c. As the
masts will be tall and slender, it will be found convenient, for the purpose of
using short spars, to have a joining in each of them, and, as they are firmly
supported by the shores, they may be spliced or tongued at or below the points
where the shores meet them. It would be very practicable to give them a
further support by a double shore; that is to say, another shore from the

page_text: same point of the gunwale as the first, but meeting the mast lower down, say
half way between the first shore and the deck; but, in my opinion, such addi-
tional support will not be required.
By Drawing Y, of a vessel under sail by the wind and before the wind, it will
be observed in what manner the sail cloth is to be spread on the combination
above described, as per Drawing No. 1. It will be seen that the sails are all
triangular, and no gafs are used, but booms below to the middle sail and mizen,
and sprits above to the two sprit sails, which are set upon the standards, and
hauled out to the sprit ends, from which sprit ends sheets are to lead to the
mast heads. The feet of the sprits are to traverse on the masts in the manner
that booms do, that is, by throats, or by iron eyes and pivots. From the
impediment in the center of the masts by the shores meeting them, the main
(or middle sail) and the mizen could not be hauled down if the hoops attached
to the leach were upon the mast, therefore in that case these sails must be
brailed up, to obviate which difficulty a line of extended wood is to be run
behind each mast, and parallel to it, leaving sufficient space between it and
the mast to allow small hoops to traverse freely on the wooden line, which
hoops are to be attached to the sail; see Figure No. 2, and Drawing Y.
The line of extended wood is to be secured above and below to iron brackets,
and forelocked tort under the lower bracket (and to have an iron eye
or link above and another below), by this means the main or middle sail
and the mizen will haul up and down. If, for the purpose of making the
vessel sail better, more clasticity should be desired than the unyielding
nature of wood will allow, these lines may be made of hemp drawn
tort, but I give the preference to the wooden line. The sprit sails are to have
hoops on the standards, and to haul down as far as the sprit from the upper
part of the sail, and to brail up to the standard at the foot of the sprit from
the middle of the after leach.
To Reef the Sprit Sails.-The upper part being hauled down to the sprit, is
to be reefed to it along from end to end by points. By the Drawing Y will
be seen the manner in which the sails on the square sail yard are to be made
and set; they are all triangular. The main angle sail which spreads the
length of the yard above, is to be but half the breadth of the deck at the foot
below, and outer angle sails are to fill up the spaces, boomed out from below
by booms, which are to traverse on a bolt or pivot attached to the sides of the
vessel near her bows, in the manner at present used by ships for their lower
steering sails, and to fold to the ship's side and rest in a crutch when not in
use. The tacks of these outer sails are to come in upon deck to meet the
center sail. The steering sails that go outside these are plainly delincated in

page_text: the Drawing. The reason for dividing the cloth on the square sail yard into
three is, that in a large vessel it would be too large and unhandy in one sail.
The yard is to hoist on the mainmast in the usual manner of a cutter's yard;
and as in bracing up this yard it may touch the wooden shroud and injure it, a
few links of chain are to lead from the mast head to meet the commence-
ment of the wooden line. The topsail boom, as well as being suspended by
the topping lift, is also to have halyards rove from the head of the mast to
meet its middle in the manner of peak halyards; see Figure No. 1. The
wooden lines for shrouds and stays are to have iron eyes attached to their
ends. This may be done by the simple method of having four narrow plates
of iron proceeding from an iron eye to reach down the four sides of the round
strip of wood, sufficiently far from the top to allow of as many holes beneath
each other at intervals as may be necessary for the purpose of effectually
securing the iron to the wood, by means of small iron bolts to pass through
both, and be rivetted at the sides opposite. Another means of effecting the
'same purpose, without making any holes in the wood, is to make a split in
the end of it, or with a fine saw to cut a slit, and having put a reversed oval
iron cone over it, to drive a wooden wedge with a hammer into the split until
it takes the shape of the oval cone, which it naturally will do by being
extended by the wedge; and when the wood becomes so compressed that the
wedge will drive no farther, the top of the latter is to be cut off even with
the top of the wooden line, and then a bolt is bo passed through holes in the
two extremities of an iron eye, which come over the ears of the cone, and at
the same time through holes in the ears of the cone, which thereby attaches
the eye to it, and also prevents the wedge from starting; see Drawing Z.
As the length of the wooden shrouds and of the stays that come to the stem
or boltsprit will be very considerable, it may not be always easy to find them
in single pieces preserving the grain of the wood; they may be therefore in
two pieces, and linked by iron eyes in the center, or they may have a long
splice in the middle made in the manner shown in Drawing Z, by notches in
the line of wood meeting and supporting counter notches, and the pieces being
pressed firmly together with metal hoops and nails; but I give the preference.
to the simpler method of attaching iron eyes to the ends of the wood by small
bolts or spikes driven through plates of iron at each side of the wood and
rivetted, and of connecting the pieces, where they admit of it, by an iron link.
The main jackstay C is a horizontal prop acting by compression, and is to be
in one piece. The fore jackstay D acts by extension, and is also to be in one
piece. The two lines on which the mainsail and mizen are to hoist (and
which I term sail stays) would be better in single pieces; but if for the con-

page_text: venience of using shorter wood a joining is required, it must be a neat splice,
in the manner I have shewn in Drawing Z.
Figure No. 2 is a reduction of Figure No. 1, the fore standard and its ap-
pendages being left out, and the masts are supported forward by a stay of wood
attached to an iron loop, which goes on the mast head, and one of hemp,
parallel and close to the former, which both lead from the head of the main-
mast out of the boltsprit. The foot of the standard is raised higher on the
mizen mast, and an iron stauncheon M supports the lower part of the mast to
which it is attached; the other end of it is secured to an after beam, from
which beam beneath another iron staunchcon leads to the housed part of the
mast, as shewn in this Figure, No. 2, and is applicable to the other Figures.
The shrouds are not shewn in this Figure, or in No. 3, nor in Drawings Y, to
avoid confusion.
Figure No. 3 is a variation of Figure No. 1; it differs from it only in these
particulars, that the two standards are supported at the center with hempen
stays, and there is no shore.to the fore standard, but a wooden stay and one of
hemp, parallel and close to it, lead from the head of the fore standard out on
the boltsprit, on which the vessel spreads but one head sail and the jib. The
fore jackstay in this Figure is to be thick enough to resist by compression
as well as extension.
Figure No. 4 spreads her cloth exactly the same as Figure No. 1, and differs
from it in this particular only, that the two masts, instead of appearing as
single sticks supported by side shores and shrouds, are two great props, which
meet in the top like shears, between which a mast head piece is to be fixed, as
shewn in Drawing Z, and wooden or hempen lines, for the purpose of hoisting
the mainsail and mizen upon, are to be hauled tort or forelocked closely down from
the lower part of the mast head pieces to the butts of masts, which, the Figure
will shew, are stepped below and secured, and rise a few feet above the deck.
On these butts the main and mizen booms are to rest, and hempen stays are to
be hauled tort from the points of the props, where the cross pieces meet them
(as shewn in the Figure) to the tops of the butts. The feet of these double
props are to be secured with iron at the gunwales to the beam ends, having
passages cut in them at the waterways for the water to pass to the scuppers,
and their feet are to be leaded to preserve them. The cross pieces secure
their centers sideways, and the side shores, which meet the props at the same
points, secure their centers fore and aft ways (see the Figure). The standards
are to be supported in the same manner as in Figure No. 1, and rope ladders
in the form of shrouds are to be applied to each mast, for the mere purpose of
going aloft. In Figure No. 5 the butts of masts are taller, and meet the cross

page_text: pieces, and no side shores are required, the hempen stays, from the extremities
of the cross pieces, leading down to the lower part of the butts. The fore-
stays are as in Figure No. 2. In Figure No. 6 there are no cross pieces, but
center shores from the tops of the butts to the points where the side shores
meet the props or double masts.
Drawing Z shews the manner in which in which the double masts are to be
made; it also shews the way by which the jackstays and main standard are to
be connected with the masts; the foot of the latter and the foot of the fore
standard are to be attached to the lower parts of the masts. They meet in the
same manner as the head of the main standard is connected with the mast-
head. This applies equally to the double and single masts.
The Figures Nos. 1, 2, and 3, shewn in the first Drawing, and the Figures
4, 5, and 6, shewn in the second, embrace all the material points of the
Invention.
I, however, subjoin another Figure, No. 7, with a description of it, which,
although inferior to the application of the principle in the foregoing Figures,
It is
may nevertheless, in some cases, be found useful and convenient.
adapted to a smaller vessel.
It will be seen by the Drawing that the fore mast rests on the stem,
and is shored, and the standard goes to the kelston; it is supported
from the top by hempen and wooden shrouds, such as are in Figures 1, 2,
and 3. The mizen mast is also supported by the same description of shroud,
and a horizontal prop or jackstay connects the tops of the two masts.
The square sailyard is to hoist on the standard. But of the variations shewn
of the Invention berein specified (the nature of it admitting of variation), I
give the preference to Figures Nos. 1 and 2, as described in this Specification,
the latter being simply a reduction of the former, and adapted to a smaller or
shorter vessel.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Eccles, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighteen.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Sixteenth day of May,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Robert Eccles came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
5 also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.