IMPROVEMENTS IN ANCHORS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Daines at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
February 1869.
I, WILLIAM DAINES, of Gravesend, in the County of Kent, Pilot,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ANCHORS," to be as follows:-
The objects of my Invention are to increase the strength of the
stock and the holding power of the anchor, to diminish the liability
of the fouling of the chain upon the stock, and to render the anchor
more generally secure and effective.
The said Invention consists chiefly in constructing the stock with
inclined pieces which extend inward from each end of the stock at an
angle of about fifty-five degrees to the shank. The latter is provided
with chocks or abutments to receive the ends of the said pieces, which
are held in place laterally by a small pin passed through the arms and
stock, or by a collar or other suitable fastening. The crown and shank
of the anchor may be constructed in one picce as in the ordinary solid
anchor, or the crown may be jointed to the shank as in those known

page_text: as "Porter's, "Trotman's, and other portable anchors. не ощу
alteration required in the shank of the anchor to adapt my improve-
ments thereto is the formation of the chocks-or abutments which receive
the ends of the inclined pieces.
manner.
or
In constructing a new anchor I forge these chocks upon the shank,
but in applying my Invention to anchors already in use I should prefer
to rivet them upon the shank. If the anchor is of the "Trotman"
other analagous class the chocks must be far enough from the crown to
allow the palm to clear the said chocks. The stock is preferably formed
with a square hole to admit the end or square of the shank, which
should be well fitted in the said hole with the stock bearing against a
shoulder formed on the shank. A plate or washer may be placed over
the shank outside the stock. The projecting end of the shank is slotted
to receive a key which is driven tightly through the shank outside the
plate or washer, and thus secures the stock firmly upon the shank; the
key is secured by a small pin or by other convenient means which
permit its ready removal when desired. The shank is formed at its
end to receive a shackle to which the chain is secured in the ordinary
The stock is enlarged around the square hole to give it the
required strength, and is extended outward at right angles to the shank
and in a plane at right angles to or across the plane of the arms as in
a common anchor. The distance from the shank to the ends of the
stock is somewhat less than the usual length of anchor stocks as at
present constructed. The stock and the inclined side pieces are forged
in one piece, and I prefer to make them with square corners on their
edges or faces which lie towards the top of the anchor, so that when
embedded in the mud or other bed they may offer the greatest resistance
to the dragging of the anchor. The back edges of the stock and
inclined pieces are preferably rounded, or if thought desirable the said
stock and side pieces may be made entirely of round iron. The inclined
pieces have their inner ends which are secured to the shank widened and
flattened to fit properly against the same and to allow them to be
conveniently secured by a pin or by a collar fitted on the said ends.
The stock and inclined pieces may be readily separated from the shank,
it being only necessary to remove the pin or collar from the inner
ends of the said pieces and take out the key which holds the stock; the
latter with the inclined pieces can then be drawn off of the shank. To
facilitate the removal of the stock I form a hole through cach of the

page_text: exterior corners or elbows of the same, in which holes ropes may be
inserted; these holes'also serve to relieve the ends of the stock from
the mud when the anchor is raised. The fouling of the chain, so
frequently occurring with common anchors, is entirely prevented by the
side pieces, which being inclined outward from the shank to the ends
of the stock present no surface for the chain to catch or hold upon.
These arms also add greatly to the strength of the stock and prevent
the twisting or bending of the same, while the stock and inclined pieces
when embedded in the mud will offer great resistance to the dragging
of the anchor and greatly increase its holding power.