A NEW AND USEFUL OR IMPROVED MODE OF CONNECTING A GAFF TO THE MAST OF A NAVICARED Vroony
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Robinson Fisher, of Chelsea, in the State
of Massachussetts, of the United States of America, for the Invention of
"A NEW AND USEFUL OR IMPROVED MODE OF CONNECTING A GAFF TO THE
MAST OF A NAVICARED Vroony"
Sealed the 4th July 1865, and dated the 15th April 1865.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Charles Robinson Fisher at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 15th April 1865, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL PERSONS TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
BE IT KNOWN that I, CHARLES ROBINSON FISHER, of Chelsea, in the State
of Massachusetts, of the United States of America, have invented "A NEW
AND USEFUL OR IMPROVED MODE OP CONNECTING A GAFF TO THE MAST OF A NAVI-
GABLE VESSEL," and I do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, to be fully described
in the following Specification, and exhibited in the accompanying Drawings..
Figure 1 of such Drawings is a side elevation of a fore-and-aft sail having
its gaff constructed and applied to a mast in accordance with my Invention;
Figure 2 is a top view of the mast band or annulus, the gaff and their
connections as detached from the mast; Figure 3 is a side view of the mast.

page_text: band as divested of the friction rolls; Figure 4 is a side view of the said
band as constructed to be used without friction rolls; Figure 5 is a top view
of the metallic" saddle," or part applied to the gaff.
The nature of my Invention consists in a peculiar mode of applying a gaff
to the mast of a vessel, that is, encompassing the mast with an annulus or
band, and so connecting the gaff to such band that it (the gaff) may not only
be freely turned in either a horizontal or a vertical plane, but during the act
of either raising or lowering the sail the said band shall be caused to maintain
or nearly maintain its concentricity with the mast, whereby not only a great
amount of friction, time, and physical power is saved in working the sail,
but a great saving in the wear and damage both to the mast and gaff is
effected.
It is a fact well known that the method heretofore generally adopted for
connecting a gaff with a mast of a vessel is attended with serious objections.
In the first place, during the act of either "running up" the sail or lowering
it, the "saddle" or furcated end of the gaff often becomes "set" on the mast,
thereby causing delay and trouble in working the sail. In the second place,
besides the unequal wear of the gaff on the mast, the jerking on the halyards
to loosen the gaff when it has become "set" on the mast causes indentations
and roughness in the surface of the mast. To remedy these difficulties is the
object of my Invention.
In the said Drawings A may be supposed to represent the deck or a portion
of the deck of a vessel; B, the mast; and C a "fore-and-aft" sail constructed
and applied to its gaff D and boom E, and connected with the mast by hoops b
in the ordinary manner. In carrying out my Invention instead of applying
the jaws or furcated end of the gaff' directly against the surface of the mast
I affix to the inner end of the gaff a metallic bead or saddle having two
curved arms 0, 0, extended from it,.such saddle being applied to the gaff by
means of a shank extending into the same in manner as shown in the Drawings;
or the said saddle and end of the gaff may be formed and united in any other
suitable manner. Each of the said arms near its outer end has a hole or eye
made transversely through it for the reception of one of two journals p, p,
formed in the outer ends of two trunnions or projections a, a, which are disposed
on opposite sides of the mast band F, and at a distance of one hundred and
eighty degrees from each other, as shown in Figure 2. By thus attaching
the gaff to central points on opposite sides of the band F instead of applying
it directly to the mast, any force which may be exerted on the head of the
gaff will be equably transmitted to such central parts of the band, and thus
allow the band to preserve its concentricity with the mast. This band or

page_text: annulus may be made of iron or other suitable material, and may be either
rectangular, elliptical, or cylindrical in cross section, or it may be partly
rectangular or elliptical and partly cylindrical, or it may have any other
desirable shape or shapes, so long as it forms an annulus. The inner half of
the said annulus, or that part embraced by the arms o, o, I prefer to make
either plane or slightly convex on its inner surface. The said band should
have a diameter somewhat larger than that of the mast which it is to encompass,
so as to be capable of being slid freely on the same. In order to diminish
as much as possible the friction of the said band F on the mast when the sail
is being lowered, if desirable, there may be arranged on the front half of the
said band a series of rollers f, f. This application of friction rolls however I
do not deem essential to my Invention, and may be employed or not as may
be desirable.
E
c, c, are two halyards which are moved through two blocks d, d, attached
to the mast in the usual manner, the said halyards having their upper
ends respectively attached to the gaff, as shown in the Drawings.
is a belaying pin, to which the lower ends of the halyards may be fastened.
From the above it will be seen that my improved mode of connecting the
gaff with the mast has several important advantages.
First, it prevents "setting" or "choking" of the gaff on the mast, and
thereby enables the sail to be handled much easier, and consequently with
much less force.
Second, it greatly lessens the unequal wear and injury to the mast incident
to the old method.
Third, in consequence of the gaff being hinged at central points on opposite
sides of the said mast band, the greater part of the gravitating force of the
gaft and sail, when the halyards are "let go" presses upon the band at such
central points, and thus causes the band to slip down evenly upon the mast,
and with comparatively little friction.
I claim my improved mode of attaching a gaff to the mast of a vessel, the
same being substantially in manner and so as to operate as and for the purposes
set forth.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 28th day
of March 1865
CHARLES ROBINSON FISHER. (L.S.)