NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING AND WORKING WINDLASSES AND CAPSTANS
Year: 1803

page_text: HARRIOTT, HURRY, & CRISPIN'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HARRIOTT, of Wapping, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of this instant June,
did give and grant unto me, the said John Harriott, EDMUND COBB HURRY, of
Gosport, in the County of Southampton, Esquire, and WILLIAM CRISPIN, of
Gosport, aforesaid, Shipwright, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, to make, use, exercise,
and vend our Invention, of a "NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING AND
WORKING WINDLASSES AND CAPSTANS," within that part of the said United
Kingdom called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, for the
term of fourteen years, according to the Statute in such case made and provided;
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging us, the
said John Harriott, Edmund Cobb Hurry and William Crispin, or one of us,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or the hand and seal of one of us, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in the High Court of Chancery within one calendar

page_text: month next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, as by
the said Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Harriott, do hereby declare that our said Invention is described in the
Drawings hereto annexed, and the following description, that is to say :—
First, one of the principles of our Invention or improvement is, that by
means of a lever or a roller, either of which we call a fleeter, fixed to the
deck or to a stantion, &c., the rotatory action of the windlass or capstan shall
move or work the said lever or roller, so as to flect or force the cable or rope
to slide back, and thereby leave space or room enough for the cable to come
in or coil round the said windlass or capstan, without riding over the preceding
turn of the cable or rope, the which, if not prevented, would soon obstruct the
working.
Secondly, the lever may be made or shaped a variety of ways; that is to
say, a single arm, straight or curved, lever, to act on one side only of the
windlass or capstan, or a two-armed lever, made semicircular or square, to act
on both sides of the windlass or capstan.
Thirdly, this lever or fleeter may be made to act as a roller separately, or
with rollers to the lever, or without, and will be acted upon by the motion of
the windlass or capstan either by means of a circular rim, or quarters, or parts
of a rim fixed on to the windlass or capstan, or by rollers; on a windlass it will
be near the midship part, and on the capstan at the lower part.
Fourthly, the rim or parts of a rim must have sundry projecting parts on its
surface or rollers, projecting in the same degree from the surface, so as to force
the lever that is placed against it alternately further off or nearer to the rim, as
the windlass or capstan works round.
Fifthly, it is the action of the lever or roller against the turns of the cable
or rope that is round the windlass or capstan that forces such cable or rope
to slide further off, equal to the projecting parts of the rim or rollers, as,
for instance, if the projecting parts or rollers rise one inch and half above
the surface of the rim, and there are four such projections, it is evident that
each revolution of the windlass or capstan will cause the lever or roller to
force the cable or rope to slide six inches, and thus give the relief wanted.
If with more or fewer projections, it is evident that the projection of all
together in one revolution of the windlass or capstan should be made equal to
the diameter of the largest rope likely to be used.
Sixthly, another rim, not fixed, but hanging loose, may be applied between
the lever and the cable or rope, in which case the lever would work between
the two rims, and the outer or moving rim would more fully and equally

page_text: affect all sizes of rope; but we at present conceive it will be generally best
worked without such hanging rim.
Seventhly, another principle of our Invention or improvement is, to make
the ends of the windlass to ship and unship, in order to give room on the deck
when not wanted to work, and when it works to admit of greater strength to
be applied by leaving all the holes in the windlass clear for shipping whole
handspikes.
Eighthly, this is done by making the axis which bears each end of the
windlass with a strong cross at each end of the axis, one of which crosses
being permanently fastened to the end of the main body of the windlass, the
other cross will project a little beyond the outside of the upright supporter of the
windlass on which the axis works; and this cross, being let into the inner end of
the end of the windlass, will be secured thereto by bolts with screws, or by a
hook with staples, pins, and keys, or any other common mode of fastening.
Ninthly, these improvements are equally applicable to the several purposes
described, of whatever proper materials the several parts may be made, either
wood, iron, or other metal most commonly used, the most proper of which, for
the respective parts, must readily occur to persons conversant in the making
of such articles.
In the annexed Drawing, Figure 1 shews the windlass, and Figure 2 the
capstan. A, A, shews the rim fixed upon either, with the projections or rollers
that act upon the lever; B, B, is the lever or rope fleeter in Figures 1 and 2,
with two arms fixed to a stantion in the deck at C, C, with it's arms or points
D, D, as in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4, that operate on the cable or rope to force it
back. E, E, in Figures 3 and 5, shew the rims separately, one with four, the
other with five projections, made whole, but may be made in quarters or in
parts. F, F, shews the lever separately in Figures 3 and 4, with a hole at the
end G, to receive a bolt to secure it to the stantion. H, H, shews the stantion
with the bolt, and a nut at the end of the bolt; I, I, are rollers at the points
D, D, of the lever F in Figure 4, to save friction against the cable or
rope, as shewn in Figure 1. K, K, K, K, are small rollers fixed in the rim
of Figure 5, instead of dead projections as in Figure 3. L, in Figure 6, is a
large roller, that may be fixed on the deck under the windlass against the turns
of the cable, either in aid of the lever or without, to answer nearly the same
purposes. M, in Figure 7, shews one end of the windlass when unshipped ;
N, in Figure 8, shews the axis with its double cross. O, in Figure 1, is the said
axis secured to the main body of the windlass by one cross, and the other cross
projecting beyond the bitts or upright supporter of the windlass to receive and
secure the end that is unshipped. P, P, in Figures 1 and 7, are long bolts