A METHOD OF APPLYING FLAT ROPES, FLAT BANDS, OR BELTS OF ANY KIND TO CAPSTANS AND WINDLASSES OF SHIPS AND VESSELS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION, FOR THE PURPOSE OF TOWING OR CONVEYING THE SAID SHIPS AND VESSELS IN, OUT OF, OR ABOUT PORTS, HARBOURS, RIVERS, SEAS, OR CREEKS; AND ALSO FOR A METHOD OF APPLYING FLAT OR ROUND ROPES, LINES BANDS, OR BELTS, FOR THE PURPOSE OF CATCHING OR DETAINING WHALES
Year: 1808

page_text: TO ALL WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, greeting, I, JOHN
CORR, of Belle Vue House, in the Parish of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Gentleman, do send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Royal
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirtieth day of July, in the forty-eighth year of His reign, did
give and grant unto me, the said John Curr, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, His special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said John Curr, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my
Invention of "A METHOD OF APPLYING FLAT ROPES, FLAT BANDS, OR BELTS OF ANY
KIND TO CAPSTANS AND WINDLASSES OF SHIPS AND VESSELS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION,
FOR THE PURPOSE OF TOWING OR CONVEYING THE SAID SHIPS AND VESSELS IN, OUT
OF, OR ABOUT PORTS, HARBOURS, RIVERS, SEAS, OR CREEKS; AND ALSO FOR A METHOD
OF APPLYING FLAT OR ROUND ROPES, LINES, BANDS, OR BELTS, FOR THE PURPOSE OF
CATCHING OR DETAINING WHALES;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso, obliging me, the said John Curr, under my hand and seal,
to cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's

page_text: High Court of Chaucery within four calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Curr, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in manner
following (that is to say) :-
My method of applying flat ropes, flat bands, or belts of any kind, to ships
and vessels to tow or convey them in or out of harbours, rivers, seas, or
creeks, is as follows:-The flat rope, flat band, or belt, is attached to the
capstan, so that it can easily be taken off when required, or by having a splice
may be disunited within a few yards of the end, which will be more convenient,
and may be wound and lapped upon itself; or, if it is more convenient, may be
wound upon the capstan in two or more tiers, in the same manner as a flat
cable is wound upon a windlass, as is particularly described in the Specification
of a Patent granted to me by His present Majesty King George the Third,
dated at Westminster, on or about the Fourth day of July, Eighteen hundred
and six, in which case it may not be necessary to apply multiplying wheels to
work it; but if the flat rope, flat band, or belt be wound in one tier only, in
order to give sufficient power to the sailors to heave the ship forward when
the flat rope, flat band, or belt has increased in diameter, it will be proper to
fix a large tooth wheel on the capstan axletree about equal in diameter to the
greatest extent the flat rope, flat band, or belt will extend to, which may be
worked by a small nut wheel or nut wheels of convenient dimensions; and two
flat ropes, flat bands, or belts, or more may be applied upon the same capstan,
as will herein-after be described. One flat rope, flat band, or belt or more
may be applied on the same capstan, but the annexed Drawings shew a com-
modious manner of working two flat ropes, flat bands, or belts upon one
capstan, where Fig. 1 shews a platform, and Fig. 2 an elevation of the capstan.
a represents a large tooth wheel fixed on the capstan axletree, and 6 a move-
able wheel, which having a circular centre, will turn round without moving the
capstan axletree h, or capstan drum c. c, a nut wheel which turns the tooth
wheel a, and which by raising the gudgeon d, and fixing a proper block under
the collar k, may be applied to turn the cog wheel b, by which method either
of the two flat ropes, flat bands, or belts may be worked separately by the
drum head g, one flat rope, flat band, or belt being wound upon the drum e, and
the other upon the drum i; and if it be required to work a round rope upon
the drum head g, it may be done by raising the gudgeon d, and the parts
.connected with it, so that the nut wheel c may be clear of both tooth wheels,
and placing a block under the collar k of the axletree or gudgeon d of a

page_text: proper thickness. Each flat rope, flat band, or belt will require a leading
roller or rollers to guide it both from the stem and the stern of the ship in a
fair direction to the capstan, and may then be conveyed by another roller or
rollers in any direction required, and pails or other stops must be applied to the
tooth wheels to hold them in any situation required. The nut wheel c. should
be fixed about the centre of the vessel, which allows room for a sufficient length
of capstan bars; and gives room for the sailors to apply their powers to the
greatest advantage. For the convenience of sending out a guess line, or for
other purposes, it may be proper to have the flat rope, flat band, or belt divided
into two or more parts, and so connected together by splices that it may
casily be disunited. The tooth wheel above described is fixed horizontally,
but may be fixed to work in any other position that appears more suitable and
convenient. If the flat rope, flat band, or belt is applied to a windlass; it must
lap upon itself, and be used as directed above for the capstan. The advantages
of my Invention of towing ships and vessels consist in saving the labour of the
men, in expedition, and in preventing the ship's deck from being so much
incumbered with ropes.
My method of applying flat or round ropes, lines, bands, or belts for
the purpose of catching and detaining whales is as follows:-The annexed
Drawing, Fig. 3, is a plan of a whale boat, in which o represents the
reel; p, the break; q, the break lever, which being press'd down, presses
the break p upon the break rim t, and thereby resists in some degree the
action of the whale. r, the guide and stop for the whale line, the use of
which is further explained afterwards; S, the whale line; u, u, rollers to
keep the line near the centre of the boat. Fig. 4 shews a side view of the
whale boat and apparatus; and Fig. 5, a section of the same, the letters
of which on each Figure correspond with those marked upon Fig. 3. In
Fig. 6, r shews a front view of the guide or stop, which works upon a pin
or bolt W, and is fixed down by the cottar ; and S, the whale line upon
an enlarged scale. When a whale has nearly run out with the line of one
boat, and it is necessary to join it to the line of another boat, having pre-
viously made a knot within a few yards of the end of the line, so large that it
cannot pass through the stop r, or having fixed a hoop or bulk of any kind on
the line which will answer the same purpose as a knot, which knot or bulk
being in contact with the stop r, the end of the line may then be taken and
attached to the line of another boat. This being done, the cotter x may then
be drawn out, and the stop r raised up. The rope or line is then intirely
disengaged from the first boat; and the management of the whale put in care
of the second boat. The same means may be used to attach the lines to a

page_text: third boat or more, if required; or instead of having a stop, as above described,
the same purpose may be effected by having an upright or uprights of wood or
other fit material fixed near the stem for the line to pass through, with a cotter
to keep the line in its proper place, as shewn by Fig. 7 on an enlarged scale;
or by making the uprights sufficiently high, a cotter may not be necessary, and
a screw or lever or wedge or other mechanical power may be applied to press
upon the rope to hold it fast without using a knot, or it may be held fast by
the inen in the boat until it is connected with the line of another boat.
Having described one method of disengaging a line from a boat, and
attaching it to the line of another boat, I will now shew a method by which
the same purpose may be effected while the whale continues to run the line
out of the boat, which is to double the whale line for about twenty or twenty-
five yards, more or less, and to connect the end of it slightly by a piece of pack
thread at y, Fig. 8. This being done, the line must then be wound upon the
reel, beginning to lap on the part Z first, which is put upon a small pin fixed
in the axletree of the reel, so that when the single part of the line is all run
off, the end of it y may then be disunited, and will wind off the reel, and may
be taken to and connected with the line of another boat, while the whale con-
tinues to run out with the line; when there are two or more reels in a boat,
the same method may be used to attach the lines of one reel to the lines of
another. I recommend my patent whale lines to be used, as they may be made
much smaller than common ones, and will be equally as strong, which enables
a greater length of line to be wound in the same room, and the centre of the
reel being fixed higher in the boat than appears in Fig. 4, a still greater length
of line may be accommodated. As the lines in running out occasionally cut a
nich or hole in the ice, and in the usual way of knotting or fixing the ends
together a bulk is made, which sometimes fastens in the nich or hole, and either
breaks the line or draws out the harpoon from the whale, I recommend a hollow
conical fixture, made of iron or other fit material (which will accommodate a
knot within to fasten the rope), as-described by-Fig. 9, which from its con-
struction, together with its own gravity, will be inclined to throw itself and the
line out of the nich or hole above mentioned.
The advantages of the above method of catching whales are as follows:-
First, the lines, from being wound upon reels, and passing safely from the
reel to the head of the boat, are not subject to be entangled, as in the old
way. Secondly, the lines in my method are not so subject to injury or so
quickly destroyed as they are in the old way by running round the bollard
Thirdly, in the old way the men's hands are frequently enflamed by holding
back the wliale line by the break or lever employed in my method the

page_text: speed of the whale may be effectually retarded, without danger or difficulty,
by the harpooner or other person appointed. Fourthly, in my method the
line is confined in the centre and stem of the boat, and will therefore prevent
the danger and inconvenience to the men that would ensue if it was at
liberty. And, fifthly, by making a boat large enough to accommodate two
reels, and a sufficient quantity of lines, fewer boats, and a smaller number
of men will be required to man a whale ship.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Curr, have hereunto set my hand