IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WINDLASSES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clarke, of Gateshead-on-Tyne, in the
County of Durham, and Edmund Walker, of London Street, in the
City of London, Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clarke and
Edmund Walker at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 22nd June 1869.
We, WILLIAM CLARKE, of Gateshead-on-Tyne, in the County of
Durham, and EDMUND WALKER, of London Street, in the City of
London, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WINDLASSES," to be
as follows:-
This Invention consists in mounting a disc upon the axle or shaft
upon which the cable wheel or lifter is mounted; the cable wheel or
lifter is fitted loosely upon the axle, but the disc is keyed or feathered
upon the axle so that it shall rotate with it; it is allowed play along the

page_text: axle, and when it is necessary to regulate its rotation when the chain is
running out, or to stop it entirely, the disc is forced against the wheel by
means of a nut which works upon a threaded portion of the axle. The
disc is preferably formed with a number of diagonal dovetailed grooves
into which blocks or strips of wood, metal, or other material are placeil
and fixed. Other blocks or strips of wood or metal may be secured in
grooves formed in the face of a fixed disc on the opposite side of the
cable wheel or lifter. We do not confine ourselves to grooving the discs
for the reception of the blocks or strips as the blocks or strips may be
bolted or otherwise secured to the same. In some cases we form the
grooves in the face or faces of the cable wheel or lifter. In lieu of the
threaded nut we sometimes employ levers or wedges.
This Invention will be found particularly applicable when the anchor
is being weighed, and to vessels riding at anchor, as the amount of break
power can be so adjusted that when the vessel pitches heavily or extra
strain is put on the cable the wheel will slip and give off a little more
chain to case it and thus prevent fracture.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Clarke and Edmund Walker in the Great
Scal Patent Office on the 22nd December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
CLARKE, of Gateshead-on-Tyne, in the County of Durham, and EDMUND
WALKER, of London Street, in the City of London, Manufacturers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Clarke and Edmund Walker, Her
special licence that we, the said William Clarke and Edmund Walker,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
William Clarke and Edmund Walker, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WINDLASSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Clarke
and Edmund Walker, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or one of our, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately, after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Clarke and Edmund
Walker do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in mounting a disc upon the axle or shaft
upon which the cable wheel or lifter is mounted; the cable wheel or
lifter is fitted loosely upon the axle, but the disc is keyed or feathered
upon the axle so that it shall rotate with it; it is allowed play along the
axle, and when it is necessary to regulate its rotation when the chain is
running out or to stop it entirely the disc is forced against the wheel by
means of a nut which works upon a threaded portion of the axle. The
disc is preferably formed with a number of diagonal dovetailed grooves
into which blocks or strips of wood, metal, or other material are placed
and fixed. Other blocks or strips of wood or metal may be secured in
grooves formed in the face of a fixed disc on the opposite side of the
cable wheel or lifter. We do not confine ourselves to grooving the discs
for the reception of the blocks or strips as the blocks or strips may be
bolted or otherwise secured to the face of the same. In some cases we
form the grooves in the face or faces of the cable wheel or lifter. In
lieu of the threaded nut we sometimes employ levers or wedges.
This Invention will be found particularly applicable when the anchor
is being weighed, and to vessels riding at anchor, as the amount of break
power can be so adjusted that when the vessel pitches heavily or extra
strain is put on the cable the wheel will slip and give off a little more
chain to ease it, and thus prevent fracture.
The manner in which we propose to carry our Invention into effect is
represented in the accompanying Drawings, of which Figure 1 is an

page_text: elevation of a windlass complete as fitted on board a vessel with our
improvements applied thereto; Figure 2 is a similar view with one
portion in section; and Figure 3, a face view of one of the movable discs
or plates a which are drawn to and fro upon the shaft 6 by means of the
threaded nut or ring c. This nut is provided with handles d, d, to
facilitate its being turned by hand. The inner face of the disc or plate a
is recessed or grooved preferably in a diagonal manner, as shown, for the
reception of blocks or strips of wood e, e, which are driven in from the
outer edge or periphery, and are held in place by the undercut projec-
tions is the cable wheel or lifter, which is fitted to run loosely
upon the axle or shaft 6, and its speed of rotation is regulated to the
greatest nicety by the degree of pressure exerted upon the disc by the
nut.
In the Figures we have shown the disc or plate as having a flat face
to work against a corresponding plate or face of the cable wheel, but we
do not confine ourselves to making the disc or the face of the wheel of
a flat form, as in some cases we make one of them conical and the other
concave, and bring the two into contact by a screw nut or other appli-
ance, as represented in Figure 4. Neither do we confine ourselves to
fixing the blocks or strips in the face of the discs or plates as they may
be fixed in grooves formed in the face or faces of the cable wheel or lifter
itself instead of in the faces of the discs. Similar blocks or strips are
fixed in the face of the break band wheel i, so that should a vessel be
riding at anchor and extra strain be put upon the "cable" the wheel
shall slip and let out a little more to case it, the slip being regulated by
the pressure or force which is put upon the disc by the threaded nut.
It is not essential that the faces of the discs or plates or of the wheel
should be grooved for the reception of the blocks or strips, as the blocks
or strips may be bolted or otherwise secured upon the faces in any
suitable manner. The blocks or strips may be composed of any mate-
rial, but we prefer to make them of wood and arrange them therein
or theroon lengthwise of the grain or across the grain, as found best
suited for the purpose.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim as
our Invention,―
Firstly. Fitting blocks or strips of wood or other material in or upon
the face or faces of discs or plates which are worked by threaded nuts or

page_text: by wedges on the axle or shaft of windlasses, in the manner and for the
purposes herein-before described and represented in the accompanying
Drawings.
Secondly. Fitting blocks or strips of wood or other material in or upon
the face or faces of the cable wheel or lifter of windlasses, as and for the
purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Walker, for myself and on
behalf of the said William Clarke, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of December One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
H. GARDNER,
166, Fleet Street,
London.
EDMP. WALKER. (L.S.)