IMPROVEMENTS IN ROWLOCKS FOR BOATS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Charles Martin, of Ipswich, in the County
of Suffolk, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROWLOCKS FOR BOATS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Charles Martin
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th December 1881.
EDWARD CHARLES MARTIN of Ipswich in the County of Suffolk. 'IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ROWLOCKS FOR BOATS."
"
"
My Invention relates to a construction of rowlock for boats such that the row-
lock is held firmly in position on the gunwale while it is in use, but when not in use
it can be folded inwards and downwards to a position where it is held securely
under the edge of the gunwale. For this purpose I swivel the rowlock on a plate
which is itself swivelled to a vertical slide having a slotted hole in which works a
horizontal bolt or pin. On the upper face of the gunwale I fix a plate which is
recessed so as to form a socket fitting the rowlock plate and which on its inner side
has a pair of ears in which the horizontal bolt or pin is fixed, those ears forming
guides for the slide to which the rowlock plate is swivelled. Under the gunwale
strip I fix a blade spring arranged to engage the rowlock plate when it is folded in.
When the rowlock is in use the plate to which it is swivelled rests firmly in the
socket recess on the upper face of the gunwale. When it is out of use the rowlock
and its plate are raised out of the socket recess, the slot in the vertical slide
permitting this movement; the rowlock plate is then swivelled half round on the
vertical slide and the whole is then folded inwards and downwards turning on the
horizontal bolt or pin, and being pressed to its lower position the rowlock plate is
engaged by the spring which firinly holds it. When it is desired that the socket
recess on the gunwale should be filled up when the rowlock is not in use, a second
plate like that on which the rowlock is swivelled but without a rowlock may be
provided, mounted in the same way as the rowlock plate, so that either can take the
place of the other. In order that these two plates and their slides may not
interfere with one another I swivel one on the one side and the other on the other
side of the middle line of the rowlock.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Edward Charles Martin in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th June 1882.
EDWARD CHARLES MARTIN of Ipswich in the County of Suffolk. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ROWLOCKS FOR BOATS."
My Invention relates to a construction of rowlock for boats such that the rowlock
is held firmly in position on the gunwale while it is in use, but when not in use it
can be folded inwards and downwards to a position where it is held securely under
the edge of the gunwale. For this purpose I swivel the rowlock on a plate which
is itself swivelled to a vertical slide having a slotted hole in which works a
horizontal bolt or pin. On the upper face of the gunwale I fix a plate which is
recessed so as to form a socket fitting the rowlock plate and which on its inner side
has a pair of ears in which the horizontal bolt or pin is fixed, those ears forming
guides for the slide_to_which the rowlock plate is swivelled. Under the gunwale
strip I fix a blade spring arranged to engage the rowlock plate when it is folded
in. When the rowlock is in use the plate to which it is swivelled rests firmly in
the socket recess on the upper face of the gunwale. When it is out of use the
rowlock and its plate are raised out of the socket recess, the slot in the vertical
slide permitting this movement; the rowlock plate is then swivelled half round on
the vertical slide and the whole is then folded inwards and downwards turning on
the horizontal bolt or pin, and being pressed to its lowered position the rowlock
plate is engaged by the spring which firmly holds it. When it is desired that tho
socket recess on the gunwale should be filled up when the rowlock is not in use, a
second plate like that on which the rowlock is swivelled but without a rowlock
may be provided, mounted in the same way as the rowlock plate so that either can
take the place of the other. In order that these two plates and their slides may
not interfere with one another, I swivel one on the one side and the other on the
other side of the middle line of the rowlock.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figs. 1 and 2 are side views looking from the interior of the boat, shewing
respectively the position of rowlock when it is in use and when it is folded
inwards and downwards. Figs. 3 and 4 are corresponding transverse sections
through the gunwale, and Fig. 5 is a plan. A is the rowlock fork terminating in a
pin which is fitted to turn round in a plate B. From this plate projects an arm C
which has a pin fitted also to turn round in the plate B and has a slotted hole
receiving a pin D which is held in two cheeks E E of an angle plate F that is
fixed on the gunwale. The upper face of the plate F is recessed to receive the
plate B which when the rowlock is in use is held steadily in this recess, the
rowlock itself being nevertheless free to swivel in obedience to the motion of the
oar. When it is desired to dismount the rowlock so as to leave the gunwale clear,
it is first raised a little until the plate B is out of the recess in the plate F the slot
in C permitting this movement, the plate B with the rowlock is then turned half
round the pin of the arm C as an axis and is then canted inwards and down-
wards round the pin D as an axis to the position in Figs. 2 and 4. A blade
spring G fixed under the gunwale is strained by the edge of the plate B so as to
hold the rowlock steady in its inverted position. The rowlock can be released from
the spring G by pulling the rowlock a little downwards whereupon it can be
turned upwards and turned half round and have its plate B again engaged in the
recess of F so that the rowlock fork is ready to receive the oar.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I claim :-
Connecting a boat rowlock by a sliding and swivelling joint to a plate fixed to
the gunwale so that the rowlock when it is not in use can be turned and slid
downwards and inwards, leaving the gunwale clear, substantially as herein
described.
In witness whereof I the said Edward Charles Martin have hereunto set
my hand and seal this Twelfth day of June in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-two.
EDWARD CHARLES MARTIN. (L.S.)