IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDLASSES, CAPSTANS, STOPPERS, AND OTHER APPARATUS FOR WORKING ROPES ON BOARD SHIP
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Munton Bullivant, of 59, Fenchurch
Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN WINDLASSES, CAPSTANS, STOPPERS, AND OTHER APPARATUS FOR WORKING
ROPES ON BOARD SHIP."
"
Sealed the 15th December 1874, and dated the 5th September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Munton
Bullivant at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 5th September 1874.
I, WILLIAM MUNTON BULLIVANT, of 59, Fenchurch Street, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDLASSES, CAPSTANS, STOPPERS, AND OTHER APPARATUS FOR
WORKING ROPES ON BOARD SHIP," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in windlasses,
capstans, stoppers, and other apparatus for working ropes on board
ship.

page_text: At the present time chains are universally employed in anchoring
ships, and for towing and hauling hempen hawsers and ropes are used.
Now I use for these purposes flexible steel wire rope, and thereby obtain
a great economy both of weight, space, and cost. To carry the steel
wire rope I employ a reel mounted behind the windlass or capstan, and
I lead the rope from the rcel around the windlass or capstan, and
afterwards, when necessary, through a stopper, and. so over guide pulleys
in the hawse pipe to the anchor. The reel is provided with a break and
with steam or other gear for driving it, so that as the cable is hove in
by the windlass or capstan the cable may be wound up tightly upon the
reel. A self-acting guide directs the cable on to the reel and causes it to
wind smoothly upon it.
The driving gear of the recl may be used without the windlass or
capstan for winding in the cable when the strain upon it is not heavy.
Sometimes I do not use a separate reel, but wind up the cable upon
the barrel of the windlass or capstan, which is made of a reel-like form,
and is provided with a self-acting winding guide. I fit a trough beneath
the reel (whether forming part of a windlass or separate therefrom),
which trough from time to time (as when stowing away the cable to be
out of use for a voyage) may be filled with a paint or tar-like com-
position; thus with very little trouble the cable is thoroughly coated,
and rust is prevented from forming upon it.
The stopper I use consists of two long blocks with grooves in them. The
cable passes between the blocks and the grooves. The blocks can be forced
together by screws, and so made to nip the cable between them. The
pressure can be adjusted so as to offer any desired amount of resistance to
the passage of the cable, or to stop it and hold it securely. A considerable
length of cable being at one time between the jaws of the stopper the
cable need not be exposed anywhere to very heavy pressure, and
consequently the stopper will not be liable to injure the cable; I use
stoppers of this description for holding towing hawsers.
I arrange pulleys or rollers in the hawse pipe, so that the cable may
whilst in motion always be supported upon a rolling surface, and I form
the mouth of the hawse pipe so that at no time can the cable be
subjected to a sudden bend.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Munton Bullivant in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MUNTON BULLIVANT, of 59, Fenchurch Street, in the City of London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Munton Bullivant, Her special
license that I, the said William Munton Bullivant, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Munton
Bullivant, my 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 Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDLASSES, CAPSTANS, STOPPERS, AND OTHER APPARATUS
FOR WORKING ROPES ON BOARD SHIP," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Munton Bullivant, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 I, the said William Munton Bullivant, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in windlasses,
capstans, stoppers, and other apparatus for working ropes on board
ship.
At the present time chains are universally employed in anchoring
ships and for towing and hauling hempen howsers, and ropes aro¸used.

page_text: Now I use for these purposes flexible steel wire rope, and thereby obtain
a great economy both of weight, space, and cost. To carry the steel.
wire rope I employ a reel mounted behind the windlass or capstan, and
I lead the rope from the reel around the windlass or capstan, and
afterwards, when necessary, through a stopper, and so over guide pulleys
in the hawse pipe to the anchor. The reel is provided with a brake, and
with steam or other gear for driving it, so that as the cable is hove in
by the windlass or capstan the cable may be wound up tightly upon the
reel. A self-acting guide directs the cable on to the reel and causes it to
wind smoothly upon it; or the cable may be guided on to the reel by
hand labour.
The driving gear of the reel may be used without the windlass or
capstan for winding in the cable when the strain upon it is not heavy.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings shews a side view, and Figure 2 a
front view of a suitable reel. The reel represented is of the simplest
form; it is arranged to be driven by manual labour.
"
Sometimes I do not use a separate reel, but wind up the cable upon
the barrel of the windlass or capstan, which is made of a reel-like form,
and is provided with a self-acting winding guide. I fit a trough beneath
the reel (whether forming part of a windlass or separate therefrom),
which trough from time to time (as when stowing away the cable to be
out of use for a voyage) may be filled with a paint or tar-like com-
position; thus with very little trouble the cable is thoroughly coated,
and rust is prevented from forming upon it.
The stopper I use is shewn in elevation at Figure 3, in plan at
Figure 4, and in transverse section at Figure 5; it consists of two long
blocks with grooves in them. The cable passes between the blocks in
the grooves. The blocks can be forced together by a screw or screws,
and so made to nip the cable between them. The pressure can be
adjusted so as to offer any desired amount of resistance to the passage
of the cable, or to stop it and hold it securely. A considerable length
of cable being at one time between the jaws of the stopper the cable
need not be exposed anywhere to very heavy pressure, and consequently
the stopper will not be liable to injure the cable; I use stoppers of this
description for holding towing hawsers.
I arrange pulleys or rollers in the hawse pipe as indicated at Figures 6
and 7, so that the cable may whilst in motion always be supported upon

page_text: a rolling surface, and I form the mouth of the hawse pipe so that at no
time can the cable be subjected to a sudden bend.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the means I
find to answer in carrying the same into effect, I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the precise devices shewn and
described, as they may vary without departing from the principle of my
Invention; but what I do claim is, the adaption of steel wire
for
rope
towing and hauling purposes, for mooring, and for ships' cables, in
combination with the machinery and appliances for working the same,
substantially as I have described.
•
In witness whereof, I, the said William Munton Bullivant, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of March, in
the of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
year