IMPROVEMENTS IN GRIPS OR FASTENINGS FOR SECURING ROPES OR CORDS AND THE BARS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Defty, of No. 5, Smith Street, Middles-
borough-on-Tees, in the County of York, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GRIPS OR FASTENINGS FOR SECURING ROPES OR CORDS
AND THE BARS."
Sealed the 3rd June 1873, and dated the 18th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Defty at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th December 1872.
I, HENRY DEFTY, of No. 5, Smith Street, Middlesborough-on-Tees,
in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GRIPS OR FASTENINGS FOR SECURING ROPES
OR CORDS AND TIE BARS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction of grips or fastenings,
whereby the ends of ropes, cords, or flexible bars can be secured to any
object to which their tension is applied in such a manner that the rope,
cord, or bar is maintained at its full strength where it is fastened and is
directed accurately in the line of tension. For this purpose I form a
tapering socket for the reception of the rope, cord, or bar, which socket
is made with ears, hooks, or loops, by which it can be attached to any

page_text: object. The interior of the socket has a transverse section of oblang
form with simicircular ends, the breadth of the section and the diameter
of its semicircular ends being uniform throughout the length of the
socket, and such as will freely admit the rope, cord, or bar. The
interior of the socket is gradually narrowed in width towards its front
end, so that its transverse sections at various parts of its length present
the same general form and breadth, but are diminished in their length
as they approach the front end of the socket, or that end which is
presented towards the rope, cord, or bar. I form a wedge with a
rounded end of uniform thickness, such as can enter the socket, and
having a taper in its width corresponding to that of the socket. The
edges of the wedge are hollowed out in a circular form, so that the rope,
cord, or bar can lie in them. In order to fix the rope, cord, or bar in
the socket I pass the end of it into the mouth or front end of the
socket, I wind one turn of the rope, cord, or bar, so as to form a loop
enclosing the wedge, and I then insert the wedge with the loop of rope,
cord, or bar into the socket. When the rope, cord, or bar is subjected to
tension, the wedge and loop of rope, cord, or bar are drawn into the
taper socket, and the rope, cord, or bar is thereby secured between the
edges of the wedge and the sides of the socket by a grip which does not
injure it. Several holes may be made through the wedge near its front
or small end, which is made of such length as to protude beyond the
front of the socket, when it is tightly drawn into the socket by
the tension of the rope, cord, or bar. A pin can be inserted into one or
other of these holes whereby the slacking back of the wedge when the
rope, cord, or bar is loose is prevented. By making the socket so that
the eye, hook, or loop by which it is attached to any object is in the
line of the one edge of the wedge from which the rope, cord, or bar
extends, the tension is directed accurately in the line of the rope, cord,
or bar.
Although I have described above a construction of socket and wedge
adapted for a single loop of rope, cord, or bar, it may be readily under-
stood that by making the section of the socket of greater breadth, and
by forming the wedge of greater thickness, the end of the rope, cord,
or bar might be wound two or more times round the wedge before
its insertion into the socket, and thus might be more securely fastened.
Such grips as I have described are applicable to cords or ropes made
of hemp or wire or other materials, and also to metal bars or rods of

page_text: sufficient flexibility to be bent round the wedge, in securing them for
purposes of lifting, suspending, towing, hauling, rigging, or other
purposes to which ropes, cords, or bars are usually applied.
In some cases it is convenient to make the socket which receives the
wedge in two parts which can be secured together by bolts or otherwise.
Or the wedge with the loop of rope, cord, or bar round it instead of
being inserted in a socket may be inserted between two plain or
eccentric rollers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Defty in the Great Seal Patent Office, on
the 16th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DEFTY, of No. 5, Smith Street, Middlesborough-on-Tees, in the
County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Defty, Her special license that I, the
said Henry Defty, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Henry Defty, 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 GRIPS OR FASTENINGS FOR
SECURING ROPES OR CORDS AND TIE BARS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Defty, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Defty, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the construction of grips or fastenings
whereby the ends of ropes, cords, or flexible bars can be secured to any
object to which their tension is applied in such a manner that the rope,
cord, or bar is maintained at its full strength where it is fastened, and is
directed accurately in the line of tension. For this purpose I form a
tapering socket for the reception of the rope, cord, or bar, which socket
is made with ears, hooks, or loops by which it can be attached to any
object. The interior of the socket has a transverse section of oblong
form with semicircular ends, the breadth of the section and the diameter
of its semicircular ends being uniform throughout the length of the
socket, and such as will freely admit the rope, cord, or bar. Tho interior
of the socket is gradually narrowed in width towards its front end, so
that its transverse sections at various points of its length present the
same general form and breadth, but are diminished in their length as
they approach the front end of the socket, or that end which is presented
towards the rope, cord, or bar. I form a wedge with a rounded end of
uniform thickness such as can enter the socket, and having a taper in
its width corresponding to that of the socket. The edges of the wedge
are hollowed out in a circular form, so that the rope, cord, or bar can be
in them. In order to fix the rope, cord, or bar in the socket I pass the
end of it into the mouth or front end of the socket. I wind one turn of
the rope, cord, or bar so as to form a loop enclosing the wedge, and I
then insert the wedge with the loop of rope, cord, or bar into the socket.
When the rope, cord, or bar is subjected to tension, the wedge and loop
of the rope, cord, or bar are drawn into the taper socket, and the rope,
cord, or bar is thereby secured between the edges of the wedge and the
sides of the socket by a grip which does not injure it. Several holes
may be made through the wedge near its front or small end, which is
made of such length as to protrude beyond the front of the socket, when
it is tightly drawn into the socket by the tension of the rope, cord, or
bar. A pin can be inserted into one or other of these holes, whereby the
slacking back of the wedge, when the rope, cord, or bar is loose, is

page_text: prevented. By making the socket so that the eye, hook, or loop by
which it is attached to any object is in the line of the one edge of the
wedge from which the rope, cord, or bar extends, the tension is directed
accurately in the line of the rope, cord, or bar.
Although I have described above a construction of socket and wedge
adapted for a single loop of rope, cord, or bar, it may be readily under-
stood that by making the section of the socket of greater breadth, and
by forming the wedge of greater thickness, the end of the rope, cord, or
bar might be wound two or more times round the wedge before its
insertion into the socket, and thus might be more securely fastened.
Such grips as I have described are applicable to cords or ropes made
of hemp or wire or other materials, and also to metal bars or rods of
sufficient flexibility to be bent round the wedge, in securing them for
purposes of lifting, suspending, towing, hauling, rigging, or other pur-
poses to which ropes, cords, or bars are usually applied.
In some cases it is convenient to make the socket which receives the
wedge in two parts, which can be secured together by bolts or otherwise.
Or the wedge with the loop of rope, cord, or bar round it instead of
being inserted in a socket may be inserted between two plain or eccentric

page_text: The socket A is provided with eyes A¹ by which it is attached to any
object, such eyes being so placed that the tension is directed accurately
in the line of the rope, cord, or bar. Or in place of such eyes loops or
hooks may be provided, or the socket may be constructed as shewn in
sectional, front, and side elevation at Figs. 5 and 6, where eyes A¹ are {
provided in the sides of the circular socket A, by which it may be
attached to two or more other ropes, cords, or bars.
Figs. 7 and 8 shew respectively a sectional, front, and side view of a
modified construction of my improved grip. In this arrangement the
šocket A is provided with two eccentric rollers D, D, between which the
end of the rope, cord, or bar O bent round the wedge B is passed, so that
when a strain is put upon the rope, cord, or bar, the pressure of the wedge
B causes the rollers D to turn slightly so as to grip the rope, cord, or
bar firmly between them. The socket A is provided with a loop A¹ by
which it is attached to any object.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, what I claim is,―
]
First. The improved grip or fastening for ropes, cords, or bars, con-
sisting of a wedge and socket so constructed that when the rope, cord, or
bar is laid round the wedge and is inserted into the socket the wedge grips 2
the rope, cord, or bar against the socket so as to hold it firmly therein,
substantially as herein described.
Second. The improved grip or fastening consisting of a socket with
eccentric rollers operating in such manner in combination with a wedge
round which the rope, cord, or bar is bent that the said rollers grip the 2
rope, cord, or bar firmly between them, substantially as herein described
with reference to Figures 7 and 8 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Defty, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.