IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS AND VESSELS, AND IN WORKING PARTS OF THEIR GEAR AND RIGGING
Year: 1858

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Molyneux Shuldham at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
December 1858.
I, MOLYNEUX SHULDHAM, of Dursley, in the County of Gloucester, Com-
mander, Royal Navy, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS AND VESSELS, AND IN WORKING PARTS OF THEIR
GEAR AND RIGGING," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in methods of running in or hoisting up a ship's bow-
sprit, with its jib-boom and flying jib-boom, so as to enable any of Her
Majesty's ships, or any other vessels, when constructed as steam rams (which
require bowsprits), to enable them to carry sufficient head sails, and notwith-
standing to be in a fit state to perform the duty of steam rams.
My first arrangement is my method of running in or housing the bowsprit
by means of an inverted railway; the rail is fixed to the bowsprit and the rail
wheels are fixtures in the interior of the vessel, of a sufficient number to bear
the weight of the bowsprit throughout the line of its course, the inclination of
the rail to the plane of flotation sufficing to allow the bowsprit to run down
by its own gravity, a certain description of brake being provided to modify any
accelerated motion caused by the vessel's pitching. All the rigging and gear of
the bowsprit are contrived to slip off as they run in, as also that of the jib-booms,
without requiring any manual labour to remove them, excepting in taking in
the slack of them, together with the running rigging, thus making the ship
capable of performing ram duty; either when under sail and steam or under
steam alone. In the first case the mizen topsail would be furled and all the
after sails taken in, and in the latter all the sails would be furled.
My second arrangement differs entirely from my first, for the bowsprit with

page_text: all its appendages, instead of being run in, as described, is hung upon pivots or
hinged so as to permit it to be hoisted-up from the outer end, and either to be
secured to the foremast or steadied by guys; the operation would require a
suitable rope fastened to the end of the bowsprit, then led through a leading
block fixed to the head of the foremast, then through another at the head of
the mainmast, and eventually through another at the end of the taffrail, when
a tackle of sufficient power would be fixed to hoist up the bowsprit; it would
be so contrived as to allow the jib-boom and a portion of the flying jib-boom
to run in within it, which would ease its weight considerably.
I have invented a third method for getting a ship's bowsprit and its append-
ages out of the way, so that a ship may be in a fit state to perform the duty of
a steam ram. I cause what is called the "housing" of a bowsprit to circulate
.between two fixed rings, the bowsprit working round a bolt fixed in the centre
of the circle, and which can be firmly fixed and secured to any part of it, and
as the diameter of the circular rings may be nearly equal to the breadth of the
ship, the housing of the bowsprit or that part which is in-board would be ample
for its support; the fixed rings should be placed high enough above the forecastle
deck to be clear of all obstructions, and by the help of purchases or other
mechanical powers, the bowsprit could be placed at a right angle to the keel
of the vessel or at any one abaft it until it was stopped by the ship's yards or
rigging, in this way the ship's head would be quite clear of her intended victim.
With regard to the standing rigging of the foremast, I attach the fore stay and
spring stay to the head of the vessel, instead of as in the usual manner to the
bowsprit, and manage the fore topmast stay in the same way. I reeve the fore
topmast staysail, stay, and jib-stay through leading blocks fixed to the fore top-
mast head, all for the purpose of hauling in the slack of them, as the bowsprit is
being run in. Should a vessel be so lengthened as not to require any bowsprit
at all, and consequently should only be fitted with jib-booms or light bowsprits,
I deal with them in the same manner as I have already described. Some of my
plans regarding my method of removing the bowsprit and the jib-boom's rigging
and gear are applicable to topmasts and topgallant mast's standing rigging.
With regard to the arrangements for getting the bowsprit of a ship out of
the way, so as to enable her to sink whatever vessel she had selected for her
victim, the same plans are adaptable to vessels constructed exclusively for
rams when they require bowsprits or jib-booms to enable them to sail better,
or in fact for any vessel of sufficient tonnage to require them.