AN IMPROVED METHOD OF LOWERING SHIPS' BOATS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Dalrymple Guthrie, of Leadenhall Street, in
the City of London, Master Mariner, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF LOWERING SHIPS' BOATS."
Sealed the 22nd June 1860, and dated the 23rd December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Dalrymple Guthrie
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd December 1859.
I, ROBERT DALRYMPLE GUTHRIE, of Leadenhall Street, in the City of London,
Master Mariner, lo hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF LOWERING SHIPS' BOATS," to be as follows:-
My Invention is applicable both to lowering boats from the ship and to
lowering from the boats themselves, though I recommend lowering from the
.ship for many reasons not necessary to be here stated. I make an end of a
rope or "pendant" fast near the bow, and a similar rope near the stern of the
boat, and carry each rope through a block suspended from each of the davits.
I then make the free ends of the pendants fast inboard if lowering is to take
place from the ship, or if from the boat I then make them fast in the boat.
The blocks before mentioned are in addition to the ordinary blocks and tackle
for hoisting boats. In order to lower, unhook the boat from the ordinary
tackles, when the boat will be suspended by the pendants, slack away the
pendants, and the boat shears off, carrying the pendants with her.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Dalrymple Guthrie, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
DALRYMPLE GUTHRIE, of Leadenhall Street, in the City of London, Master
Mariner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Dalrymple Guthrie, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Dalrymple Guthrie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Robert Dalrymple Guthrie, 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF LOWERING SHIPS' BOATS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Dalrymple Guthrie,
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 saine
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 Robert Dalrymple Guthrie, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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:-
My Invention is applicable both to lowering boats from the ship and to
lowering from the boats themselves, though I recommend lowering from the
ship for many reasons not necessary to be here stated. I make one end of a
rope or "pendant" fast near the bow, and a similar rope near the stern of the
boat, and carry each rope through a block suspended from each of the davits.
I then make the free ends of the pendants fast inboard if lowering is to take
place from the ship, or if from the boat I then make them fast in the boat.

page_text: The blocks before mentioned are in addition to the ordinary blocks and tackles
for hoisting boats.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a perspective view of an appa-
ratus for lowering ships' boats according to my Invention, and shewing a boat
ready to be lowered from a ship's side; Figure 2 is a plan of the boat.
a, a, are ropes or pendants made fast to the boat by means of clip hooks
near the bow and stern; the other or free ends of the ropes are rove through
blocks b, b, suspended from the davits c, c, and are led down inboard and passed
round a spar or bars d, d, fitted to the bulwarks; e, e, are the ordinary blocks
and tackles for hoisting the boat and holding her while up. To lower the boat,
haul taut the pendants round the spars d, d, and unhook the tackles e, e, from
the bow and stern of the boat; the boat is then suspended by the pendants
only; ease away the pendants until the boat takes the water, let go, and the
pendants will unreeve themselves. To lower a boat from the boat itself take
two or more turns of the ropes a, a, round a spar or spars secured in the boat
for that purpose, and lower in a similar manner to lowering from the ship
itself, as before described.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the improved
method of lowering ships' boats, herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Dalrymple Guthrie, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 22nd day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty.
R. D. GUTHRIE. (L.S.)