IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING AND FURLING SAILS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rowden, of Whitstable, in the County of
Kent, Master Mariner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING
AND FURLING SAILS."
Sealed the 24th February 1865, and dated the 29th August 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rowden at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th August 1864.
I, WILLIAM ROWDEN, of Whitstable, in the County of Kent, Master
Mariner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN REEPING AND FURLING SAILS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to simplify the construction of the apparatus
nsed in reefing and furling sails from the deck. To this end, instead of
mounting the roller which carries the sail in brackets affixed to the yard as
heretofore, I make the yard itself act the part of a roller, and mount it in
bearings carried by supporting chains. These bearings are fitted with lugs
above and below the roller, and through these lugs I pass the reefing chains,
which serve to keep the bearings in position, and also tension chains, which
are secured to the bearings and pass to the parrall ring on the ship's mast.
By this means the bearings are kept up to the ends or shoulders of the roller
or yard. Or, in lieu of tension chains, a chafing boom carried by the parrall
ring may be employed for holding the bearings in position. The reefing
chains, the ends of which are coiled round the ends of the roller or yard, are

page_text: led up through the upper lugs, which should be fitted with antifriction rollers.
The yard is raised and lowered by the halliards which are attached to the
parral ring, and pass up to the masthead, and thence down to the deck as
usual. The crutch is carried by the parrall ring.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Rowden in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROWDEN, of Whitstable, in the County of Kent, Master Mariner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Rowden, Her special license that I, the said William Rowden, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Rowden, 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 REEFING AND
FURLING SAILS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Rowden, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Rowden, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to simplify the construction of the apparatus
used in reefing and furling sails from the deck.
The construction and operation of the several parts will be understood by
reference to the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of

page_text: a top mast fitted with my improved reefing and furling apparatus; Fig. 2 is
a back view of the same.
From this it will be seen that instead of mounting the roller which carries
the sail in brackets affixed to the yard as heretofore, I make the yard itself
act the part of a roller, on which the sail is rolled up when furled or reefed.
By this means the bearings c
The yard or roller a turns in bearings c, c, at each end thereof, and is
further supported in a crutch or central bearing b, Fig. 1, carried by a support-
ing chain or halyard b. This crutch or bearing is provided with antifriction
rollers to prevent the sail from chafing, and has an opening &, out of which
passes the sail from the yard. By this means I am enabled to roll up tho
sail on the yard without being obliged to divide the sail into two parts. The
bearings c, c, are fitted with lugs c', c³, above and below, and through the
upper of these lugs pass the reefing chains d, d, which by putting a lateral
strain on the bearings serve to keep the yard or roller a in position. Tension
chains are secured to the bearings c, c, and pass along under the yard.or
ruller a to the parral ring e on the ship's mast.
are kept up in position on the ends or shoulders of the roller or yard. Or in
lieu of tension chains a chafing boon f, f, connected as shewn in the Drawing
to the parral ring e may be employed for assisting in holding the bearings c
in position. The reefing chains d, d, (the ends of which are coiled round the
ends of the roller or yard a) are led up through the upper lugs c¹ of the bear-
ings c, and should be fitted with antifriction rollers. The yard a is raised
and lowered by the balyards or supporting chain &', which are attached either
to the parrall ring e or to the crutch or bearing b, and pass up to a pulley or
block g at the masthead, and from thence down to the deck as usual. The
crutch or bearing is carried by the parral ring e.
The reefing halyards,
after leaving the lugs c¹ of the bearings c, pass up to pulleys or blocks h, h, at
the masthead, and from thence down to the deck. Supposing the sail to be
fully set as a whole sail, and it be required to reef or furl the same, the
halyard is let go so as to allow the crutch or bearing b with the yard or
roller a to descend on the mast. At the same time it will be necessary to
hold on the reefing halyards d, d, and by so doing the yard or roller a will be
made to rotate in its bearings and to roll up the sail thereon. In order to
reset the whole sail it will only be necessary to haul on the balyard b' in order
to hoist the yard a, the reefing halyard d being left free, and as the yard a
is hoisted up it will rotate in its bearings and will unrol the sail therefrom.
Having now described my Invention of " Improvements in Reefing and
Furling Sails," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the

page_text: mode herein set forth of mounting, supporting, and rotating the yard or
roller a so as to admit of an undivided sail being adapted thereto, as herein
shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Rowden, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
WILLIAM ROWDEN. (L.s.)