A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LOWERING AND DISENGAGING SHIPS' BOATS."
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Macpherson, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR LOWERING AND DISENGAGING SHIPS' BOATS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said. Archibald Macpherson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th September 1876.
ARCHIBALD MACPHERSON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain.
"NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LOWERING AND DISENGAGING SHIPS' BOATS."
This Invention, which relates to new or improved apparatus for lowering and
disengaging ships' boats, consists in providing the davits from which ships' boats
are suspended with bevil gearing, and by which the davits are coupled through an
intermediate horizontal shaft arranged at the interior of the bulwarks. This
horizontal shaft is provided with a hand wheel which by being moved round turns
the davits on their axes, and thereby moves the boat from the inside to the outside
of the bulwarks. A second horizontal shaft is also provided, and this is fitted with
rope, pullies, or drums, to each of two of which one end of a "painter" at each end
of the boat is attached by means of a pin fixed in each pulley or drum. A third
pulley at or near the central part of this horizontal shaft is also provided with a
rope, which when "let go" allows the shaft to rotate by the weight of the boat
until the "painters" come off the pins, at which moment the boat falls free with
the "painters" horizontally into the water.
Falls are also provided for suspending the boat and raising it out of the water,
these being disengaged previous to lowering the boat.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Archibald Macpherson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
March 1877.
ARCHIBALD MACPHERSON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain.
"NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LOWERING AND DISENGAGING SHIPS' BOATS."
My said Invention relates to new or improved apparatus for expeditiously
lowering and disengaging ships' boats, both in cases of emergency and at other
times when the boats are required to be launched into the sea and disengaged from
the ship.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I now proceed
more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner, in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, reference being had to the
annexed Sheet of Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:-
On the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended Figure 1 is a side elevation of a
portion of the interior of a ship's bulwarks and deck with the davits, and in con-
junction therewith the new or improved boat lowering and disengaging apparatus
constituting my said Invention is shewn applied; Figure 2 is a transverse section
on the line a, b, Figure 1.
The Invention consists in providing the davits A with bevil gearing B, by which
the davits are coupled together through an intermediate horizontal shaft C, arranged
at the interior of the bulwarks D and supported thereon by brackets E, or the said
, brackets or bearings may be fixed to the ships' deck. The horizontal shaft C is
provided with a hand wheel F, which is formed with a double clutch on its boss
and is capable of being slid along the shaft C. When in one position the clutch
at one side of the wheel gears with a clutch box G formed or secured upon the
shaft C, so that by moving the wheel round the davits A are turned through an
arc on their axes, thereby swinging the boat from the inside to the outside of the
bulwarks or vice versa.
To enable this to be freely effected the davits A, which are provided with falls d
for suspending the boat, are so adjusted that the upper overhanging end of one of
them is at an angle relatively with the overhanging end of the othor, as indicated
at Figure 1 of the Diawings. By this arrangement in swinging the boat outwards
and inwards it is caused to move in a horizontal plane, and at the same time it
becomes inclined on that plane, so that although the boat is or may be longer than
the distance between the davits, yet the inclination of the boat whilst being moved
from in board by placing one end first clear of one davit enables the other end to
pass clear of the other davit, or in other words, the fouling of the boat with the
davits is prevented. Painters e, attached to rings at each end of the boat pass
over pulleys, and preferably the centre pulley carried in the fall blocks f, from
whence they are conducted to pulleys or drums H fixed upon a second horizontal
shaft I provided in the apparatus and placed either on deck, as shown on the
Drawings, on the top rail of the bulwarks D, or in other convenient situation.
The free ends of the "painters" e are each formed with a bight or loop which is
passed over a pin m on the pulley or drum H previous to winding the painters
thereon. It is by means of the "painters" e that the boat is lowered, they are
equal in length and they may be lengthened or shortened accordingly, as the ship
has a high free board or is deeply laden A third pulley or drum J is fixed at or
near the centre of the shaft I, and it is provided with a rope g, which also passes
one or more times round a pulley K placed loosely on the horizontal shaft C, and
formed with a clutch box K at one end, with which, when it is desired to rotate
the pulley K and through it the pulley or drum J, the clutch formed on the corre-
sponding side of the wheel F is geared.
In preparing to lower a ship's boat by means of the apparatus herein-before
described, if the boat is hanging from the falls d inboard the ship but above the

page_text: level of the bulwarks' top rail, the end of the rope g is held in one hand of the
man who is lowering, and the wheel F which is in gear with the clutch G is held
in his other hand. By turning the wheel F the davits A are moved through an
arc on their axes so as to swing the boat outboard, and at the same time the end
of the rope g being pulled by the operator, the shaft I is rotated so as to wind the
painters & further on the drums H. The boat is thereby raised slightly upwards
whilst being swung out, which has the effect of releasing the hooks of the falls d
from the staples or eyes at both ends of the boat, and so leaving the boat suspended
by the painters e The rope g is then "let go," when the weight of the boat and
its contents acting upon the painters e'rotates the shaft I, and unwinds the painters
from the drums H until the bights or loops come off the pins m fixed in the said
drums and pass through the fall blocks of the davits A, at which time the boat
is clear.
When the boat to be launched is hanging with its keel below the level of tho
bulwark top rail, or when it is supported on "chokes" placed on the deck or other
part of the ship, it is first raised above the bulwarks or to such a height as will
enable it to be moved outboard by either hauling on the falls d or by winding the
painters on the drums H, for which latter purpose the pulley or drum K may be
geared by the clutch K¹ with the wheel F, or the rope may simply be pulled by
hand. After the boat is raised to the necessary height the lowering and disengaging
is effected as herein-before set forth.
Instead of pulling the rope whilst the boat is being swung outwards so as to
slightly raise and release it from the falls, the boat may be released from the falls
by hand after it has been swung out, and in lieu of placing the suspending hooks
on the lower blocks of the falls d, as shewn on the Drawings, the hooks may be
secured to the boat and the eyes or staples to the said blocks.
Further, instead of the boat being lowered by a person on the ship's deck, it may
be lowered after it has been swung out by a man in the boat itself, he holding the
rope g in his hand until it is time to "let go "
In lowering a boat by means of the new or improved apparatus constituting my
said Invention, the "painters" being of equal length the boat descends on even
keel, and according to the length of these painters the boat may be made to clear
itself from the ship at any desired distance from the water; and further, there
being no complicated gearing in or about the boat itself, fouling is entirely prevented
or reduced to a minimum.
A boat provided with the apparatus may be raised out of the water either by
hauling on the falls d in the usual manner, or by passing bights or loops formed on
the free ends of the falls over the pins m of the drums H, and rotating the shaft I
by pulling the rope g or operating the hand wheel F, so as to wind the falls on the
diums. When raised to the desired level the boat is swung inboard by gearing
the hand wheel F with the clutch G and rotating the shaft C, which being effected,
the looped ends of the "painters "e are placed over the pins m and wound on the
drums H ready for again lowering the boat by hauling the rope g or turning the
shaft I by means of the wheel F In lieu of a hand wheel a hand spoke inserted
into holes at the positions G and K', may be substituted, or equivalent apparatus,
such as a ratchet handle or lever for turning the shafts C and I, inay be employed.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the system, mode, or manner, in or under which the same is or may be used or
practically carried into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First. The new or improved apparatus, illustrated on the appended Sheet of
Drawings, for launching, that is to say, lowering and disengaging ships' boats, sub-
stantially as herein-before described.
Second. The apparatus consisting of the horizontal shaft I, with drums or
pulleys H, on which the painters e are wound for lowering ships' boats, substantially
as herein-before described.

page_text: Third. The apparatus consisting of the shaft C with its connexions or gearing for
swinging ships boats outboard and inboard, and also with the rope g and pulley or
drum J for disengaging ships' boats from the falls and for raising them out of the
water, substantially as herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Macpherson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of March, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-seven.
ARCHIBALD MACPHERSON. (L.S.)