A MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING BOATS OR OTHER FLOATING BODIES FROM CAPSIZING OR OVERTURNING WHEN OPPRESSED BY TOO MUCH SAIL, AND FOR EASING OFF THE ROPES AND SHEETS OF DIFFERENT CLASSES AND DESCRIPTIONS OP VESSELS, PARTS OF WHICH MACHINE OR APPARATUS MAY BE APPLIED FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I GEORGE
BEADON, of Taunton, in the County of Somerset, Lieutenant in the Royal
Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS, His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of July, in the fifth year of His reign, did, for
himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said George
Beadon, His especial licence that I, the said George Beadon, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, or such others as I, the said George Beadon, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A
MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING BOATS OR OTHER FLOATING BODIES
FROM CAPSIZING OR OVERTURNING WHEN OPPRESSED BY TOO MUCH SAIL, AND FOR
EASING OFF THE ROPES AND SHEETS OF DIFFERENT CLASSES AND DESCRIPTIONS
OP VESSELS, PARTS OF WHICH MACHINE OR APPARATUS MAY BE APPLIED FOR
OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said George Beadon, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
scal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Beadon, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist
in an apparatus to the sheets, tacks, or other ropes appended to the sails of
vessels, and so constructed that when boats or other floating bodies propelled
by the action of wind or sails are careened or heeled down sufficiently to one
side, or, in other words, when their inclination to one side is sufficiently
increased, the sheets, tacks, or other ropes ease themselves off, or rather are
let go without the attention or assistance of any of the crew. And in further
compliance with the said proviso, I, the said George Beadon, do hereby declare
the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1.-A is a box or casing containing a reel B (see Figure 2); round
this reel is coiled the rope, tack, or sheet, as the case may be, C, attached to
the sail of the vessel. D, a bracket fixed to the reel box, for the purpose of
fastening it to some convenient part of the vessel. E, the axis or spindle of
the said reel passing through the sides of the recl box which form its bearings.
F is a catch or pall working into the teeth of the wheel G, this wheel being
fixed to the spindle of the reel. H, a lever attached to the above catch or
pall, both moving on the spindle K. L, a balance weight attached to the end
of the said lever. M, a spring pressed against the spindle of the reel by
means of a set screw N; this 'spring is formed into the shape of a hook
towards the end, and bent round the pin O, which is fixed to the pall or catch.
P, a pin or stop to prevent the balance or weight from moving too far. In this
Figure part of the rack wheel G is broken away to show the spindle hole, and
it will be seen that the hole in the front plate of the reel box, through which
the spindle of the reel passes, is made oval in order to allow any force pulling
the rope
C to cause a pressure of the spindle on the spring M, thereby disen-
gaging the pall when the balance weight is by the heeling of the vessel brought
over its fulcrum. Thus it will be seen that it must be the combined circum-
stances of a given strain on the rope and a given heel or inclination of the
vessel, to cause the paul to escape from the rack wheel and let off the rope.

page_text: If this were not so arranged every accidental roll or lurch of the ship, even in
a calm, might ease off the sheet.
Figure 2 represents a side view of the apparatus, and it may be as well here
to state that similar letters denote similar parts in all the Figures. In this
Figure the reel box is supposed partly open to shew the reel with the rope or
sheet coiled round it. O is a square part of the spindle of the reel, to which
a handle is applied when the sail is to be set and the sheet sheeted home, or
the rope, whatever it may be, hauled taught.
Figure 3. In this Figure the disengaging of the pall is caused by the
weight L rolling down the inclined plane Q, when the vessel heels sufficiently
to bring the plane below the horizontal line.
Figure 4. In this Figure the pall is disengaged by a float R acting on the
weighted lever S, when the vessel heels sufficiently to make the fluid contained
in the box U assume the level marked by the dotted line a, b. Now whereas
it often happens that vessels sail better, some when dipping down towards the
stern, and others when dipping towards the stem, and some when floating
exactly evenly or horizontally on the water; and in order to ascertain whether
the vessel has attained that line of floatation which has been ascertained to
suit her sailing best, I take that part of the apparatus, Figure 4, which consists
of a box U and a float R, and place it on the centre of the deck, observing
the inclination of the float R, which will take exactly the opposite inclination
to that of the vessel; and if the sides of the box U be graduated, will enable
to stevedore to trim the vessel as he loads her cargo, or the captain to put her
in the fastest sailing trim. And whereas I claim as my Invention the machine
or apparatus herein-before described, and such my Invention being to the best
of my knowledge and belief entirely new, and never before used within that
part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, His said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that
I do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully,
and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain
exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Beadon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four.
:
GEORGE (L.s.) BEADON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of December,
in the fifth year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth,
the said George Beadon came before our said Lord the King in His
Chancery, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also
the Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George
the Third
Inrolled the Sixth day of January, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-five.