IMPROVE- MENTS IN SETTING UP SHIPS' RIGGING
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Stirling Newall, of Gateshead, in the County
of Durham, Wire Rope Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SETTING UP SHIPS' RIGGING."
Sealed the 28th April 1854, and dated the 4th February 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Stirling Newall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th February 1854.
I, ROBERT STIRLING NEWALL, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, Wire
Rope Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SETTING UP SHIPS' RIGGING " to be as follows:-
I make use of a metal lanyard, instead of the ordinary dead eye, and I
adapt a weighted lever to the screw temporarily employed to tighten the
rigging, in such manner as to measure or weight the strain exerted, and thus
regulate the strain in proportion to that which the ropes are calculated to bear.
Metal lanyards have hitherto been employed with the holes in the two out-
side cheeks and in the inner tongue equidistant, so that in tightening up
he rigging it could not be adjusted to the nicety required. Now my im-
provement in the lanyard consists in making the holes in the tongue nearer
together, or at a less distance from each other than those in the two cheeks.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Stirling Newall in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
O STIRLING NEWALL, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, Wire Rope Manu-
facturer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Stirling Newall, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Stirling Newall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Robert Stirling Newall, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SETTING UP SHIPS RIGGING," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Robert Stirling Newall, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly 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 Robert Stirling Newall, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say-
My Invention consists, first, in the employment of metal lanyards, instead
of the ordinary dead eyes, having the holes in the tongues of the lanyards
nearer together or at a greater distance from each other than those in the two
cheeks, for the purpose of enabling the tightening or setting up of the rigging
to be adjusted to the nicety required; and, second, in adapting a weighted
lever to the screw temporarily employed to tighten the rigging in such manner
as to measure or weight the strain exerted, and thus regulate the strain in
proportion to that which the ropes are calculated to bear.
Figure 1 of the Drawings annexed is a side view, and Figure 2 a section
of a lanyard constructed according to the first part of my Invention; Figure 3
shews the tongue of the lanyard detached. The lanyard consists of two parts,
the cheeks A, and the tongue B, which are made of a strength proportioned
to the size of the shroud or stay. The cheeks A are fastened to the shroud
or stay by splicing or otherwise, and the tongue B is fastened to the chain
plates. A number of equidistant holes are bored through the cheeks, as
shewn at 1, 2, 3; 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, (or a greater number if required,) and also
through the tongue, as shewn at 1°, 2ª, 3ª, 4ª, 5ª, 6ª, 7, &c.; but the holes

page_text: in the tongue are at a less or greater pitch or distance apart than those in the
cheeks. The advantage of this will be readily seen from an inspection of
Figure 1. The holes 3 and 4 coincide, and as soon as a greater strain is
applied the next two holes 2 and 5 coincide, and then 1" and 6, 7 and 1,
and so on, the gradations being shorter than would be the case if the holes in
the cheeks and tongue were of equal pitch, by which means a greater nicety of
adjustment is obtained.
Figure 4 shews the application of a lever for ascertaining the strain applied
in setting up rigging, according to the second part of my Invention. The
part C hooked on to the cheek has a screw working through it. The eye
bolt D or fulcrum of the lever is passed through the lowest hole of the tongue,
and the proper length of chain hooked on to the screw. On a strain or
weight being applied to the lever the rigging will be tightened, and after the
strain is adjusted by means of the screw and chain, a bolt is put through the
holes in the cheek and tongue which coincide, and the tightening apparatus is
removed.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is,
-
First, the forming of the holes in the tongues of metal lanyards nearer
together or at a greater distance from each other than those in the two
cheeks, for the purpose of enabling the tightening or setting up of ships'
rigging to be adjusted to the nicety required.
And, second, the adaptation of a weighted lever to the screw employed for
tightening or setting up ships' rigging in such manner as to measure or weight
the strain exerted, and thus regulate the strain in proportion to that which the
ropes are calculated to bear.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Stirling Newall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.