A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS WINDLASSES
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
STRAKER, of the Borough and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Ship Owner,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of February, in the seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Straker, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said George Straker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, aud
such others as I, the said George Straker, my exccutors, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man,
my Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS
WINDLASSES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said George Straker, by an instrument in writing under my band and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to
be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Straker, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thercon (that is to say):-
Whereas ships' windlasses have been heretofore worked by means of levers
or hand spokes made to fit into sockets or holes made for that purpose in
various parts of the windlass; and the said levers or hand spokes having to
be removed at every portion of a turn of the windlass into other sockets or
holes, this method is attended with much labour and loss of time: And
whereas also levers or hand spokes have been made to act upon a ratch
wheel fixed upon the windlass as well as upon a second motion axle, on which
is a pinion working into a wheel in the windlass; but in all these cases, as
well as others now in use, whatever description of levers or hand spokes is
adopted, whether working direct from the windlass or from a second motion
axle, as before described, great exertion of the body is required, and the
action is slow and not continuous, and consequently long time is expended in
weighing up an anchor, and in many cases a great force of men, which at all
times is not at command, is required. Now the nature of my said Invention
consists in adapting to the ordinary windlasses now in use, after first removing
the ends thereof, a second motion axle at any convenient height above the
deck, with a pinion thereon working into a wheel fixed upon the windlass at
one side of the paul bit, and in fixing at each end of the said second motion
axle a hand wheel or series of spokes fitting into a nave or centre of cast
iron or other suitable material, whereby the said defects, arising from the
slowness and want of continuity of action and want of power, may be ren.c-
died. The said hand wheels or spokes, being of a convenient height above the
deck, are easily turned by men stationed opposite the handles or ends of levers
on the fore and aft part of each wheel, and may be kept constantly and
uniformly in motion, and may be worked or turned with great rapidity.
In Fig. 1 of the Drawing hereunto annexed I have given a front elevation
of a windlass with my improvements, and Fig. 2 is an end elevation, partly in
section, of the same. A represents an ordinary windlass with the out ends
cut off'; B is the second motion axle, which may be placed at any convenient
height, either fore or aft of the windlass; C is a pinion upon the axle B,
working into a wheel D upon the windlass; E and are the band wheels or
series of spokes fitting into a nave or centre of cast
iron or other suitable

page_text: material, as before stated, and are fixed at each end of the axle B, the handles
of which wheels may be made of any convenient length, and to take out of
their sockets, when required, and from the centre, the number of handles or
spokes depending upon the diameter. The wheels E and F may also be made
in the form of steering wheels, with an outer rim and arms to the centre, and
handles outside the rim. G, G, represent two winch barrels on the end of
the axle B (beyond the said hand wheels), and H and I are two handles for
working the same. In large ships, or where great power is required, such
additional power may be obtained by having two other hand wheels or series
of spokes (such as above specified and marked E* and F* on the Drawing
hereunto annexed) fixed in the place of the winch handles H and I, and may
have a greater or less number of handles or spokes, as may be found most
advantageous. The pinion C is made to slide out of gear upon the axle B
at a, (there may be a wheel and pinion on each side of the paul bit or other
convenient situation, and the axle B mado in two pieces,) so that the winch
or winches, as the case may be, can be used in warping the ship, or for load-
ing or unloading the cargo with or without the windlass, by means of a leading
sheave for the rope to pass through the deck, by which timber can be taken
in and discharged at the ports. The winches are intended to be worked by
the handles H and I; but when more power may be required, the hand
wheels or spokes E* and F* are intended to be used, which will be found of
great advantage. In the windlass represented by the annexed Drawing tho
wheel and pinion is in the proportion of four to one, but these proportions
may be varied as circumstances may require. The hand wheels or spokes at
the out end are seven feet in diameter, the spokes being eight in number,
of oak, three and a half inches by two and a half inches at the socket.
If at any time two men at each of the hand wheels E and F, and two at each
of the hand wheels put on in the place of the winch handles H and I, could
not heave the anchor, the ordinary hand spokes applied to the windlass can bo
used as an auxiliary, and additional men to each wheel.
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, the application of the hand wheels or spokes before described,
fixed upon the ends of the second motion axle, when arranged in combination
with a windlass as aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Straker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
GEORGE (L.s.) STRAKER.

page_text: Extray. In Chancery.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fifth day of August, in
tho year above mentioned, the aforesaid George Straker came before our
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.