IMPROVEMENTS IN AND MACHINERY FOR HOLDING AND SECURING TOWING ROPES OR HAWBERS ON BOARD SH"
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Daniel Davis, of 1, Mincing Lane,
London, Ship Mechanist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
AND MACHINERY FOR HOLDING AND SECURING TOWING ROPES OR HAWBERS ON
BOARD SH"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Daniel Davis
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th June 1875.
I, GEORGE DANIEL DAVIS, of 1, Mincing Lane, London, Ship
Mechanist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AND MACHINERY FOR HOLDING AND SECURING TOWING ROPES
OB HAWSERS ON BOARD SHIPS," to be as follows :-
:-
This Invention of improvements for holding and securing towing
ropes or hawsers on board ships consists in a manner or method of
holding by pressure or clamping a portion of the rope, and more
especially wire ropes of various metals against a drum or curved surface

page_text: after the rope has been coiled partially, wholly, or with more than one
turn round such curved surface, and in the mechanism for carrying out
this way of holding the rope.
Firstly. In coiling the end of the rope or that portion of it required
to be fastened to the vessel round a horizontal or vertical pulley sheave
or barrel, part of a turn, a whole turn, or several turns, and then by a
screw clamp hollowed out to receive the rope, securing it by pressure of
screws or levers to the pulley sheave or barrel which rotates when
required upon a base round a central axle, and when required is fixed to
the base by a pawl or pin. The base carries the pressure clamp which
may bo worked by levers or screws as most convenient.
Secondly. By using two or more sheaved wheels or V grooved pullies
arranged horizontally or vertically on a frame so as to allow of the rope
winding in and out alternately upon or in the grooved pullics, the part
desired being clamped as before described (where the rope is to be kept
stationary) upon the last pulley or wheel over which the rope has been
carried.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Daniel Davis in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th December 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DANIEL DAVIS, of 1, Mincing Lane, London, Ship Mechanist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
cighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Georgo Daniel Davis, Her special
license, that I, the said George Daniel Davis, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Daniel Davis,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any timo agreo.
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

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND MACHINERY FOR HOLDING AND SECURING TOWING
ROPES OR HAWSERS ON BOARD SHIPS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Daniel Davis, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 George Daniel Davis, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thercof, that is to say :-
This Invention of improvements for holding and securing towing
ropes or hawsers on board ships consists in a manner or method of
holding by pressure or clamping a portion of the rope, and more
especially wire ropes of various metals against a drum or curved surface
after the rope has been coiled partially, wholly, or with more than one
turn round such curved surface, and in the mechanism for carrying out
this way of holding the rope.
Firstly. In coiling the end of the rope or that portion of it required
to be fastened to the vessel round a horizontal or vertical pulley sheave
or barrel, part of turn, a whole turn, or several turns, and then by a
screw clamp hollowed out to receive the rope, securing it by pressure of
screws or levers to the pulley sheave or barrel, which rotates when
required upon a base round a central axle, and when required is fixed to
the base by a pawl or pin. The baso carries the pressure clamp which
may be worked by levers or screws as most convenient.
Secondly. By using two or more sheaved wheels or V grooved pulleys
or grooved plates arranged horizontally or vertically on a frame so as to
allow of the rope winding in and out alternately upon or in the grooved
pulleys, the part desired being clamped as before described (where the
rope is to be kept stationary) upon the last pulley or wheel over which
the rope has been carried.
-Ը

page_text: .
Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2, a vertical section relating to my first
method of holding the rope, and Figure 3, a plan, and Figure 4, an
elevation of my second method of holding the rope; the like letters refer
to like parts.
First Method.-The barrel a free to revolve is mounted on the base 65
and upright shaft b', the pin e being placed in position shown when it is
desired to make the barrel or drum stationary. The rope fis coiled
round the drum, one end for example, if a tow rope, being led to the tug
and one to the ship's windlass by preference. When either by hand or
by the windlass the tow rope is of the desired length the pin is placed to 1
stop the rotation, and the nut d being turned by hand or by handspikes
or other suitable means the curved clamp c is brought down on to the
last turn of the rope f¹ and secured by the pressure of the screw; as in
this case there are three turns of the rope round the drum, the upper
coil proceeding to the tug a very slight pressure is sufficient to hold the 1
rope from slipping on the drum, and consequently the holding of the
wire rope does not injure it as in direct acting clamps or nippers. It is
evident that the same construction may be applied vertically, though
the horizontal mounting described is I think preferable.
In the second method, see Figures 3 and 4, I mount the apparatus
horizontally, though it may also be used vertically. In the plan,
Figure 3 shows also a curved clamp c pressing the rope in a groove
which may be made either semicircular or shaped ; from thence it passes
over or in another groove in a circular pulley b, and thence round
the similar pulley g away at f¹ to the tug.
Although the Drawings show 6', b, and g, as separate and distinct
parts they may oe made in one casting for economy, the principal of this
construction being to give the rope a serpentine course over curved
surfaces, the rope also lying in a groove or way, the clamping being
made as in the former method where there is less strain upon the
rope.
Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner of carring the same into effect, I would
have it understood that what I claim is,
-
First. The method of clamping a towing rope or hawser on board
1.
tall.

page_text: Second. The clamping of a towing rope or hawser on board ship when
aid in a serpentin course over curved and grooved surfaces, sub-
stantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Daniel Davis, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
GEORGE DANIEL DAVIS. (L.S.)