Improvements in the Method of and Means for Working Ships' Sails.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Mar.. 1894
Complete Specification Left, 27th Dec., 1894-Accented, 23rd Feb.,
1895.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of and Means for Working
Ships' Sails.
I, HENRY EASTCOTT, of 12, Portland Square, Plymouth, in the County of
Devon, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to he as follows:-
My invention relates to the working of that class of ships' sails which are
"taken in" by "clewing up" or by lowering an upper yard onto a lower one, and
then furled or reefed.
"
si
"
According to my invention I simplify the working of such sails by arranging
them to slide longitudinally upon the yards booms or gaffs whereby clewing up
or the lowering of yards is rendered unnecessary.
Suitable means for carrying my invention into practice are as follows:-
Longitudinally upon the yard I fix a guide upon which hooks attached to the sail
slide and by preference I make this guide of a channelled form and provide double
hooks to slide thereon.
When the upper edge of one sail and the lower edge of another sail are
connected to the same yard I provide the said yard with two sets of guides and
hooks.
It will be obvious that by connecting suitable ropes to the sails the latter can be
readily spread or taken in.
It is to be understood that 1 may employ other means for carrying my invention
into practice, I may, for instance, use wheels or rollers.
Dated this 27th day of March 1894
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in the Method of and Means for Working
Ships' Sails.
.:
I, HENRY EASTCOTT, of 12, Portland Square, Plymouth, in the County of
Devon, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
•
My invention relates to the working of that class of ships' sails which are
"taken in" by "clewing up" or by lowering an upper yard onto a lower one, and
then "furled.
According to my invention I simplify the working of such sails by arranging
them to slide longitudinally upon the yards booms or gaff's whereby "clewing up"
or the lowering of yards is rendered unnecessary.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe how it can be
carried into practice by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 is an elevation of part of a ship's mast and yards illustrating my
method of and means for working sails:

page_text: Figure 2 is an elevation taken at right angles to Figure 1:
Figure 3 is a longitudinal view (drawn to an enlarged scale) half in elevation
and half in section shewing a guide for the sails to enable them to be slid upon the
yards:
Figure 4 is a section taken at right angles to Figure 3 shewing means for
securing the sail-guide to the yard :
Figure 5 is an elevation (drawn to a reduced scale) of a sail illustrating the
arrangement of points for reefing the same:
Figure 6 is a plan of Figure 5; and,
Figure 7 is a similar view but shewing the sail reefed.
Similar letters in all the figures indicate similar parts.
a indicates the mast, and b, b¹ two of the yards of the same which are of ordinary
construction.
c is the sail arranged to slide longitudinally upon the yards b, b¹ by the following
means:-
Longitudinally upon the fore part of the yards b, ¹ I fix guides each of which is
advantageously constructed of two bars d, d of channel iron or steel. In these
guides run wheels or rollers e, e, the gudgeons of which support hanks, having
eyes g, through which passes a rope h attached to the end hank and working over
a pulley block f, the said rope serving to haul in or furl the sail and assist in
guiding the hanks f; another rope is attached to the end hank and passing over
a pulley block f serves to haul out or spread the sail; i, i are holes in the hanks f
to receive the cordage j, j whereby the sail is attached thereto. The bars d, d are
held at the requisite distance apart to allow of the free passage of the necks of the
hanks by means of tubes k through which and through corresponding holes in the
bars pass bolts serving to fix the guide-bars d to the yard, the said tubes also
serving to strengthen the bars d.
When the upper edge of one sail and the lower edge of another sail are
connected to the same yard, I provide the said yard with two sets of guides and
rollers as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 and on the upper yard bin Figure 1.
When, however, only one edge of a sail is connected to a yard it is obviously only
necessary to provide one set of guides and rollers as on the lower yard b' in
Figure 1.
The lower set of hanks f can be attached to the sail by cordage as shewn so as to
allow of readily slackening or stretching the sail; or I can use other means for
taking up the slack such as screws or springs.
The yards are kept parallel by connecting them by light ropes at each end.
When a stay is required to pass between two yards a suitable aperture or recess,
such as that shewn in dotted lines at m in Figure 1, is provided in the foot of the
sail, so that when the sail is set the yards can be freely hauled. A bank would
of course not be connected to this portion of the sail. In reefing or furling the
sail would be drawn to the stay on whichever side of the yard it may be.
For convenience in reefing and furling 1 can apply suitable foot ropes to the
yards, for example, I can use a Jacob's ladder so attached and suspended between
the yards that it can be readily moved horizontally.
With this construction, the sail being set as shewn in Figure 1 of the drawings,
by hauling on the ropes h the outer edge of the sail can be rapidly furled or
contracted or drawn inwards towards the mast a, the rollers e of the hanks f
travelling along their guides d, d; whereas by hauling on the ropes the sail can
be as rapidly set or spread, a larger surface of sail being capable of being spread
between the yards than has been practicable with the systems heretofore in use by
reason of the fact that the edges of the sail when spread are close up to the yards.
Another advantage is that the sails when spread are much flatter and therefore
more effective than sails bent or fastened in the usual manner.
To allow of reefing the sail I provide two vertical lines of reef points n, n¹ at
suitable and equal distances from the middle as illustrated in Figures 5 and 6.
With this arrangement the sail c having been drawn towards the middle, in order

page_text: to reef I slightly slacken cach hank attachment lashing between the lines of reef
points; the points n' on the after part of the sail can then be brought together and
tied, after which the points n on the fore part can be tied and the sail will then
present the appearance shewn in Figure 7. By this means the after part or wind
side of the sail will be left smooth as shewn and the tied reef will lie "before all "
and the sail retain its shape. Instead of providing reef points at the top and bottom
edges of the sail c I prefer to employ holes n² to receive a cord for fastening the
sail at this part wheu reefing.
I can also reef the sail by tying up a portion at each end or by tying up one
half of the sail.
To simplify the bending of the sail a small grommet, link, ring or shackle can be
attached to each of the upper hanks.
Instead of the hanks with rollers and the channel iron guides herein before
described can make use of other suitable guides and means, such as hooks, for
attaching the sails to the yards.
Although I have described and illustrated my invention as applied to square
sails it will be understood that it is equally applicable to other sails, such as gaff
and boom sails.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
v
1. The herein described method of working ships' sails consisting in sliding them
longitudinally upon the yards, booms or gaffs, whereby "clewing up" or the
lowering of yards is rendered unnecessary, substantially as set forth.
2. The herein described means for working ships' sails consisting essentially of
guides fixed longitudinally upon the yards, booms or gaffs, and of hanks provided
with wheels, rollers or hooks, or other suitable devices attached to the sails and
adapted to slide along the said guides, substantially as set forth.
3. The combination with the herein described arrangement of guides and hanks
for allowing ships' sails to be slid longitudinally upon their yards, booms or gaffs,
of the arrangement of points for allowing the sails to be reefed substantially as
set forth.
4. The improved means for working ships' sails hereinbefore described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 27th day of December 1894.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.