IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDLASSES, CAPSTANS, CRABS, CRANES, AND OTHER MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR KAISING, LOWERING, OR MOVING HEAVY DODLED.
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry William Harman, of the Dockyard, North-
fleet, in the County of Kent, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDLASSES, CAPSTANS, CRABS, CRANES, AND OTHER
MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR KAISING, LOWERING, OR MOVING HEAVY DODLED.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry William Harman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
.the 9th November 1854.
I, HENRY WILLIAM HARMAN, of the Dockyard, Northfleet, in the County
of Kent, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDLASSES, CAPSTANS, CRABS, CRANES, AND OTHER
MACHINES OR APPARATUS POR RAISING, LOWERING, OR MOVING HEAVY BODIES,"
to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to arrest or regulate the speed of the descent
or motion of the body operated upon. To effect this, I use à barrel which shall
revolve round upon the windlass spindle either way, either with the cable, chain,
or rope, independently of the usual windlass spindle and gear, and without the
necessity of raising the palls; or so that the barrel.can likewise move with
the usual windlass spindle and gear when the body or weiglit.is being hoisted.

page_text: To regulate the speed or arrest the revolutions of the barrel, I employ friction
either within the barrel or at one or both ends of the barrel; the former I do
by the use of conical surfaces working against each other, such surfaces being
part of and attached to the barrel, and also part of and attached to the wind-
lass spindle; the latter I do by the application of conical surfaces, one of
them being part of the barrel and the other attached to the windlass spindle,
or fixed by some other convenient method.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry William Harman in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th May 1855..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WILLIAM HARMAN, of the Dockyard, Northfleet, in the County of Kent,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry William Harman, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
William Harman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Henry William Harman, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDLASSES, CAPSTANS, CRABS, CRANES, AND OTHER MACHINES
OR APPARATUS FOR RAISING, LOWERING, OR MOVING HEAVY BODIES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry William Harman, 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 Henry William Harman, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the

page_text: following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is to supply a more safe and convenient means
than that at present employed for regulating or arresting the motion or descent.
of ships' anchors and other heavy bodies attached. by ropes, chains, or cables
to windlasses, capstans, crabs, cranes, and other machines or apparatus for
raising, lowering, or moving heavy bodies. For this purpose, I construct the
windlass, capstans, crabs, crane, or other machine with a barrel, upon which
the cable is to be wound, and with certain other apparatus connecting the
barrel with the pauls and gear, which may be of the usual construction. The
barrel is so made as to be capable of revolving with the cable or rope indepen-
dently of the spindle and gear, and without raising the pauls, so as to allow
the cable or rope to run freely out; or it may be so brought in contact with a
certain conical surface as to produce friction, which will retard or govern its.
speed, so as to check the run of the cable or rope; or it may be so clamped or
fixed to the spindle and gear as to revolve with them, and to twist, wind up,
or tighten the cable or rope. The means by which I bring the barrel into
close contact with the conical surface is of two kinds: the first of them is
employed when the spindle of the windlass, capstan, or machine sup-
ported by bearings on both sides of the barrel, and the second is employed
when it is supported at one side of the barrel only.
I shall proceed to describe the first of these constructions as applied to
a windlass; but the means employed will be of the same description if applied
to a capstan, or other machine with a vertical spindle, if the spindle is supported
in bearings below the barrel on which the cable is wound.
In the Drawings annexed to my Specification, Figure 1 is an elevation of a
windlass seen from the ship's bows, with my improvements applied to the
same; Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of such parts of the same as lie
between the supports or bearings of the spindle; Figure 3 is an end view;
and Figure 4, a transverse section through the metal nut for moving the
barrel. The windlass is supposed to consist of two parts to the right and left
of the centre post and bearing M, and as the construction of both of these is
similar, it will be needful to describe only one, that to the right of M. The
letters in all the Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, refer to the same parts. B, Figure 2,
is the spindle, upon which is securely fixed the inner barrel A, of a conical
shape, and made of iron or wood, according to the strength required. C is
the outside barrel upon which the cable is wound; the inside of this barrel is
conical, and corresponds with the outside of the barrel A. The barrel C,
when not pressed against A, is free to turn either way, and the cable wound

page_text: upon it would then be free to run out without any motion of the spindle or
inner barrel A or other gear. The spindle between B and D is screwed so as
to receive the metal nut E enclosed in the iron clutch F, which is made in two
pieces, so as to let that part of it which is towards C take into the bevilled
collar G. The pieces are clamped together by a ring enclosing them, and are
pierced with holes to admit bars, by which the clutch F and with it the nut. E.
may be moved round upon the spindle B, and thus caused to move the barrel
C, by means of the collar G, to one side or other along the spindle. When it
is desired to hoist or wind up the cable on the barrel C, the clutch F is turned,
so as to move the barrel C. towards M, until the conical surfaces of the barrels
A. and C are so pressed together that the force applied to the spindle B, by the
ordinary windlass bars or other machinery, shall not overcome the friction
between the two barrels. In this state the barrel C will move with, and as if a
part of, the barrel A. When it is desired to slack off or let go the cable on the
barrel C without lifting the pauls, or turning the spindle or other gear of the
barrel A, the clutch F is moved round, so as to withdraw the barrel C from
the position of close contact with the barrel A, until the tension of the cable
overcomes the friction between the barrels, and thus the barrel C will move
round the barrel A. more or less freely as the nut E is moved more or less
from A. If it be desired to let the cable run freely, the nut E is turned until
the clutch F, acting on the collar G, withdraws the barrel C from pressing on
A towards M, and the barrel C will then turn freely round, A, and the cable
run out as desired.
"
'
I shall now describe the second construction, above referred to. Figure 5
is an elevation, and Figure 6 a vertical section, of a capstan with my.improve-
ments applied thereto. The letters in both Figures refer to corresponding
parts. A is the spindle, which is fixed as usual, and does not revolve. B, B,
the paul plate, consisting of a circular part at the lower end of the capstan,
carrying the pauls, and a cylindrical part embracing the spindle near E, E,
and turning upon it. C, C, the barrel on which the cable is wound. The
interior is of conical shape, as shewn in Figure 6, and corresponds with the
exterior of the conical barrel D, D, E, E, which is inserted between the paul
piece at E and the outer barrel C. The barrel C is furnished at the top with
holes for capstan bars, or with other means for applying power. The inner
conical barrel slides vertically up and down that part of the paul piece shewn
at E, which is made cylindrical for that purpose; but the barrel cannot turn
upon the paul piece, being compelled to move about the spindle with the paul
-piece by a feathered rib, placed longitudinally in the direction of the spindle,
and fitting and moving in a corresponding groove cut in the interior cylin-

page_text: drical part of the conical barrel....This conical barrel D is made in two similar
halves, so as to enable the upper part M, M,, to be passed over and embrace
the clutch G, which is screwed to receive the upper part of the spindle.
To the upper part of the clutch G is, fixed the top piece H, furnished with
holes for bars or other suitable contrivance for turning, it, round. This top
piece, turns on and bears upon the upper part of the outside barrel, but it
is free to move independently. In putting the various parts of this capstan
together, the paul piece B must first, be put upon the spindle, then a nut
N screwed down to bear slightly upon the upper part of the paul pièce, to
prevent the capstan from; rising or sliding off the spindle. The outer barrel
is then put on, and a piece K is screwed into a suitable receptacle in the
barrel C, and projects into a corresponding groove in the paul piece, so as to
prevent, the outer, barrel, from, rising, out of its proper position. The two
halves of the inner barrel are made to embrace the clutch G, and screwed
together by bolts, shewn at E, E, and the barrel may then be lowered into
its place until the top of the spindle reaches the clutch, when the top piece
H is to be turned; and the inner barrel will descend, until its outer conical
surface comes in contact with the inner conical surface of the barrel C.
When it is desired to use the capstan for winding up or hoisting the cable
wound upon the barrel C, the top piece H must be turned until the friction
between the barrels C and D is sufficient to cause them to move together,
and the whole capstan moves round the spindle, bringing into action the
pauls and other gear. When it is desired to slack out the cable without
lifting the pauls, the capstan bars may be removed, and the top piece H
turned, and the nut moved upwards on A, so as to withdraw the clutch, and
with it the conical inside barrel, until the tension of the cable overcomes the
friction between the barrels, when the outer barrel C will rotate about the
inner one, and slack off the cable at a rate which can be regulated by
the amount of friction caused between the barrels. When it is desired to
let the cable run freely, the top piece I will be turned, until the conical bar
is so far withdrawn from the outside barrel C, as that the friction between
them is no obstacle to the free rotation of the outer barrel.
Having particularly described my Invention, I desire it to be understood
that I do not claim any of the parts therein mentioned separately, as the
spindles, pauls, outer and inner barrels, nuts, screws, clutches, feathered piece,
bolts, rings, bars, or top piece; but I claim as my Invention, the construction
of windlasses, capstans, crabs, cranes, and other machines or apparatus for
raising, lowering, or moving heavy bodies, with barrels, having conical surfaces,
capable of being brought into more or less close contact, so as to regulate the

page_text: motion of the same, and thereby to regulate or wholly arrest the motion of the
cable or rope upon them employed for raising, lowering, or moving the heavy
body or bodies, as herein-before described.
And I claim also the method of applying power to press the conical surfaces
of such barrels into contact more or less close by means of a screw, clutch,
nut, and other apparatus, as herein-before described and represented in
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4.
And I claim also the method of effecting the same object, herein-before
secondly mentioned, by means of a screw inside conical barrel, nut, clutch, top
piece, and other apparatus, as herein-before described and represented in
Figures 5 and 6.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry William Harman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
TT
זז!
H. W.
11.
HARMAN.
(L.D.)