IMPROVEMENTS IN MOORING ANCHORS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Trotman, of No. 42, Cornhill, in the City
of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOORING ANCHORS."
Sealed the 8th August 1865, and dated the 14th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Trotman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
February 1865.
I, JOHN TROTMAN, of No. 42, Cornhill, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOORING
ANCHORS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in mooring anchors. For
these purposes a mooring anchor is formed in two parts, to which usually a
stock is applied which is passed through the end of the shank. The holding
part of the anchor I prefer to be of cast iron or cast steel, with a hole through
it to receive the end of the shank. The shape of the holding part is some-
what similar to a ploughshare on each side of the shank. The front end of
the holding part of the anchor is pointed and widens out to the back end, and
the mass gets thicker and thicker towards the back end. The under surface
may be made more or less hollow or flat; the upper surfaces on each side of
the central line from the front to the back end are inclined and curved. The

page_text: transverse section of the part on each side of the central line is composed of
a series of curves. The shank is composed of wrought iron or of steel forged
straight or nearly so for the greater part of its length, the transverse sections
however varying in area according to the strain each part is intended to bear.
At the back end the shank is bent downwards, and passes into and through
the holding part of the anchor, and is there keyed or secured in the holding
mass towards the back end of such mass. In some cases the stock at its
back end is made or formed double or forked, and passes into the holding
block or mass through two holes formed through the same. It is not
essential that the holding part of an anchor should be of cast iron or steel, as
the same may be formed of wrought iron or steel. At the back of the
holding part of an anchor an eye or ring is applied to facilitate the raising or
fishing the same.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Trotman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
TROTMAN, of No. 42, Cornhill, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Trotman, Her special licence that I, the said John
Trotman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Trotman, 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 MOORING ANCHORS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Trotman, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Trotman, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in mooring anchors. For
these purposes a mooring anchor is formed in two parts, to which usually a
stock is applied which is passed through the end of the shank. The palm or
holding part of the anchor I prefer to be of cast iron or cast steel with a hole
through it to receive the end of the shank. The shape of the holding part is
somewhat similar to a ploughshare on each side of the shank; the shank is
composed of wrought iron or of steel forged straight or nearly so for the
greater part of its length, the transverse sections, however, varying in area
according to the strain each part is intended to bear; at the back end the
shank is bent downwards, and passes into and through the holding part of the
anchor.
The Drawing shows a mooring anchor constructed according to my
Invention.
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 a plan of the anchor complete with
the exception of the stock, which being of ordinary form is not shown;
the remaining Figures of the Drawing show the parts separately.
a is the shank of wrought iron bent and forged to shape, or it may be of
Bessemer steel hammered or forged; 6 is the palm or holding part of the
anchor, cast to form, either of ordinary cast iron or cast in Bessemer steel,
puddled steel, or similar material. The shank as is shown passes through a
hole formed for it in the palm, and is properly fitted, and it is secured
by a pin passing through both the parts a and b, or in other convenient
manner.
Mooring anchors thus constructed have several advantages over mooring
anchors as ordinarily made, and which differ from common ships anchors
principally in having but one arm and palm in place of two. In such anchors
the palm is welded to the arm and the arm to the shank.
In my improved mooring anchor, the palm being separate from the forged
shank and cast to form, the anchor can be much more cheaply constructed
than where the shank arm and palm have to be welded the one to the other.
The palm also, as the Drawing shows, makes a more acute angle with the
shank than it does in mooring anchors of the ordinary construction, and thus
the penetrating and holding powers are increased.
What I claim is the forming the palm or holding part of cast iron or metal,
and securing it to a bent or curved shank of wrought metal, as described.

page_text: I also claim the passing the end of the wrought metal shank into or
through a hole or socket in the metal palm or holding part, and there securing
it, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Trotman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JOHN TROTMAN. (L.S.)