IMPROVEMENTS IN " WINDLASSES AND CHAIN CONTROLLER
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Horatio Harfield, of No. 28, Cornhill,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
"
WINDLASSES AND CHAIN CONTROLLER
"
Sealed the 16th July 1872, and dated the 15th February 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Horatio
Harfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th February 1872.
I, WILLIAM HORATIO HARFIELD, of No. 28, Cornhill, in the City
of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WINDLASSES AND CHAIN CONTROLLERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in windlasses and
chain controllers.
Windlasses have heretofore in some cases been provided both with
heaving in purchase to be worked by manual labour, and also with
steam driving gear. The power in each case is applied to purchase

page_text: wheels, and the chain holders have been clutched to these wheels by
means of frictional clutches which also serve as brakes. When the
chain is required to run out the frictional clutch is slackened, and as it
runs out it is controlled by the clutch. In anchoring in shallow
water it is however sometimes found that a sufficient length of chain
will not run out, and it is desirable to have a ready and safe means of
rotating the chain holder so as to lift the chain out of the locker. For
this purpose, on the same axis with the driving pinion of the steam
driving gear I mount other pinions, which can be applied at pleasure to
rotate the chain holder so as to pay out the chain.
'
The arrangement consists of a pinion fixed upon the axis and an arm
turning thereon, and carrying another or intermediate pinion which is
always in gear with the first pinion, and can (by turning the arm around
the axis to a suitable position) also be put into gear with a toothed
ring on the chain holder. The arm is made with a socket and receives a
hand spike by which it is raised until the pinion comes into gear or
depressed to draw back the pinion out of gear. The arm rests against a
pin or stop when the pinion is driving, but of itself falls down out of
gear as soon as the chain commences to run out of itself. Whilst the
chain holder is driven so as to lift the chain from the locker it is dis-
connected from the purchase wheel, but the friction clutch is always
available to check the chain should it become necessary. The axis on
which the arm and pinions are mounted is driven by a toothed wheel in
gear with another toothed wheel on the crank shaft of the steam engine
or with an intermediate wheel; and one of these wheels is loose on its
axis and held by a ratchet and pawls so that when the hand purchase
is in use the steam engine may remain stationary although not dis-
connected.
In place of gearing in this way direct with the crank shaft of the
engine, the pinion which drives the purchase wheel may be geared
through an intermediate wheel with an axis driven from the engine by a
The intermediate wheel in this case causes the
messenger chain.
driving strain to come on the upper side of the messenger chain when
the driving gear is placed abaft the windlass, which in practice is very
desirable.
To decrease the wear of the nipping levers of the hand purchase I
interpose a plate of metal between the nose of the lever and the surface

page_text: of the purchase wheel. In this way I prevent the grinding action of
the purchase wheel upon the nipping lever, which otherwise takes place,
especially when the purchase wheel is driven by steam.
In order to control the chain as it runs out I cause it to pass through
a mouth piece. This mouth piece may be cast with the standard of the
windlass or separate from it. The mouth piece has an overhanging lip
on one side, and opposite this lip is a check block mounted on an axis
and the axis has a hand lever upon it. The chain runs over the lip
and between it and the check block. The nose of the check block is
rounded so that it is able when it is brought up against the chain
to enter partially between the links which are presented edgewise to it.
When the chain is running out freely the nose of the check block is
below the axis of the block, and to check the chain the axis is turned
so as to cause the nose to approach the lip and come in contact with the
chain which has a tendency to carry the block round, and as the nose of
the block approaches closer and closer to the lip of the mouth piece the
chain which is between these parts becomes tightly nipped and held.
The nose of the check block is made to such a curve that but little
force is required to be applied to the handle to depress the check block
and release the chain.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Horatio Harfield in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th August 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HORATIO HARFIELD, of No. 28, Cornhill, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Horatio Harfield,
Her special license that I, the said William Horatio Harfield, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Horatio Harfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: a hand spike, by which it is raised until the pinion comes into gear
or depressed to draw back the pinion out of gear. The arm rests
against a pin or stop when the pinion is driving, but of itself falls
down out of gear as soon as the chain commences to run out of itself.
Whilst the chain holder is driven so as to lift the chain from the locker
it is disconnected from the purchase wheel, but the friction clutch
is always available to check the chain should it become necessary.
The axis on which the arm and pinions are mounted is driven by a
toothed wheel in gear with another toothed wheel on the crank shaft of
the steam engine or with an intermediate wheel; and one of these
wheels is loose on its axis and held by a ratchet and pawls so that
when the hand purchase is in use the steam engine may remain
stationary although not disconnected.
In place of gearing in this way direct with the crank shaft of the
engine, the pinion which drives the purchase wheel may be geared
through an intermediate wheel with an axis driven from the engine by
a messenger chain. The intermediate wheel in this case causes the
driving strain to come on the upper side of the messenger chain when
the driving gear is placed abaft the windlass, which in practice is very
desirable.
To decrease the wear of the nipping levers of the hand purchase I
interpose a plate of metal between the nose of the lever and the surface
of the purchase wheel. In this way I prevent the grinding action of
the purchase wheel upon the nipping lever which otherwise takes place,
especially when the purchase wheel is driven by steam.
In order to control the chain as it runs out I cause it to pass through
a mouth piece. This mouth piece may be cast with the standard of the
windlass or separate from it. The mouth piece has an overhanging lip
on one side, and opposite this lip is a check block mounted on an axis,
and the axis has a hand lever upon it. The chain runs over the lip and
between it and the check block. The nose of the check block is
rounded so that it is able when it is brought up against the chain to
enter partially between the links which are presented edgewise to it.
When the chain is running out freely the nose of the check block is
below the axis of the block, and to check the chain the axis is turned
so as to cause the nose to approach the lip and come in contact with the
chain, which has a tendency to carry the block round, and as the nose

page_text: of the block approaches closer and closer to the lip of the mouth piece
the chain which is between these parts becomes tightly nipped and held.
The nose of the check block is made to such a curve that but little force
is required to be applied to the handle to depress the check block and
release the chain.
The Drawings hereunto annexed shew the manner in which I apply
the improvements above described.
Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 a plan of my improved
windlass.
a is the cable holder; b, a pinion fixed on countershaft c; 'd, an arm
turning thereon and carrying intermediate pinion e; f, is a handspike
which fits into a socket in the arm d; by depressing the handspike the
arm can be raised till the socket at the back of the arm comes in
contact with the stop 9 carried by the frame; the intermediate pinion
then gears with the teeth on the cable holder revolving it and drawing
the chain out of the locker. Whilst the chain is thus being drawn out
of the locker the pinion remains in gear with the teeth on the cable
holder, but as soon as the chain commences to run out of itself the
arm & drops and the pinion is so thrown out of gear.
In order that when the hand purchase is in use the steam engine
may remain stationary although not disconnected, I place on the
countershaft c the wheel h, which can revolve loosely on it in one
direction, but drives the countershaft in the opposite direction. The
wheel is driven, as shewn at Figure 1, by an intermediate pinion
gearing with a toothed wheel on the crank shaft of the engine.
The ratchet arrangement is shewn in detail in Figure 3, where h is
the wheel; i, ratchet block keyed to countershaft; j,j, pawls kept to
their work by springs behind them.
At Figure 1 I have also shewn a piece of metal k interposed between
the nose of the lever pawl of the hand purchase gear and the purchase
wheel, so as to decrease the wear on the nose of the pawl; the piece
of metal k hangs loosely on the bolt, which connects the sides of
monkeys together.
At Figure 4 I have shewn a plan, and at Figure 5 a longitudinal
section of my improved chain controller; is the mouth piece forming
the upper part of the chain pipe; m is the overhanging lip; n is the

page_text: check block, the back of which takes its bearing against the controller,
the pin o being only to keep the block in its place; the hand lever p fits
in a socket in the check block, as shewn; 9 is a catch to lock the check
block; this catch is shewn at Figure 4.
At Figures 6 and 7 I have shewn a windlass driven by a messenger
chain from a steam winch, the driving gear being abaft the windlass and
arranged so that the driving strain shall come on the upper side of the
messenger chain. A modified construction of my improved chain
controller is also shown at Figure 6. Figure 6 is an elevation, and
Figure 7 a plan of the windlass. In this arrangement I take the chain
over the top of the cable holder, the deck pipe and controller being
underneath; is the mouth piece cast with and forming part of the
windlass standard; 8 is the overhanging shoulder; t is the check
block; u, the spindle carrying the same; the end of the spindle projects
through the standard and has a hand lever fitted on to it. The check
block is fixed on the spindle, and any motion of the hand lever at the
side is communicated to it; wis the messenger wheel driven by a
messenger chain from a steam winch; the messenger wheel drives the
countershaft x; this carries a pinion which gears into a wheel y on an
intermediate shaft, which carries the two pinions z, z, gearing into the
purchase wheels. The wheel y may, as in the windlass shewn at
Figures 1 and 2, be loose on its axis and carry pawls to take into a
ratchet wheel on the axis, so that when the hand-purchase gear is in use
the steam driving gear may remain stationary although not disconnected.
The shaft carrying the pinions z, z, may also if desired carry reversing
gear for reversing the cable holders for the purpose of lifting the chain
out of the locker whenever required.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what
I claim is,-
1st. The combined arrangements of windlass, substantially as herein
described and shewn by the Drawings annexed.
2nd. The application of pinions moving on arms to reverse the cable
holders in the manner described.
3rd. In steam windlasses the use of a ratchet wheel and pawls in one
of the intermediate wheels of the steam driving gear, so that the

page_text: windlass may be worked by hand without revolving the engine, though
not disconnected from it.
4th. The interposition of a loose piece of metal between the nose of
nipping pawl and the surface of purchase wheel to decrease wear.
5th. The chain controller in which the check block is made to swing
on a centre and check the chain by the tendency to enter between the
links of the running chain.
6th. In windlasses driven from the steam winch and where the chain
is taken over the top of cable holder the use of an intermediate shaft
and wheels so as to get the driving gear abaft the windlass, the driving
strain coming on the upper side of messenger chain which in practice is
very desirable.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Horatio Harfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy- ]
two.