IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHT ROWING BOATS, USUALLY TERMED WAGER BOATS
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Augustus Willoughby
Green at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his. Petition,
on the 27th January 1863.
I, RICHARD AUGUSTUS WILLOUGHBY GREEN, of Putney, in the County of
Surrey, and of Sydney, New South Wales, Boat Builder, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHT ROWING BOATS,
USUALLY TERMED WAGER BOATS," to be as follows:-
According to my Invention I make light rowing or wager boats of a circular
form from end to end and tapering off from the middle to a sharp point at
each end, being in fact like two long cones placed base to base. In building
this boat there are four stringers or principal timbers, which, with the excep-
tion of the upper one, are continued from end to end of the boat. These
stringers or longitudinal pieces are united by circular frames or timbers of
graduated diameter, according to their position in the boat, the largest being
in the middle and diminishing towards the ends. For two of these circular
ribs I substitute two solid discs, one being placed immediately forward of the
sculler, and the other in the position to act as a stretcher or footboard or a
support for the same. Having so constructed the framing of the boat I then
apply the outside covering, which I make of a thin surface of cedar. The
bottom half of the boat I make in two pieces, extending from the middle to
each end, and so as to enclose half the periphery of the boat; these pieces are
butted and lapped or half checked on each other at the junctions. The upper
part of the framework I cover in the same way, but prefer to extend the

page_text: single-piece planking from the end to about one-third or one-fourth of the
length, the sides or edges being united to or butting against the edges of the
bottom pieces. The remaining part of the covering I form of two or three
pieces carried up to the opening or box, as it is termed, left for the sculler in
the upper half. The planking or covering of cedar I steam or subject to
the action of hot water in order that it may bend and readily take the form
desired. The covering terminates at each end in a sharp point made
from a single piece of wood, the point of which I finish and sharpen by
a copper covering or point. The opening in the upper part of the boat for
the sculler I form the entire width of the boat if only of nine or ten inches
in diameter, and surround it by a suitable frame or box, which affords the
necessary strength to make up for the absence of the planking, the opening
being cut to a sharp point forwards with a raised fence to throw off the water,
which raised fence constitutes part of the box, the opening being square or of
other suitable form towards the stern and of the necessary extent. The solid
discs introduced as part of the framework before mentioned, together with the
covering or planking, renders the boat from those points towards each end
water-tight. I screw on the cedar planking or covering, so as to be easily
capable of removal for repairs. I use outriggers for the support of the oars
or sculls, as usual in wager boats, but instead of the simple rowlock in which
the oar or scull rests, I enclose it at the upper part and mount in it an oscil-
lating rowlock, in which the oar rests, the points of oscillation being above
and below and in a vertical line, or nearly so, with the bearing against which
the oar pulls. I have described the boat as for a sculler only, but it may be
furnished with two or more places for sitters and pulled by oars or sculls,
and by two or more persons. At the stern point I apply a small copper pin
projecting downwards to render her steerage by the sculls more easy, and to
prevent her twisting about too much. Boats of this construction may be
made very strong and light, weighing some 30 or 40 pounds, and are highly
capable of speed.