IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REEPING AND FURLING THE SAILS OF SHIPS OR VESSELS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sherinton Foster, of Hartlepool, in the County
of Durham, Ship Broker, and William Rowden, of Whitstable, in the
County of Kent, Master Mariner, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sherinton Foster and
William Rowden at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 17th May 1864.
We, SHERINTON FOSTER, of Hartlepool, in the County of Durham,
Ship Broker, and WILLIAM ROWDEN, of Whitstable, in the County of
Kent, Master Mariner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REEPING AND FURLING THE SAILS OF SHIPS OR
VESSELS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention of improved apparatus for reefing and furling the sails
of ships or vessels has for its object to reef, furl, or unfurl the sails of ships
without the necessity of going aloft for the purpose.
In carrying out our Invention the top part of the sail is attached to a
yard or roller on which it is wound or rolled up when furled and not in use.
This yard is rotated when required by means of chains or ropes which pass
round the ends thereof, also round the ends of another yard immediately
above. This top yard is suspended by two chain or rope baulyards, which
take one turn round the central part of the yard, so that when either of these

page_text: haulyards is hauled upon, and the other let go, the yard will be rotated in a
corresponding direction according to whether it be desired to reef, furl, or
unfurl the sail, and by the rotation of the top yard, the under yard on which
the sail is wound will be rotated by the chains or ropes, which connect the
two yards together. The top yard is supported at its central part in bearings
in a sliding box which surrounds the mast, and slides up and down thereon
as the yard is raised or lowered. To this sliding box is adapted a crutch
for supporting the lower or sail yard which rotates therein, and in order to
diminish the friction of the yard on its bearings in the crutch, the latter is
provided with three or more friction rollers. The ends of the two yards are
connected together by links or slings, in which they may both freely rotate.
The sliding box is provided with a stopper, and rope or chain, whereby it
may be held fast when it is required to furl the sail, for which purpose
the yards must be made to rotate on their axes without rising up the
mast.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Sherinton Foster and William Rowden in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 17th November 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
SHERINTON FOSTER, of Hartlepool, in the County of Durham, Ship Broker,
and WILLIAM ROWDEN, of Whitstable, in the County of Kent, Master
Mariner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Iler
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Sherinton Foster and William Rowden, Her special licenso
that we, the said Sherinton Foster and William Rowden, our exc-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Sherinton Foster and William Rowden, our 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR REEFING AND FURLING THE SAILS OF
SHIPS OR VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said

page_text: Sherinton Foster and William Rowden, by an instrument in writing under
our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particu-
larly 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 Sherinton Foster, on behalf of myself
and of the said William Rowden, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus whereby ships'
sails may be reefed, furled, or unfurled from the deck of the vessel, the
object being to simplify the construction and ensure the efficiency of the
apparatus.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in front view a reefed sail
mounted according to our Invention; Fig. 2 shews the same sail furled;
and Fig. 3 shews in edge view the sail set.
The sail A is secured to and carried by a rotating yard or sail roller B,
which roller is mounted in link plates b, b, carried by the arms of the top
yard C. This yard C is supported at its centre in bearings formed by
brackets c cast on the parral D, which is a sliding collar surrounding the
mast E. The bracket arms (see the detached views Figures 4 and 5, which
shew the parral on an enlarged scale in front and side views) are cast with
a crutch to receive transverse antifriction rollers d, d, which form a kind of
cradle for the sail roller; between the brackets c, the yard C is fitted with
a chain pulley e, which is keyed fast to the yard, and the arms of the yard
are similarly fitted with chain pullies f. On the ends of the sail roller B
there are corresponding chain pullies g keyed firmly thereto, and around
these pairs of pulleys ƒ and g endless chains g' are passed (see the enlarged
detached view, Fig. 6). For setting the apparatus in motion, so as to reef
or furl the sail, the halliards h, h¹, are employed. The portion of the chain
forming the port halliard h runs up from the deck through the old sheavehole
in the mast, and reeves around the central chain pulley on the yard; the
chain is then taken up through a sheavehole at the masthead and is brought
down towards the deck forming the starboard halliard h¹. If now the halliard
h is slackened, and the halliard remains taut, the yard C will by reason of
its own weight run down, and its central pulley being in gear with the chain

page_text: will be caused to rotate in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, and this motion
being communicated by the endless chain to the roller B will cause that
roller to wind up the sail. The opposite effect is produced if the halliard h¹ is
slackened and the halliard his bauled upon; one end therefore of the chain
h, h, is called the reefing, and the other the furling halliard. The link
plates 6 which connect the yard and roller together are provided with eyes
(see the enlarged view, Fig. 7, of one of these link plates) one for the
lift and foot rope to be fastened to, and the other for the brace and top
gallant sheet.
Another mode of transmitting the rotary motion from the yard to the sail
roller is shewn in the Diagram, Fig. 8, wherein instead of the endless chain
and pullies, a chain having one end first made fast to the yard arm is laid
around it for several turns, then led to the roller and reeved around it so as
to secure a firm bite of the roller. The chain is then led back to the yard
and several coils are taken round it, its end is then made fast to the yard arm.
The like arrangement being made at both ends of the yard, it will be obvious
that the rotation of the yard by the halliards will by uncoiling one end of the
chain and coiling up the other, ensure the rotation of the sail roller in either
direction at pleasure.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improved Apparatus
for Reefing and Furling the Sails of Ships or Vessels," and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent we claim, transmitting
rotary motion to the sail roller through the top yard by means of the
balliards, in the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sherinton Foster, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
SHERINTON FOSTER. (L.S.)