IMPROVEMENTS IN NAVIGATING SHIPS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Moore, of No. 33, Regent Circus, Piccadilly;
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
NAVIGATING SHIPS."
Sealed the 18th June 1861, and dated the 21st December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Moore at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
December 1860.
I, THOMAS MOORE, of No. 33, Regent Circus, Piccadilly, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN NAVIGATING SHIPS," to be as follows:-.
The first of my Invention consists in a new form of "side propeller"
formed of spiral or curved blades fixed to a boss, and so arranged as to obtain
increased efficiency, lightness, and diminished expense, with a better regulated
power.
The propeller will work at the side or quarter of the ship on the shaft of the
engine; the shaft enters the boss, and the boss is cut square one-half through
to receive a square shoulder of the shaft, and bored half round for the other
half. To disconnect the propeller in sailing, unpin the boss, and by means of
a screw worked through a worm driving against the inner ring of the boss,

page_text: the propeller will be forced outwards on to the circular end of the shaft or
The screw to work
disconnected altogether and slung to be hoisted up.
inboard, and to pass through the hull of the ship.
The second part of my Invention consists in the manner of fastening or
securing the blades of the propeller to the boss. I accomplish this by fastening
the blades to the boss by flanges, or to cast the boss and blades together, or to
insert the ends of the blades into slots or mortices, and to secure them by bolts
or screws through raised shoulders on the boss; and further, using keyed
hoops to pass over a sunk or return end of the blades in the mortice or slot
round either end of the boss, or to use wooden paddles let into a spirally
formed double-rimmed metal frame.
The third part of my Invention consists in working the upper blades of the
propeller through a boxed-off or welled section of the ship, or to work the
propeller perpendicularly at the side with or without a covering or splashing
board over the upper blades, and further to adapt the curve of the blades or
paddles to the run of the ship against which they may be fixed.
The fourth and last part of my Invention consists in reefing sails by the
means of revolving yards and booms.
I propose to simplify the revolving of-yards-by-passing-chains-or-ropes.
round a groove in the shoulders of the swivelled tub in the centre of the yard.
These chains or ropes are pinned into the groove and the ends led on deck or
connected together by a downhaul. By hauling upon the chains or downhaul
the yard is made to revolve, and the sail is thereby rolled round the yard and
reduced. By reversing the turns of the chains or ropes and securing the ends
to the mast head, on letting go the halyards the yard revolves by its own
weight. The lifts, brace blocks, and sheeve for topgallant sheets, are secured
to swivels at the yardarms. A bonnet or apron covers the aperture in the
sail, and is secured with metal or wooden travellers pressed down by a hammer
or made to traverse by a line through the travellers. Booms of fore-and-aft
sails can be made to revolve for reefing by this Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Moore in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
MOORE, of No. 33, Regent Circus, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, 35
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Moore, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Moore, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Thomas Moore, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN NAVIGATING SHIPS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Moore, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent."
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Moore, 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
following statement, that is to say:-
This Invention consists of certain improvements in navigating ships by
means of a new form of side propeller; also in the means of reefing the sails
of such ships to which this propeller is or may be applied to, or the sails of
ordinary sailing ships.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now pro-
ceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures marked thereon respectively as
follows:-
By the following means I simplify and improve upon the method for the
revolving of yards, whereby sails are reefed or furled from deck, and additional
security afforded to mariners.
I suspend the yard by lifts and tye attached to three swivels of the common
kind called "tubs," such as are used on schooner's booms.
The yardarm swivel receives the lift, and the centre or sling band swivel

page_text: the tye. The shoulders of the barrel, which keeps the centre sling in its
position, I form into a V-groove, and round these grooves I pass chains or
ropes from the mast head to. rotate the yard. These parbuckle chains or ropes
can be passed round the grooves and their ends carried below, as shewn in
Fig. 1, or they can be pinned by the groove or barrel, and a sufficient number
of turns passed round to revolve the yard to the close reef by its own
momentum, as exhibited in Fig. 2, or the parbuckle, chain (or rope) can be
made an endless one by suspending a sheeve from the mast head, passing the
chain (or rope) through the same, then taking a turn round the grooves and
leading the ends below where they unite, passed through another sheeve and
secured together. To the lower block or sheave is attached a tackle for the
regulation of the parbuckle chain (or rope). By letting go this tackle the
chains (or rope) round the V-grooves (are slackened, and the yard can be
hoisted or lowered without revolving, thus allowing the sail to be worked by
reefing or furling on the old style with reef points and gaskets, and by the
parbuckle chain or rope riding through a sheeve it accommodates itself to the
action of the yard (see Fig. 3). This plan does away with an objection to
reefing-sails-by-rotation, for the friction is lessened, and greater security is given
to the centre of the yard, which is not materially diminished by taking-off
battens or cutting away the midship section. To tauten the leach of the sail I
apply a single or double pall (see Fig. 4). When the sail is reefed the tripping
line is let go, and the pall takes the notches on the inner edge of the shoulders.
of the groove and stops the yard from revolving when the halyards are hauled
upon, when the leach is taut the tackle of the parbuckle (or revolving power)
is hauled taut and the strain is taken off the pall.
I also use other combinations of this mode of rotation, such as one chain to
reef and another to unroll the sail, or a double sling band with only one chain
in the middle as a parbuckle or a double band, with a chain on a groove between
s the sling
the same to serve as a revolving downhaul. To allow the sail to pass
band an opening is made in the sail which is covered by a lappet. This lappet
(see Fig. 5) has thimbles along the edge, through which a line is passed from
head to foot. As the yard revolves the lappet falls and vice versa. The lappet
laces at the foot so as to admit of being taken off at sea without unbending the
sail. An improved traveller in two parts, one-half of which is fastened to the
lappet, and the other half lashes or screws to it, closes up the aperture or the
sail by travelling up and down a bolt rope on the edge of the sail. The braces
are secured to the sling bands at yardarms. The sheets lead through sheeves.
From these bands a downhaul is bent to the sling band. The booms are
let on to the parall, and can be fixed above or abaft the yards, as shewn in

page_text: Figs. 6 and 7. The booms when abaft the yard form a defence against friction
to the sail by the topmast stays and, rigging.
The novelty herein described consists in improvements in the several parts,
but more particularly in the revolving power, being totally independent as far
as safe working is concerned of the hoisting power, for by retaining the
ordinary tye and halyards the strain is taken off the two extremities of the
yard and distributed along the length from yardarm to yardarm, the tye and
parbuckle receiving a share of the strain, by which there is less danger of
breaking the yard in the middle, and should the revolving chains be carried
away the yard is still held by the tye and halyard. The parbuckle chain or
rope cannot get out of gear is understood by seamen, and not complicated by
ironwork of a mechanical kind that cannot be repaired at sea.
My side propeller," Fig. 8, is formed of spiral or curved blades fixed to a
boss, and so arranged as to obtain increased efficiency, lightness, and
diminished expense, with a better regulated power.
The propeller will work at the side or quarter of the ship on the shaft of the
engine; the shaft enters the boss, and the boss is cut square one half through
to receive a square shoulder of the shaft, and bored half round for the other
half. To disconnect the propeller in sailing, unpin the boss, and by means of
a screw worked through a worm driving against the inner ring of the boss the
propellor will be forced outwards on to the circular end of the shaft or discon-
nected altogether, and slung to be hoisted up; the screw to work inboard and
to pass through the hull of the ship.
The manner of fastening or securing the blades of the propeller to the boss
I accomplish by fastening the blades to the boss by flanges, or to cast the boss
and blades together, or to insert the ends of the blades into slots or mortices,
and to secure them by bolts or screws through raised shoulders on the boss;
and further using keyed hoops to pass over a sunk or return end of the blades
in the mortice or slot round either end of the boss, or to use wooden paddles let
into a spirally formed double-rimmed metal frame.
Another mode consists in working the upper blades of the propeller through
a boxed-off or well section of the ship, or to work the propeller perpendicullary
at the side with or without a covering or splashing board over the upper blades,
and further to adapt the curve of the blades or paddles to the run of the ship
against which they may be fixed.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention of "Improvements
in Navigating Ships," and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
I would remark in conclusion, that I do not confine myself to the precise
details herein explained and shewn in the accompanying Sheet of illustrative

page_text: Drawings as many slight modifications and variations may be made therein
without in any way departing from the principle of my Invention, such for
instance as those before mentioned in another part of this my Specification; but
what I claim as my Invention intended to be secured to me by the herein in part
recited Letters Patent is the navigating of ships in the manner herein described'
and shewn for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Moore, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE,
Agent for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
THOMAS MOORE. (L.S.)