IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING, LOWERING, AND DISENGAGING SHIPS' BOATS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Allix at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th October
1868.
I, GEORGE ALLIX, of Southampton, in the County of Hants, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING, LOWERING, AND DISENGAGING SHIPS' BOATS," to be
as follows:
My Invention consists, first, in improved arrangements of apparatus
for raising ships' boats from and lowering them into the water, and
secondly, in improved arrangements for disengaging the boats when so
lowered.
My first arrangement for raising and lowering the boats is as follows:-
From the davit heads I suspend brackets or frames in which bearings
are formed for a spar or roller, on the ends of which are barrels to receive
the hoisting and lowering chains or ropes. On one end of the spar
is a toothed wheel driven by a pinion on the same axis as another wheel
driven by another pinion, which last pinion is on the axle of a driving

page_text: pulley round which a rope or parbuckle is wound. By hauling on this
parbuckle the spar is caused to rotate, wind up the hoisting chains, and
thereby raise the boat by leaving the parbuckle free to wind on its
pulley, the weight of the boat causes the spar to rotate in the contrary
direction and thereby to let the chains run out and lower the boat. For
light boats where less power is required one of the wheels and one of
the pinions may be dispensed with. The brackets have eyes to lead the
chains to the barrels.
According to another arrangement for raising and lowering boats, I
fix on the "rail" midway between the davits a bracket or frame con-
taining the bearings for a rotating barrel which is driven in the manner
before described. The two hoisting chains from the davit heads are
wound round the barrel; the barrel is divided in the middle to prevent
the two chains riding over each other. In either arrangement I employ
a stop, paul, or catch to prevent the spar or barrel rotating when
necessary.
My first arrangement for disengaging the boat when it reaches the
water is a self-acting arrangement and is intended to prevent the hook
at one end of the boat being disengaged sooner than the other when
that end of the boat touches the water first.
My arrangement consists in the employment of two counterbalanced
hooks, one at each end, rigidly fixed to a fore and aft bar to which the
hoisting and lowering chains are attached. These hooks take into eye
or ring bolts in the boat as usual, and when the weight or strain is
taken off the chains by the boat touching the water the counterbalanced
hooks turn simultaneously with the fore and aft bar and become relcased
from the bolts.
My second arrangement for disengaging boats consists in the following
combination of parts:-The hook at each end of the boat is not jointed,
but rigid; it is pivoted at one end to the top of a vertical rod, and it a
is also pivoted near its centre to a fixed point; the lower end of one
vertical rod is connected by a link to a horizontal rod, which in
its turn is connected by another link to a crank worked by hand. The
last-named link is also connected to one end of a fore and aft bar
carried along the bottom of the boat, the other end of this bar being a
in turn connected by a link to the lower end of the other vertical rod.

page_text: By turning the crank in one direction the hooks are acted upon through
the links, rods, and bar so as to be in position to receive the
corresponding hooks from the davits; by turning the crank in the
other direction the hooks are acted upon so as to release the said
corresponding hooks.