IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING TOPSAILS AND TOPGALLANT SAILS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Allix, of Jersey, Shipwright, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING TOPSAILS AND TOPGALLANT SAILS, AND IN
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 24th March 1865, and dated the 29th September 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Allix at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
. 29th September 1864.
I, GEORGE ALLIX, of Jersey, Shipwright, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING TOPSAILS AND TOPGALLANT
SAILS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in reefing top and topgallant sails by causing them
to be rolled up on the yard, to which they are attached by means of a whelped
boss fixed near each end of the yard, round which bosses double chain haul-
yards are made to pass.
My Invention also consists in the apparatus or fittings, as hereafter.
described, on the ends of the yards, and in an improved parall and claw for
keeping the centre of the yard to the mast, and for holding the sail as it is
rolled upon the yard.
The fittings are the same on each end of the yard, and are as follows:
First, I fit on a hoop carrying uprights, each of which is forked, and within
.

page_text: each of the forks upon a spindle I place a pulley; the spindle also passes
through the forked ends of two rods, which extending outwards approach each
other, and carry a hoop, ring, or bearing for receiving the extreme end of the
yard, or an iron or other metal pin or axle fixed to the yard and free to
revolve with the yard; a forked guide having two eyes; through which the
haulyards pass, extends inwards from the uprights on the hoops. The whelped
boss is a fixture on the yard or on a metal arm secured therein or thereon,
and is placed just outside of the hoop and between the hoop and the bearing,
within which the axis of the yard is free to revolve.
My improved parall consists of 'two hoops, which encircle the mast, kept at
a distance from each other and united by stays; swivelled-to-the upper hoop
is a span, to each of the ends of which I connect a claw, and again connect
the claws by a rod overhead; guides keep the claws in the centre of the
vard.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Allix in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th March 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ALLIX, of Jersey, Shipwright, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Allix, Her special licence that I, the said George
Allix, my executors; administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Allix, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, 'exércise, and, vend, within, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention, for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN REEFING TOPSAILS AND TOPGALLANT SAILS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Allix, 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
.
+

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, thé said George Allix, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof; reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in reefing top and topgallant sails by causing them
to be rolled up on the yard, to which they are attached by means of a whelped
boss fixed near each end of the yard, round which bosses double chain haul-
yards are made to pass.
:
My Invention also consists in the. apparatus or fittings, as hereafter
described, on the ends of the yards, and in an improved parrall and claw for
keeping the centre of the yard the mast, and for holding the sail as it is
rolled the yards.
upon
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view of a ship's 'topmast as
seen from the stern of the vessel, and fitted with my appliances for reefing the
sail; Figure 2 is a side view of the same; Figure 3 is a plan of one end of
the topmast yard..
A is the lower mast; B, the lower yard; C, the topmast; and D, the top-
mast yard: a, a, are whelped bosses fixed near each end of the yard D; b, c,
are double chain haulyards; the haulyard 6 is connected at one end to a running
'sheave d; passes up to and through' a block e, then to and round the whelped
boss a, back again to and through the block e, and finally down to another
running sheave.f, to which the other end is secured. The other haulyard c is
connected at one end to the sheave f, passes up to and through a block g, then
round the whelped boss a', back again to and through the block 9, and finally
down to the sheave d, to which its other end is secured. The sheaves d and f
have therefore each one end of both haulyards b, c, connected to them.
The fittings are the same on each end of the yard, and are as follows:-
First, I fit on a hoop carrying uprights i, i, each of which is forked, and
within each of the forks, upon a spindle j, I place a pulley h. The spindle also
passes through the forked ends of two rodsk, k, which extending outwards
approach each other, and carry a hoop, ring, or bearing 1 for receiving the
extreme end of the yard, or an iron or other metal pin or axle fixed to the
yard and free to revolve with the yard. A forked guide m, having two eyes n,
through which the haulyards pass, extends inwards from the uprights.i, i, on
the hoops. The whelped boss a, a¹, is a fixture on the yard or on a metal·

page_text: arm secured therein or thereon, and is placed just outside of the hoop h and
between the hoop and the bearing, within which the axis of the yard is free to
revolve. The haulyard 6 in coming from the block e passes through one of
the eyes n and over one of the pulleys h before passing round the boss a,.and
in returning to the block e it first passes over the other pulley h, and then
through the other eye n. The same description applies to the haulyard cat
the other side of the mast.
My improved parrall consists of two hoops o, o, which encircle the mast,
kept at a distance from each other and united by stays p; swivelled to the
upper hoop is-a-span q, to each of the ends of which I connect a claw r, and
again connect the claws by a rod s overhead. Guides t keep the claws-in-the-
centre of the yard. The sheaves d and f have each depending from them a
rope or chain u and v; one end of each of these-ropes-is-permanently_fixed-to
the deck or lower part of the mast, while the other end is secured to a
belaying pin on the mast or other convenient part, and is unfastened when
the sail is to be reefed or unreefed. The lower part of the sail is secured by
ropes or chains w, w, which pass through blocks in the yard B, and are
attached to a belaying pin on the mast or otherwise.
To reef the sail, detach the end of the rope u from its belaying pin, whereby
the yard -D is allowed to descend of its own weight, the parrall o guiding it
in its descent. The running of the haulyards b, c, round the whelped
bosses a, a', during the lowering of the yard causes the yard to revolve and
roll up the sail thereon. The yard continues to be lowered until the parrall o
reaches the cap a, when, if required to completely furl the sail, secure the end
of the rope u, loosen the ropes w, w, which secure the lower part of the sail,
loosen also the rope v, and haul on that rope, when the yard will rotate
without being raised, and the furling of the sail will be completed. To
unfurl the sail and let out the reef, loosen and haul on the rope u to enable
the sail to be lowered to the yard, B, fasten the ropes w, w, then haul on
the rope to raise the yard; in rising the yard rotates and lets out the
sail.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim;-
First, reefing top and topgallant sails by causing them to be rolled up on
the yard, to which they are attached by means of a whelped boss fixed near
each end of the yard, round which bosses double chain haulyards are made to
pass, all substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the accom
panying Drawings.

page_text: Second, the construction and employment on the ends of the yards of
apparatus or fittings arranged and acting substantially as herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Third, the improved parrall herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Allix, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five.
GEORGE ALLIX. (L.s.)