IMPROVEMENTS IN RUNNING RIGGING, AND IN MEANS OF WORKING THE SAME
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, of Bury,
in the County of Hants, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN RUNNING RIGGING, AND IN MEANS OF WORKING THE SAME."
Sealed the 3rd March 1865, and dated the 9th September 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Duncan Preston
Cunningham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th September 1864.
1, HENRY DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury, in the County of
Hants, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RUNNING RIGGING, AND IN MEANS OF WORKING THE SAME," to
be as follows:-
My Invention refers more particularly to that description of rigging employed
for moving about the yards and denominated braces, and consists in fitting
and working this running rigging on the continuous chain or rope principle;
that is, the brace attached to, say, the starboard yardarm is continued
through blocks, pulleys, or leads to the port yardarm. Chain is introduced
into the continuation, and the chain is led over or upon the barrel or wheel of
a capstan, windlass, or winch fitted with cogs or indented teeth to lay hold of
the chain. so that when the barrel or wheel is turned round the chain is

page_text: dragged upon or drawn in on one side of the ship and slackened on the other,
the action of which is to turn the yard round in whichever direction the
capstan or windlass may be made to rotate, or the chain may be acted upon
by any other convenient method. The ends of the continuous brace may be
connected to the yard by pulleys and tackles led into the centre of the yard,
which in the case of a topsail yard admits of the yard being hoisted, the required
amount of tension on the braces being regulated by pulling or slacking the
connecting tackles. Yards which do not hoist may have the braces connected
to the yard without these connecting tackles. I provide stoppers or controllers
for checking or controlling the chain passing through. By this method of
working the braces the yards can be moved round with greater facility than
by the ordinary method, and at the same time a saving of cordage is effected.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 9th March 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, HENRY
DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury, in the County of Hants. Esquire,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 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
Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, Eler special licence that I, the said
Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
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 IMPROVEMENTS IN RUNNING RIGGINO.
AND IN MEANS OF WORKING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, 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 per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manuer
the same is to be performed, 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 refers to that description of running rigging which is em-
ployed for moving round the yards of ships and denominated braces, and
consists in fitting and working this running rigging in the manner of con-
tinuous ropes or chains, so that the brace attached to one yardarm is continued
through or over blocks or pulleys or "fair leaders" to the other yardarm.
The entire brace or that portion which constitutes the working part of it, when
of chain, is led over or upon a barrel or wheel in a machine constructed for
the purpose as hereafter described, and which constitutes part of my Invention.
The barrel or wheel is whelped or furnished with cogs or teeth to lay hold of
the chain, so that when the barrel or wheel is turned round the chain is drawn
in on one side of the ship and slackened out on the otlier, whereby the yard is
braced round according to the direction in which the barrel or wheel is made
to rotate. I provide stoppers or controllers for checking or stopping the
passage of the chain, so as to retain and secure the yard in the position it
may have been braced to.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a plan of the after part
of a ship shewing one of my arrangements for fitting and working ships'
braces.
A is the maiu mast; B, B, is the main yard represented as "braced forward"
on the port tack; D, D', are lengths of rope (or they may be chain) usually
called "brace pendauts" attached to each yardarm; C, C, C, is a chain
connected to the brace pendant D' on the starboard side of the yard, passing
through the starboard side of the ship at E, then through a brace machine P,
herein-after fully described. The chain then passes through the opposite side
of the ship at E, and is connected to the brace pendant D on the port side
of the yard. According to the direction in which the machine is turned the
chain is drawn in on one side of the ship and let out on the other, thereby
causing the yard to move round upon the axis H which connects it the
mast. In Figure 1 the wheel of the machine P is supposed to be moved
round in the direction of the arrow, and the result would be that the star-
board side of the yard would be dragged aft and the port side would be moved
forward, a reversed movement of the machine P would produce a correspond-

page_text: ing opposite movement of the yard, the yard may thus be braced round in
either direction required. In Figure 1 the chain C is represented as con-
nected directly to the ends of the brace pendants D). D'.
Another arrangement is shown in Figure 3. Here at the ends of the
brace pendants D, D, (or it may be to the yard direct) are fixed blocks or
pulleys D2, D3. The chain is rove through these blocks and brought back
to fixed points at B³, 1ª. The connection of the ends of the chain at these
points may be effected by blocks and tackles. Or instead of the ends of the
chain terminating at the fixed points B', B, the chain can be continued over
a secund brace machine or over a chain wheel P in the manner represented
in Figure 4. By this arrangement when the two machines P, P¹, are turned
round in the same direction and at the same time the yard is moved round at
the same speed as it would be with the single part of chain as in Figure 1,
by keeping one machine or wheel stationary and securing thechain thereon and
turning round the other machine or chain wheel thesame action is obtained as
described with reference to Figure 3. This double action forms a quick and
slow purchase. In the case of yards which move upand down the mast, such as
topsail yards, it is necessary to provide for an adjustment of the tension of the
brace, as the elevation of the yard may be altered so as to give proper effect
to the continuous chain action. Figure 5 illustrates one method of obtaining
this adjustment. Dis the brace pendant; N is a block attached to it; N' is
another block attached to the yardarm; N is a third block fixed to the
yard towards the inner part, through this system of blocks a rope or tackle C
is rove, the end of which descends to the deck; by drawing inorslackening this
rope the amount of tension is regulated. Figure 6 represents another method
of obtaining this adjustment. The end of the working part of the brace
C, C, C, is led over a block or pulley at some convenient point. In this
Figure it is represented at the mizen topmast head, the brace is then led
down to the deck; by slackening or drawing in the end C the proper
amount of tension is adjusted according to the level of the yard. The other end
of the working part of the brace C may be led down and attached to the lower
brace pendant, as shown by the dotted line. This arrangement is also appli-
cable to the lower topsnil yards of the rig called the "double topsail yard
rig," although such yards are not fitted so as to be hoisted up and down.
Figure 7 is a side view, and Figure 8 au eud view of the machine which I
denominate my brace machine for working ships' braces as before described.
This machine is shewn as arranged for manual power although it can be
adapted for any other power.
The brace machine cousists of two side frames b, b. within which cog

page_text: wheels P1, P2, P3, are placed. The axle of the largest cog wheel P" carries
the toothed barrel or chain wheel P, shewn detached at Figure 2, and with a
chain over it at Figure 2, it receives its motion from the wheels P2, P³, which
are worked by crank handles, one of which only is shewn at Figure S. a, a,
are rollers under which the chain is passed both before' reaching and after
leaving the chain wheel. The object of these rollers is to keep the chain
sufficiently upon the chain wheel to ensure a proper hold of it by the teeth or
cogs, they also keep the chain at a desirable level. is a plate beneath
the wheel P, to throw or push off the chain should it hang in the teeth or
whelps. The upper wheel P3 is fitted to be thrown in and out of gear when
required, to allow the wheel P to be free to rotate without turning the
upper wheel P³.
Figures 10 and 11 illustrate the method I adopt for throwing the wheel P³
into and out of gear. Upon the tie bolt c is a flap d fitted to slide freely on
the bolt, and wide enough to fill up nearly the space between the wheel P³
and the side of the frame. The wheel P3 is free to slide backwards and
forwards on a feather or key on its axle, or the axle itself may be made to
slide in and out so as to throw the wheel P³ off the wheel P. Figure 10
represents the wheel P3 in gear, and Figure 11 shows it thrown out of gear,
with the flap key & shifted along the bolt c, and in position to prevent
the wheel Ps from accidentally getting into gear with the wheel P2 when the
wheel P is rotating. Figure 12 is a side view of the flap key a.
At e,e,
Figure 7, I fit lever stoppers for stopping or controlling the passage of the
chain C, one of these lever stoppers is seen in side view in Figure 13, and
in horizontal section in Figure 14. f is a lever working on an axis or
fulcrum g; h is a channel through which the chain C passes to and from the
brace machine in Figure 7; 7 is a notch in the lever f of suitable shape to
clasp or embrace the vertical link of the chain, whereby the passing of the
chain is stopped and the yard fixed in the required position. The stoppers
are herein-before described as being attached to and forming part of the brace
machine, but they may be placed at any convenient distance from it. In
cases where the braces do not lead down to the ships' side,but are led through
blocks aloft and then down to the deck, I adopt the arrangement represented
in Figure 9, in which the continuous chain C is not led through the ship from
side to side, but after passing under additional guide rollers a',', to the brace
machine,is led up aloft and so through blocks to the yard. In this arrangement
the lever stoppers should be applied between the additional rollers a¹,a', and
the ordinary rollers a, a. My brace machine may be fixed in any part of the
ship most convenient for its application. It may be constructed with one chain

page_text: wheel P, as in Figures 7 and 8, or with two or more such wheels; it may
also be provided with one or more fly wheels.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the samo is to be performed, I declare that I claim.-
First, the employment of braces working connectedly from yardarm to
yardarm for bracing round the yards of ships.
And, secondly, the machine or apparatus herein-before described for
operating on the braces when their working parts are of chain.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of March, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
H. D. P. CUNNINGHAM. (L.S.)