IMPROVEMENTS IN APparatus FOR RAISING, LOWERING, AND DETACHING SHIPS' BOATS."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Sinclair Robson, of Sunderland, in the
County of Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APparatus
FOR RAISING, LOWERING, AND DETACHING SHIPS' BOATS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Sinclair Robson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th April 1871.
I, SAMUEL SINCLAIR ROBSON, of Sunderland, in the County of
Durham, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING, LOWERING, AND DETACHING. SHIPS'
BOATS," to be as follows :-
My Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for raising and
lowering ships' boats, and in means for detaching the boat when lowered,
whereby liability of the boat's being capsized by dragging or by collision
with the side of the vessel is to a great extent avoided.

page_text: According to my Invention I construct a simple apparatus for raising
and lowering boats of two uprights or standards secured to the deck of
the vessel a boat's length apart. To each upright towards the lower
part I pivot the end of a long bar or lever, which levers being allowed
to fall outwards swing the boat, suspended from their outer extremities,
clear of the vessel's side. Towards each end of the boat at the upper
part of the uprights or standards (which may sometimes be used in
pairs disposed as before near either end of the boat) I mount a chain
barrel on which is wound the chain for raising and lowering the boat.
The chains pass directly from their barrels over sheaves at the extremities
of the falling levers to the boat, to which the end of each chain is
attached in the usual way, a ball being attached to each chain at a
short distance from that end to act as a stop when the boat is raised
nearly up to the levers. The other ends of the chains are connected to
the barrels on which they are wound by a length of cord or wire strand
of sufficient strength to sustain the weight of the chains alone, but
which will break with the drag of the boat on the chains, when the
latter (after having lowered a boat) are entirely unwound from the
barrels, so that should the boat not be unhooked in time it will be
detached from the davits or levers by the breaking of the chain connec-
tion, whereby the use of slip hooks or other equivalent device to cast off
the boat is rendered unnecessary. Each chain barrel is keyed on a spindle
mounted in bearings in the standard or standards, the barrels being
operated by spur, bevel, or endless screw gearing. In the latter case a
clutch is employed on the barrel spindle to gear it with the winch handle
by which it is operated, so that when it is required to lower the boat
quickly the clutch can be thrown out of gear to disconnect the winch
handle from the barrel. In either case I employ brakes, each operated
by a lever handle, and acting on the periphery of the chain barrel or on
a sheave fixed thereon, or on the barrel spindle, to check or regulate
the descent of the boat. A rope or chain may be attached to the end
of the brake lever, and carried over a pulley on the end of the falling
bar, and down into the boat, the brake lever falling towards the outside
of the ship, so that the persons in the boat can lower themselves without
assistance, or the boat can be lowered by persons on deck.
Each lever or falling bar has attached to its upper end a claw
stopper or catch to receive the ball on the chain, and the apparatus is
operated to lower a boat in the following manner :-The falling levers

page_text: being in the vertical position the boat is first lifted from its cradle by:
winding up the chains on their barrels until the balls are above the
claw stoppers, and the chains being then let out the balls on the chain:
are received in their claw stoppers, and the weight of the boat causes:
the levers to fall outward so as to swing the boat clear of the vessel's
side; the boat is then lowered by the aid of the brake, as before
stated, the angle at which the levers are then lying allowing the ball
to fall off the claw stopper. The descent of the falling levers is limited
by a fixed stop or by contact with the bulwark of the vessel, and
said levers are raised in lifting a boat. by the said ball or stop on the
chains.
A rope or painter made fast at one end to the ship's side is connected
at the other to the boat before it is lowered into the water as above
described, the attachment being made by means of a pin or bolt fast to
the end of the painter, which bolt is received in a corresponding hole
or socket in the gunwale of the boat towards the bow and at the side.
next the vessel.
By this arrangement should the vessel be going through the water
when the boat is lowered the latter will in consequence of the painter
being attached at the shoulder or side of the boat be dragged or forced
away from the ship's side, and so prevent collision.
When the boat arrives at a certain angle to the vessel the bolt or
pin which is not fastened to the boat will slip out of the hole or socket
in the gunwale, thus casting off the boat.
5 SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Sinclair Robson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 28th October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
SINCLAIR ROBSON, of Sunderland, in the. County of Durham, send
0 greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-

page_text: fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Sinclair Robson, Her special
licence that I, the said Samuel Sinclair Robson, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Sinclair
Robson, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING, LOWERING, AND DETACHING SHIPS'
BOATS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel
Sinclair Robson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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

page_text: The chains pass over sheaves at the extremities of the falling levers to
the boat, to which the end of cach chain is attached in the usual way, a
ball, large link, or its equivalent being attached to cach chain at a short
distance from that end to act as a stop when the boat is raised nearly up
to the levers. The other end of the chains are connected to the barrels
on which they are wound by a length of cord or wire strand of sufficient
strength to sustain the weight of the chains alone, but which will break
with the drag of the boat on the chains when the latter (after having
lowered a boat) are entirely unwound from the barrels, so that should
the boat not be unhooked in time it will be detached from the davits or
levers by the breaking of the cord or wire connection, whereby the
use of slip hooks or other equivalent device to cast off the boat is
rendered unnecessary. Each chain barrel is keyed on a spindle mounted
in bearings in the standard or standards, the barrels being operated by
spur, bevel, or endless screw gearing. In the latter case a clutch is
employed on the barrel spindle to gear it with the winch handle by
which it is operated, so that when it is required to lower the boat quicker
the clutch can be thrown out of gear to disconnect the winch handle
from the barrel. In cither case I employ brakes, each operated by a
lever handle and acting on the periphery of the chain barrel on a sheave
fixed thereon, or on the barrel spindle, to check or regulate the descent
of the boat. A rope or chain may be attached to the end of the brake
lever and carried over a pulley on the end of the falling bar and down
into the boat, the brake lever being pulled towards the side of the ship,
so that the persons in the boat can lower themselves without assistance,
or the boat can be lowered by persons on deck.
Each lever or falling bar has attached to its upper end a claw, stopper,
or catch to receive the ball on the chain. The descent of the falling
levers is limited by a footpiece or fixed stop, or by contact with the
bulwark or covering board of the vessel, and said levers are raised in
lifting a boat by the said ball or stop on the chains.
A rope or painter made fast at one end to the ship's side is connected
at the other to the boat before it is lowered into the water, the
attachment being made by means of a pin or bolt fast to the end
of the painter, which bolt is received in a corresponding hole or socket
in the gunwale of the boat towards the bow and at the side next the
vessel.

page_text: By this arrangement should the vessel be going through the water
when the boat is lowered, the latter will, in consequence of the painter
being attached at the shoulder or side of the boat, be towed away from
the ship's side and so prevent collision.
By this arrangement should the vessel be going through the water
when the boat is lowered, the latter will, in consequence of the painter
being attached at the shoulder or side of the boat, be towed away from
the ship's side and so prevent collision.
When the boat arrives at a certain angle to thevessel the boat or pin
(which is not fastened to the boat) will slip out of the hole or socket in
the gunwale. thus casting off the boat.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a front and Figure 2 a side elevation of my improved
apparatus for lowering a ship's boat into the water.
a, a, are the uprights or standards which I prefer to use double or in
pairs, as shown, for more conveniently supporting the different parts
of the gear. These uprights or standards, if of cast iron, as shown in
Figures 1 and 2, are made of considerable width at the base to ensure
the necessary degree of strength, and are securely bolted or otherwise
fixed to the deck; this arrangement being suitable for boats to be raised
on to the poop deck of a vessel where there is no bulwark.
For boats that have to be lowered on to the deck below the bulwark,
long wrought-iron standards would be employed suitably stayed to resist
the strain; the uprights being fixed either into the deck or to the
bulwark of the vessel. b, b, are the falling bars or levers for carrying
the boat clear of the ship's side. Each bar is pivoted at its lower end
on a fulcrum c mounted between its pair of uprights a. In Figures 1
and 2 this fulcrum is placed near the base of the standards, but where
the apparatus is situate behind a bulwark the fulcrum must be fitted
in bearings placed on a level with the top of the bulwark as the levers
require to fall to a horizontal position, as shown in dotted lines in
Figure 2. d is the chain barrel mounted in bearings in the standards a
at a convenient height, and operated by a winch handle e through the
agency of a pinion on the spindle f of the handle e gearing with a spur
wheel g on the chain barrel, or the latter may be operated by endless
screw gearing herein-after described. h, h, are the chains, to the ends
of which the boat is hooked at the bow and stern as usual. Each chain
is carried through a sheave i mounted at the extremity of lever b, and
thence to its barrel, to which it is connected by a length of cord or wire

page_text: strand, as before described. A similar chain barrel is provided at either
end, cach operated independently of the other by its own winch handle;
or both barrels may be keyed on one long shaft extending completely
across the apparatus, and mounted in bearings in the standards at either
end, one winch handle being employed to work the two barrels. Or, by
another arrangement, both chains may be wound on the same barrel
mounted on one or other pair of uprights by carrying the chain from
the other end round a pulley at the base of its uprights, and so along
the deck to the chain barrel. k, k, are claw stoppers pivoted at i¹
to the levers b, through which the chains pass, the claws being so
pivoted that they will be caused by their own gravity to project in front
of the levers b, as shown. These claw stoppers serve to catch a ball 7,
large link, or equivalent device, applied to each chain to effect the
descent of levers & in lowering the boat. In raising the boat the ball /
comes into contact with the sheave i, thereby raising the lever b to the
vertical position, said ball or link being applied to the chains at such a
distance from the point of attachment to the boat that the latter will
clear the bulwark. m is a lever connected to a brake strap passing
round a sheave cast on the side of the barrel or keyed on the same
This
spindle therewith, the lever being pivoted at m² to the standard a.
lever is placed towards the side of the ship, so that the brake may be
brought into action by those in the boat by attaching a cord to the lever
handle.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The boat being in its
cradle, as shown in the line position Figure 1, and the levers b in a
nearly upright position to lower the boat it is first raised from its cradle
to the position shown in red lines, Figure 2, by winding the chains on
their barrels until the balls or links are above the claw stoppers /
which yield to allow the ball or link to pass, returning to position
immediately afterwards. The chains are then let out and the balls or
links being received in their claw stoppers, the weight of the boat is
brought on to the levers 6 which are thereby caused to descend with
the boat as far as the dotted position and so swing the boat clear of the.
vessel's side. As soon as the levers 6 have reached such an angle that the
balls or links are free to escape from the claw stoppers k, the boat may
เ
be lowered as quickly as desired by applying the brake and throwing
the pinion of the winch handle out of gear by sliding spindle f in its

page_text: 3rdly. I claim the improved means, substantially as herein-before set
forth and shown in the Drawings, whereby the boat is so cast off when
lowered into the water as to prevent collision with the vessel.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Sinclair Robson, have here-
unto sct my hand and scal, this Twenty-sixth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.