CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS' FITTINGS, SUCH AS MAST HOOPS, JIB HANKS, AND JIB AND OTHER TRAVELLERS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Dyer, of the City of Bristol, Shipowner, for
the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS' FITTINGS, SUCH AS
MAST HOOPS, JIB HANKS, AND JIB AND OTHER TRAVELLERS."
Sealed the 17th July 1857, and dated the 21st January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Dyer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st January 1857.
I, SAMUEL DYER, of the City of Bristol, Shipowner, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS' FITTINGS,
SUCH AS MAST HOOPS, JIB HANKS, AND JIB AND OTHER TRAVELLERS," to be as
follows:-
I purpose to construct mast hoops for the mainsails of schooners, &c., or the
trysails of ships, thus :-I have a ring or band to clasp the mast, divided and
jointed, and provided with projecting pieces with semicircular cuts therein,
such pieces being brought into and kept in contact by a screw nut, and may
be made to clip the sail, so that the canvas is free in the open part in the end
of the hoop, and the leach or luff rope is confined between the semicircles,
which when brought together form a complete circle for the luff' rope to pass
up and down freely through, when the pin being screwed in (substituted for
the ordinary seizing of rope yarns) through the middle hole a rope of

page_text: proper size is rove, and knots are placed under each hoop to compel each of
them to lift or raise equidistant as the gaft is hoisted. A rest is formed, so as
to receive each mast hoop, one on top of the other, as they descend when the
sail is lowered for reefing, and are there confined and prevented from inter-
fering with appliances for rotation applied to the boom.
The jib hank is similar to this mast hoop, save that instead of a ring or band
to clasp the mast there are two semicircular openings. The front opening of
this hank enables the party bending the sail to pass it through the eyelet hole
in the fore-leech of the jib, and then with the screw pin (which acts as sub-
stitute for the old-fashioned seizing of rope yarns) to secure it, and that part
which is left open is intended to slip over the plates of iron at the end of each
stay, so that as soon as the sail is hoisted the bank passes on the round part
of the stay, and is as secure as the ordinary bank; also, when the sail is
hauled down a pin is placed through the plate to prevent the hank from
passing off the rounded part of the stay, which pin, if removed, will allow
all the hanks to slip off the plate, and the tack of the sail being seized or
lashed to the travellers, follows it on the boom when its outhaul is slacked
until it reaches the standing boom end, then if the downhaul is slacked the
flying jib swings in on the forecastle deck by means of its haulyards and down-
haul is slacked. The downhaul block is secured by a pin and iron strap to the
middle hole in the neck of the traveller. This same mode of action is appli-
cable to all jibs and staysails. The jib traveller is a large ring, with other
smaller rings attached.
The Invention is substantially as above described, but the mere details might
probably be varied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Dyer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
DYER, of the City of Bristol, Shipowner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Samuel Dyer, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Dyer,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel

page_text: Dyer, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
SHIPS' FITTINGS, SUCH AS MAST HOOPS, JIB HANKS, AND JIB AND OTHER TRAVELLERS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Dyer, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Samuel Dyer, 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:-
The nature of the said Invention consists in the improvements, hereafter
described, in the construction of ships' fittings, such as mast hoops, jib hanks,
and jib and other travellers, whereby I am enabled to secure the sails of
ships, especially such as are adapted to be worked according to my former
Patents of 30th April 1856 (No. 1023), and of 7th June 1856 (No. 1360),
either to the mast or to the stays of staysails, as the case may be, and they
are also applicable to sails of the ordinary character, rendering them workable
in a more ready and efficient manner than can be effected by the appliances
hitherto adopted; which Invention will be readily understood from the follow-
ing description thereof, and by reference to the accompanying Drawings
therein referred to.
In the said Drawings, Fig. 1 denotes a view of the mast hoop closed, as
when applied to the mast and securing the sail; Fig. 2, view of the mast
hoop open and not securing the sail; Fig. 3, side view of bank (jib hank)
when closed as when in use; Fig. 4, side view of hank (jib hank) when open
and not in use; Fig. 5, plan view of the jib traveller; Fig. 6, edge view thereof;
Fig. 7, a side view of a fore-and-aft sail, which is secured by this mast hoop
to the mast; Fig. 8, side view of a fore-and-aft sail, secured by the mast
hoop to a distinct trysail mast. In both the Figs. 7 and 8 theso mast hoops
are shewn applied to sails and masts having my rolling jackstay and inverted
suspension claws (see Specification of my Patent of 30th April 1856 (No.
1023), to enable me to roll the sail thereon; but these appliances might be

page_text: employed with advantage to other sails not having my former Patents applied
thereto, the mast hoops and hanks being in fact applicable to all the sails
of ships and vessels which usually come under the denomination of fore-and-aft
sails. Fig. 9, plan view of gaft; Figs. 10 and 11, views of mast hanks
which may be substituted for the mast hoops, their character being hereafter
explained.
In the following description the letters of reference relate to the same
letters placed on the accompanying Drawings.
I construct the mast hoops for the mainsails of schooners or the trysails
of ships in this manner:-I have a ring or band (A) to clasp the mast, divided
and jointed (at B), and provided also with projecting portions (C), having
semicircular or curvated cuts or indentations (C**, C*,) thereon, such pro-
jecting portions being brought into and kept in contact by a screw or fastener
E, (whereby the cuts or indentations will be brought together and form
circular or curvated orifices; and by this means the sail may be secured, so
that the canvas is free in the open part at the ends of the projecting portions
of the hoop, and the leach or luff rope is confined between the two semicircles
(C) farthest from the opening ring or band C, which embraces the mast,
which semicircles when brought together form one complete circular or
curvated orifice, as aforesaid, for the luff rope to pass up and down freely
through, when the screw pin (E) being screwed in, substitutes for the old-
fashioned seizing of rope yarns; through the hole Cx a guide rope of proper
size is rove, and knots are placed under each mast hoop to compel each of
them to lift or rise equidistant as the gaft is hoisted. A rest F (see Figs
7 and 8) is attached to the mast to receive each mast hoop, one at top of
another, as they descend when the sail is lowered for reefing, where they are
confined and prevented from interfering with the appliances for rotation
applied to the boom, and as these mast hoops reach the rest they stop, and
the leach of the sail passes through the opening farthest from the mast,
and. becomes wound upon the patent rolling jackstay below. The rolling
jackstay may (as shewn at Fig. 8 of the accompanying Drawings) pass through
a distinct trysail mast having an iron shoe, which steps in the boom or
on the deck, and the end of the patent rolling jackstay nearest the mast
is provided with its proper toothed wheels for communicating motion thereto,
such toothed wheels being, however, provided with palls to take in the side
of the sheeve, which pall is intended to prevent the sail unrolling if anything
should happen to the chain or gear; or I place a worm or screw in con-
nection with a suitable toothed wheel at the end (next the mast) of the rolling
jackstay, so as to dispense with the need of the mitre or pinion wheel for

page_text: the purposes of rotation. Such worm or screw may be placed above the
roller or between the rolling jackstay and the boom, and may have a pall,
rack, or catch plate, at the option of the user; or the boom deprived of the
rolling jackstay may be made to rest in a stanchion of wood or iron, or wood and
iron. The worm also resting in suitable bearings attached thereto, may when
the handle is turned rotate the lower or main boom, to do which it is necessary
that the topping lifts and mainsheet blocks should be hooked on to a loose
band at the extreme end of the boom, or, if preferred, the same mitre wheels
may be fixed to the main boom, and made to rotate as before described; or, as
a substitute for either of the above means of rotation, I use a lever, similar to
that used for windlasses, having palls and rack plates and handles made to
ship and unship. These handles on being pumped up and down cause either
the boom or jackstay to rotate, as before described.
To support the mast, I use either rope of hemp or wire, having at the lower
end an iron shoe (tulip-formed), which is fastened to the end of the rope or
shroud, with bolts or pins of iron rivetted through. This shoe has a screw or
worm, which enters the chain plate in a screw cap, and when the screw is
forced round by means of a common spanner, it either makes the shroud tight
or slack, in proportion as the screw is turned either to the right or left. The
lower end or cup end of this instrument is fastened to the ship's side by three
or more bolts, and does away with the need for using rope for lanyards, or
blocks, or deadeyes (see Fig. 5).
I construct a hank (jib hank), which is similar to this mast hoop, save that
there is no ring or band to clasp the mast, but there are three semicircular
openings I**, I*, I; the foremost opening I** of this hank enables the person
bending the sail to pass it through the eyelet hole in the fore-leach of the jib,
and then with the screw pin K (which acts as a substitute for the old-fashioned
seizing of rope yarns) to secure it, and that part which is left open is intended
to slip over the plates of iron at the end of each stay, so that as soon as the
sail is hoisted the bank passes on the round part of the stay, and is as secure
as the ordinary hank. The middle orifice I* is for the guide rope, with knots
similar to the guide rope which passes through the mast hoops. When the
sail is hauled down a pin is placed through the plate and pin for that purpose,
which secures the stay to the jibstay band, such plate having a shackle to pre-
vent the hank from passing off the rounded part of the stay, which pin, if
removed, will allow all the hanks to slip off the plate, and the tack of the sail
being seized, or lashed, or hooked to the travellers, follows it on the boom,
when its outhaul is slacked until it reaches the standing boom end. [In this
arrangement hooking is preferred, the book being made similar to that in

page_text: use at present for securing dogs to a chain, with a spring, as thus
and
this does away with need for lashing, for by pressing the finger on the spring
the sail is easily detached from the traveller]. The outhaul being slacked, as
aforesaid, then, if the downbaul is slacked, the flying jib swings in on the
forecastle deck by means of the haulyards and downhaul. The downhaul
block is secured by a pin and iron strap to the middle hole in the neck of
the traveller. If all the head staysails of vessels be fitted in this manner I
would have the outer sails taken in on the forecastle in a storm, as by this
means the ship would be much relieved by having the weight taken off the
jib and flying jib boom. This same mode of action is applicable to all jibs and
staysails.
The jib traveller has a large ring with a neck composed of other smaller
rings, and is made to fit loosely on the boom, so as to slide in and out with
case (see Figs. 5 and 6).
I also construct a mast hank, which, in conjunction with other arrangements,
would render unnecessary the use of mast hoops.
The Figs. 10 and 11 shew at a a mast bank of peculiar construction, which
consists of a piece of metal, the ends of which are shaped or curvated, so as to
nearly form circles or rings, except for their being broken or opened at the
parts a* and a** at each end respectively, though one end is of greater dia-
meter than the other. denotes a rounded rod or rail of iron, which is to be
fitted to the aftside of the mast, by securing through the mast plate, or by
bands, where preferred, circumscribing the mast at various distances, and on to
this the mast hoop is to be slidden by the end nearest a*, the other end nearest
a being slidden on to the leach or luff'rope of the sail in such a manner that
may slide freely up and down the same. c, Fig. 11, is a mast hank of
somewhat different construction. In this case, the end c* is round and solid,
whilst the other end nearest is formed in manner similar to that shewn (at
a and a**, Fig. 10), and before described. f is a curvated groove, which is
welded on to the mast plate f*, f*, through which the same may be screwed
to the aftside of the mast. Into the groove (f) the round end c* of the mast
hank is slidden from one end, whilst the end nearest d is connected to the leach
of the sail.
it
The inverted suspension claw, herein-before mentioned, may be superseded
by a supporter somewhat similar, except that instead of being open at the
points (as described in the Specification of my former Patent aforesaid), is a
perfect circle, having rollers all round, which is passed on the boom or rolling
jackstay, and at top is a T piece of iron, having ears open, to which is attached

page_text: a quarter width of canvas on end double, and at intervals of 18 inches are
similar loose irons, which nip the rope on each side of the opening of the sail,
and rise and fall according as the sail is hoisted or lowered, and the suspender
may have a band for securing the same to the boom.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is, the construction
of the described mast hoops, jib hanks or hanks, mast hanks, and travellers,
the use and application whereof is herein-before explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Dyer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
SAMUEL DYER. (L.S.)