AN IMPROVED CAP FOR SHIPS' MASTS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Austin Rickaby, of Bloomfield Engine Works,
Sunderland, in the County of Durham, Engineer, for an Invention of "AN
IMPROVED CAP FOR SHIPS' MASTS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Austin Rickaby at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th July 1880.
ALFRED AUSTIN RICKABY, of Bloomfield Engine Works, Sunderland, in the
County of Durham, Engineer. "AN IMPROVED CAP FOR SHIPS' MASTS."
The object of my said Invention is to provide a cheap, efficient, and durable cap
for ships' masts.
For this purpose I construct the said cap of cast steel, and around the top and
bottom of the casting I form a beading or fillet of such a depth and of such a
thickness as shall give sufficient strength to the parts to meet any sudden pressure
or strain that may arise in the usual manner. Suitable holes for the attachment of
shackles are also formed.
From careful experiments made by me, caps as above described have been found
to give very satisfactory results, and I anticipate that my said Invention will
supply a want long felt by ship owners and master mariners.
By cap for ships' masts it is to be understood I mean the appliance employed for
securing an upper mast to the lower one in fully rigged vessels.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alfred Austin Rickaby in the Great Seal Patent Offico on the 8th
January 1881.
ALFRED AUSTIN RICKABY, of Bloomfield Engine Works, Sunderland, in the
County of Durham, Engincer. "AN IMPROVED CAP FOR SHIPS MASTS."
The object of my said Invention is to provido a cheap, efficient, and durable cap
for-ships-masts.
Caps for ships masts, by. which expression I mean the appliance or apparatus-
employed for securing an upper mast to the lower one in fully rigged vessels, as
at present manufactured are found to be expensive, deficient in strength, and
cumbersome.
To remedy these evils I prepare several patterns of the form and dimensions of
the several classes of mast caps usually inet with in practice. These patterns
represent "standards" or "models" from which any required number of moulds
may be made, and mast caps cast therefrom and kept in stock for future use, or for
any emergency that may arise. Around the top and bottom of each casting are
beadings, fillets, or other ornamentations of such a depth and of such a thickness
as shall with a minimum amount of metal give sufficient strength to the parts to
-meet-any-sudden strain that may arise in the usual course of events; suitable holes
are also cast for the attachment of shackles, and, so far as may be consistent with
the nature of the work, with all the usual appendages. Cast steel being the metal
I employ in casting the above, "an improved cap for ships'-masts will result from
the above described mode of manufacture.
It is obvious from the foregoing that in addition to mast caps, my Invention is
equally applicable to bowsprits and caps of yards, and sundry purposes in the
rigging of ships, regard being had to the altered condition of circumstances, for
which a special pattern should be made, and a casting taken therefrom to meet the
new condition of circumstances.
Having now set forth the nature and object of niy Invention of "Au Improved
Cap for Ships Masts," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent
1 claim, the construction of mast caps and similar appliances, manufactured
substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Austin Rickaby, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.