NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING BOATS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Reid Douglas, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING BOATS."
Scaled the 30th September 1876, and dated the 1st April 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Reid Douglas at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st April 1876.
WILLIAM REID DOUGLAS, of Glasgow, in the County of Larnark, North
Britain, Engineer. "NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING
BOATS."
This Invention has reference to a new or improved construction of boat raising
and lowering apparatus or mechanism, specially applicable to sailing or steam ships
or vessels, or for ports or harbours where open boats or lifeboats have to be lowered
into or raised out of the water in all states of weather and sea with the greatest
possible case, expedition, and safety, or security against accident, whether with
people in them or not.
The nature and novelty of the Invention consists in hanging the boats, as will
herein-after be stated, at or to the centre of the horizontal arms of two new con-
structions of knee-shaped levers (or davits) which oscillate on a strong joint or
fulcrum at the upper or free end of the vertical arm of cach lever attached to
stanchions of the bulwarks on the outside of the ship. The lifting ropes after
passing round the blocks of the ordinary lifting tackle, or it might be a single chain
from a lifting and guiding pulley at the centre of each horizontal lifting arm, are
each carried round or over a pulley in the extreme outer end of the horizontal arm
of cach lever (or davit) up at an angle over two guide reversing pulleys close
together, secured so as to work edge to edge on the inside of the stanchions or other
fixture on the inner side of the ship above the fulcrum of the levers, and a little
below the horizontal arms when these are lifted and turned or tilted over on their
fulcra, and lie horizontally inside the bulwark or sides of the ship by the act of
lifting the boat and levers or davits.
The actual lifting and lowering gearing may be in the form of two barrels fixed
on one shaft, working in bearing blocks inside the stanchions of the bulwarks in
the form of a simple winch or windlass, with the ends of each lifting chain attached

page_text: to each barrel below the upper duplex guiding rollers; or it might be in the form
of a duplex barrelled "gipsy" winch, having the lifting part of each chain wound
two or three times round it, and the slack delivered loose on deck; or it might
be other equivalent winding gear placed in any convenient position, having the
chains guided and conveyed thereto from the said new or improved tilting knee-
shaped levers or davits, all so that in lifting a boat with them on winding the two
chains the boat would be lifted out of the water right up until its two gunwales or
blocks on them are brought or wound hard up to the horizontal arms of the levers,
where the persons, if any were in the boat, would leave it, when the continued
winding of the chains would tilt the two levers with the boat on them right up and
over within the ship, so as to rest on and be secured to the usual supports or on
to the spar deck, the boat being thus "housed" or secured with its bottom up, and
the oars lashed to its thwarts or cross beams or seats, all ready for being unlashed
and lowered.
The winding apparatus would he fitted with the usual ratchets or holding gear,
and the ends of the levers or davits would have their lashing ropes attached to
their outer ends, which would also suit for drawing them in past or over their
oscillating centres; the lowering of the davits and boat being effected in the
converse manner to the lifting of these described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Reid Douglas in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
September 1876.
WILLIAM REID DOUGLAS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Engineer. "NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING
BOATS."
My said Invention has reference to a new or improved construction of boat
raising and lowering apparatus or mechanism, specially applicable to sailing or
steam ships or vessels, or for ports or harbours, where open boats or lifeboats have
to be lowered into or raised out of the water, in all states of weather and sea,
with the greatest possible ease, expedition, and safety, or security against accident,
whether with people in them or not.
And in order that the nature, novelty, and mode of performing or carrying out
my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall now proceed to describe
the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings which I have hereunto appended
for the purpose of showing the best modes and means I am at present aware of for
putting the Invention into effect or practice, the same reference letters and numerals
indicating the same or like parts in all the Figures where shown.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 are respectively a side and an end elevation and a plan, all of
one modification of iny said new or improved boat raising and lowering apparatus, as
fitted at the deck and side of a ship, and in the act of lowering a boat which is
shown in section in Figures 1 and 2, to show the boat engaging and disengaging
mechanism.
Figures 4 and 5 are respectively a front and side or edge elevation of an arrange-
ment of the winch 1, or raising and lowering mechanism, somewhat different from
that shown in Figures 1 to 3, and Figures 6 to 9 are views of details of the boat
engaging and disengaging mechanism detached to a large scale, to show its con-
struction and action more clearly than can be seen in the general views, Figures 1
to 3.
Referring to Figures 1, 2, and 3, the nature and novelty of my Invention, and
mode of constructing and arranging the new or improved apparatus or mechanism,

page_text: =
consist all as follows:-The boat to be raised and lowered is carried (as will
herein-after be more particularly described) at or near the centre of the horizontal
arms A of the two new or improved knee shaped tilting levers or davits A, A¹, which
oscillate on a strong fulcrum piece B¹, and joint at the upper or free end of the
vertical arm A of each lever. The joint piece B is formed or fixed near the middle
of the strong standards B, B', secured in the strong cast-iron pillars C, as sockets,
(but it might be in sockets in the stanchions of the bullwarks,) on the side and
deck Z, Z, of the ship or other foundation, and to which the pillars Care secured by
a broad sole plate or flanges and screws at C. The boat when taken in (and
safely "housed" or secured) as seen dotted in in Figures 1 and 2, is carried with
its bottom up on the top of its carrying tilting arm A up over the deck and top of
the supporting standards B, with the kneed end of the vertical arm A¹ resting on
the stud B, in the outer forked part B3 of the open top cross head of the standards
B carrying the overhead chain pulley B, B, of the raising and lowering chains D,
one for each arm A, A¹, and standard B forming the new or improved davits. A
single chain D from each set of the engaging mechanism at the bow and stern
cross beams or seats y (or it might be from the ordinary blocks or lifting tackle)
is carried over the lifting and guiding pulley a, at the centre of each horizontal
lifting arm A; each chain D, after passing over the pulley a, is passed round or over
the second pulley a¹ in the outer part or end of the horizontal arm A of the tilting
lever A, A, and from which it is carried up at an angle over and down between the
two guide reversing pulleys B, so as to work edge to edge, close together on the
inside of the stanchions B (or ther equivalent fixture on the inner side of the ship
above the fulcrum B¹ of the levers A, A¹), and a little below the horizontal arms A
when these are lifted and turned or tilted over horizontally on their fulcra B' on
the inside of the bulwark or sides of the ship over the deck, by the act of lifting
the boat and levers or davits A, A'. In the arrangement shown cach chain D is
carried straight down from the pulleys B, round the under side of a guide pulley B³,
carried on a stud or snugs projecting from each supporting pillar C, high enough
to be carried round winding pitch chain pulleys 2, keyed on the main central
spindle 3 of the actual lifting and lowering mechanism, which in these Figures 1
to 3 is shown as made in the form of a simple double power winding winch 1,
carried on a single frame secured by a broad flange to the deck in the middle
between the standards and pillars B, C. The loose ends of the chains D, D, after
passing round their winding pulleys 2, 2, are carried over the loose revolving guide
pulleys 21, 21, carried on studs projecting from the standard 1 on each side of the
pulleys 2, the loose chain being delivered on the deck, or into a space or receptacle
below it. The spindle 3 of this winding machine revolves in a deep bush bearing
in the middle of the frame 1, and has a large spur wheel 4 keyed on its inner end
gearing into the pinion 4' fast on the spinde 5 of the winding or crank handle 5',
and which revolves in a bushed eye in the upper part of the frame 1, and has a
brake wheel G mounted on its outer end fitted with friction strap and hand lever 6¹,
for use when the handle 5' is let go, to control the speed of the winch and the
lowering of the boat by its own weight. Thus the lowering of the boat from
the dotted position shown in Figures 1 and 2 is effected by first turning the winch
handle 5 in the heaving or hauling direction indicated by the arrows in Figure 1,
until the boat and its carrying arms A, A', are tilted over, and the horizontal part
of the chain D' becomes nearly vertical over the pulleys B, when the weight of
the boat and arms and their momentum in passing throws the centre of gravity
of the whole outwards over these pulleys and the boat may then be lowered by its
own weight and that of the arms, and the turning of the windlass in the opposite
direction to that indicated by the arrows, until they assume the position indicated
in sharp lines in Figures 1, 2, and 3 to load the boat and enable the persons to step
into it easily from the deck; the winch handle and windlass are then let go to
lower the boat into the water by the brake and brake lever G, 61, which lowers
both chains and the ends of the boat to which they are attached at the same
uniform speed as the chains pass over the same size of pitch chain pulleys 2, on the

page_text: main shaft 3 of the windlass. One of the sailors or other person stands by the
releasing lever of the disengaging mechanism within the boat, and lets go a single
lever l, so as to set free the ends d of the chains D immediately the boat rests
in the water, the construction and action of which improved engaging and
disengaging mechanism will herein-after be more fully described; the boat
in Figures 1 and 2 being shown in section to show the construction and
action of this engaging and disengaging mechanism more clearly, In lifting the
boat out of the water the balls d at the ends of the chains D are inserted into
their gripping sockets e in the cross beam y, and fixed through the locking levers f,
and connecting rod h and chain i, by the engaging and disengaging lever l, all as
herein-before described, when the windlass is then turned in the direction of the
arrows in Figure 1, to lift the chains D and boat until the two gunwales of the
boat (or blocks on them) are brought or wound hard up to the horizontal arms A
of the levers A, A¹, as shown in this position in Figure 2 (either with or without
steadying collars a² on the arm for the sides of the boat) where the persons would
step out of the boat on to the ship; and the continued winding of the chains would
tilt the two levers A, A', with the boat on them right up and over within the ship,
resting over the standards as before described, and shown dotted in in Figures
1 and 2, or it might be over on to the usual supports or spar deck, the boat being
thus housed or secured as before described, with its bottom up, and the oars lashed
to its thwarts or cross beams or seats, all ready for being unlashed and lowered
when desired. When additional fastening or securing is desired, the arms A, A¹,
where they are stayed together by the tie rod A might be lashed to the top of the
standards B, or have lines attached to the extreme ends A¹ of the arm A fastened
down to any convenient part of the ship, which lines when set free could be made
to answer for pulling the boat and lever out or in past its centre of gravity or
oscillating centre.
In some cases I prefer not to have the winding winch or gearing 1 portable and
erected between the standards, as shown in Figure 1, but to erect and secure it all
on one of the main columns C carrying the standards B, as shown in Figures 4
and 5; the inner ends of the spindles 3 and 5 being carried in bearings on the
column C, while their front ends or journals would be carried in the frame 11,
secured by a flange to the bottom of the column C, and by a stud or stay at top,
which would also form the fulcrum of the brake, strap, and lever 6¹. In this case
a chain D from the lever A, A¹, carried on the column of the windlass would come
direct down under one of the winding pitch chain pulleys 2, and up over a loose
reverse pulley 21 on the winch handle spindle, which carries the pinion 4¹ and brake
wheel 6; while the chain D from the far lever, standard, and fulcrum A, B, C,
passes round the other pitch chain pulley 2, on the large wheel spindle 3, back over
the loose guide pulley 21, carried on a stud projecting from the pillar C, so that the
ends of both chains are left loose and delivered on to the deck or into a receptacle
for them below the pulleys 21, 21, as in the former case. When preferred the brake
strap might be fitted on the large wheel 4, and a ratchet pawl might be used in
the teeth of the wheel 4 or pinion 41, and although the supporting standards have
been shown as made in two parts B and C, they might each be made in one piece
all of malleable iron.
The boat engaging and disengaging mechanism here shown is a modification of
that for which Royal Letters Patent were granted to John Henry Johnson, as a
communication from me, dated 26 November 1872, and numbered 355+, and consists
of a ball, link, or hook d attached to the end of each chain D, and linked or hooked
into its socket e, attached by a flange and screw bolts one to each cross beam or
seat y, near the stern and bow of the boat, each socket e having a locking lever f
fulcrumed between two snugs on the socket at f¹, so as to gripe the balls d when
pulled in one direction, as shown in Figure 1, and in section and plan to a large
scale in Figures 8 and 9, the sockets e being each attached by a rod or link g on
the under side to the inside of the keelson or other strong part of the bottom frame
of the boat. The levers are pulled in this direction towards each other by the

page_text: link rods near the floor of the boat, and by a chain i connected to the free end
of one rod and passed round a reversing pulley in the other, and back under and
up round a guide pulley in the lower part of the socket and pillar in the centre
of one of the intermediate cross beams or seats, above which the actual holding
and disengaging lever is fitted, this lever and its attachments being shown to
large scale in side and end elevation detached in Figures 6 and 7: The lever is
fulcrumed to one end m² of a plate m, screwed or otherwise secured to the seat /,
and has a short hooked arın near the fulcrum end, on which a ring it is hooked
to draw the levers finto their griping position, as stated, by turning the lever
down horizontally into its rest ml, where it is hooked or held down by the swivel-
ling cam or grooved lever n, fulcruined on a stud in the opposite or front end of
the plate m, and which by its own weight, when turned to the left, as shown in
Figures 1 and 3, would hold the lever firm and secure in the round end n¹ of its
cam groove, and when turned in the opposite direction would instantaneously free
the lever and let go the chain i, so that the levers f by their own weight and that
of the boat itself would draw back the levers fand free the boat from the chains
and balls D, d; that is, the lever l, which secures the boat to its raising and
lowering chains D, thus controls the releasing or throwing of the boat loose from
the chains and ship at any moment when set, as shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3.
This lever n is used as a self-acting disengaging lever, by turning it to the right
hand, as indicated in Figure 7, where it holds down the lever by its pressure
upwards on the outer annular part of the groove n³, so that the moment the water
lifts the boat and takes the strain off the chains i and lever the disengaging
lever n falls by its own weight, and thus automatically lets go the lever l, which
releases the boat substantially in the same manner as when the lever is raised or
let go by hand.
Although I have only shown and described my new or inproved boat raising and
lowering apparatus with one arrangement of engaging and disengaging mechanism
(indicated by the small letters d to n), it is to be understood that it might be used
with any of the ordinary boat engaging and disengaging arrangements in use, and
that other forms of hoisting or winding mechanism night be used than that de-
scribed in reference to and indicated in the Drawings by the numerals 1 to 6. Thus,
two simple chain barrels might be used fixed on one shaft below each standard B, C,
and carried and working in bearings on these inside the stanchions of the bullwarks
in the form of a simple winch or windlass, with the ends of each lifting chain
attached to cach barrel below the upper duplex guiding rollers B2, or it might be
in the form of a duplex barrelled gipsy" winch, having the lifting part of each
chain wound two or three times round it, and the slack delivered on deck, or it
might be other equivalent winding gear placed in any convenient position, having
the chains guided and conveyed thereto from the said new or improved tilting knee-
shaped levers or davits A, A', and B, C, either with or without the ordinary sheave
blocks or tackle between the boat and levers A, A', or between these and the
winding and heaving barrels, fitted with the usual gearing and winch handles and
ratchet or brake wheels.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of
performing or carrying the same into effect or practice, I have to state that I do
not restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but what
I consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is-
First. The general construction or arrangement and use of boat lowering and
raising apparatus or mechanism under any of the several modifications herein
described in reference to and shown in the accompanying Drawings, or any mere
modification thereof.
Second. The construction and use of boat lowering and raising apparatus or
mechanism, with a knee-bent lever A, A¹, for turning or tilting with the boat,
secured to it by the raising and lowering chain or rope as D, substantially as herein

page_text: described in reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawings, or any
mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Reid Douglas, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
Witness,
JOHN BROWN,
Patent Office,
96, Buchanan Street,
Glasgow.
WILLIAM R. DOUGLAS. (L.S.)