AN IMPROVED SAIL HANK
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Aimé Méhu, of St. Malo, Ille et Vilaine, France,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED SAIL HANK."
Scaled the 4th April 1876, and dated the 8th October 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Aimé Méhu at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th October 1875.
I, AIMÉ MÉHU, of St. Malo, Ille et Vilaine, France, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED SAIL HANK," (to be as
follows) :-
:-
My Invention relates to an improved sail hank or device for "bending”
or attaching jib, stay, and other sails to their proper stays and masts.
This improved hank consists of a metal ring to run upon the stay or
gaff, and to the outside of which ring is jointed a hook-shaped clasp,
which is passed through an eyelet in the sail, and encloses the bolt rope
between it and the ring, which is recessed on its outer circumference at
this point to form with the clasp in the closed position a loop corre-

page_text: sponding to the bolt rope in size and shape. The ring is also made
broader at this part to give it a firmer bearing on the bolt rope, and
prevent it from working loosely thereon. The ring is also cut across at
this point to give it sufficient clasticity to yield in closing the clasp, and
enable lugs on the latter to be sprung into notches on the ring, whereby
the clasp is securely held.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Aimé Méhu in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AIMÉ
MÉHU, of St. Malo, Ille et Vilaine, France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Aimé Méhu, Her special
licence, that I, the said Aimé Méhu, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Aimé Méhu, 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 "AN IMPROVED
SAIL HANK," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Aimé Méhu, 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 sanie 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 Aimé Méhu, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the

page_text: .
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say :—
My Invention relates to an improved sail hank or device for "bending"
or attaching jib, stay, and other sails to their stays and masts.
This improved hank consists of a metal ring run upon the stay or gaff,
and to the outside of which ring is jointed a hook-shaped clasp, which is
passed through an eyelet in the sail, and encloses the bolt rope between
it and the ring. The latter is recessed on its outer circumference at this
point to form with the clasp in the closed position a loop corresponding
to the bolt rope in size and shape. The ring is also made broader to
give it a firmer bearing on the bolt rope, and prevent it from working
loosely thercon. The ring is also cut through at this point to give it
sufficient elasticity to yield in closing the clasp, and enable lugs on the
latter to be sprung into notches in the ring, whereby the clasp is securely
held.
Figure 1 is an edge view of the improved sail hank in position on a
staysail; Figure 2 is a plan, and Figure 3 an end view of the hank
closed; and Figure 4 a view of the hank open and detached from the
bolt rope.
b
"
The hank consists of a ring a (shaped like a " thimble in cross
section, in order to give it sufficient strength and elasticity), and a bent
arm or clasp b, of the form shown, pivoted or hinged at c to the ring a.
The ring a encircles and runs upon the stay e or other support for the
sail, and the ring is recessed on the outside at d, to form with the bow-
shaped part of the clasp an eye or link to enclose the bolt rope of the
sail, and the part d is spread out or made broader to prevent the hank
drooping or working loosely on the bolt rope. The ring a is cut through
at in order to give it sufficient elasticity to enable the clasp or arm b
to be locked by lugs or ears 9, 9, at either side near the end of the arm,
being sprung into notches / in the edges of the ring a, as shown. This
is effected by means of a rod or pin inserted through a hole i in the end
of the clasp 6 into a small hole in the ring, and used as a lever to
compress the ring a and draw the clasp into position to be locked. The
arm 6 lics in the hollow circumference of the ring a, and owing to the

page_text: peculiar construction of the latter and method of locking the arm it
cannot be unlocked by any strain on the bolt rope, and yet can be
applied to or detached from the sail with the utmost facility.
Figure 1, is part of the sail; 1, the eyelet therein, through which the
link is nasced.
the bolt rono.
m
and the star
In