IMPROVEMENTS IN SAILS FOR NAVIGABLE VESSELS, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR WORKING THEM."
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Cavanah, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Builder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAILS FOR
NAVIGABLE VESSELS, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR WORKING THEM."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Cavanah at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
March 1854.
I, JAMES CAVANAH, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Builder, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAILS
FOR NAVIGABLE VESSELS, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR WORKING THEM," to be as
follows (that is to say):-
This Invention consists of a vertical roller mounted upon suitable bearings,
upon which the sail is wound when 1.ot in use, or when the sail is required to
be reefed (or reduced) it is partially rolled up upon the roller.
In adapting this Invention to square sails, a roller (suitably mounted), the
length of which is regulated by the height of the sail to which it is attached, is
placed paralel to and on front of the mast. The middle of the square sail-is
made fast to the roller, so that when it (the roller) revolves the sail is drawn
in from both sides and wound round the roller. The sail is not "laced" to
the upper yard as now practised, but held out by "sheets," as on the lower
yard, and is kept to the upper yard by suitable "travellers."

page_text: It is proposed to work these rollers from the deck of the vessel by wheels
and pinions and leading gear, or any other suitable mode.
In applying this Invention to "fore and aft sails they are secured
by their fore edge to a vertical roller placed paralell to and just aft the
mast.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Cavanah in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
CAVANAH, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Cavanah, Her special licence that I, the said James Cavanah,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Cavanah, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any timè
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAILS
FOR NAVIGABLE VESSELS, AND IN THE APPARATUS FOR WORKING. THEM," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Cavanah, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Cavanah, 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, namely:-
That this Invention consists of a vertical roller mounted on suitable
bearings, on which the sail is wound when not in use; when the sail is
required to be reefed (or reduced) it is partially rolled up on the roller.
In adapting this Invention to square sails, a roller suitably mounted, the
length of which is regulated by the height of the sail to which it is attached,

page_text: is placed paralell to and on front or round the mast. The middle of the
square sail is made fast to the roller, so that when it, the roller, revolves, the
sail is drawn in from both sides and wound round the roller.
The sail
is not laced to the upper yard as now practiced, but held out by "sheets," as
on the lower yard, and is kept to the upper yard by suitable "travellers."
It is proposed to work these rollers from the deck, round-top, and cross-
trees of the vessel by wheels, and pinions, and leading gear, or any other
suitable mode.
In applying this Invention to "fore and aft sails" they are secured
by their fore edge to a vertical roller placed paralell to and just aft the
mast.
The yards are suspended by a suitable apparatus, its movements being as a
universal joint, to answer the working of the vessel.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Cavanah, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
JAMES CAVANAH. (L.S.).
Signed in the presence of
CHAS. PEMBERTON,
Attorney-at-law,
11, Cable Street, Liverpool,
in the County of Lancaster.