AN ADDITION AND IMPROVEMENT TO CAPSTANS AND WINDLASSES FOR SHIPS AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1801

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JAMES PLUCKNETT, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, Gentleman, .send
greeting.
WHEREAS I did, by my Petition, humbly represent unto His present
most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, that I had, after much
trouble, labor, and expence, found out and invented "AN ADDITION AND
IMPROVEMENT TO CAPSTANS AND WINDLASSES FOR SHIPS AND OTHER PURPOSES;"
and that I was the first and true Inventor thereof, and that the same had
never been..used or practised by any other person or persons, to the best of
my knowledge or belief, and therefore.most humbly praying His said Majesty
that He would be.graciously. pleased to grant unto me, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, His Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal
of His United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the sole use, benefit,
and advantage.of.my said Invention, within that part of His United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His Dominion of Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Colonies and Plantations
abroad, for the term of fourteen years; and His said Majesty, being willing to
give encouragement to all arts and inventions that might be for the public
good,.was graciously pleased to.condescend to my request, and therefore, by
His Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-
fifth day of February, in the forty-first year of His reign, of His especial grace,
certain knowledge, and meer motion, for Himself, His heirs and successors,
did give and grant unto me, the said Thomas James Plucknett, iny, executors,
administrators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege

page_text: and authority, that I, the said Thomas James Plucknett, my executors,
administrators, and-assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or
or by my and their deputy and deputies, servants and agents, or such others as
I, the said Thomas James Plucknett, 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 of years therein expressed; should and lawfully might
use, exercise, and vend my said Invention within that part of His said Ma-
jesty's United Kingdom of England and Ireland called England, His Dominion
of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Colonies and
Plantations abroad, in such manner as to me, the said Thomas James Pluck-1
nett, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should in my and their discretion
seem meet, and that I, the said Thomas James Plucknett, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should and lawfully might have and enjoy the
whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from time to time coming,
growing, accruing, and arising, by reason of the said Invention, for and
during the term of years therein mentioned, to have, hold, exercise, and
enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges, and advantages therein-before
granted or mentioned to be granted unto me, the said Thomas James Pluck-
nett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, for and during and unto the
full end and term of fourteen years from the date of the said Letters Patent
next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be compleat and ended, according
to the form of the Statute in such case made and provided; in which said
Letters Patent is contained, amongst others, a proviso that if I, the said
Thomas James Plucknett, should not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within one calendar month next after the date of the said Letters Patent, then
the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, anything therein-
before contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding, as in and
-by-the-said-Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, may more fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas James Plucknett, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be used and performed;
that is to say:-
The improvements I have made to the capstan and windlass apply to the
surging or forcing up the messenger or rope going round the capstan, and to

page_text: the fleeting over or forcing over the cable or rope going round the windlass,
and also to the holding on or hauling off the messenger or rope going round-
the capstan or windlass.
As to the first improvement, which is intended to facilitate the winding on
and off the messenger or rope going round the capstan; in other words, to.
avoid the necessity of surging or forcing up the rope by beating it up with a
maul or other instruments, or by slacking it to let it fly up the whelps when
there is a great strain on the capstan, which operation is often attended with.
great danger and always loss of time. This I do by means of pieces of iron of
about two inches square more or less, and from twelve to eighteen inches:
long, according to the size required, which I call lifters, see Drawings
annexed Nos. 1, 2, and 6, and which lifters are carried round with the
capstan, and working on a circular wheel or rim in a groove in the dock,
which, by reason of its being formed upon the principle of an inclined plane,
I call an inclined plane, see Drawing annexed, No. 3, and Letter A of No. 4.
These lifters C, C, C, of No. 4, are placed in the cavities between the whelps.
B, B, B, B, of No. 4, and are secured either by going through sockets or
holes in the paul wheel or otherwise, so as to work perpendicularly up and
down on the inclined plane as the capstan goes round. The head of the
lifters I make as long as the distance between the whelps, and the transverse
of them no broader than to the edge of the paul wheel, or when there is no
such wheel then to be about three, four, or five inches, according to the size.
of the capstan further out than the whelps, with the outer part thereof.
rounded down for the convenience of rising under the rope. before it.reaches
the welp. To the bottom of the lifter is prefixed a friction roller, which
travels round on the surface of the wheel or rim, which, as I said before, I
call an inclined plane. This inclined plane, upon which the friction rollers of
the lifters run, must be formed in a circle and fixed in the deck under the
capstan, so that the friction rollers of the lifters may traverse round imme-
diately upon it; therefore, the inclined plane must present a surface of
breadth sufficient to receive the friction rollers at all times, and being lower
at the larboard and starboard sides of the capstan, and gradually rising to the
aftermost and foremost part thereof, producing a rising upon the principal of.
the inclined plane, so that by the lifters travelling round thereon as the
capstan goes round, the head of them rises under the messenger or rope, and
thereby gradually force it up, so as always to let in or make room for the
succeeding turn of the rope to come upon the capstan without a possibility of:
its ever riding or coming over the former turns, whether you heave the
capstan round with or against the sun. This hoop forming, the inclined

page_text: plane, instead of being fixed as above, may be made moveable and thicker at
one part of the circle only, gradually descending to thic opposite part or semi-
diameter thereof, and in that case it must be shifted round, as occasion
requires, so that the lowest part of this inclined plane may be at that part of
the capstan where the messenger or rope is winding on. The said lifters and-
friction rollers to be made of iron or brass, or other metal or materials
sufficiently strong to bear the stress or weight they may have to sustain.
The principle above described, as to the inclined plane and lifters, with friction
rollers for the capstan to avoid or assist the surging, I apply to the windlass
also having hoops or wheels upon the same inclined plane principle, and lifters
with friction rollers working thereon to prevent the necessity of forcing the
cable towards. the ship's side, called fleeting over. As the windlass works
round upon an horizontal axis, the lifters will also move in an horizontal
direction at right angles. from the inclined plane, and the base of the inclined
plane at right angles from the axis of the windlass. A wheel or inclined
plane, such as I have before.described, must be fixed on both sides of the
paul-bit,, for the convenience of working or getting up the larboard as well as
the starboard anchor; with a set: of lifters' to each; the number of which lifters
will be from: three to six, according to the size of the windlass. These hoops
or inclined planes may be made thick only at one part of the circle, going
gradually thinner to that part of the circle which is opposite to the highest;
and the lifters being secured by means of a frame fixed to the windlass, for thio
purposes of forming sockets for them to work in; they will then operate upon
the cable or rope round the windlass, upon the same principle as they do upon
the messenger or rope going round the capstan, ás above described. Now;
in order to draw the lifter back to the inclined plane after having been forcéd
out by the rollers running thereon (its position being horizontal), I place a
small roller to each lifter projecting beyond the outside of the lifter, sec
Drawing annexed, No. 5, Letter A, which is to travel round in a groove made
in the side of the inclined plane, parallel to the surface thereof, letter B, which
small friction roller, being confined by the upper part of the groove, the lifter
must necessarily be kept. upon the inclined-plane. As_the_windlass goes
round the. head. of the lifters, each in their turn coming against the cable,
always receiving it as it winds on, must force the cable on; and by working in
the inclined plane always keep it in a position to let in the succeeding turn
thereof, so that no fleeting over is necessary; and consequently no delay in
weighing anchor or delay when the windlass is used for other purposes.
As to my further improvement, which applies to the holding on or hauling
off the messenger or rope going round: the capstan or round the windlass; I

page_text: describe as follows:-I make a solid wheel with cogwork, called a trundle, see
Drawing annexed, No. 4, Letter A 2, and a spindle fixed through the center of
it, secured on the deck above and below, B2, B2, forming an axis for it to
work on. The socket holding the axis of the trundle I make in the form of a
groove, in order to adjust the distance of the trundle from the whelps of the
capstan, otherwise, the spindle being confined at a certain distance from the
capstan, it would only answer for one size rope; but by means of the goove the
distance of the trundle from the whelps may be adjusted so as to answer for
any size rope, which will be nipped by the aid of a screw or leaver pressing
the trundle towards the capstan. This trundle is to turn on its axis by the
motion of the capstan, by means of the cogwork acting with other cogwork
fixed upon the body of the capstan under the drum head, and these cogworks
playing one into the other carry the trundle round on its axis, and the socket
or groove at the upper end of the spindle being made to force the spindle
towards the capstan the screw or leaver, you bring the trundle to the
capstan, according to the degree of pressure necessary upon the rope round
the capstan, to assist the holding on or prevent its rendering. In order to
apply this last improvement, the body of the capstan must be made solid,
without any cavity between the whelps, otherwise the rope to come in contact
with the trundle would not receive the pressure of it. The cogwork should
be made of iron or other metal or materials sufficiently strong for the purpose.
The diameter of the trundle must be governed by the diameter of the drum-
head and paul wheel, in order that the trundle may come in contact with that
part of the capstan where the rope winds on; at the same time the spindle
clears the drumhead and paul wheel. This last description is for the double
capstan, when the power is applied to the upper body, and the rope winds on
upon the lower body; but when it is applied to a capstan where the rope is
brought to the same body where the power is, or where the men heave at,
then the upper end of the spindle of the trundle must be secured in a frame
coming from the deck below, of a heigth to admit the bars or levers to pass
freely over it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas James Plucknett, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of March, One thousand
aight hundred and one
85
Signed and sealed in the presence of
RP TROWARD.
JOHN COVEY.
T. J. PLUCKNETT. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-fourth day of
March, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Thomas James Plucknett
came before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the.
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided..
Inrolled the same Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year above
written.