IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LOWERING AND DISENGAGING SHIPS' BOATS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO BLOCKS EMPLOYED FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edmund Reynolds May at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
April 1866.
I, EDMUND REYNOLDS MAY, of Sidmouth, in the County of Devon, Lieu-
tenant in Her Majesty's late Indian Navy, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR LOWERING AND DISENGAGING
SHIPS' BOATS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS IS APPLICABLE TO BLOCKS EMPLOYED
FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of three parts, firstly, a means of instantaneously
disengaging the gripes or fastenings from the ship's side; secondly, a means of
lowering the boat rapidly independently of the tackles; thirdly, a means of
disengaging the boat instantly at any period of the lowering.
To accomplish the first I pass the lower end of the gripes over a tumbler
which is hinged freely to a stud by a pin through its lower end; the upper
end is held, in its place by a disc fixed to a spindle and revolving in a socket.
This socket and the tumbler stud are fixed to a plate which is bolted outside
the ship. The edge of the disc is notched to correspond with a groove or
notch in the side of the socket near the tumbler, and the spindle passes
through the socket to the inside of the ship; to its inner end is fixed a lever
by which the disc is turned. To fix the gripe the disc is turned until its

page_text: notch corresponds with that in the socket; the tumbler, on which is placed the
eye or book of the gripe, is then raised, its upper end placed in the socket
noteh, and the disc turned notch upwards. The tumbler is thus secured in
the socket until (when the boat is to be disengaged) the disc is turned notch
downwards; the tumbler then falls out and the gripe slips off it. If two
gripes are used the levers on the inner ends of the spindles are connected by
rods to a centre lever inside the ship, by which means both discs are turned
together. The upper ends of the gripes are lashed in the usual manner.
Secondly, the lowering of the boat is accomplished by using two chain or rope
pendants, one passed through leading blocks or pulleys from a barrel placed
midway between the davits, either vertically or horizontally, to a sheave in
each davit head or lower tackle block. To the outer end of each of these
pendants is shackled the disengaging block, which is very similar to that used
for the gripes. The barrel is fitted with a strap break worked by a lever, by
which the speed of lowering is regulated, or a small line is fitted to wind on
the barrel as the pendants unwind, this passes over a cleat, and is eased away
by the man lowering. A bevil wheel, in which works a pinion turned by a
winch handle, is also fitted to the barrel to facilitate winding up the pendants
after the boat is lowered.
Thirdly, the disengaging block is of metal with a score in its lower end
extending about half way up the block, thus leaving two cheeks or lugs.
Through the upper or solid end of this block is passed a spindle having on
one end a notched disc similar to that used for the gripes, and on the other a
grooved wheel, which has a pin fixed in one part of its periphery. To one
of the cheeks is fitted a bent tumbler moving freely on a pin; the other cheek
is slotted up as far as the notch in the disc, and the bent end of the tumbler
is passed up this slot and held there by the disc being turned with its notch
upwards. To an eye in the upper end of each block is shackled the lowering
pendant. The boat is fitted with slings in the usual manner, and to the slings
are attached hooks having catch stops in them to prevent unhooking. A
small barrel worked by a lever is fitted underneath the midship thwart, from
which a line passes to each end of the boat through a guide pulley fixed
to the bottom of the boat under the hooks in the slings; the ends of these
lines are fitted with eyes which pass over the pin in the grooved wheel of the
block when the boat is hooked on to the tumbler. The boat is hoisted up to
the davits by the usual tackles, one hook in each sling being hooked to an eye
in the lower tackle block. The pendants having been previously wound up,
the other hook in the slings is hooked over the tumbler of the disengaging
block; the line from the boat is then passed over the pin in the grooved wheel

page_text: of each block, the tackle block unhooked, and all is ready for lowering. By
moving the barrel lever in the boat the lines are pulled upon and the dises in
the blocks turned with their. notches downwards, when their tumblers fall
down, the hooks slip off them, the lines at the same time slipping off the pins
in the wheels; the boat is thus instantly freed from the ship.