IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS WINDLASSES AND OTHER HOISTING MACHINERY
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clarke of the firm of Clarke Chapman and
Company of Victoria Works, Gateshead-on-Tyne in the County of Durham,
Engineers for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS WINDLASSES AND
OTHER HOISTING MACHINERY"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clarke at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th December 1883.
WILLIAM CLARKE of the Firm of Clarke Chapman and Company of Victoria
Works Gateshead on Tyne in the County of Durham Engineers "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SHIPS WINDLASSES AND OTHER HOISTING MACHINERY
"1
The object of my Invention is to improve the mechanism used in raising and
lowering Ships Cables Anchors and other weights and consists mainly of the
application of a V or conical grooved wheel with corresponding projection on the
cable or chain holder, whereby the latter is securely held when so desired. These
grooves are proposed to be fitted with strips of wood india rubber, leather, asbestos
or other suitable material for the purpose of increasing the holding power or the
projection on the chain holder may be made entirely of wood or any other of the
above named materials.
I also apply a screw nut for the purpose of forcing the conical faces on the cable
or chain holder into contact with the corresponding faces on the driving wheel.
This nut is threaded on a screw cut on the main shaft of the windlass and is
provided with handles and holes for insertion of a lever or other means for
rotating it. The nut is fitted with one or more elastic washers for the purpose of
preventing the nut being unduly jammed against the cable holder as is usually the
case in many windlasses. One of these washers is carried on keys or feathers let
into the main shaft to prevent the screw nut being carried round when not in use.
Also I apply a brake strap to the cable lifter arranged with a spring holder at
one end secured under or upon the bed plate of the windlass or deck the said
spring holder being attached to the brake strap by a flexible rod or link and the
other end of the brake strap which is brought round the cable lifter and controlled
by a screw passing from one end of the strap to the other and provided with a
hand wheel or the like. The said spring holder is designed to ease the shocks
caused to a windlass and cable when a vessel is riding at anchor, but at the same
time does not release the cable lifter entirely. This brake can also be applied to
other machinery in which shocks or excessive strains are encountered in the lifting
lowering or holding of weights or strains.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Clarke in the Patent Office on the 11th June 1884.
WILLIAM CLARKE of the firm of Clarke Chapman and Company of Victoria
Works Gateshead on Tyne in the County of Durham Engineers "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SHIPS WINDLASSES AND OTHER HOISTING MACHINERY."
The object of my Invention is to improve the mechanism used in raising holding
and lowering ships cables anchors and other weights and consists firstly of the
application as hereinafter more particularly described of a V or conical grooved
wheel with corresponding projection on the cable or chain holder whereby the latter
is securely held when so desired. The grooves or the projections or both are fitted
with strips of wood india rubber, leather, asbestos or other equivalent material for
the purpose of increasing the holding power or the projection on the chain holder
may be made entirely of wood india rubber leather asbestos or other equivalent
material.
I also apply in connection with each Cable or chain holder a screw nut for the
purpose of forcing the conical faces on the cable or chain holder into contact with
the corresponding faces on the driving wheel. This nut is threaded on a screw cut
on the main shaft of the windlass and is provided with handles and holes for
insertion of a lever or with other means for rotating it. The nut is provided with
one or more elastic washers for the purpose of preventing the undue jamming of
the nut against the cable holder as is usually the case in many windlasses as
hitherto arranged I also fit one or more metallic washers between the nut and
cable holder and carried on keys or feathers let into the main shaft to prevent the
screw nut being carried round by friction when not in use. According to a further
part of my Invention I apply to the cable lifter a spring holder which will give a
yielding of the cable lifter in a rotary direction that is to say in the line of its
revolution. The said spring holder may be attached to one end of the brake strap
by a flexible rod or link or other suitable connection and it may bear upon the
under or upper side of the bed plate of the windlass or deck, the other end of the
brake strap, which is brought round the cable lifter being controlled by a screw
passing through the two ends of the strap and provided with a hand wheel or the
like for tightening or loosening the trap. The said spring holder is designed to
ease the shocks caused to a windlass and cable when a vessel is riding at anchor,
but at the same time does not release the cable lifter entirely. This yielding brake
can also be applied to other machinery in which shocks or excessive strains are
encountered in the lifting lowering or holding of weights or the like.
.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer
to the several figures on the annexed sheet of drawing the same letters of
reference indicating corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figures 1 and 2 shew in end elevation and side elevation (partly in section)
respectively a ships windlass arranged according to my Invention for working
either by hand purchase or by steam through spur gearing and a messenger chain
connected to a steam winch.
The windlass is worked by hand purchase in the ordinary manner by means of
the hand levers A which actuate the main spur wheels B by means of links C
and pawls in the pawl boxes D engaging in the teeth of the wheels B. For
driving the windlass by means of a messenger chain from a winch, I provide a
pitch chain wheel E on the spindle F on which is keyed a pinion G engaging into
a spur wheel H on the spindle J on which latter two spur pinions are fitted

page_text: engaging respectively into the main spur wheels B which when required for
hauling in the cables turn in the direction of the arrow in Figure 1. When these
wheels are required to rotate in the opposite direction for getting up the cables
from the lockers for examination, I place the messenger chain on the smaller chain
wheel K to accelerate the operation. Into specially shaped recesses in the main
spur wheels B I fit blocks or strips b of wood india rubber leather asbestos or other
suitable material. Figure 3 illustrates the application of wood and Figure 4 the
application of leather india rubber asbestos or the like-Figure 5 is a face view
corresponding to Figure 3-I shape these blocks or strips to form a circular V or
conical groove and on each of the cable lifters L I arrange a corresponding
projection running round the side of its periphery and fitting the V or conical
groove in the wheels B.
M are screw nuts threaded on screws cut on the main
shaft N and by rotating these nuts in the one or the other direction I can either
force the projections of the lifters into the grooves of the main spur wheels for
hauling in the cable or I can release the lifters from this contact with the wheels.
My object in fitting these grooves in the wheels B with the lining blocks or strips
of wood india rubber leather asbestos or other suitable material is to increase the
holding power of the lifters when getting in cable.
The projection on the lifters may be made partially or entirely of wood or any
of the before named materials and in that case the groove may be cut out of the
wheels B themselves without a filling of wood or the like. Between each of the
screw nuts M and its adjacent cable lifter I arrange one or more elastic washers
for the purpose of preventing the screw nut being unduly jammed against the
cable lifter as is the case in many windlasses. I also fit between each of the screw
nuts M and M and its adjacent cable lifter one or more metallic washers sliding
longitudinally on keys or feathers let into the main shaft N to prevent the screw
nuts being carried round by frictional contact when not in use.
I also attach to the Cable lifter a spring holder or rider as hereinbefore mentioned
This may be effected as follows.
On each of the cable lifters L I arrange a brake sheave O and round this brake
sheave I fit a brake strap (as shewn in detail in elevations at right angles to
each other in Figures 6 and 7) one end of which is provided with a screw nut, the
other end carrying the controlling screw R which engages with the said nut To
one end of the brake strap I fasten a flexible rod or pair of links Q and these are
connected to a bolt or rod T passing to the underside of a volute spring S or its
equivalent secured either under or upon the bedplate of the windlass or deck of
the vessel This riding spring may also be attached direct to the cable lifters for
riding purposes without the intervention of the brake arrangement. The object
of this riding spring is to ease the shocks caused to a windlass or cable when the
vessel is riding at anchor and it will be obvious that any sudden strain coming
upon the cable will rotate the cable lifter on its shaft in the direction indicated by
the arrow in Figure 6 as far round as the limits of compression of the spring S or
its equivalent will admit and thus relieve the Cable and windlass from the shock
and excessive strain it would otherwise be subjected to. Immediately this excessive
strain is relieved the riding spring will turn back the Cable lifter to its original
position.
This riding spring arrangement combined with the cable lifter can be used as a
cable controller or for other apparatus in which shocks or excessive strains are
encountered. Figures 8 and 9 shew in side elevation and plan a cable controller
provided with this arrangement.
Although my drawing shews only the improvements as arranged for a windlass
driven by hand purchase and messenger chain gear, they are also applicable to
windlasses driven by steam hydraulic or other motive power.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original

page_text: 'and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part
recited Letters Patent is :-
First In ships windlasses and other hoisting machinery the arrangement for
giving increased holding power between the driving wheels and the lifters when
hauling in Cable the said arrangement consisting of grooves and projections on the
sides of the said driving wheels and lifters with gripping surfaces of wood india
rubber leather asbestos or equivalent material all arranged and applied and capable
of being brought forcibly together substantially as herein before described with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
Second-In ships windlasses and other hoisting machinery the application of
one or more elastic washers between the screw nut and cable lifter to prevent the
nut jamming substantially as herein before described with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
Third In ships windlasses and other hoisting machinery the use of a riding
spring or yielding connection so applied to the cable lifter as to give a riding or
yielding action in a rotary direction or in the line of revolution of the lifter
substantially as hereinbefore described.
Fourth In ships windlasses and other hoisting machinery the employment of a
brake strap and a riding spring or yielding device combined and operating
substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
Fifth The arrangement and combination of parts constituting the windlass
substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
In witness whereof I the said William Clarke have to this my Specification
set my hand and seal the nineteenth day of May One thousand eight hundred and
eighty four.