IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ANCHORS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LANGLEY BEAL, of Whitstable, in the County of Kent, Smith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirteenth day of July, in the eleventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Langley Beal, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, that said William Langley Beal, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Langley Beal, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
ANCHORS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me,
the said William Langley Beal, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to
be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters

page_text: Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Langley Beal, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thercof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say:-
These improvements in the. construction of anchors consist, firstly, in giving
very considerable additional strength to the crown and arms of an anchor
without much increasing its weight. Secondly, in adapting a metallic stock
with joints so that its ends may fall down and enable the anchor to be con-
veniently stowed away when out of use, and thereby occupy but a comparatively
small space. Thirdly, peculiarly shaped flooks for avoiding the liability of
shoeing, and affording the means of taking ground and holding with greater
certainty. And, fourthly, a forked-armed fixed or tumbling flooked anchor,
the latter of which is capable of having the arms removed from the shank for
the convenience of stowage.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 represents a side view of one of
my improved anchors; Figure 2, the same anchor, looking down upon the
inner part of the arms and flooks; and Figure 3 represents the opposite or
outer part of the arms and flooks.
The particular feature of improvement firstly mentioned is exhibited in this
anchor, consisting of ribs or enlargements a, a, on the sides of the arms,
which are more clearly represented in the sectional Figure 4, taken vertically
through one of the arms in a transverse direction at or near the crown, in
the situation of the dotted line 6 at Figure 1. I do not, however, intend to
confine myself to the precise form or situation of the ribs here represented,
the object being merely to give additional strength to the arms, after the
manner of angle iron or gunnel iron. I, therefore, sometimes place the rib
nearer to the lower edge of the arms, as shewn at a, a, in the section,
Figure 5; and as the arms taper or diminish toward the flooks, I reduce the
dimensions of the rib accordingly, as seen in Figures 2, 3, and 6, and, if
required, vary the course or direction of the ribs to suit anchors having
differently formed arms and crowns.
Under the second head of my Invention, I construct a metallic stock for an
anchor, having joints near to the point of its attachment to the shank, by means
of which joints the stock may be formed with arms that are enabled to fall
down by the side of the shank when the anchor is to be stowed away. This

page_text: contrivance is represented at Figure 7. That part of the stock which is made.
fast to the shank has two holes c, carrying pins which form the joints that th
falling arms d and e work upon. The arms; when brought up into their hori-
zontal positions at right angles with the shank, as at d, are confined in those;
positions each by a tube or collar f, which slides loosely upon the arm, and
when brought up close to the shank is made fast in that situation by a pin or
key, the collar covering the joint and fixing the arm to the central part of the.
stock with perfect rigidity, as at d, in Figure 7. When the anchor is out,
of use, the arms of the stock may be let down into the situation shewn at e.in
Figure 7; by withdrawing the pins or keys, and sliding the collars f, f, back,.
which are stopped from falling off by a knob at the end. The anchor may then?
be stowed away in a comparatively small space.
The third feature of my Invention, my peculiarly shaped flooks, consists in:
forming the entire breadth and length of each flook on the outside smooth and,
even, in a line continued or coincident with, the outer curve of the arm, and.
inside of such an angular figure that a transverse section of the flook shall,
represent a triangle, the flook constituting a triangular wedge. This novel
kind of flook is shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, and 9. The smooth outer side.
of the flook is seen at g, which is the base of the wedge, the inner or angular
part at h. The transverse sectional form of this flook is shewn at Figure 10..
The advantages of this form of flook, in conjunction with the improved form of
arms, are, that from the angular and wedge-like figure, its point and cutting
edges will with great facility enter the ground, its smooth outer surface offering.
the least possible amount of resistance to its penetrating, and effectually pre-
vents shoeing; and the broad inner angular faces of the flook, with the
transverse breadth of the arm, affording conjointly a firmer hold in the ground,
and and resistance to the strain of the cable, than any other construction of
anchor that I am acquainted with.
In
.My fourth feature of improvement, the forked-armed, fixed or tumbling
flooked anchor, is represented in the Drawing at Figures 7, 11, and 12.
Figure 7, i, i, shews the forked arm of an anchor, with flooks shaped as.I
lave above described under the third head of my Invention. These forked
arms are fixed in this Figure securely to the shank, and may be welded to
the crown of an anchor of any of the ordinary constructions, or the forks
may be affixed to an anchor the arms and crown of which are formed with
lateral ribs, as described under the first head of my Invention. Figures 11.
and 12 represent a forked tumbling flooked anchor. The forked arms i, i,
having flooks as before described, are welded together at the crown, and
the crowned part is mounted upon a joint pin k, k, passed through a staple at

page_text: the lower end of the shank l. The staple of the shank must be so formed
that the tumbling of the arms shall be restrained within such limits as will
afford a proper position for the points of the flooks at either end of the arms to
take proper hold of the ground.
Having now described the various improvements in anchors which constituted
the subjects of Invention for which the above in part recited Letters Patent
have been granted to me, I desire it to be understood that the particular features
of novelty which I intend herein to claim are,-
Firstly, forming the crown and arms of anchors with lateral ribs as described,
for giving additional strength without very materially increasing the weight of
the anchor.
Secondly, in so constructing a metallic stock for an anchor that its middle
part may be passed through and fixed in the shank, while its arms may fold
down on the sides of the shank, for the convenience of stowing away; and
when required for use, the arms of the stock may be extended and fixed by
sliding tubes, as shewn and described.
Thirdly, in so shaping the flooks of each anchor in the figure of an angular
wedge that the outer surface of each flook shall be a smooth curve forming the
base of a triangle transversely, and the inner surface raised in an angle, in the
way represented and described.
And lastly, the peculiar constructions of forked anchors shewn in the
Drawings, either with fixed or tumbling flooks, the latter of which may, by
withdrawing a bolt, be removed from the stock for the convenience of stowage..
In witness whereof, I, the said William Langley Beal, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-eight.
WILLIAM LANGLEY (L.S.) BEAL.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-named
William Langley Beal, in the presence of
WILLIAM SLADDEN,
Sol, Canterbury.