IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DIS- ENGAGING BOATS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Joseph Gladstone, of Blackwall, Shipwrights
Surveyor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DIS-
ENGAGING BOATS."
Sealed the 18th March 1862, and dated the 24th September 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Joseph Gladstone
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th September 1861.
I, GEORGE JOSEPH GLADSTONE, of Blackwall, Shipwrights' Surveyor, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR DISENGAGING BOATS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for disengaging
boats. For these purposes an axis turns in suitable bearings, by preference,
near the bottom of a boat, and the axis is of such a length as to reach nearly
from end to end of the boat. At each end of the axis is a crank, to which is
attached a connecting rod, which at its upper end has a hook or eye formed to
receive the hook of the lowering tackle; the hook or eye at the end of each
of the two connecting rods is formed to open on a hinge. The point of the
hook when closed is parallel with the upper end of the connecting rod, and
the hook or eye passes between guides or plates, which are only wide enough.
apart to allow the hook or eye to be received when the same is closed, hence
the connecting rod and the point of the hook when at the lowest position will
be retained shut, but when the axis is turned partly round by a handle or
projecting arm thereon, the upper end of each of the connecting rods will be
raised to such a height as to release the point of the hook, when the boat's
tackle at both ends of the boat will be simultaneously released.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Joseph Gladstone in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
JOSEPH GLADSTONE, of, Blackwall, Shipwrights' Surveyor; send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said George Joseph Gladstone, Her special licence that I, the said
George Joseph Gladstone, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Joseph Gladstone, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISENGAGING BOATS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Joseph Gladstone,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 George Joseph Gladstone, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by.
the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for disengaging
boats. For these purposes an axis turns in suitable bearings, by preference,
near the bottom of a boat, and the axis is of such a length as to reach nearly
from end to end of the boat. At each end of the axis is a crank, to which is
attached a connecting rod, which at its upper end has a hook or eye formed
to receive the hook of the lowering tackle. The hook or eye at the end of
each of the two connecting rods is formed to open on a hinge. The point of
the hook when closed is parallel with the upper end of the connecting rod, and
the hook or eye passes between guides or plates, which are only wide enough
apart to allow the hook or eye to be received when the same is closed, hence

page_text: the connecting rod and the point of the hook when at the lowest position will
be retained shut; but when the axis is turned partly round by a handle or
projecting arm thereon the upper end of each of the connecting rods will be
raised to such a height as to release the point of the hook when the boat's
tackle at both ends of the boat will be simultaneously released.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
the connecting rod and the point of the hook when at the lowest position will
be retained shut; but when the axis is turned partly round by a handle or
projecting arm thereon the upper end of each of the connecting rods will be
raised to such a height as to release the point of the hook when the boat's
tackle at both ends of the boat will be simultaneously released.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a longitudinal section; Figure 2 shews a plan, partly in
section and Figures 3, 4, and 5 shew transverse sections of a life boat,
having my Invention applied thereto; but my improvements are equally
applicable to other constructions of boats.
a, a, is an axis, which is supported by and turns in bearings b, b, near the
bottom of the boat. At each end of this axis is a crank, or there may be
what is equivalent thereto, an excentric or cam, to which is attached a con-
necting rod c, c, at the upper end of which a hook or an eye d, d, is formed.
One part of the hook or eye is binged to the upper end of the connecting rod,
and the same is so formed that when the connecting rod is at its lowest posi-
tion the point of the hook enters into a slot e, e, which prevents the moveable
part of the hook or eye opening on its hinge so long as such moveable part is
within the slot, but so soon as the connecting rod is raised by the motion of
the axis, so as to bring the moveable part of the hook above the slot, the hook
can then readily open and release any tackle attached thereto. f is a lever
handle, by which the axis may be readily turned partly round.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to
any of the parts separately; but what I claim is the combination of the
mechanical parts a, b, c, d, e, and f, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Joseph Gladstone, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.