IMPROVEMENTS IN GIVING MOTION TO CARSTAN AND OTHER BARRELS "
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William John Silver, of No. 47, Clark Street,
Stepney, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GIVING MOTION TO CARSTAN AND OTHER BARRELS "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William John
Silver at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 20th December 1852.
I, WILLIAM JOHN SILVER, of 47, Clark Street, Stepney, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GIVING MOTION TO CAPSTAN AND OTHER
BARRELS" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of improvements in combining gearing
for giving notion to capstan and other barrels.
According to these improvements, the capstan barrel has a fixed
spindle or axis on which it turns, and motion is given to the head
of the capstan by bars as heretofore, and the barrel and lead are
arranged to go together, or the barrel may be driven at a less speed
than the head, as occasion may require. When the barrel is to

page_text: move slower than the head, the head is connected to a bevilled
pinion which turns on the axis of the capstan, and gives motion
to a bevilled toothed wheel on an axis, turning in bearings within
the barrel or body of the capstan, and there is a wheel on the same
axis which takes into and drives a wheel fixed within the capstan
barrel. And I find it a great improvement in using what are called
step teeth in the wheels thus used. In winch ends, and such like
barrels where the notion is derived from a crank handle, the axis
on which the crank handle is placed has on it a bevilled toothed
wheel which takes into a second bevilled toothed wheel which is
fixed to a screw, cut or formed on a bevilled face, which takes into
a screw wheel fixed within the barrel. The crank handle is fixed
to its axis by a set screw which enters a hole when the handle is in
its working position, and it allows of the handle being turned out of
the way when not in use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said William John Silver in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM JOHN SILVER, of No. 45, Sidney Street, Stepney, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said William John Silver, Her
special licence that I, the said William John Silver, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
John Silver, 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 therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom

page_text: of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GIVING MOTION TO CAPSTAN AND
OTHER BARRELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William John Silver, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 inonths next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William John Silver, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention consists of improvements in the toothed gearing
of capstan's winch and other barrels, arranged both internally or
externally, whereby to increase the strength of such gearing, and
render it of greater capability than gearing of the kind heretofore
used. One of my improvements in this gearing consists in the
application of what are known as compound teeth, or leaves thereto,
which renders the teeth of increased strength, and of greater
multiplying power than is otherwise admissible within the limits of
internal gearing. According to this first part of my improvements,
I form the toothed gearing of such barrels of a greater pitch than is
applicable under certain circumstances, in order to produce teeth
of greater strength. The pitch I adopt would be inapplicable to
obtain the required multiplying power within the prescribed limits
of internal gearing, to give effect to which I form one or more steps
in the breadth of the teeth or leaves. Figs. 1, and 2, represent
a pinion in illustration of this part of my Invention; Fig. 1, being
a back view, and Fig. 2, a side view thereof. It will be seen that
the teeth are of a course pitch in proportion to the diameter of the
pinion, and about double the thickness of ordinary teeth, without
any increase of depth (the dotted lines shew the usual thickness for

page_text: the same depth at teeth). In order to produce the requisite facilities
for working, I form the teeth in two or more parts, divided by a plane
or planes at right angles to the axis. I find, that although more than
one step may in some instances be advantageous, yet, that for most
practical purposes connected with the above, one step in the teeth is
sufficient, as represented in Figs. 1, and 2. In carrying out the system
in this illustration, I dispose the teeth a, a, of one half of the pinion
in a line with the spaces b, b, of the other half of the pinion, and vice
vers, which assimilates the gearing in its working to gearing of
half the pitch. The wheel into which this pinion gears, is of course
similarly constructed, as also the rins or flanges of internal teeth
employed and connected therewith. The following figures represent
different applications of my improved gearing for capstans and other
purchases. Figure 3, is an elevation, and Figure 4, a section, of my
improved double purchase capstan; A, is the baseplate into which
the spindle B, is fitted and fixed. This spindle carries the barrel C,
which revolves loose upon it. The rope or chain carrying the weight
to be lifted, is wound round the barrel C, to which motion is com-
municated in the following manner:-Power is applied to bars placed
in the sockets D, in the drumhead E; the pins F, being in the holes
G, as shewn, communicate motion to the pinion H (which works
loose on the spindle B), by means of the pins F, catching snugs on
it, only one of which is shewn at I. This pinion H, transmits motion
to the intermediate spur wheels J, J, mounted on the pins K, K,
which wheels gear into the internal rim of stepped or compound
teeth L, affixed to the barrel C, which thus communicates motion
thereto. If the multiplying power is not required, it is only
necessary to transfer the pins F, F, to the holes M, M, as seen
dotted when they catch into snugs 1, 2, on the outside of the barrel
C, and drive it without the intervention of the gearing, which is
liberated and revoles freely.
For purchases of greater power, I use a different arrangement,
which is represented at Figs. 5, and 6. Fig. 5, is an elevation,
and Fig. 6, a section thereof. A, is the baseplate, into which

page_text: the spindle B, is fitted, carrying the barrel C, which revoles
loose upon it, and to which motion is communicated in the
following manner:- Power is applied to bars placed in the sockets
D, in the drumhedd E; the pins F, F, being in the holes G,
motion is communicated to the bevil pinion H (which works
loose on the spindle B), by pins F, F, catching snugs on the said
pinion, which pinion gears into the two bevil wheels I, J, which
drive the shafts K, L, on which they are fixed, and with them the
bevil pinions M, N. The pinions M, N, communicate motion to the
barrel C, by means of a rim of stepped teeth on the said barrel, into
which the pinions M, N, gear. Should the extra power not be
required, by transferring the pins F, from the holes G, to the holes
O, as seen dotted, they will catch snugs on the barrel C, and drive
it without the intervention of the gearing. Fig. 7, shows the
improved side winch or winch end, as fixed to a standard on deck;
Fig. 8, a section as fixed to the vessels' side, and Fig. 9, a transversc
section of barrel, through the gearing in further illustration of the
application of step or compound teeth to internal gearing, shewing
also the application of a scroll or snail wheel to the driving of such
barrels. is the backplate or standard into which the spindle b, is
fitted, carrying the barrel c, on which a rim of crescent shaped teeth
d, d, are produced, and to which motion is communicated in the
following manner. By applying power to the handle e, the spindle
k, to which it is attached, is driven round, carrying with it the bevil
wheelf, geering into another bevil wheel f¹, mounted on the stud
pin i, on which wheel f¹, a bevil scroll g, is produced (better seen
in enlarged view, Figs. 10, and 11, to be hereafter described),
which takes into the teeth d, d (see Fig. 10), and thereby drives
the barrel. The whole of the geering is enclosed by means of the
cap h, carrying the spindle k, and the projecting cap j, cast or
botted on the barrel. Fig. 10, is a side view, and Fig. 11, a face
view, of the geering of the side winch before described. k, is the
handle shaft carrying the bevil wheel f, which drives the bevil scroll
g, by the bevil wheel f¹, cast upon it. In the application of a scroll
a,

page_text: or snail wheel g, to internal gearing of winch or other barrels, it is
essential that the scroll g, be produced on a bevil or a conical
surface, and it is forming this scroll g, on other than a plane
surface, which constitutes that part of my Invention relating
thereto. The cone or angle of the surface will depend upon the
tecth d, d, of the wheel into which it gears. In all cases I make it
just sufficient to clear the teeth at the offside of the scroll, as scen
in the section Fig. 10. A scroll or snail wheel of this description
is equally applicable for gearing with internal or external teeth
produced on a plane or curved surface, as herein described. I
describe the crescent shaped teeth d, d, with the same radius as the
largest part of the scroll for the concave side, and with the same
radius as the head of the stud pin i, for the convex side. Fig. 14,
is a side view; and Fig. 15, is an end view of the improved handle
represented in the other Figs. 7, and 8. k, is the handle shaft;
7, is a socket formed on the end of it to receive the straight end of
the handle m, which is fitted loose thereto; n, is a pin to prevent it
from falling out; and o, is a set screw which takes into a notch or
hole in the end of the handle when it is in a proper position for
working.. By slackening or lightening the binding screw o, the
handle may be fixed in position for working, or turned round out
of the way when not in use.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which it is performed, I would have it understood that what I claim
as my Invention is,-
First, the use of wheels, pinions, and flanges of teeth, having their
teeth arranged in two or more series as heretofore described, applied
as internal gearing to capstans, winch, or other barrels for lifting or
raising weights.
Secondly, the use of a scroll or snail wheel, the thread of which
is formed with a bevilled face, and of the crescent shaped teeth into
which it works, substantially as described, and applied either inter-
nally or externally to barrels for lifting or raising weights.
Third, the use of a winch handle fitted so as to turn round in its

page_text: socket formed on the end of driving spindle, whereby it may
reversed and fixed out of or in position for working as described.
be
In witness whereof, I, the said William John Silver, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-threc.
Witness,
W. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane.
WILLIAM JOHN SILVER (L.s.).