IMPROVE- MENTS IN CAPSTANS AND WINDLASSES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Horatio Harfield, of the Mansion House
Buildings, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CAPSTANS AND WINDLASSES."
Scaled the 4th May 1875, and dated the 11th March 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Horatio Harfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th March 1875.
I, WILLIAM HORATIO HARFIELD, of the Mansion House Buildings,
in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CAPSTANS AND WINDLASSES, to be as follows:
-
In those windlasses which have been driven from a capstan by means
of an endless or messenger chain, it has been customary to take the
messenger chain from the lower side of the chain wheel on the windlass
spindle to the chain wheel on the capstan spindle, the windlass in such
a case being supported by standards above the deck; I now propose to

page_text: let the windless into a hole in the deck, and to rotate it by an endless
messenger chain passing from the upper side of the chain wheel to the
chain wheel on the capstan spindle, the anchor chain cable in this
case also passing over the top of its chain cable holder.
In order to cause the anchor chain cable to be held by as many stops
as possible I form a guide below the cable holder which leads the cablo
forward under the holder; the edge of this guide I form rounded for the
cable to pass over with less friction.
In some cases I hinge this guide at one end and hold the other
end by a movable bolt, so that it can be thrown back out of gear when :
required.
In windlasses worked by toothed gearing from a capstan, and which
are required to be rotated in both directions, I fix on the capstan shaft a
clutch having pawls which can be set to act in either direction and allow
the windlass liberty to move round in the same direction of itself without
rotating the capstan spindle, so that men at the bars would not be
endangered when heaving cable outboard should any sudden strain cause
the rotation of the windlass.
In taking the cable to a windlass hitherto it has been customary to
take it first to the top of the chain cable holder and let it pass to the
lockers down a pipe underneath, or another method, to take the chain
first under the chain cable holder round the fore part of the standard,
and then lead it aft to a stopper or chain pipe.
I now propose to bring the chain to the under sido of cable holder,
and to pay down into the lockers on the foreside of the windlass side a
standard which is formed so as to admit of a deck pipe being either
cast with it, or fitted in conjunction with it in order that the cable may
have a clear lead from the top of the cable holder and pay down there-
from by itself into the locker.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Horatio Пarfield in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HORATIO HARFIELD, of the Mansion House Buildings, in the City of
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Horatio Harfield, Her
special license that I, the said William Horatio Harfield, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Horatio
Harfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CAPSTANS AND WINDLASSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Horatio Harfield, my
executorsor 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Horatio Harfield, 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 :—
In those windlasses which have been driven from a capstan by means
of an endless or messenger chain, it has been customary to take the
messenger chain from the lower side of the chain wheel on the windlass
spindle to the chain wheel on the capstan spindle, the windlass in such
a case being supported by standards above the deck; I now propose to

page_text: '
let the windlass into a hole in the deck, and to rotate it by an endless
messenger chain passing from the upper side of the chain wheel to the
chain wheel on the capstain spindle. The anchor chain cable in this
case also passing over the top of its chain cable holder.
In order to cause the anchor chain cable to be held by as many stops
as possible I form a guide below the cable holder which leads the cable
forward under the holder, the edge of this guide I form rounded for the
cable to pass over with less friction.
In some cases I hinge this guide at one end and hold the other end
by a moveable bolt, so that it can be thrown back out of gear when
required.
Figure 1 shows a side view, and Figure 2, a plan view of a combined
capstan and windlass arranged in the manner above described. A is the
capstan; B, the windlass let into a hole C in the deck; D, the messenger
chain passing in a straight line from the upper side of the chain wheel E
on the windlass to the chain wheel F on the capstan; G is the anchor
chain cable led over the top of the windlass chain cable holder; I is the
guide which leads the cable forward under the cable holder to cause
the cable to be held by as many stops as possible. This guide at its
rear end turns on a hinge at K, its forward end is retained by a bolt
passing through it at L. If this bolt is withdrawn the guide swings.
back out of the way into the position shewn by dotted lines.
I claim as respects this part of my Invention the combined arrange-
ment of capstan and windlass with the messenger chain passing directly
from the chain wheel on the capstan to the top of the chain wheel on
the windlass, and with the windlass let into a hole in the deck, substan-
tially as above described.
I also claim the employment of a guide, either fixed or moveable,
placed below the windlass cable holder, substantially as above described,
to cause the anchor chain cable to be held by as many stops as
possible.
In windlasses worked by toothed gearing from a capstan, and which
are required to be rotated in both directions, I fix on the capstan shaft a
clutch having pawls which can be set to act in either direction and
allow the windlass liberty to move round in the same direction of itself
without rotating the capstan spindles, so that men at the bars would not

page_text: be endangered when heaving cable outboard should any sudden strain
cause the rotation of the windlass.
In taking the cable to a windlass hitherto it has been customary to
take it first to the top of the chain cable holder and lot it pass to the
lockers down a pipe underneath, or another method, to take the chain
first under the chain cable holder round the fore part of the standard,
and then lead it aft to a stopper or chain pipe.
I now propose to bring the chain to the under side of cable holder,
and to pay down into the lockers on the fore side of the windlass side
standard which is formed so as to admit of a deck pipe being either cast
with it or fitted in conjunction with it, in order that the cable may have
a clear lead from the top of the cable holder and pay down therefrom
by itself into the locker.
Figure 3 shews a side view, and Figure 4 a plan of a combined
capstan and windlass in which both of the above improvements are
embodied. A is the capstan; B, the windlass; C, the capstan shaft with
a disc D fast upon it. Below the disc is the bevil wheel E gearing with
a corresponding bevil wheel on an intermediate shaft F which transmits
motion to a toothed wheel on the windlass. The disc D is formed with
holes passing downwards through it, as shown in the plan view of the
clutch at Figure 5. Through any of these holes a pawl G can be
dropped and allowed to enter corresponding holes in the upper face of
the bevil wheel E. The pawls at their lower ends are inclined, as shewn,
so that should any sudden strain cause the windlass to rotate in the
same direction as it was being turned by the capstan it is free to move
round without carrying the capstan round along with it, so that the men
at the bars would not be endangered.
The pawls are provided with handles, as shewn, to allow of their being
lifted out and reversed so as to act in the opposite direction if desired.
His the chain cable led to the under side of the cable holder of the
windlass, and after being led up around the holder passed down through
a deck pipe I with a clear lead, so that it shall pass down by itself into
the locker.

page_text: whereby the windlass can be turned in either direction and is always
free to turn in the same direction in which it is being driven without
rotating the capstan.
Second. The combination with a windlass of a deck pipo on the fore
side of the cable holder, so that the cable may be brought to the under
side of the cable holder, and after being carried up over it passed down
with a clear lead through the deck pipe into a locker below, substantially
as herein-beforo described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Horatio Harfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.