IMPROVEMENTS IN SAILS AND IN THE RIG OP SHIPS AND VESSELS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, of Bury, near
Gosport, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAILS AND IN THE RIG
OP SHIPS AND VESSELS."
Sealed the 9th August 1861, and dated the 14th February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Duncan Preston
Cunningham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th February 1861.
I, HENRY DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury, near Gosport, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAILS AND IN
THE RIG OF SHIPS AND VESSELS," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in placing or setting sails of the character of
square sails on the aft side of the mast instead of the fore side where square
sails are usually carried, and in so arranging or rather re-arranging the shrouds,
stays, and rigging generally, as to allow the sails to be trimmed, with reference.
to the direction of the wind, as to permit the ship or vessel to sail on or near
the wind, as well as off or before the wind. For example, I place the
shrouds on each side of the masts much further forward than is usual, indeed
so much further as almost to reverse the ordinary position of them; also ropes
of the description called stays, and which usually lead or extend from the fore
part of the mast, I apply to the aft side of the mast.

page_text: As regards the yards upon which the sails are set or extended, I use
divided yards, each half part of which is secured at its end to a movable joint
attached to the mast and is capable of moving in different directions. The
sail is so fitted as to haul out and in on the divided yard. By this arrange-
ment the sails can be easily handled; and in reference to a ship or vessel
propelled by steam or other power the divided yard admits of the two parts
being so laid in the direction of the wind as to offer little resistance to
the progress of the ship or vessel. If required one half only of the sails
can be used for lying very near to the wind or to act as fore and aft sails.
The sails may, if necessary, be constructed in two separate halves, and it is not
essential for the yards to be divided.
Triangular sails may be used as the upper sails. The arrangement of the
rigging as before alluded to may apply to arrangements of sails not actually
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 14th August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury, near Gosport, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, Her special licence that I, the
said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
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 of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SAILS AND IS
THE BIG OF SHIPS AND VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, 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 Inven-

page_text: t
pressure against the mast and rigging, and also enables the sail to be trimmed
to and used near the wind. A further explanation. of this is seen by Figuré
5, which represents a side view of the sails set as square sails with the wind
aft. The foot of the lower sail is withdrawn from the mast to the point A,
which may be considered the axis of rotation of the lower part of the
sail.
'
Sub-figure 1 shows the yards A, A, laid nearly fore and aft the position they
would be placed in when the ship or vessel was propelled against the wind,
or placed in any position where it might be desirable to diminish as much
as possible the pressure of the wind aloft, or otherwise when the sails are
not used.
Figure 2 represents a side view of a mast showing the arrangement of the
rigging. It will be seen that the backstays D, D, of which there is one on
each side, are led very far aft and between the half yards. When the sails are
not used, and the half yards are braced in, they lie against the backstays and
receive much support from them in the rolling of the ship. It will be seen
that tho after shroud A is here shown abreast of the mast. By the removal of
the points of connection of the half yards to the masts a certain distance aft,
and the effect of the foot of the sail being stretched as before described, the
sail can be trimmed very near the wind without obstruction from the after
shroud; this is further illustrated by the dotted line M, M, Sub-figure 3, which
is supposed to represent the relative position of the after shroud, with the yard
and sail when braced up. In this Figure (2,) the weather sides of the sails
are represented brailed up, and the lee sides set as fore and aft sails or trysails.
In this and also the position when both the sides of the sails are brailed up as
in Figure 4, the fore parts of the sails are triced to or drawn up to the
trysail mast, or in the absence of a trysail mast to a jackstay by a lacing or
trysing-to line as seen in Figure 5, which is here represented eased off when
the sails are used as square sails.
Figure 3 represents a view of the sails spread as square sails with the
ship off or before the wind; Figure 4 represents both sides of the sails
brailed up, and corresponds with the representation in Sub-figure 1.
It is to be understood that the term "square sail" is not intended to
imply that the sails are to be actually of a square shape. The upper sails
on this rig might with advantage be very narrow at the head, or indeed
a triangular, shape but be stretched out at the foot on each side of the
mast, in the manner of those sails denominated square sails, and thus act
the part of square sails.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the arrangement
of sails of the character of square sails which may be used as or converted
into fore and aft sails in manner and for the purposes herein-before described,
together with arrangements of the rigging to suit the same also as before des-
cribed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
H. D. P. CUNNINGHAM. (LS.)