IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO BOATS WITH ADJUSTABLE KEELS
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Spencer Robinson Glyn at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th April 1883.
SPENCER ROBINSON GLYN of 48 Bedford Row in the County of Middlesex,
Solicitor. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO BOATS WITH ADJUSTABLE
KEELS
"
This invention relates chiefly to boats of comparative small dimensions such as
canoes, yachts, rowing boats, or the like, its chief object being to enable such boats
to be adapted either for sailing or rowing, as may be desired, in a convenient and
expeditious manner.
The said invention consists essentially in providing such boats with an adjustable
detachable keel arranged in a novel manner as hereinafter described, one important
feature of the arrangement being that the said keel will yield automatically should
the same come in contact with the bottom, or with any obstruction and thus
prevent such accidents as might occur if the keel were rigid
In carrying the said invention into practice I provide a flat plate of metal or of
other sufficiently stiff material, to the upper part of which are attached by any
suitable means, two or more bolts which for a portion of their length are made
square, oblong, triangular or of some other form in transverse section other than
round, to enable them to fit firmly into sockets, hereinafter described, without
turning, the said bolts being for the remainder of their length of smaller diameter
and by preference round in transverse section so as to be capable of turning in the
said sockets. Two or three holes for convenience of attachment, or other purposes,
are perforated in the metal plate and it is of especial advantage to provide a hole
or ring in the extreme forward upper end of the said plate and another somewhere
below the upper half of its breadth.
I secure upon the ordinary standing keel of the boat as many sockets as there
are bolts, the transverse section of the aperture being similar to the larger portion
of the bolts and made to fit the square or otherwise shaped larger part of the bolt
sufficiently to prevent the possibility of turning. The sockets can be either
welded, soldered, brazed, or cast or otherwise strongly and firmly affixed to small
socket pieces in which are screw holes, well sunk, for facilitating attachment to the

page_text: standing keel of the boat; such socket pieces may be affixed to the standing keel
of the boat either underneath or at the side but I prefer them to be attached to
the side thereof. The sockets can each be on a small separate socket piece or all,
or several, on one long socket piece or they can each be welded or otherwise
attached to a screw, themselves forming the thumb piece of the screw, and can if
desired be screwed into female screws inserted in the standing keel of the boat.
To the extreme forward and upper end or corner of the flat plate of metal or
other material forming the keel, or to the end of the first bolt (but preferably the
former) is attached a spring, either of india-rubber or metal the strength being
regulated by the size and weight of the said detachable keel, the spring having at
at its other end a hook or ring for attachment to the standing keel
The aforesaid metal sockets are affixed to the standing wooden keel of the boat
in such a manner that the apertures are in a longitudinal position with respect to
the boat
The bolts of the plate of metal or other material (that is to say the detachable
keel) are when the detachable keel is to be used, inserted in the sockets and their
free ends point in a forward direction; they are pushed forward through the sockets
so that the square or close fitting part of the bolts rest firmly in the corre-
sponding sockets. The hook or ring on the spring is then hooked over a hook or
peg inserted into the standing keel of the boat at a sufficient distance from the
detachable keel to keep the spring slightly strained when the heads of the bolts
rest firmly and closely in the sockets..
Instead of the spring being used as above, a line or wire may be affixed to the
extreme upper end of the detachable keel, carried round a hook or small pulley
forward on the standing keel, and belayed on deck, the spring being introduced
into tho line somewhere between the deck and the hook or pulley, or a line only
may be attached in a similar manner, or a metal spring may be placed astern of
the detachable keel acting in an exactly opposite way to the foregoing but I
much prefer the plan first described
While fixed with its square or close fitting bolt heads resting firm in the sockets
the detachable keel is firm and rigid for sailing
On striking the ground or any other obstruction-if slightly only-the
detachable keel yields to the shock and the close fitting square, or other shaped,
bolt heads slide out of the sockets, the detachable keel rests on the thinner and
preferably round part of the bolts, and by hauling on a line attached to the lower
part of the detacliable keel or by its action on the ground or its own buoyancy if
made of buoyant material or otherwise, can be brought up flat with the side of
the boat till the shallows are past, after which it can be let down and by the
retractible power of the spring or the propulsive power thereof if the spring is
fixed astern is readjustible firmly in the sockets while afloat. If the keel takes
the ground violently the bolts slide completely out of the sockets and the detachable
keel either falls off altogether without damage, being retained by the line belayed
on deck, or it hangs by the spring and hook and being moved forward by the
line or a boat hook unhooks itself and can be hauled inboard
The detachable keel can at will be detached by the crew while afloat either by
hauling aft the line attached or by drawing it aft with a boat hook or otherwise,
and then by moving it forward the spring comes off the hook as last described.
For canoes and similar small boats I prefer the flat plate or detachable keel not
much to exceed 3 feet in length by 1 foot in depth and if of metal to be from
1/18th to 18th of an inch thick the keel having two bolts and sockets, but by
increasing the number and strength of the bolts and sockets and the strength of
the metal or other material and the spring or rope and pulley by which to haul, a
much larger size for craft of light draught might be used
If the keel is wished to be used simply as a spring keel and not detachable
while afloat the spring affixed forward may be discarded and the detachable keel
may be stopped astern by means of a metal spring which does not allow it to

page_text: spring back far enough to allow the bolts to come out of the sockets, or by other
simple means, and for this purpose the bolts may, if preferred, be very considerably
lengthened and of one size and shape throughout, and the spring may or may not
be encased in a metal box into which a prolongation of one of the bolts backwards
might fit loosely on, or adjacent to, the head of the spring when at rest and
extended.