A NEW METHOD OF CLOTHING AND UNCLOTHING OF THE SAILS OF WINDMILLS WHILE IN MOTION, PROVIDING THEY ARE made after the DUTCH MANNER, OR AS THE GENERALITY OF SAILS ARE CONSTRUCTED
Year: 1804

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN BY-
WATER, of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, do send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of September,
in the forty-fourth year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said
John Bywater, my exors, adñors, and assigns, His especial licence that I, the
said John Bywater, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "A NEW METHOD OF CLOTHING AND UNCLOTHING OF THE SAILS OF WINDMILLS
WHILE IN MOTION, PROVIDING THEY ARE made after the DUTCH MANNER, OR AS THE
GENERALITY OF SAILS ARE CONSTRUCTED;" in which Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Bywater, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Bywater, do hereby describe the nature of my said Invention to consist
in rolling or folding up to the whip, and unrolling or unfolding again, the

page_text: cloths of common windmill sails while in motion by means of cylinders or
rollers, of any shape, as long as the sails, with a toothed wheel at one end of
ench, working either directly or indirectly into two wheels without arms,
which are hung so as to turn upon a ring of iron fixed to the shaft head, close
behind the back stocks, and which may be alternately stopped, so that the
wheels at the ends of the cylinders must directly, or by means of a connection
of wheels called carriers or nuts, work into them by revolving round them
thro' the power of the wind acting on the sails, so that the cylinders must
necessarily turn round and roll up or fold or unroll or unfold the cloth,
which is fastened to them according to the respective wheel without arms, that
is stopped as aforesaid for that purpose.
It appears to me necessary, least others encroach on my Patent, to describe,
as above, the general end, result, and use of my Invention, which has so long
been the wish of the millers to obtain, and the attainment of which I have
constantly had in-view, namely, to clothe and.unclóthe common windmill
sails while in motion, and to leave any quantity of cloth on the sails at any
"time in an even breadth from top to bottom, and also to describe, as above, the
principle upon which I act in as few words as possible, and in such a manner
is will make the matter as plain as the case will allow; therefore, according to
what is set forth and declared, persons who shall roll or föld пр to the whip,
unroll or unfold the cloths of the sails of common windmills while in motion,
whether by the means above described or any other, without any permission,
are deemed to encroach on my Patent.
or
As this effect of so clothing and unclothing of common windmill sails was
never accomplished and made known prior to my said Invention, and I should
deem the above description of the mode of performing the same adequate to
answer all the ends of a full and plain description of my Invention to be
inrolled in the Court of Chancery, as has been done in similar cases; and I
think it not anyways of moment to subjoin any Drawings to explain the same,
as it can by no means be possible to hide or conceal the windmills so to be
improved, but to comply as strictly as possible with the letter' of the said
proviso, I have given the annexed Drawings and explanation. "
Fig. 1, 2, 3, are" front views of the sails as unclothed," half clothed, and
clothed. Fig. 4, a ring of iron or other material, about four inches wide' and
three quarters of an inch thick, more or less, as required, whose diameter must
be sufficient to embrace the shaft head, to which it must be well secured by
the stays a, a, or "otherwise: Fig. 5, a bevelled wheel without arms, made of
iron and other material, stayed on the edge of the ring so as to turn easily. Fig. 6,
a spur wheel, of iron or other material, without arms, made to turn easily on

page_text: ::
"
"
four pins fixed into four ears b, b, b, b, in the back of the ring, which pins are
turned up at their ends to keep it steady. Fig. 7 is one of four spindles, of
iron or other material, with a spur nut a, and a bevill'd nut b; this spindle
passes thro' Fig. 4 at c, c, c, c, and the nut a works into the spur wheel, as
seen, Fig. 8, a, a, a, a; the four bevill'd nuts, Fig. 7, 6, work into the bevill'd
wheels at the end of four cylinders, i, i, i, i, Fig. 1, and so turn them; and two
of these spindles must be shorter than the others when the stocks are not flush.
These cylinders are made of wood or other materials, diameter three inches,
more or less, or made octagon or any other shape; one to be placed at the
outside of the leading edge of each sail, round which the cloth is rolled (one
edge being fastened on for that purpose). When the sail is unclothed a
gudgeon from the end of each cylinder runs into an iron fastened to the shaft
head, and is kept in its place by a nut screwed to its end; the other end, h,
has a gudgeont, which turns in the eye of the cross-iron h, h, h, h, Fig. 1, at
the points of the whips. Fig. 1, ff.f.f, four cylinders, similar to i, i, i, i,
placed on the inside the whips, one behind each sail, to clothe the sails by
means of ropes 0, 0, 0, 0, &c., Fig. 1. (fastened to them and the edge of the
cloth). At the end of each of these four cylinders a nut or wheel is fixed,
e, e, e, e, Fig. 1, to work into the bevell'd wheel, Fig. 5, (whose teeth decline
from the centre in proportion as these work from it, which declination must be
reversed when the sails turn the contrary way), and gudgeons to run into irons
either. projecting from the ring or fastened to the shaft head, like the other
cylinders; four gudgeons, 9, 9, 9, 9, Fig. 1, keep these cylinders steady in the
cross irons.h,.at the point of the whips, and stays of any shape or number will
keep them from springing. Now suppose the mill fully clothed, as Fig. 3, all
the parts of my machinery revolve with it undisturbed until a lever, Fig. 9,
(which turns on the centre pin a, Fig. 10, by which it is fastened to the
braces or fencings,) whose end, b, is weighted to hang down towards the breast
of the mill, being brought into a horizontal direction by putting a string,
attached to the end a, withinside the mill, the end 6 stops the stud b, projecting
from the inner surface or back front of the spur wheel, Fig. 8; consequently
the four spur nuts a, at the end of the spindle, Fig. 7, and seen at a, a, a, a,
Fig. 8, roll round the spur wheel, and the bevell'd nuts 6 at the other end of
the spindle work into the bevell'd wheels of the outside cylinders i, i, i, i, Fig. 1,
in a straight direction behind them, and so turning the cylinders, roll the cloth
on thom till it is rolled up to the whip; the lever is then driven sideways, its
spring c returning it again from the stud in the back face of the spur wheel
by the following contrivance: A screw b, Fig. 11, is out on the gudgeon of
any one of the cylinders behind the sail; and a piece of iron c, Fig. 11, is
b

page_text: tapped to fit it; the end of this iron runs into a slot in the iron d, Fig. 11,
made fast to the shaft head to prevent the iron c from turning with the cylin-
der, but allows it to slide up and down so as to press on that end of the iron
a, Fig. 11, that has the cye in it, and raise the end a just high enough to
drive the lever aside when the cloth is all rolled up, the threads of the screw
adjusting it to what number of revolutions you chuse to employ for that
purpose. The point end of the iron a, Fig. 11, is that part of it which pushes
aside and passes the lever Fig. 9, (and moves on its centre e,) and must be
carried under the spur wheel so as to act behind it for that purpose. A dupli-
cate of Fig. 11 shews it on a larger scale. By letting go the string the miller
may at any time leave the cloth on the sail where he chuses; likewise the
sails may be clothed, or any part thereof, by a lever similar to Fig. 9, stopping
the stud a on the edge of the bevill'd wheel, Fig. 5, and driven off in a manner
similar to the spur wheels. Fig. 12 is a stay of wood or other material, and
fixed to the stock or whip at n, n, n, n, Fig. 1, to prevent the cylinders from
springing too much in the inside; there is left room enough for the cloth to be.
rolled upon the cylinder through its lips in the eye of this stay. In order to
keep the strings tight (in all weathers) which go over the edge of the shrouds
0, 0, 0, 0, &c., Fig. 1, a cord passing over a spring of any sort or shape placed
under the sail, is fastened to and wound about the upper ends of the cylinders
in a direction contrary to the strings and cloth. To prevent the cloths from
being driven downwards by the centrifugal force, a ring or two are left on to
run along the rods in the old manner, as p, Fig. 2. The width of the cloth,
diameter of the cylinders, and number of revolutions you chuse to employ to roll
up your cloth, must determine the size of the wheels. In order to fold the cloth
instead of rolling it, one edge of it must be fastened to the whip, and lines passed
across the outside of it through loops fastened to its edge, and continued over
the edge of the shrouds, and connected with the cylinder or roller of any shape
placed under the sail, or elsewhere. The other ends of the lines must also be
connected with the said cylinder or roller, and when the cloth is drawn up in folds
towards the whip so much of these lines will be rolled on the cylinder one way,
and off from it the other, as will be sufficient to let out the cloth again, when
the same cylinder, turned the contrary way, draws the cloth on the sail. By
this mode I get rid of four cylinders, with their appendages, the work being in
other respects the same as in rolling the cloths; but since folding gives a
surface much inferior in many respects to rolling, and induces inconveniences
and accidents from which the rolled surface is free, I shall advise the rolling
rather than for a small saving to endure the inconveniences of folding.-
Note, the annexed Drawings are a quarter of an inch to the foot. If a sudden

page_text: gust of wind should arise in the absence of the miller so as to drive the mill
faster than a given velocity, a pair of centrifugal balls (like the governor of
a steam engine) may be so placed as to adjust the lever so that she may
immediately unclothe herself; but as this is not an essential part of my
Patent, it may or may not be adopted.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bywater, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and four.