SEVERAL NEW ANCHORS FOR THE USE OF SHIPPING AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1822

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM PIPER, of Cookley Iron Works, in the Parish of Wolverley,
in the County of Worcester, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by his Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing
date at Westminster, the First day of November, in the third year of
His reign, give and grant unto me, the said William Piper, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole⚫
privilege and authority, that I, the said William Piper, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of SEVERAL NEW ANCHORS FOR THE USE OF SHIPPING AND OTHER VESSELS;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the
said William Piper, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
two calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
of
my

page_text: Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and
advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine,
and become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso I, the
said William Piper, do hereby declare that my said Invention is
described in manner following (that is to say):
My Invention relative to anchors consists in certain new forms
or constructions of anchor, by which I conceive very great-advantages
as to strenghth will be obtained over every other form or descrip-
tion of anchor heretofore made. The object which I have particu-
larly in view is, that the fibre of the metal may not be disturbed
or injured by bending or cressing in those parts of the anchor where
strength is particularly required: In this respect all anchors at
present made are defective, for in connecting the shanks to the crown
pieces the grain of the metal is either, cressed, or so much curved
as to strain the fibre, and consequently induce a weakness where
the greater strength is required. And further, the very considerable
thickness of metal which are to be brought into immediate contact
by means of the hammer in forging anchors upon the old con-
structions render it highly probable that faulty places may be left
within the mass, though externally imperceptible. These considerations
have induced me to construct anchors as much as possible free from
similar defects, and the leading principle in my new anchors is, that the
grain of the metal shall run nearly straight in all the parts where
strength is particularly required. Figures 1 and 2, shew an anchor
constructed with one tumbling 'fluke it, which passes through the forked
or branched part of the shank b, b, b. The parts c, c, c, inay be called
the crown;
and d, is a pin passing through the crown to confine the
fluke when in a holding position. This shank is formed of a solid piece
of wrought iron, the fibres of which run straight, and at the crown
holes are pierced, which meerly bulge the metal without bending the
fibres round so as to strain them. The arm and fluke is also formed of
one piece, punched through without curling or cressing the fibre, and the
bolt or spindle which secures the arm to the crown is likewise straight.

page_text: The elongated parts of the bolt or spindle e, e, are intended to
answer the purpose of a stock. for when either of these come in.
contact with the ground, the anchor will be thrown over; or an iron
stock may be introduced near the shackle instead of the projecting
ends. In the descent of the anchor the fluke will fall over towards
that side which is next the ground, and will then be ready to take hold
when the anchor is drawn forward. The proper angle which the arm
and fluke should make with the shaft of the anchor when in a holding
position will be determined by the pin d, which stops against the side
of a notch cut in the bolt or spindle. Figures 3, and 4, shew another
anchor upon my principle, and slightly varied in form from the last.
In this the forked part of the shank is closer than in the former, and
there are two arms and flukes connected to the crown piece, one of
which flukes falls over into the holding position as the anchor comes to
the ground, and is held at its proper angle by the other fluke stopping
against the shank. Figures 5. and 6, represent another variation in the
form of my anchor, with two tumbling flukes, which are both intended
to take hold of the ground at the same time; the shank is here, as
before, made without crossing the grain of the iron, and the eyes
for admitting the bolt at the crown and at the shackle are punched out
of the solid, not formed by welding or turning the iron round.
a, is
the shank; b, a guard, answering the purpose of a stock, by which the
flukes are thrown over into a holding position; c, c, are the arms and
flukes, formed from the solid and in the straight grain of the iron, which
are punched through at the crown like the guard and the forks of the
shank. These flukes are firmly fixed to the bolt or spindle which passes
through the crown, and move with it; the guard is also fixed to the
spindle by a pin, aid as the spindle turns in the crown pieces, and causes
the flukes to fall over, the end of the guard strikes against the shank
and limits the angle of their holding position. The anchor at Figures.
7, and 8, has a shank a, without any fork, and is formed straight
throughout; the ends of the shackle and at the crown being punched
as in the former. The guard here is an elongated frame of iron b, b, for
the same purpose as a stock, and is, with the tumbling flukes c, securely
fastened to the bolt or spindle which, as before. passes through the crown

page_text: of the anchor. The anchor at Figures 9, and 10, is slightly varied
from the last; here the shank a, is precisely the same, nor is there any
difference in the arms and flukes c, c, except that they stand at a
greater lateral angle with the shank. Figures 11, and 12, are the
same also; the principal variation here is, that the guard is dispensed
with, and in its place the pins b, h, are introduced, which answers a
similar purpose.
In this anchor, Figures 11 and 12, and also at that
in Figures 9 and 10, the spindle which passes through the crown may
either be fixed to the arms and guard, with the shank turning loosely
upon it, or it may be fixed to the shank, and the arms turning loosely
upon it.
Figure 18, is an anchor of the old construction; one of
the arms being broken off. It will be here seen that my tumbling
arms and flukes, as shown in Figures 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, may be
readily attached to the broken arms of an old anchor of the common
construction, as at Figure 14, where a is the shank of an old
anchor, having two of my new fukes and c attached; b, is secured,
and its action limited, by a pin passing through the crown, as before
described or it may have a check chain, as shewn. c, is secured,
by a pin underneath; and several other modes of confining the action
of the tumbling arm and fluke might be suggested. Figure 15,
shews a mode of adapting the broken arm and fluke of an old anchor
to the purpose last described; and Figure 16, shews a guard which
may be attached to or passed through the crown of the anchor, as at
Figure 10. The principles of my new anchor I consider to consist
in shanks which are made of straight lengths of metal, and finished so
that the fibres of the iron shall not be injured by cross shuts or un-
certain welding also, each arm aud palm is made in one solid piece,
and finished in straight lines, so that the fibres will not be altered,
and the shaft pin or spindle will also be in one straight line. And
this is the improvement which I hereby claim-My anchor being
made in separate pieces gives a great advantage to the workman to
execute each part perfect, for these means he will not have such
heavy weights to lift when hot, which will enable my anchors to be
made much stronger with less weight, and if any accident should
happen to the anchor (which all anchors are liable to) that part may

page_text: be taken separate from the other to be repaired, and several of those
parts of the anchor which may be likely to break may be carried on
board in case of accident. My anchor is also so contrived that one of
thirty hundred weight may be taken to pieces and put together again
by one man in twenty minutes; it may also be taken to pieces and
stowed in any part of the ship in as little room as straight bars of
iron, and put together again in ten minutes in its usual form.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Piper, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, One thou-
sand eight hundred and twenty-two.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirtieth day of Decem-
ber, in the third year of the reign of His Majesty King George the
Fourth, the said William Piper came before our said Lord the King
in His Chancery, and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all
and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor
of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late
Majesty King George the Third.