Year: 1885

page_text: I LARS PETER NIELSEN, of 15 Franklin Street, South Shields, Chief Officer of
the Steam Ship, Foscolia, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to an improved construction of self-acting chocks for
supporting ships' boats and apparatus for lowering, raising and releasing the said
boats.
In carrying out my invention I provide a lever or rod which extends fore and
aft under the boats thwarts where it is secured close to the side of the boat;
a chain or the like is attached to each end of the lever or rod by means of catches
and can be released therefrom by turning the lever; the opposite end of the chain
is attached to another lever pivotted to the chock and fixed in position by a pin
passing through about the centre of the said lever into the chock; the lower end
of the pivotted lever is provided with a shoe under which bears one of the supports
of the chock the said support being kept in position by means of a cleat or catch
fixed on the chock, the lower end is pivotted to the deck; the chock is in two
parts pivotted at the inner ends to a pillar or standard which is bolted to the deck
under the boat's keel.
The davits from which the boat is suspended can be turned outwards over the
ship's side by operating a toothed wheel fitted to the deck and gearing with a
toothed wheel on the davit; the davits are in two parts, the lower parts turn in
a socket on the deck and the upper parts are pivotted to the lower parts so that
they can be lowered over the ship's side by means of gearing controlled by a brake
and operated by a suitable winch-handle which can be fixed in position by means
of a pin or by other suitable means; a stay or support is pivotted to the upper.
part of the davit and as the latter is lowered, works in slides fitted to the lower
parts of the davits until it reaches a certain bearing point and then serves as a
support for the davit; the wire rope for lowering the boat from the davits is
wound around a drum the spindle of which can be fixed to the said gearing by
suitable means such as a pin or the like passing through the said spindle and
through a boss on one of the gear wheels so that by removing the said pin the
Pain Q27

page_text: winch will be free to revolve and will allow the rope to unwind and lower the
boat; a brake is provided to control the movement of the said winch.
In order to detach the boat from the lowering tackle when it has been sufficiently
lowered, the boat is provided at the top of its thwarts with a lever adapted to
release a pair of bars under the thwarts fore and aft hinged together at one end so
that this end can fall and operate hooked levers pivotted to the boat and jointed
to the outer ends of the said bars, whereby the hooks of these levers are released
from the lowering tackle.
The operation is as follows:
The boat being in position in its chocks, in order to remove the latter the pins
which serve as double locks are first removed from the upper ends of the pivotted
levers and the chains being then released from the lever in the boat by turning the
same as herein before described the shoes of the pivotted levers will no longer form
a bearing for the supports of the chocks on this side, and the chocks will fall to
the deck and the boat will then hang from the davits which are then turned
outwards by means of the toothed wheels; the pin or the like is then removed
from the winch-handle which serves as a stopper and the davits can be lowered
over, or inclined out, from the ship's side and will be supported in this position by
their stays; the drum carrying the wire rope is then released by removing the pin
which connects it to the gearing, and the boat is lowered to the required depth;
the releasing lever in the boat is then operated so as to disengage the tackle from
the hooks of the jointed and pivotted levers in the manner herein before described,
the said disengagement being assisted by the weight of the boat, and the boat will
be released.
To hoist a boat on board by means of my improved apparatus the tackle is
attached to the hooked levers in the boat and the rope drum being fixed to the
gearing the latter is operated by the winch-handle so as to draw in the rope and
raise the boat; the davits are then raised into their vertical position by means of
the gearing and the davits are then turned inwards by the hereinbefore described
toothed wheels so as to bring the boat over the deck and the chocks are then raised
into position under the boat and the supports and pivotted levers being fixed in
the required position the chains of the latter are attached to the lever on the side
of the boat.
If the inner tumbling chocks are required to fall at the same time as the outer
ones, this can be effected by applying similar gear to that used for the outer chocks
and chains leading to a second lever in the boat and two more catches are provided
on the fore and aft bar inside the boat.

page_text: I LARS PETER NIELSEN of 15 Franklin Street, South Shields, Master Mariner
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to an improved construction of self acting chocks for
supporting ships' boats and apparatus for lowering, raising and releasing the said
boats.
In carrying out my invention I provide a lever or rod which extends fore and
aft under the boats' thwarts where it is secured close to the side of the boat;
a chain or the like is attached to each end of the lever or rod by means of catches
and can be released therefrom by turning the lever; the opposite end of each chain
is attached to another lever pivotted to the chock and fixed in position by a pin
passing through about the centre of the said lever into the chock; the lower end
of the pivotted lever is provided with a shoe under which bears one of the supports
of the chock the said support being kept in position by means of a cleat or catch
fixed on the chock; the lower end is pivotted to the deck; the chock is in two
parts pivotted at the inner ends to a pillar or standard which is bolted to the deck
under the boats' keel. The davits are in two parts, the lower parts are fixed to
the deck and the upper parts are pivotted to the lower parts so that they can be
lowered over the ship's side by means of gearing controlled by a brake and operated
by a suitable winch-handle which can be fixed in position by means of a ratchet
and pawl or a pin or by other suitable means; a stay or support is pivotted to the
upper part of each of the davits and as the davit is lowered, works on a slide fitted
to the lower part of the davit until the stay or support reaches a certain bearing
point when it serves as a support for the davit; the wire rope for lowering the
boat from the davits is wound around a drum, the spindle of which is fixed to part
of the said gearing and which can be caused to operate or not another part of the
gearing by suitable means such as a clutch pinion sliding thereon or a pin or the
like passing through the said spindle and through a boss on one of the gear wheels
so that by moving the clutch pinion or removing the said pin the winch will be
free to revolve and will allow the rope to unwind and lower the boat; the herein-
before described brake serves to control the movement of the said winch.
In order to detach the boat from the lowering tackle when it has been sufficiently
lowered, the boat is provided at the top of its thwarts with a lever adapted to
release a disc to which a pair of bars under the thwarts fore and aft are hinged at
one end so that this end can turn and operate hooked levers, pivotted to the boat
and jointed to the outer ends of the said bars, whereby the hooks of these levers
are released from loose hooks which engage the lowering tackle.

page_text: In order to enable my invention to be fully understood I will proceed to describe
the same by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1, represents a
transverse section of part of the deck of a ship shewing an end elevation of self-
acting chocks for supporting ships' boats and apparatus for lowering, raising and
releasing the said boats constructed according to my invention. Figure 2 is a side
sectional elevation and figure 3 a plan of the same.
Similar letters in all the
figures represent similar parts.
a, represents the lever or rod extending fore and aft under the thwart b, of the
boat c, and turning in bearings d, fixed under the thwarts of the said boat; e, e, are
the chains attached to each end of the lever or rod a, by means of the catches a³,
so that by turning the lever or rod a, by a handle a', the catches a¹, will be turned
in an upward direction thereby releasing the chains e; a³, is a removeable hook for
holding the lever in position. f, f, are the chocks and g¹, g', are the levers pivotted
at g, g, to the chocks f, to which levers gl, the opposite ends of the chains e, are
attached; g, g, are the pins passing through the levers g', at about the centre
thereof and into the chocks f, as shewn in figure 1, thereby serving to securely fix
the levers g', in position when required as hereinafter described; g³, g³, are the
shoes with which the lower ends of the levers g', are provided and h, h¹, are the
supports of the chocks f, the supports h, bearing under the shoes g³,.as shewn in
figure 1; f',, are the cleats or guides fixed on the chocks f, and serving to keep
the supports h, in position; h2, h3, are the pivots by which the supports h, h', are
attached to the deck A at their lower ends. f, and f³, represent the two parts of
the chocks f, and, h2, h3, are the pillars or standards bolted to the deck A and
to which the parts f, and ƒ³, of the chocks are pivotted at their inner ends as
shewn at h³.
3
2
jand, represent the two parts of the davits, the lower parts j¹, being fixed to
the deck and forked at their upper ends as shewn in figure 2. to receive the upper
parts j, of the davits which are pivotted to the said lower parts, by means of
pins, so that they can be lowered or inclined over the ship's side by means of
gearing controlled by a brake as hereinafter described; k, k, are the stays or supports
which are pivotted at 3, to the upper parts j, of the davits and k³, k¹, are the slides
on which the stays or supports work, the slides being fitted to the lower parts j¹,
of the said davits so that when the parts j, of the davits are lowered the stays or
supports, will move down to the lower end of the slides ¹, which will then serve
as a bearing for the same, thereby supporting the upper part j, of the davit as shewn
in dotted lines at 1, figure 1. q, q, are the winch handles and q¹, q³, q¹, q³, are the
ratchet wheels, the teeth of the wheels q¹, q', being in the opposite direction to
those of the wheels q, q, y², q², are the pawls the pivots of which are looso in the
forked part of the davits, so that they can be engaged with either of the ratchet
wheels q', q', or q³, 93, thereby serving to secure the winch handles q, in any
required position the spindle p', of each winch handle q, carries at its other end a
pinion p; m, n, are the wire ropes for lowering the boat c, from the davits and n', n',
are the drums around which the ropes n, are wound the ropes passing through
guards n, to prevent them from fouling and coming off the drums n'; m², m², are
the spindles of the drums n', which are fixed thereto at one end; spur wheels o,
are fixed to the other ends of the spindles m³, and gear with the pinions p;
m³, m³, are the clutch pinions sliding on the spindles m³, and gearing with toothed
quadrants m, m, attached to the lower ends of the upper parts j, of the davits.
The pinion m', works on a spline on the spindle m², so that it can be taken out of
gear with the quadrant m, by means of a clutch fork m³, thereby leaving the
drum n¹, free to revolve so as to allow the rope to be wound or unwound when
required to raise or lower the boat without moving the upper part j, of the davit
(Or this can be effected by having a pin fixed through the boss of the pinion m
and the spindle m², so that by withdrawing the said pin, the drum n', will be free
to revolve without moving the said pinion).
n2, n², are the brakes which consist of straps working in grooves n³, on one side
of the drums n¹, the said brakes being controlled by brake handles n*, for the

page_text: purpose of controlling the movement of the winch handles q; the whole of the
said arrangement of gearing is supported in the forked upper parts of the lower
portions, of the davits as clearly shewn in figure 2.
r, is the lever provided at the top of the thwart b, for detaching the boat c, from
the lowering tackle when it has been sufficiently lowered the said lever having a
rod, extending downwards; ³, is the disc having a projection, with which
the lower end of the rod r¹, engages in a similar manner to an ordinary anchor
slip 8, 8, are the bars hinged at 5, at their inner ends under the thwarts and at
the bottom of the boat to the disc r; s¹, 81, are the hooked levers jointed at their
lower ends to the outer ends of the bars 8, and pivotted at 85, to a bracket in the
boat c; 82, 83, are the loose hooks which receive the lowering tackle and with
which the hooked levers 8, engage as shewn in figure 2; the loose hooks 8³, are,
when required to fix the releasing mechanism in position, held securely in jaws 8³,
by lock pins 8, as hereinafter described.
The operation is as follows:-
The boat being in position in its chocks as shewn in full lines in figure 1, in
order to remove the latter the pins 9%, which serve as double locks, are first
removed from the upper ends of the pivotted levers g¹, and the chains being then
released from the lever or rod a, in the boat c, by turning the lever or rod as
hereinbefore described the shoes g³, of the pivotted levers will no longer form a
bearing for the supports h, of the chocks f, on this side and the chocks will fall to
the deck A, as shown by the dotted lines in figure 1 and carry the supports h, with
them and the boat will then hang between the davits j, j; the pawls q², q³, or the
like are then removed from the ratchet wheels q', 93, 9, 9, and the upper parts j,
of the davits will be lowered over or inclined out from the ships' side by the weight
of the boat c, the movement being controlled by means of the brakes n³, and the
davits will be supported in this position by their stays k, as shewn in dotted lines
in figure 1; the drums n³, carrying the wire ropes n, are then released by removing
the pinions m¹, from gear with the quadrants m, by means of the clutch forks m³,
thereby allowing the boat to be lowered to the required depth by means of the
brakes n (the lock pins 84, shewn in figure 2, are only required when attaching
the hooks 82, to the hoisting tackle and are only represented here in order to
shew their application the said pins being in practice removed immediately after
the detaching gear has been secured) and the releasing lever r, in the boat is
operated so as to withdraw the rod r¹, from contact with the projection ³, on the
disc, which will thereby be released and will partly rotate and move the bars 8,
and hooked levers 81, into the position shewn in dotted lines in figure 2; the loose
hooks 82, being no longer retained by the hooked levers 8¹, will fly back and the
tackle t, will be disengaged the said disengagement being assisted by the weight of
the boat c, and the boat will be thereby released.
To hoist a boat on board by means of my improved apparatus the tackle is
attached to the loose hooks 82, which are then placed in the jaws 83, and locked by
the lock pins 84, and the hooked levers 8, in the boat are placed in position and the
lever r, operated so as to secure them; the pinions m¹, being disengaged from the
quadrants m, the rope drums n³, are operated by turning the winch handles q, so as
to draw in the ropes n, and raise the boat. The pinions m', are then put into gear
with the quadrants m, by means of the handles m³; the winch handles q, are then
turned in the reverse direction to that herein before referred to whereby the ropes n,
will be caused to slightly unwind from the drums n³, and in so doing will assist
the operation of raising the davits into a vertical position; as soon as the davits
have passed the vertical position they will move so as to bring the boat c, over the
deck A, as shewn by the dotted lines in figure 1; the parts f*, of the chocks f,
are then raised into position under the boat c, and the supports h, and pivotted
levers g¹, being fixed in the required position, the chains e, of the latter are
attached to the lever or rod a, on the side of the boat as shewn in figure 2..
If the inner tumbling chocks f³, are required to fall at the same time as the
outer ones f³, this can be effected by applying similar gear to that used for the

page_text: said outer chocks and chains e, leading to a second lever or rod a, in the boat and
two more catches a¹, are provided on the said fore and aft bar a, inside the boat c.
In order to ensure the davits moving outwards over the ship's side I find it
advantageous to slightly curve the tops of the davits in an outward direction so
that when the davits are in a vertical position the centre of gravity of the boat
shall be past the vertical centre line of the davits towards the outer side of the
vessel. In the drawing the davits are not shewn curved outwards.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. In self acting chocks for supporting ships' boats the combination with the
two parts, and f³, one or both of which is or are pivotted to the pillar h³, and
provided with suitable supports, of levers such as g', communicating with suitable
detaching mechanism inside the boat substantially as and for the purposes herein-
before described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
2. The combination with self acting chocks for supporting ships' boats constructed
as herein described, of a lever placed inside the boat and adapted to be operated so
as to release chains or their equivalents connected with levers pivotted to the chocks
substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and represented in the
accompanying drawing.
3. In apparatus for lowering and raising ships' boats the use of davits constructed
in two parts pivotted together so that the upper parts thereof can be lowered over
the ship's side by suitable gearing such as that shewn substantially as herein before
described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
4. In apparatus for lowering and raising ships' boats the combination with
davits formed in two parts pivotted together, of gearing such as that described and
shewn and stays sliding on guides and forming bearings or supports for the davits
when the upper parts thereof have been lowered substantially as hereinbefore
described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
5. In apparatus for lowering and raising ships' boats the combination with
davits formed in two parts pivotted together of a sliding pinion such as m', adapted
to be placed in or out of gear with the quadrant m, substantially as and for the
purposes herein before described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
6. In apparatus for releasing ships' boats when lowered over the ship's side the
use of a pair of bars such as 8, 8, hinged or jointed to a disc adapted to be operated
by means of a suitable lever substantially as and for the purposes herein before
described and represented in figures 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawing.
Dated the 2nd daw of T1000