IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SQUARE AND QUADRILATERAL SAILS FOR SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SMITH BROWN, the younger, of Broad Street, Ratcliff Cross, in the County of
Middlesex, Sailmaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixth day of January, in the ninth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Smith Brown, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Smith
Brown, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William
Smith Brown, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SQUARE AND QUADRILATERAL SAILS
FOR SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said William Smith Brown, shall 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 Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Smith Brown, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists,―
First, in so arranging the cloths of the canvas of which a sail is made that
the seams shall converge to the clews.
Secondly, my. Invention consists of a mode of applying bands to sails,
whereby the bands converge to the clews. And,
Thirdly, my Invention consists in a mode of making sails by forming the
upper part of such sails as hereafter explained.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
Figure 1 shews three square sails constructed according to the first part
my Invention, and it will be seen that the various cloths, excepting those
which go to make the upper part of each sail, are so combined that their
seams converge to the clews, by which the strain on each cloth will be in the
direction of the warp of the fabric, and the strength of a sail so constructed is
materially improved in the direction in which the strain comes on to a square
sail, that is, from either clew diagonally across the sail to the opposite earing, in
addition to which a sail so constructed will come more close to the wind. The
sails shown at Figure 1 are a foresail, a topsail, and a topgallantsail, each of
them constructed according to my Invention; they being, however, banded
differently, as is shown by the Drawing. Figure 2 shows a schooner's main-
sail and gafftopsail, and in a like manner other square and quadrilateral sails
are to be made, and I call these sails "concentrated sails." a the concentrat-
ing of the cloths to one point at the clew, throwing the strain on the longi-
tudinal thread of the canvas, by which means great strength is gained and
durability given to the sail. b overlapping of the canvass, from the foot to the
central point of pressure (9), thence diverging to the earings f, giving great
firmness to the sail when going before the wind, and when close hauled.
forming a stay from the lee ear to the weather clew, upon which the canvas
converging to the lee clew acts, alternating according to the tack the ship is on.
The like effect occurs in fore-and-aft sails, see Fgure 2, the stay being formed
from the tack to the peak. c, reef bands. d, reef-tackle pieces, smaller and
embracing more cloths than heretofore. e, buntline pieces. h, tabling of the
leach and foot instead of linings, by which great saving of canvas is effected
and strength gained.

page_text: I will now describe the second part of my Invention, which consists of a
mode of banding sails of the old construction, the object being to obtain
similar results to some extent by banding to what is produced by the seams
and the cloths of a sail converging to the clews; but in this arrangement the
strength will be obtained from the application of the bands, as the warp of the
cloths will run in the direction heretofore resorted to; and in the case shewn
at Figure 3, the cloths, and consequently the seams, run vertically, and the
dotted lines shew the new mode of banding, and in this manner giving great
strength, and throwing the strain of the sail on the bands, which are proposed
to be made of narrow strips of canvas. Those from the earings to the clews,
and from the head to the foot, should be stronger, to act as stays, and receive
the ends of the smaller bands converging to the clews, which are to be firmly
sewn to them. By this arrangement very few bands are required, and the
weight and expense of banding much reduced. The dotted lines also shew
that as sails are now made the strain is across the threads of the canvas.
I will now. describe the third part of my Invention. It will be seen at
Figure 1 that there is an angle produced at the upper part of each sail, as
indicated by lines f, g, f, in which the cloths run vertically, and from the
lines f, g, and f, g, respectively, the cloths then diverge and converge to the
clews. Now, it is important to make this angle, when the cloths diverge in.a.
diagonal direction from the lines f, g, towards the leaches, or when the cloths
run parallel to the lines f, g, as shewn at Figures 4 and 5, and the third part
of my Invention consists in applying the cloths at the upper part of a square
sail so as to produce an angle f, g, f, whether the other cloths diverge from
the lines f, g, and converge at the clews, or whether they run to the leaches, or
parallel with the lines f, g, as shewn at Figures 4 and 5; and in making
quadrilateral sails, according to this part of my Invention, I cause the cloths
to be so arranged that the cloths from the head meet those diverging in the
opposite direction, producing the line 6 from the peak to the tack; and although
I prefer that the upper cloths should be arranged as shewn in Figure 2, and
the lower cloths converge to the clews, yet they may be varied in their
direction so long as the line b, b, be produced across the sail by the series of
seams or gores.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means I
am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it understood that
I do not confine myself to the details shewn, so long as the peculiar character
of either part of my Invention be retained; and I would remark, in respect to
the first part of my Invention, that I have been informed and believe that
jibsails have before been made with the cloths converging to the clews, and I