"DISPOSING OF AND APPLYING THE CABLES OF SHIPS AND VESSELS UPON THE WINDLASS'S, CAPSTANS, AND DRUMS THEREOF, WHEREBY THE NECESSITY OF CONVEYING AWAY THE LOOSE ENDS OF THE SAID CABLES IS PREVENTED, AND BY WHICH METHOD THE CABLES ARE MORE COMMODIOUSLY APPLIED TO THEIR WORK, AND MORE CERTAIN OF BRINGING THE SHIPS AND VESSELS SAFELY TO ANCHOR
Year: 1806

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third hath, by His
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, dated at
Westminster, the Fourth day of July last past, given and granted unto JOHN
CURR, of Bellevue House, in the Parish of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Gentleman, His Royal licence, power, and authority for the sole making,
using, exerciseing, and vending, for the term of fourteen years, a certain Inven-
tion of the said John Curr of "DISPOSING OF AND APPLYING THE CABLES OF SHIPS
AND VESSELS UPON THE WINDLASS'S, CAPSTANS, AND DRUMS THEREOF, WHEREBY THE
NECESSITY OF CONVEYING AWAY THE LOOSE ENDS OF THE SAID CABLES IS PREVENTED,
AND BY WHICH METHOD THE CABLES ARE MORE COMMODIOUSLY APPLIED TO THEIR
WORK, AND MORE CERTAIN OF BRINGING THE SHIPS AND VESSELS SAFELY TO
ANCHOR;" in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if the said
John Curr shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of this said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under bis hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, all liberties and
advantages whatsoever thereby granted should utterly cease, determine, and
become void, anything therein contained to the contrary notwithstanding, as
by reference to the said Letters Patent may more at large appear.
NOW WITNESS THESE PRESENTS, that the said John Curr, by this
present Instrument in writing under his hand and seal, doth describe and

page_text: ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and manner in which the same is
to be performed, used, and exercised, as follows, that is to say :-
To prevent the necessity of conveying away and holding on the loose end
of the cable, my Juvention herein set forth requires that one end of the cable
be fixed to the windlass, capstan, or drum of the ship or vessel, and that the
cable be wound or coiled upon the said windlass, capstan, or drum. The flat
ropo described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me on or about the
Seventeenth day of November, One thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight,
being composed of several small round ropes, is, by its construction, capable of
giving the yarns a better bearing, and is more flexable, and better adapted to
lap on a small windlass or capstan, than a round rope; and when these small
round ropes are composed of threads spun regularly, as described in the Speci-
fication of a Patent granted to me on or about the Eighth day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and six, and the strands thereof being also
laid and twisted in a regular manner to give them a proper bearing, as
described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me on or about the
Sixteenth day of November, One thousand eight hundred and five, or the said
small round ropes being by any other mode made perfect and compleat, and
put into a flat rope, it will be found that one half, or even less than half
of the hemp now put into the common-made round cables, will be sufficient to
bear an equal stress. The method of using and working a flat cable on a
windlass may in some parts be varied, but the following will be found useful
and simple-It being generally found necessary to have two cables and two
anchors ready for use in a ship or vessel, I would prefer the windlass to be
divided into two seperate part, which gives each cable and anchor a distinct
accommodation. Figure 1st shews a ground plan of the windlass, and the
mode of laping and disposing of the flat cable on the windlass, which is done
by the rope coiling on itself to any convenient extent, and moving down on
the windlass any number of times that may be found most commodious, and
which in this view (which shows the ship or vessel laying at anchor with about
half of its cable out) is done by six tiers or coils of rope. Figure 2d shews
the platform, and Figure 3d, a front view of the hause-hole; and when the
anchor is thrown out of the ship or vessel, the stoppers a, a, a, should bo
taken out of their places for the cable to pass out pleasantly, as they are
wanted in their places chiefly when the ship or vessel is laying at anchor, and
when the anchor is lifting. Figures 4 and 5 shew more distinct views of one
of the stoppers a, and mode of fitting them up to make the hause-holo strong
and firm, and when in use the pins b, b, b, b, must be put in the holes c, c, c.
Figure 6th shows an end view of one of the tiers of flat rope lapped on the

page_text: windlass, and mode of bringing it down to the smallest diameter over the
piece C; and Figure 7th shews an end view of a break or friction lever, which
works on the part of the wheel marked B in Figure 1 (two of which may bo
introduced, if necessary); and the cable, or any part thereof, being wound or
coiled upon the windlass, I propose to lay the break or friction lever D on
the said windlass, or other part connected with the said windlass, which break
or friction lever being pressed upon the said windlass, or something connected
therewith above described, at the discretion of the sailor, when the anchor is
thrown out, the ship or vessel will be brought to an anchor with much less
injury to the cable, and much less labour to the men, and the most secure
part of the windlass for the ship or vessel to ride at anchor will be when the
rope is lapped with only a few turns or coils on the windlass, and forms a
small diameter, and the cable in this case being always in its place, it is in all
emergencies ready for use, and the ship or vessel may be brought to an anchor
almost instantly by a very small number of men, which, in cases of danger,
must be very important to the security of the ships or vessels. Figures
8, 9, and 10 (drawn on an enlarged scale to make them more distinguishable),
shows a secure mode of fixing on a clam or iron nipper upon a flat rope, to
hold the cable when the ship or vessel is riding at anchor; or in any case of
distress or necessity, by which the cable may be secured by small ropes to
sundry parts of the ship. And Figures 11 and 12 shews a mode of splicing
or attaching two flat cables together with security and dispatch by an iron pin
and joint rivetted to the ends of the rope in order to lengthen the cable in
case of necessity, or in case of any accident of cutting or breaking it; and the
dotted part A in Figure 1 is an occasional side roller to force the two turns of
rope that do not lay square of the hause-hole into a proper line, to enable the
rope to lap properly on itself. The small iron roller d, in Figures 2 and 3, are
wanted occasionally when the cable is in use, and the anchor is laying across.
of the line of direction of the ship or vessel to be raised into an oblique posture,
to give the flat rope in that case a full bearing; and in heaving the anchor
also, in that case to make it draw up more pleasantly. The men with the
common handspokes or levers will work the windlass in general, as the flat
rope bends so easy, and is so much lighter than the round cable, and if the
weight becomes unpleasant to the men with the diameter of the windlass
increasing, would advise double-handed handspokes eight or nine feet long to
be used, as being more powerful; or if it is more pleasant to use the commen
handspokes, the cable must be held fast by a lever in the hause-hole, or by
any other means; and by making a reserve for a few laps upon the former tier,

page_text: the rope may be uncoiled and wound by hand upon the reserved part of the
former tier, and the rope, being brought down again upon the small part of
the windlass, may be worked with less power. One great convenience will
attend this mode of working. a cable, which is, that when it comes to the
heavy strain of raising the anchor out of the clay or mud, &c., there will
always be an opportunity of putting the rope down to the small part of the
windlass, which, considering that it is greatly lessened in the diameter by the
windlass being smaller, and the flat rope so much thiner than the round cable,
a power very near double to the ordinary one will be obtained in this case of
general difficulty; as the windlasses are supposed in this case to be always
occupied by the cables, it will be necessary to fix onc. or_two_small_wind-
lasses in any convenient situation to answer the lesser purposes to which the
common windlass is now occasionally applied. To apply a flat rope on a
capstan on board ships of war, and other vessels or ships where capstans aro
used to work on in preference to windlasses, it will be necessary to observe
that the flat rope will without difficulty, when required, twist one quarter of a
turn, which enables it to be applied thercon, and the. explanation above given
for the windlass will point out in a great measure its application to the
capstan; and the rope may, in a convenient part of the ship, be raised up or
forced down by a lever or othewise, and work through rollers fixed at proper
heights, to make it work pleasantly at different heights on the capstan. It
will, however, where the room in. the vessel or ship permits, be more com-
modious to fix a small nut wheel on the capstan, to work horizontally into a
large tooth wheel fixed on the same axis with a large rope or drum wheel (or
- otherwise connected), which gives the speed and power required; and in this
case it will not be required to have more than two or three tiers of rope on the
capstan, and the round rope now used; called a messenger, will not be wanted.
A round cable of a small size, and where short ones are sufficient for use, may
be applied to lap on itself on a.windlass, as described by the section Figure 13,
with a part of the rope coiled upon it), where the windlass is divided into two
partitions (but may be divided into three or more, and for a very short cable
may not require to be divided at all), and the rope, after laping a few times
by the side of itself to fill the partition, will lap upon itself, and may be
extended by this means from the windlass as far as is convenient, and be
brought down to the lower part of the windlass, and by the assistance of the
oblong hause-hole, where there are more partitions than one on the windlass,
may be made commodious; but a large round cable, being so obstinate in
bending, cannot be used to lap on itself with so much propriety as the flat

page_text: cable, as before explained, nor can the yarns or strands be brought to so good
a bearing in a strong round rope.
As witness the hand and seal of the said John Curr, this Thirtieth day of
July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and six.
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being
first duly stamped), in the presence
of us,
JOHN HOWSON,
JOHN CURR. (L.S.)