IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING AND FURLING TOPSAILS, TOPGALLANT SAILS,. AND ROYALS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, of Bury-
Alverstoke, in the County of Hants, Esquire, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING AND FURLING TOPSAILS, TOPGALLANT SAILS,.
AND ROYALS."
Sealed the 27th May 1864, and dated the 2nd December 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Duncan Preston-
Cunningham, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 2nd December 1863.
I, HENRY DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury Alverstoke, in the County
of Hants, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING AND FURLING TOPSAILS, TOPGALLANT SAILS, AND.
ROYALS," to be as follows:-
My improvements refer to those square sails which are reefed by rolling
them up on a revolving and supplementary yard, spar, or roller connected to
the fore part of the true or fixed yard, and my Invention consists in causing
the sails to be rolled upon and unrolled from the aft side of the supplementary
yard or roller, or that side nearest to the true yard, and in the employment of
a hook of a new form, within which the supplementary yard and the sail
thereon are received, which hook is supported by and fixed to the true yard..
By these arrangements the weight of the sail is brought closer to or further in
towards the true yard, and one of the results of this is a balance to the yard
and its appendages favourable for the travel of the yard up and down the mast.
I carry the chains or ropes for causing the rotation of the supplementary yard
through blocks fixed to the mast above the yard and through other blocks
fixed on the true yard.

page_text: Figure 1 shows in plan part of a yard B to which a blook E is fixed,
through which block a chain F for causing the rotation of the supplementary
yard C passes to a similar block in the mast. A corresponding block and
chain are fitted near the other end of the yard B...
Instead of one hook, two or more may be used, and the particular shape of
hook is shewn in Figure 2, in which A is the hook; B, the true yard; C, the
supplementary yard; and D, the sail.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 2nd June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury Alverstoke, in the County of Hants,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, Her special licence that I, the said
Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REEFING AND FURLING
TOPSAILS, TOPGALLANT SAILS, AND ROYALS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed (that is to say):

page_text: My improvements refer to those square sails which are reefed by rolling
them upon a revolving supplementary yard, spar, or roller connected to the
fore part of the true or fixed yard, and my Invention consists in causing the
sails to be rolled upon and unrolled from the aft side of the supplementary
yard or roller, or that side nearest to the true yard, and in the employment of
a supporting hook of a new form, within which the supplementary yard and
the sail thereon are received, which book is supported by and fixed to the
true yard.
My Invention further consists in certain arrangements of blocks or pulleys,
and ropes or chains led through them as hereafter described, to facilitate the
operation of reefing and setting the sail, and also for the more efficient setting
of the sail, which may be set above the yard; also in certain arrangements
hereafter described for facilitating the connection of the supplementary yard,
roller, or spar to the true or fixed yard.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a topsail yard fitted with
my Invention, as looking down upon it from above. B, B, is the true or fixed
yard. A, A, is the revolving supplementary yard, spar, or roller, fitted to
revolve on axes at D, D, and which axes form the connection with the true or
fixed yard. F, F, are chains, or they may be ropes or bands, which, after
passing over blocks or pulleys (or attached to fixed supports), on the mast
above the yard, lead through the blocks E, E, attached to the true or fixed
yard, either by hooking to the ordinary lift eye or otherwise, and are then
passed round the ends of the supplementary yard or roller A, A, on the aft
side, and so up the fore side, as many times as may be desirable for rolling up
the sail (which is attached to the supplementary yard A, A), and the ends are
then secured or fastened to the supplementary yard or roller A, A. G repre-
sents the topsail tye or haul-yard, which, by being pulled upon or slackened
from the deck, raises or lowers the yard upon the mast. H is the parrall hoop,
which confines the yard to the mast. When the chains F, F, are kept fixed
aloft, and the yard is lowered by slacking the tye chain G, the weight of the
yard and attachments is received upon the chain F, F, and the effect of this
is to rotate the supplementary yard or roller A, A, and so roll up the sail
attached to it, and the weight and tension of the sail so rolled being between
the fixed yard and supplementary yard, a certain balancing effect to the yard
is produced, so as to facilitate the passage of the parrall hoop H up and down
the mast, which is not obtained when the sail is rolled up on the fore side of
the supplementary yard or roller.
The same improved balancing action, caused by rolling the sail up in
manner before described, is also favorable for rolling the sail up entirely by

page_text: hauling on the reefing chain F, F, the true or fixed yard B, B, being station-
ary. M, M, M, are the battens and jackstays applied to the supplementary
yard or roller, to provide for the said rolling up evenly upon the yard or roller,
as described in the Specification of my Patent of 28th February 1857,
No. 596.
C, C, are supporting hooks, to prevent the supplementary yard from
bending in the centre from the weight and pressure of the sail. Figure 2 is
a side view of one of these hooks, shewing also the direction of the sail I, as
before described, rolled up on the aft side of the supplementary yard or
roller A. B is the true or fixed yard; the hook C, C, is fitted with a joint
at R, R'. By withdrawing a bolt at R the hook is capable of being turned
up on the axis R', as represented by the dotted lines, thus facilitating the
connection of the supplementary yard to the fixed yard.
Figure 3 represents another arrangement for facilitating the connection of
the supplementary and fixed yards. J is a hoop, to go over the yard arın B,
and furnished with a spur K, the end of which is turned over and forms a
socket for the axis D of the supplementary yard to revolve in, which is simply
allowed to slide down into the socket, and the key L is then inserted to keep
it secure.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
ments in reefing and furling topsails, topgallant sails, and royals,―
First, the arrangements herein-before described, whereby such sails may be
rolled upon and unrolled from the aft side of a supplementary yard, spar, or
roller, or that side nearest to the true yard.
And, second, the employment of the new form of hook, constructed sub-
stantially as represented in Figure 2, within which the supplementary yard
and the sail thereon are received, such hook being supported by and fixed to
the true yard.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
H. D. P. CUNNINGHAM. (L.S.)