IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHT ROWING BOATS FOR RACING AND PLEASURE PURPOSES."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hawks Clasper, Boat Builder, Oxford, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHT ROWING BOATS FOR RACING AND
PLEASURE PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hawks Clasper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th September 1881.
JOHN HAWKS CLASPER, Boat Builder, Oxford.
ROWING BOATS FOR RACING AND PLEASURE PURPOSES."
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHT
These improvements in light rowing boats for racing and pleasure purposes,
relates to the light rowing boats known as wager boats used for racing or pleasure,
and consists in providing them with a kind of centre board something similar to the
kind long in use in sailing boats, and the manner of arranging it to prevent the
water entering the boat, and in arranging it to have different degrees of depth.
In these light boats when the wind is high it throws undue work upon the
oarsman, either one hand or the other, to keep the boat on a true course, and many
devices have been tried to remedy this, such as a wind sail on the bow or a rudder
at the stern, all of which present inconveniences.
I provide a well in the boat of thin metal up which lies the centre board, also
made preferably of thin metal; this board is hinged at one end or has a pin passing
through one corner of it; the other then falls down and so forms a long triangle in
the line of the keel, and which keeps the boat on a straight course; the centre
board can be regulated as to the depth it will fall by notches or other devices, such
depth being regulated by the force of the wind at the time it is required. The
dimensions will of course vary with the size of the boat and the purpose to which
it has to be applied, but a suitable size for a boat of 30 feet long would be 3 feet
long, and 3 inches at one end and half inch at the other. The centre board can
be inade to rise and fall at both ends, but the manner described is preferable; it
may also be fitted by suitable devices to be under the control of the rower.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Hawks Clasper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th March 1882.
JOHN HAWKS CLASPER, Boat Builder, Oxford. “IMPROVEMENTS IN LIGHT
ROWING BOATS FOR RACING AND PLEASURE PURPOSES."
These improvements in light rowing boats for racing and pleasure purposes
relate to the light rowing boats known as wager boats used for racing or pleasure,
and consists in providing them with a kind of centre board something similar to
the kind long in use in sailing boats, and in the manner of arranging it to prevent
the water entering the boat, and in arranging it to have different degrees of
depth.
In these light boats when the wind is high it throws undue work upon the
oarsman, either on one hand or the other, to keep the boat on a true course, and
many devices have been tried to remedy this, such as a wind sail on the bow or a
rudder at the stern, all of which present inconveniences.
I provide a well in the boat of thin metal, up which lies the centre board also
made preferably of thin metal; this board is so fitted to form a long triangle in the
line of the keel, and which keeps the boat on a straight course; the centre board
can be regulated as to the depth it will fall by notches or other devices, such depth
being regulated as required.
The dimensions will of course vary with the size of the boat and the purpose to
which it has to be applied, but a suitable size for a boat of 30 feet long would be
3 feet long, and 3 inches at one end and half an inch at the other, or even less than
these sizes.
The centre board can be made to rise and fall at either end, but the manner to
be described is preferable; it may also be fitted by suitable devices to be under
the control of the rower, in which case the centre board must be fitted with a pin
or hinges, and suitable gearing by lines or rods must actuate at when required. In
the Drawings forming part of this Specification,-
Figure 1 is a sheer plan of a single sculling outrigged racing boat fitted with the
centre board or countervail, the countervail shown in position at a.
Figure 2 enlarged view of the counterrail and portion of the boat.
Figure 3, body plan or cross section through boat and metal case shewing
countervail in position, and Fig. 4 enlarged view of nose of countervail and incline.
The Drawing shews the manner of fixing the countervail, which answers very
well in practice, the inside of the case at the forward end being made inclined; the
end or nose of the countervail rests upon it, sufficient play being given for the
countervail to be pushed forward, and then the heel of the countervail or back is
raised up, and any one of the notches in it brought back on to the projections
shown in Figure 2 in dotted lines, and the countervail is held sufficiently during
the rowing.
The countervail should be fixed in the stern of the boat, and so that the whole of
the acting surface shall be within five feet or so of the stern.
I do not confine myself to the precise details of fastening in the countervail, and
I might so construct and fix it to actuate it by rods or lines under the control of
the sculler, but the principle of the Invention is more reliably carried out in the
way I have illustrated it.
Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that
what I claim is,—
The application of the centre board or countervail mounted and fixed, substantially
as described to light rowing boats for racing and pleasure purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hawks Clasper, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
JOHN HAWKS CLASPER. (L.S.)