A. NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OR MEANS OF PREVENTING FOUL-HAWSE' OR TWISTING OF CABLES, WHEREBY SHIPS OR VESSELS ARE MOORED, AND OF CLEARING HAWSE' OR CLEARING OR SEPARATING CABLES THAT HAVE BECOME FOUL $ 6 $ PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Alfred Boxer, of Greenhithe, in the County of
Kent, Commander in the Royal Navy, for an Invention of "A. NEW OR
IMPROVED MODE OR MEANS OF PREVENTING FOUL-HAWSE' OR TWISTING
OF CABLES, WHEREBY SHIPS OR VESSELS ARE MOORED, AND OF CLEARING
HAWSE' OR CLEARING OR SEPARATING CABLES THAT HAVE BECOME FOUL
$
6
$
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Alfred Boxer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th June 1880.
JAMES ALFRED BOXER, of Greenhithe, in the County of Kent, Commander in
the Royal Navy. "A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE OR MEANS OF PREVENTING
FOUL-HAWSE' OR TWISTING OF CABLES, WHEREBY SHIPS OR VESSELS ARE
MOORED, AND OF CLEARING-HAWSE' OR CLEARING OR SEPARATING CABLES THAT
HAVE BECOME FOUL OR INTERTWISTED, AND APPARATUS THEREFOR."
"
When a moored vessel swings, the cables, whereby it is moored, frequently
become foul or twisted one over the other, and the operation of afterwards
untwisting them is known as clearing hawse." My Invention is designed to
enable such fouling or twisting of cables to be prevented, or when such fouling or
twisting exists to enable the operation of clearing bawse to be performed from
inboard instead of outboard, as now usual.
For these purposes I arrange the cable hawse holes or pipes to revolve or turn
one over the other about an intermediate point, so that the cables passing through
the said holes or pipes may be moved round as the ship or vessel swings in such
manner as to prevent foul hawse or twisting of the cables, or so as to clear or
untwist them when they have become foul or twisted.
In one arrangement two hawse holes are formed lengthwise through a casting
of circular cross section, which is supported in a suitable bearing, and is provided
with teeth in gear with a pinion or other suitable means, whereby the casting may

page_text: be rotated (about its own axis) in the bearing in such manner as to turn the hawse
holes round, as and for the purpose above mentioned. The casting may, when
required, be locked or fastened, so as to prevent its turning. I do not however
confine myself to this precise construction of the apparatus.
By the operation of clearing hawse or untwisting as above described the cables
will be twisted inboard. When using chain cables, such twisting inboard may be
cleared in the usual way by means of chain slips or devil's claws. When using
wire cable I employ in conjunction with the nippers bollards, to which rotary
motion is imparted by the ordinary capstan and an arrangement of double hori-
zontal reel or windlass able to be turned about a vertical axis or pivot when
required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James Alfred Boxer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
December 1880.
JAMES ALFRED BOXER, late of Greenhithe, in the County of Kent, Commander
in the Royal Navy, now of Folkestone, in the same County.
"A. NEW OR
IMPROVED MODE OR MEANS OF PREVENTING FOUL-HAWSE' OR TWISTING OF
CABLES, WHEREBY SHIPS OR VESSELS ARE MOORED, AND OF CLEARING HAWSE'
OR CLEARING OR SEPARATING CABLES THAT HAVE BECOME FOUL OR INTERTWISTED,
AND APPARATUS THEREFOR."
When a moored vessel swings, the cables, whereby it is moored, frequently
become foul or twisted one over the other, and the operation of afterwards
untwisting them is known as clearing hawse." My Invention is designed to
enable such fouling or twisting of cables to be prevented, or when such fouling or
twisting exists, to enable the operation of clearing hawse to be performed from
inboard instead of outboard, as now usual.
For these purposes I arrange the cable hawse holes or pipes to revolve or turn
one over the other about an intermediate point, so that the cables passing through
the said holes or pipes may be moved round as the ship or vessel swings in such
manner as to prevent foul bawse or twisting of the cables, or so as to clear or
untwist them when they have become foul or twisted.
In one arrangement two hawse holes are formed lengthwise through a casting
of circular cross section, which is supported in a suitable bearing, and is provided
with teeth in gear, suitable means whereby the casting may be rotated (about its
own axis) in the bearing in such manner as to turn the hawse holes round, as and
for the purpose above mentioned.
By the operation of clearing bawse or untwisting, as above described, the cables
will be twisted inboard. When using chain cables, such twisting inboard may be
cleared in the usual way by means of chain slips or devil's claws.
When using
wire cable I employ in conjunction with the nippers bollards, to which rotary
motion is imparted by the ordinary capstan and an arrangement of double hori-
zontal reel or windlass able to be turned about a vertical axis or pivot when
required.
The same letters of reference refer to similar parts throughout all the Figures.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation.
Fig. 2 a longitudinal vertical sectional elevation, and
Fig. 3 an end elevation of the improved apparatus for preventing the twisting
of cables by the swinging of the ship, and for transferring the twists or turns when
they occur from outboard to inboard to be further dealt with.
A is a cylinder pierced by two hawse holes B, B, and fitted to the casing or
tube C, so that it can be rotated by the worm wheel D and the worm E on the
vertical shaft F, which worn wheel and worm further form a stop or locking
device to prevent the hawse pipe cylinder from turning under the action of the
cables. A hole is pierced through the stem of the ship to receive the hawse
pipe cylinder and its case, which are retained in their place endways by two
covering plates G and H.
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section of a modification of the Invention, and
shews the hawse pipe cylinder placed in an inclined position, so that the pipes

page_text: may be approximately coincident to the direction of the cables when under strain,
and may not be unduly worn or chafed at their extremities.
Fig. 5 is a front elevation.
Fig. 6 a plan, and
Fig. 7 a vertical cross section on line X, X, of Fig. 6 of the bows of a vessel fitted
with the rotating hawse pipe cylinder A, grippers J, J, bollards K, K, worked by
the capstans L, L, and windlass M, the bollards and windlass being for the purpose
of winding and clearing wire cables. Each bollard is driven by a spur wheel N
gearing into a spur wheel O on its respective capstan, and the windlass, which has
two independent barrels, is driven at both sides by endless ropes from grooved
pulleys P, P, on the capstans. In the operation of winding wire ropes or cables
they are led through their respective hawse pipes and nippers round the bollards
and on to the windlass drums. If, during the process, it should be found that
one cable is twisted over the other, the hawse pipe cylinder is rotated so as to
untwist the cables outside the ship and to twist them inboard, as shown in Figs. 6
and 7. The method of taking out the twist Q is as follows:-The cables having
been made fast in the nippers the capstans are turned in the reverse direction to
pay off a quantity of slack rope from the windlasses, the cables are disengaged
from the bollards, the endless ropes thrown off their pulleys, and the windlass
frame rotated about its vertical axis on a pin or shaft provided for the purpose.
This reverses the positions of the reels, the right hand one becoming the left hand,
and vice versa, so that the cable which enters by the right hand hawse pipe when
wound round the right hand bollard and released from the nipper will pursue a
straight course to its respective reel, separate from and approximately parallel to
the other cable.
The twists are taken out of chain cables in the usual way, except that the work
is done inboard instead of outboard.
Having described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of carrying
it into practical effect, I hereby declare that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me under the Letters
Patent herein above in part recited is,
1. Arranging cable hawse holes or pipes to revolve or turn one over the other
about an intermediate point or axis, so that the cables passing through the said
holes or pipes may be moved round as the ship or vessel swings, in such manner as
to prevent foul hawse or twisting of the cables, or so as to clear or untwist them
when they have become foul or twisted, substantially as described.
2. The arrangements of apparatus for preventing "foul-hawse" and for "clearing
hawse" herein before described with reference to Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, and with
reference to Fig. 4 respectively of the accompanying Drawings.
33
3. The use in combination for "clearing hawse" or preventing "foul-hawse
where wire cable is employed of revolving hawse holes or pipes, nippers, bollards,
to which rotary motion is imparted, and a double horizontal reel or windlass able
to turn about a vertical axis or pivot, all substantially as herein above described
and illustrated in Figs. 5, 6, and 7 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Alfred Boxer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.