IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING BOATS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Archer Wood, of. Victoria Terrace, Notting
Hill, in the County of Middlesex, of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam
Navigation Company, and Martin Dadd Rogers, of Bromley, in the County
of Middlesex, Shipwright, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
RAISING AND LOWERING BOATS."
Sealed the 7th October 1859, and dated the 1st July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Archer Wood
and Martin Dadd Rogers at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents.
with their Petition, on the 1st July 1859.
We, EDWIN ARCHER WOOD, of Victoria Terrace, Notting Hill, in the County
of Middlesex, of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, and
MARTIN DADD ROGERS, of Bromley, in the County of Middlesex, Shipwright,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR RAISING AND LOWERING BOATS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to permit of ship's boats being lowered and
raised without risk of the boat being capsized or dragged 'under or lifted end-
wise out of the water. To this end we suspend: the boat by metallic or rope.
slings; when the latter are used they are rove through blocks in the bilges of
the boat at the bow and stern, and are wound round a barrel or pulleys mounted.
in the centre of the boat. These slings are connected to the ordinary tackle
of the davits, by means of which the lowering and raising of the boat is effected.

page_text: The barrel or pulleys we secure, so as to prevent the slings from unwinding,
by means of a rope, stopper, or brake, and side pawl. The pawl must, how-
ever, be thrown out of action when the operation of raising or lowering is about
to commence. The brake rope is rove round the centre of the barrel, and one
end affixed to a staple in the bottom of the boat, and the other lapped round
a pintle or holdfast, and held in the hand of the brakesman. When the boat
has been lowered to within a given distance of the water, the brake rope is
slackened, and the barrel turning will allow the slings to unreave and disengage
themselves from the barrel or pulleys, thereby leaving the boat free of the ship.
Where an objection may be raised to the rope slings running along the bottom
of the boat to reach the barrel or pullies, on to which they are to be rove to
secure their attachment to the boat, we propose to remove this objection to our
system of supporting the boat by slings (which prevents the possibility of the
boat capsizing while being held in suspension from the davits) by using bolts
for locking the slings to the boat. These bolts we fit to the sides of the boat,
causing them to slide in suitable sockets, and we connect them by crank pins
to a shaft or barrel mounted in the middle of the boat in order to ensure their
simultaneous action. The ends of the bolts are shot into metal eyes at the
lower corners of the slings, which eyes may be kept in position by being passed
through lugs or slotted bearings formed to receive them. The bolts are to be
operated by a lever attached to the barrel or crank shaft.
For the purpose of hoisting, the boat must be provided with spare slings,
which are to be secured to the boat and connected with the davit tackles as
before explained. In the event, therefore, of either tackle fouling, the boat
may be eased off instantly, the disengagement of the boat from the tackle
being dependent on the will of the man at the brake or lever.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Archer Wood and Martin Dadd Rogers in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 31st December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWIN S
ARCHER WOOD; of Victoria Terrace, Notting Hill, in the County of Middlesex,
of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, and MARTIN
DADD ROGERS, of Bromley, in the County of Middlesex, Shipwright, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Edwin Archer Wood and Martin Dadd Rogers, Her special license
that we, the said Edwin Archer Wood and Martin Dadd Rogers, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edwin Archer
Wood and Martin Dadd Rogers, our 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING BOATS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said Edwin Archer Wood and Martin
Dadd Rogers, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said Edwin Archer Wood and Martin
Dadd Rogers, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say):-
This Invention of Improved Apparatus for Raising and Lowering Boats,"
relates to a novel mode of applying the principle of instantaneously disen-
gaging boats from the suspending tackle connected with the davits of the
ship from whence they are lowered, such disengagement being effected at the
option of the officer in command of the boat. As heretofore proposed in
carrying out this object, boats have been slung by single ropes or chains
attached to the boat in a line with the keel at the bows and the stern, and
these ropes or chains have either been led to and wound upon a barrel mounted
in the middle of the boat, which, when allowed to revolve by the drag of the
ropes, effected the simultaneous disengagement of both ends of the boat from
its suspending tackle, or a pair of catches or holdfasts situate one at each end
of the boat (connected together by a sliding rod so as to ensure their simul-
taneous action) has entered eyes in the ends of the suspending ropes or chains
to make good the temporary connection between the boat and the ship to
which it belongs. The main disadvantage of these arrangements has been;

page_text: the liability of the boat to capsize, owing to its being suspended from attach-
ments placed in the line of the keel. To remedy this evil, and at the same
time to ensure simplicity and efficiency in the lowering apparatus, is the object
of the present Invention.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in side view a boat fitted with
our improved apparatus, and suspended from the davits of a ship; Fig. 2 is a
cross section of the same, and Fig. 8 is a plan view of the boat and fittings. In
these views it will be seen that the boat is suspended by metallic slings a, a,.
connected to the tackle blocks b, b, of the davits c, c., The ends of the slings a, a;
are furnished with metallic links d, d, which drop into sockets formed to receive
them in the knees or transverse pieces of the boat under the thwarts e; e, as
shewn best at Fig. 2: Mounted in the middle of the boat is a transverse rock-
shaft carrying at its ends crank plates, to each of which a pair of extended
bolts y, g, is jointed. These bolts are made to slide in guides fitted to the sides
of the boat, and their extremities (when the bolts are thrust out) enter holes
made in the socketted knees or transverse pieces in a line with the eyes of the
links d, d, for the purpose of retaining them in position, and thus enabling the
slings to carry the boat. Fixed to the rock shaft f is a curved handle h, which
when the bolts g, 9, are thrown, is to be secured to the bottom of the boat by
a loose pin passed through a lug fixed in the bottom of the boat, and through
an eye in the extremity of the handle. As the boat is, by means of the
slings a, a, (which are, as before stated, pendent rfom the ordinary tackle of
the davits, and are raised and lowered thereby,) supported at four points near
the sides, instead of as heretofore in a line with the keel, the tendency of the
boat to capsize, either from its not being trimmed or from a wave striking it
while being lowered, will be removed, and the lowering of the boat with a
living freight may be effected with perfect security. When the boat touches
the water it is only necessary for the officer in command to raise the handle h
and rock the shaft f; the bolts g, g, will then be simultaneously withdrawn
from the links d, d, and the boat will be instantly disengaged from the slings.
The like result may be obtained when using rope slings, by continuing the
ends thereof to a barrel mounted in bearings in the middle and near the
bottom of the boat. When the rope slings are thus used, they are rove
through blocks in the bilges of the boat at the bow and stern, and are passed
thence round the barrel or pulleys mounted in the centre of the boat, but are
not otherwise connected therewith. These slings, like the slings a, before
mentioned, are connected to the ordinary tackle of the davits, by means of
which the lowering and raising of the boat is effected. The barrel or
pulleys we secure so as to prevent the slings from unwinding by means of

page_text: a rope stopper or brake, or a ratchet and pawl may be used. The pawl,
however, must be thrown out of action when the operation of raising or
lowering is about to commence. The brake rope is rove round the centre of
the barrel, and one end affixed to a staple in the bottom of the boat, and the
other lapped round a pintle or holdfast, and held in the hand of the brakesman.
When the boat has been lowered to within a given distance of the water the
brake rope is slackened, and the barrel turning will allow the slings to unreave
and disengage themselves from the barrel or pulleys, thereby leaving the boat
free of the ship. For the purpose of hoisting, the boat must be provided with
spare slings, which are to be secured to the boat and connected with the davit
tackles, as before explained. In the event, therefore, of either tackle fouling,
the boat may be eased off instantly, the disengagement of the boat from the
tackle being dependent on the will of the nan at the brake or lever.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of improved apparatus
for raising and lowering boats, and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, we claim the means herein described for connecting boats to
the hoisting and lowering tackle of ship's davits.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edwin Archer Wood and Martin
Dadd Rogers, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Sixteenth
day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
5 Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
EDWIN ARCHER WOOD. (L.S.)
MARTIN DADD ROGERS. (L8.)