US47004A - Improvcd connection of the caff to the masts of navigable vessels - Google Patents

Description

UNTTEn STnTEs PATENT TEicE.

CHARLES R. FISHER, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMFROVPD CONhECTION 0F THE GAFF T0 THE MASTS 0F NAVIGABLE VESSELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 417,01EQ, dated March 29, 1865.

To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, CrmuLEs R. FrsHER, of Chelsea, in the county of Suft'olk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful or Improved Mode of Connecting a Gat'f to the Mast of a Uavigable Vessel 5 and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following'specitication and exhibited in the accompanying drawings.

Figure l of such drawings is a side. elevation of a fore-and-aft sail having its gaft' con structed and applied to a mast in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a top view of the mast band or annulus, the gatf, and their connections, as detached from the mast.

The nature ot' my invention consists in a peculiar mode of applying a gaft' to the mast of a vessel-that is, encompassing the mast with an annulus or band-and so connecting the gatt' to such band that it (the gat't') may not only be freely turned in either a horizontal or a vertical plane, but during the act of either raising or lowering the sail the said band shall be caused to maintain or nearly maintain its concentricity with the mast, whereby not'only a great amount of friction, time, and physical power is saved in working the sail, but a great saving in` the wear and damage both to the'mast and gaff is effected.

It is a fact well known that the method heretofore generally adopted for connecting a gaff with a mast of a vessel is attended with serious objections. In the iirst place, during the act of either running up77 the sail or lowering it, the saddle or t'urcated end of the gait' citen becomes set77 on the mast, thereby causing delay and trouble in working the sail. In the second place, besides the un equal wear of the gaft' on the mast, the jerking on the halyards to loosen the gait' when it has become set on the mast causes indentations and roughness in the surface of the mast. To remedy these difficulties is the object of my invention.

In the said drawings, A may be supposed to represent the deck or a portion of the deck of a vessel; B, the mast, and C a fore and ait sail constructed and applied to its gaff D ard boom E, and connected with the mast by hoops Z), in the ordinary manner.

In carrying out my invention, instead of apply ing the saddle or furcated end of the gait' directly against tle surface of the mast, I afiix tothe inner end or head ot' the gait' two curved metallic arms, 0 o, formed and applied to the gait' in manner as shown in the drawings. Each of said arms, near its outer end, has ahole or eye made transversely through it, for the reception of one of two journals, 19 p, formed on the outer ends of two trunnions or projections, a a., which are disposed on opposite sides ot' the mast-band F, and at a dis tance of a hundred and eighty degrees from each other, as shown in Fig. 2.

By thus attaching the gat't'to central points on opposite sides of the band E, instead of applying it directly tothe mast, any force which may be exerted on the head of the gaft' will be equably transmitted to such central parts of the band, and thus allow the band to preserve its concentricity with the mast. This band or annulus may be made ot' iron or other suitable material, and may be either rectangular, elliptical, or cyliudricalin cross-section or it may be partly rectangular, or elliptical,and partly cylindrical. Its inner surface should be plain or slightly convex. The said band should have a diameter somewhat larger than that of the mast which it is to encompass, so as to be capable of being slid freely on the same. In order to diminish as much as possible the friction ot' the said band F on the mast when the sail is being lowered, if desirable, there may be arranged on the front halt' of the said band a series of rollers, f f, &c., and for the purpose of diminishing friction and to aid in causing the band F to preserve its a-Xis in a vertical plane or coincident, or nearly so, with the mast; another series of similar rollers, f, may be disposed on the inner half of the band. This application of friction-rolls, however, I do not deem essential to my invention, and may be employed -or not, as maybe desirable.

c c are two halyards, which are rove through two blocks, d d, attached to the mast in the usual manner, the said halyards having their upper ends respectively attached to the gaff, as shown in the drawings. e is abelayingpin, to which the lower ends of the halyards may be fastened.

From the above it will be seen that my improved mode of connecting the gait' with the mast has several important advantages: First, itprevents setting or choking of the gaft on the mast, and thereby enables the sail to be e ,'enly upon the most, and with comparatively handled much easier, and consequently with much less force; second, it greatly lessens the unequal Wear and injury to Jthe mast ineident to the old method; third, in consequence of the gaft' being attached at central points on opposite sides ofthe said mast-band, the greater part of the gravitating force ot' the gaff and sail, when the halynrds are let go, passes upon the band at such central points, and thus causes the band to slip down little friction.

I claim- My improved mode of attaching a gaft'to the mast of a vessel, the same being substantially in the manner and so as to operate as and for the purposes Set forth.

CHARLES h. FISHER.

W tn sses:

JOHN BUCK, WM. C. FISHER.

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