US116806A - Improvement in anchors - Google Patents

Description

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. CHAMBERLIN, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ANCHORS.

Specification forlnin g part of Letters Patent No. 116,806, dated July 11, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. CHAMBERLIN, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ships Anchor; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making a part of this spec iication, in which- Figure l is a rear perspective view of my improved anchor, and Fig. 2 is an edge view or side elevation thereof'.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts of each.

The object of my improvement is to obviate the defects of the common anchor, which are both numerous and serious. Its shape is such (the stock and linkes being at right angles to each other) that it is always in the way on the bows or inboard, hanging at the cathead or at the hawse-hole. In heaving up it is apt to get under the forefoot, and when the vessel is pitching, it can be fished only with great diiculty. When hanging at the cathead it fouls everything it touches. Again, it is sometimesnecessary to come to at short range. In such case it is difficult to make the flukes catch and penetrate sufficiently to hold. The frequent fouling of the linkes and chain is also a serious difficulty, and it is impossible to ascertain without heaving up whether they are fouled or not; and, in addition to all this, its holdin g power is so small that even when not fouled it often drags, so that reliance on it often results in the destruction of both life and property.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and" use my improvement, I will proceed to dcscribe its construction and mode of operation.

The cable or chain is connected to an eye, a, at the forward end of the shank a. The opposite or rear end of the shank ais bifurcated and spread apart, as at a. To the rear ends of these legs a is loosely pivoted, by a rod, c, or otherwise, a bow, b, terminating in the arms b', on the inner or outer edges of which (or both) are the blades b, the extremities ofthe arms and the edges of the blades being such as will readily penetrate the earth on whichever side the anchor may happen to cant. These blades and arms constitute what are generally known as the flukes. The point n at which the bow b is hung to the legs a is above or (reckin a vertical position, and such springs I claim as the mechanical equivalent of a preponderance of weight in the U-part of the bow b. From each of the arms b', and both above and below, a curved guide, d, passes up and over to the opposite arm b the points where such guides connect with the arms b being preferably back of the pivotingpoint n. These guides may be Xed and sup ported each by a brace, d', or, as I prefer to make them, they may be pivoted, as shown, and the rear end of each brace d be secured by a key, so that when the anchor is stowed the braces d may be unkeyed and the guides d be laid down flat onto the upper or lower face of the anchor and be out of the way.4 The arms b forward of the pivoting-point a are connected by chains e to the legs a for purposes which will be obvious to those skilled in the art. The anchor made as described has not sufficient edge-face for it to stand on; hence, when dropped,it will cant onto either its upper or lower face, and rest on the lower guide d and the points of its tlukes. The first dragging motion, by the resistance of the lower guide on the ground, acts so as to thrust the points of the flukes into the earth, and the deeper they penetrate the greater such thrusting force will be; hence its holding power is measured not, as in the ordinary anchor, by its weight alone, but by the latter plus the force of the downward thrust caused by the leverage of the lower guide.

I thus make an anchor which, with the same weight, or even a less weight, possesses a greater holding power than the ordinary anchor -one that will cant with absolute certainty under all circumstances, one that cannot possibly be fouled by the chain and when hanging at the cathead cannot foul the rigging or chains of other vessels in hauling in or out of dock. As the llukes always hangvertical they cannot catch under the forefoot when weighing, nor injure the bows in eatting or fishing. It is easier oatted and handled, ishes Without difiiculty, stows away more snugly, and is better for kedging or boatservice. It has no uke or stock projecting upward to injure a vessel in shallow Water, and both flukes are in use at the same time.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination of the lukes, connected by a curved or angular bar, b, extending beyond the center of oscillation, the bifurcated shank a', and guiding device d located between the connecting-bar and center of oscillation, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The Weighted head b or connecting-barof the lukes, in combination with the shank t loosely pivoted thereto in such manner, substantially as described, as that the superior gravity of the connecting-bar shall give the iiukes a vertical position in Weighing` or dropping anchor.

3. In combination with the devices described in the second claim, the guiding-bars d and braces cZ, attached by a screw-bolt so as to be

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