US231675A - Dennis h - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

D. H. MAHAN. Boat Detaohing Apparatus. No. 231,675. Patented Aug. 31,1880.

1521;:- Eleni or.- MKJW mi #mi NITED STATES DENNIS H. MAHAN, OF UNITED STATES NAVY.

BOAT-DETACHING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 231,675, dated August 31, 1880.

Application filed June 9, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, DENNIs H. MAHAN, a lieutenant of the UnitedStates Navy, at present stationed at Vallejo, in the State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boat-Detaching Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. I

My invention has relation to that class of boat detaching apparatus specially intended for detaching life-boats, though it is applicable to all manner of boats which are lowered by boat-falls or tackle from shipboard or elsewhere; and the object thereof is.to produce a simple, cheap, durable, and automatically-operating detaching mechanism, which may be readily and easily applied to boats as now constructed, which will release the boat (if desired) as soon as its weight is supported upon the water or elsewhere, and which may be used with other styles of rigging about the boat.

To accomplish all of this the invention involves certain new and useful combinations or relative arrangements of parts or peculiarities ofconstruction, all of which will be hereinafter first fully described, and then pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of my improved box or frame intended to be fastened to the boat, the hook being shown in fine lines as in proper position for securing the ring of the boat-fall, and in dotted lines in the position which it assumes when the boat is detached. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the hook detached from the block and box, and indicating its general shape and construction. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the ring to be placed in the lower block of the boat-fall. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the box or frame shown in elevation at Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of my improved locking-bolt detached from the box or frame. Fig. 6 is an axial section of same, showing the spring-actuated detent therein as elevated; and Fig. 7, a similar view, showing detent depressed. Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation, indicatingthe preferred position of the improved devices upon an ordinary form of boat-fall, with its attaching-ring being shown at the left.

Like letters of reference wherever they occur indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A is the bed-plate or base of the box orframe, preferably made of cast metal, and provided with bolt-holes, as at a a, at suitable intervals, for connecting with the stern and stern-posts of the boat to which the apparatus is to be applied. Upon this base are mounted the two solid arms B B, each being pierced, as at G O, for the reception of the axle-bolt, upon which the detaching-hook H is made to turn easily. At D is a perforation or bolt-hole through the base, intended for coupling other styles of boatlowering apparatus, or for use in connection with the rigging about the boat, as occasion may require.

One of the arms of each frame or box is perforated, as at e, for the reception of the locking-bolt, to be hereinafter described, and as indicated at Fig. 8, these perforations are in opposite arms of the pair, so as to bring both on the same side of the boxes when the latter are in proper place upon the boat.

As indicated in Fig. 1, the axle-bolt is located about on a line with the front face of the upper part of the base, and the hook is formed, substantially as shown in Fig. 2, very large an (1' heavy at the top, with a reversed curve at back for the accommodation of thelockin g-bolt. By thus constructing the hook when locked in place its center of gravity will remain a considerable distance to one side of the axle, and much nearer the top of the hook than the bottom thereof.

The dotted line b b, Fig. 2, indicates the plane of the inner face of the hook, and c cthe face bearing upon the holding-ring when the latter is in place. To complete the hook, however, a third hearing, as on the line 3 y, is necessary, and this is furnished by the upper portion of the face of the base-plate, against which the point of the hook is made to abut, as shown in Figs. 1 and 8.

F is the locking-bolt, made long enough to reach through one of the arms and to the other. It is recessed for the reception of a suitable detent, g, and this latter is mounted upon any suitable. form of springs h, resting upon the bottom of the recess and held against accidental displacement by means of a pin, 19, made to pass through the metal of the bolt and through an elongated slot, 2', in the detent. The detent is so situated in the bolt as to bear against the inner face of the perforated arm through which the bolt passes, and its upper surface is inclined in both directions, as plainly shown, for the double purpose of permitting the bolt to be easily and quickly located in place, and as easily withdrawn when occasion mayrequire, the springs h being strong enough to hold the detent against any accidental depression by which the bolt might be released when not in tended. The two bolts falling on the same side of the base-blocks or boxes are each provided with chains or cords leading along the gunwale of the boat and to the stern-sheets, where they are provided with any suitable handles convenient for the operator. The frames or boxes are intended to be mounted so as to bring the tops of the hooks a little above the gunwale-lines, substantially as indicated at Fig. 8.

It has not been deemed necessary to represent the davits or other means of supporting the boat herein, as such devices are well known and the uses of boat-attaching apparatus fully understood.

When the apparatus is constructed and arranged upon the boat, substantially in accordance with the foregoing explanations, its operation is as follows: The rings It on the falls beinglocated in the hooks,and the hookslocked by the locking-bolts, the boat is lowered by the,

falls, and at the proper time the locking-bolts are simultaneously withdrawn, which is rendered easy by reason of the form of detent. As soon as the boat rests upon the water or becomes water-borne the strain on the hooks is relieved, and these drop down by their own gravity, instantly disconnecting the boat from the falls.

Thus it will be seen that the operation of the device is automatic, and releases the boat at the precise moment required-a decided advantage over such appliances as require the falls to be detached by the operator at the time which he deems best. quently uncoupled before the boat is waterborne, which results in overturning or damagin g the boat.

The rings may be quickly readjusted in the hooks and locked in place, as will be apparent from a consideration of the construction.

When made as above explained the improved device is found to admirably answer the several purposes or objects of the invention, as previously stated.

Having now fully described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a boat-detaching apparatus of the character herein set forth, the combination, with the bolt adapted to lock the hook in place, of a separate block-detent secured within said bolt upon springs at the bottom of the recess provided for it by means of a pin passing through the walls of the recess and through a vertically-elongated slot in the detent, substantially as shown and described.

2. The herein-described automatically-qwering boat-detaching apparatus, adapted to release the boat the instant it is water-borne, the same being composed of a box or frame having projecting arms in which the hook is axled, and having a projecting face about on a line with the axle, a hook enlarged at top, as shown, a spring-detent operating to secure the hook in the manner specified, and a ring connected with the falls, all substantially as shown, and

for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

DENNIS H. MAHAN. Witnesses:

B. F. RINEHART, JOHN E. BROWNLIE.

Such devices are fre--

Images