US26758A - Big fob beefietg fobe-and-aft sails - Google Patents

Description

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

ISAIAH W. GILL, OF EXETER, NE7 HAMPSHIRE.

RIG FOR REEFING FORE-AND-AFT SAILS.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAIAH IV. GILL, of Exeter, in the county of Rockingham and State of New Hampshire, have invented an Improved Rig for, or New Mode of Reeng Fore-and-Aft Sails; and I do hereby declare that the saine is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l, is a side elevation of a mast provided with my rig with the upper sail set or unfurled. Fig. 2, is an elevation of the same with the sail as furled or brailed up.

My invention is particularly intended for large schooners, but may be applied on other descriptions of vessels. In carrying out the same, instead of one mainsail I employ two, one placed over the other, and I also apply to the mast extra cross trees.

In the drawings, A, exhibits the mast having at its head, a cap, B, and the usual cross trees, C. At about two fifths of the distance between these cross trees and the deck, I apply to the mast extra cross trees, as shown at, D, downward as well as upward from which, shrouds or ropes, provided or not with ratlines may be made to extend, as shown at a, a, a, c, Z), as shown in the drawings.

To that part of the niast, which is below the extra cross trees, I apply a main boom, E, and an extra boom or gai, F, and I arrange the main gait G, above the gait', F, and apply it to that part of the mast which is above the extra cross-trees by means of a ring or barrel, H, to slide freely on the mast, the gat being connected to the barrel by a fork or brail I, so formed and hinged to the ring or barrel as to enable the gait' to be either elevated up into parallelism with the mast as shown in Fig. 2, or raised and dropped into the position as exhibited in Fig. l.

The mast I provide with a stop band or shoulder, c, to arrest the descent of the said ring, and support the gatf when lowered down to its lowest position. Furthermore, to each gaff, a peak halyard and an elevating rope e, should be' applied, those of the 26,758, dated January 10, 1860.

lower or extra gai being carried through blocks suspended from the lower cross-trees.

To the boom, E, and the extra gaf, F, I apply a small mainsail, K, and over the gai, F, I suspend from the ga, G, an extra sail, L, which may have the form as shown in Fig. l. This extra sail should be provided with rings or hoops to slide on the upper part of the mast, and the sail near the mast should extend nearly or quite down to the extra Furthermore, I provide the extra sail not only with buntlines, M, M, for clewing it up to the upper gaff, but with a line or rope, N, attached to its lowermost outer corner and carried around a sheave placed in the extra gat near its outer end. From thence, the said rope N, is led along below the gaf to a block It, suspended from the heel of the gait. From this block the rope is carried down to, or near to the deck and belayed.

The buntlines are to be carried around the upper sail and down toward the deck, so that when they are pulled on, or drawn on by sailors on deck, theywill clue up or furl the sail, provided the rope, N, is slack.

To reet the upper sail, we have only to drop the upper gait' and haul it up into position as shown in Fig. 2, at the same time or subsequently, we pull on the buntlines so as to clue up the sail. In order to set the sail, we should slacken the buntlines, raise the gait1 and haul in the line, N.

Some of the advantages of my new rig or mode of reeing fore and aft sails in comparison to the usual application of a mainsail, are as follows: It enables the vessel to lie very close to the wind. As the mainsail is divided, as it were into two, there will be less momentum in each sail when slatting during a light breeze and rolling sea. There will be less wear and tear in taking in sail. There will be a saving in the cost of the shrouds, as they are not required to be so long and they afford more support to the mast in consequence of their greater spread. The upper sail can be made of lighter canvas than the lower sail and can be taken in and reefed with much less labor than is required to take in or reef a mainsal of the ordinary kind. So in case7 the head of the mast should be carried away the efficiency of the rig would not be affected.

What I claim is* The above described arrangement and application of the eXtra sail, gaf and crosstrees With respect t0 the mast and the main HENRY B. WELLS, SAM M. WILCOX.

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