US9076A - Improved compound anchor - Google Patents

Description

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SAMUEL NYE MILLER, OF TEST ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED COMPOUND ANCHOR.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL NYE MILLER, of W est Roxbury, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Anchor for Holding Ships; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The nature of my invention consists in having two separate shanks (marked A and B in Figure l of the inclosed drawings) and linkes to them C and D, the shanks being confined together near the rings by the bolt E, secured at one end by a large head and at the other by a strong nut or key F, and separated at their elbows or crowns the length of one of the linkes bya spur or brace projecting from the shank A. In the other shank B there is a hole, through which the end of the spur G passes, and is secured by a nut or key at H. The lnkes are pointed in opposite directions and so disposed that it is impossible for the anchor to lie otherwise than with one of the tlukes in the ground.

There being no stock to this anchor it is not liable to become stock foul in letting it go, nor can a vessel be stock rode, as it is termed, by the stock entering the ground and being dragged alongr until it meets a hard vein of earth or a stone, when the stock is bent or broken and the anchor is useless; but in this form the instant a strain comes on the cable the anchor enters and is drawn down into the mud until the broad surface of the fluke presents its full power of resistance. The ti'uke sinks readily into the ground from the effect of its plowshare-like point, which passes the earth on one siderinstead of lifting up and breaking it.

By unscrewing the nut F and withdrawing the bolt E, which connects the two shanks at the rings, and also detaching the shank B from the end of the spur G, both tlukes can be turned downward and geared as in Fig. 2 ofthe drawings, becoming, in effect, a double mooring-anchor,77 which sinks with certainty both fiukes in the ground by attaching to the middle of the span-chain I, which connects the two elbows and is twice the length ot one of the ukes, an empty beef-barrel, small water-Cask, or anything or sufiicient buoyancy to insure the turning of the ukes down by its resistance to the sinking of the anchor. To this chain the buoy-rope is also made fast.

In many ports ships are obliged to lie moored, and much inconvenience is experienced with the old form of anchor by the fluke, which stands up from the ground, catching the cables of the ships as they sheer about with the wind or tide. In my anchor this ditiicult-y is entirely obviated, vfor when the iiukes are sunk in the mud there is nothing above the ground which can catch a chain or hawser.

In anchoring upon a lee-shore the anchor, being disposed as above, will take a double hold of the ground, thus rendering the anchorage more secure.

It one of the iiukes or shanks should be broken near the elbow or crown, (the place where they usually break,) this anchor can yet be made available by lashing a spar of the length of the shank and one iiuke across the remaining shank to the spur or brace G, as in Fig. It then becomes the same as the common one-tluked mooring-anchor, and can be used in the same manner or as the double anchor described above by securing to the ends of the spar or temporary stock a rope of twice its length, and from the middle or bight ot that extend another to thc ring at' the elbow; then at the bight or where the ropes are united secure a buoy or small caskand let go the anchor (the iuke will strike its point into the ground;) or it can be lowered down by a rope made fast to the elbow or crown, as is the ,mode with the mooring-anchor now in use. In the old form of anchor if the shank is broken both iiukes are lost and the anchor is useless.

It is frequently necessary to carry out anchors in boats, which service, it' in the night-time or in a heavy sea, is always attended with great peril, because ot' the anchorstock lying athwart the boats gunwales elnbarrassing the men in rowing and its liability to turn and the stock catch in the boats quarter when about to be let go. In carrying out this anchor of my invention there is no such danger, there being no stock. It lies along the middle of the boat with ukes over the stern, and when the hawser is run out the anchor follows without the possibility of fowling or catching in the boat.

By the mode in which this anchor is made greater strength is insured than can be obtained in the old one with the same weight, each shank and fluke being in shal't forged into shape and then heated at the proper place and bent into the form requisite without the necessity of welding any part but the can be done while the anchor hangs at the cat-head and with greater ease than when on deck by taking ont the key, drawing off the shank B, and allowing it to drop to its fellow. Then by the tackle hooked to the span-chain it is taken over the ships side.

In case of extremity this anchor can be separated and used as two by lashing across the shank A at G a spar fora temporary stock and driving through the hole in the shank B at II a hand-spike and lashing thereto a spar, as on the shank A, then rig them with buoys, as described above and illustrated in Fig. 3. Thus arranged the anchor, being provided with two rings, can be shackled to two chains or cables, thereby securing greater safety to the ship than if moored With but one.

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

The above-described anchor for holding ships.

SAML. NYE MILLER. Witnesses:

I. II. PRINCE, BEN S. FREEMAN.

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