Rudimentary treatise on the construction of cranes, and machinery for raising heavy bodies, for the erection of buildings, and for hoisting goods / By Joseph Glynn.

  • Joseph Glynn
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rudimentary treatise on the construction of cranes, and machinery for raising heavy bodies, for the erection of buildings, and for hoisting goods / By Joseph Glynn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/170 (page 9)
    The ancient mariner, however, looks on all these alterations with jealousy and suspicion, prudently reject- ing all such as may not, in case of emergency, be laid aside for the trusty handspike of tough ash or hiccory, which never has its teeth broken by a heavy strain in a gale of wind, like the cast-iron wheel-work. He also knows the importance of having such tackle as the ship’s carpenter may repair, and for which materials may be found in any port whither, in stress of weather, _his vessel may be driven. As it is often inconvenient, and sometimes dangerous, to ship and unship the handspikes in a ship’s wastalinses besides causing much loss of time, and as by it. the united diranetis of many men cannot begemployed, tne capstern or capstan is used instead of it, in large vessels, to weigh the anchor, and in ships of war, when chica is needful, a large body of men act together, walking round the capstan, their efforts being rendered simulta- neous and uniform by the sound of music, and the cable of the gallant ship, on her return home from a foreign station, is merrily rounded in. “« A fair wind, and off she goes,” The original capstan or crab was, something like the primitive windlass, set on end through a round hole in the deck ; it was formed of a single piece of timber; the lower end of it, reduced to a pivot, and shod with iron, was stepped into the vessel’s kelson; the upper part of it had two holes morticed through it, one above the other, crossing each other at right angles. The machine in this form may still be occasionally seen in small coasting vessels from the bye ports in the West of England, or on board of French luggers; and it is sometimes used for hauling up the larger fishing craft BO