tM: Improved Capstan and Windlass , 
for wlilcli Mr. Pkicknet obtained a patent, the speciiica- 
tion of wbicli may be seen in tbe Repertory of Arts, No. 
48. In this way a number of upright puppets or lifters, 
placed round the capstan, were made to rise in succes- 
sion, as the capstan turned round, by a circular inclined 
plane placed beneath them, over which their lower ex* 
tremities moved on friction wheels ; and these puppets, 
as they rose, forced upwards the coils of the messenger 
on the barrel of the capstan. 
Tills was a superior method to the first, as the opera- 
tion of forcing upward the coils was performed more 
gradually by it ; but still the wear of the messeuger 
from the lateral friction in rising against the whelps of 
the capstan remained undiminished. 
The third method used for the same purpose was that 
proposed by captain Hamilton. It consisted in giving the 
capstan a conical shape, with an angle so obtuse, that 
the strain of the messenger forced the coils to ascend 
along the sloped sides of the barrel. The roller first 
mentioned was sometimes used with this capstan, of 
which a full account is inserted in the Repertory of Arts, 
vol. 2. 
The lateral friction, and wear of the messenger 
against the whelps of the capstan, are equally great in 
this method as in the others ; and it, besides, has the in- 
convenience of causing the coils to become loose as they 
ascend 5 for as the upper part of the barrel is near a 
third less in diameter than the lower part, the round of 
the messenger, that tightly embraced the lower part, 
must exceed the circumference of the upper extremity in 
the same proportion. 
In the method of preventing the necessity of surging, 
which the model I have had the honour of laying before 
the Society represents, none of the lateral friction of the 
messenger or cable against the whelps of the capstan, 
