Safety pawl housing for AUSTRALIA II from Barlow Winches

Designer Ben Lexcen (1936 - 1988)

DateApril 1979

Object numberANMS1543[338]

NamePlan

MediumPaper

ClassificationsMaps, charts and plans

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds

Terms

DescriptionAUSTRALIA (KA-5) sail control winch parts, made by Barlow Marine in 1979. The same type of winches were installed on the 1983 winning yacht AUSTRALIA II.HistorySafety pawls are a simple but ancient engineering device, with a multitude of applications. They are fitted to all types if winch, anchor, yacht, slipway, capstan, and found in tools, clocks and vehicles. They are a vital part of the winches fitted to any yacht, as the spring-loaded pawls lock the winch drum in place, stopping it from moving backward when under load. The modern deck winch, found on all sailing yachts today, developed in order to reduce the number of crew on board and allow larger sails to be used and controlled with less power. The use of blocks, on sailing ships, boats, and on-shore, has a long and rich history for the last two millennium, and still in use. By using blocks and tackle, (pulley wheels and ropes), a significant ‘mechanical advantage’ is obtained allowing heavy loads to lifted or moved, by one or two people. It can be a single, double or triple block, with the sheaves (pulley wheels) made in wood, metal or plastic, and the ‘cheeks’ which hold them made in the same material. The block is still widely used on the main-sheets of smaller yachts, where a double or triple block and rope allows the crew to easily adjust the mainsail. During the great age of sail, blocks and ropes were made and used in vast numbers. A large sailing ship in the mid-19th. Century would need over 1,200 blocks to operate. Many traditional sailing vessels still use blocks and tackles to raise and adjust their sails. This included the early racing yachts, which used very large crews to operate. The ‘windlass’, a simple vertical or horizontal rotating drum, was often used to raise sails as well as the anchor, but was not geared so relied on muscle power alone. The first yacht to be fitted with modern, specifically designed deck winches, to raise and adjust the sails, was RELIENCE the 1903 American defender of the America’s Cup. The yacht, designed by Nathanael G. Herreshoff, had winches installed below deck, while other racing yachts at the time still used old fashioned deck mounted windlasses. Despite the added technology, a crew of sixty-four was still needed for racing this 120-foot yacht. ‘RELIENCE’ carried a total of 1,501 square metres of sail, the same as eight later 12mR yachts. The winches proved to be both efficient and robust, as these same winches were later used on RESOLUTE in 1920, and ENTERPRISE the 120-foot America’s Cup yacht in 1930. Innovative Australian Malcolm Barlow first started designing and building BARLOW winches in a small garage in Sydney during the mid-1960’s. The winches soon became well-known for their strong construction, fine workmanship, and reliability. With the increase in the build of production yachts at the time, Barlow winches became an integral part of yachting in Australia and around the world during the 1970’s and 80’s. Barlow winches were fitted to many production yachts around the world and many are still in use today. In America, BARIENT winches developed at about the same time and both companies appear to have worked together, as the parts, designs and tooling is the same. Barient Marine was started by the owners of two yachts, Derek Baylis who owned ORIENT and Jim Michael owner of the yacht ‘BARUNA’, hence the name BARIENT. The first self-tailing winch for use on a yacht was invented, and patented by Maurice G. Declercq, on October 26th 1973. It consisted of a separate, spring-loaded wheel, which pressed the sheet (rope) against winch drum. There is no information if this was later produced. The now standard ‘self-tailing winch’ was invented by Jesus Guangorena, of the ’Barient Company’, and the US patent filed on April 15th. 1975. Both Barlow in Australia and Barient in the US, produced a range of standard and self-tailing winches. Barlow Marine in Australia also filed several patents for winches and parts they designed: Notably, on February 21st. 1979, invented by Raymond J. Porter; A self-tailing winch of the type having a stationary frame and a rotatable drum. The tail of the rope or sheet is held in a groove between a pair of toroidal shaped gripping diaphragms of elastomeric material. Also, on June 13th. 1978 an invention by; Albert J. Hutton, Allen W. Hutton and Richard J. Dellit; A ‘variable speed winch’, including a uni-directional drum rotatable initially by the clockwise motion of a handle in a clockwise sense only. The primary winches, used to control the head-sails, as well as the other sail control winches fitted on a 12mR International Americas Cup yachts, such as AUSTRALIA (KA-5), CHALLENGE 12 and AUSTRALIA II (KA-6) needed to be strong, easy to use, and reliable. The failure of a sheet winch will almost certainly result in the yacht losing the race. The Barlow grinder winches made for AUSTRALIA (KA-5) in 1980, and later on AUSTRALIA II (KA-6). in 1981 were cast in manganese bronze, and likely purpose designed for the 12mR and maxi-yachts. With his experience as a yacht designer, sailor and machinist, it is possible Ben Lexcen and his engineers were involved with the design of the winches. With so much at stake for Australia, and with so much in house experience, they would certainly have supplied information to the Barlow Marine company about specific loads and power requirements. Both Barlow Marine in Australia and Barient Marine in the USA closed for business in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s, after they were bought out by rival company Lewmar Marine. However, some of the original staff at Barlow Australia bought the mould tooling and formed The Australian Winch Company which still continues today. They still produce the famous ‘Hutton Yacht Winches’ and some spare parts for the old Barlow and Barient winches. SignificanceThe drawing shows the details, materials and fine tolerances needed when manufacturing high quality winches for the Australian America’s Cup challenge yachts. The failure of any winch on board the yacht when racing will almost certainly mean losing the race. It also shows the many drawings, engineers and draughtmen working behind the scenes to make the project a success. It is assumed Barwin Ltd. was likely a company working for Barlow Marine.