Herreshoff Anchor....well not really.....

[Adam]

I've been searching for a "real" HMCo. anchor for some time with crazy thoughts of actually using it (not sure I'd really have the guts to use it in the end...). I can certainly find any number of Kedge anchors on line for short money but to date I don't recall ever finding a "real" HMCo. version for sale. Almost pulled the trigger more then once for the beautiful Reineck repro (although the largest at 22lb would be a bit small - I'd want something in the 30lb range for everyday - with 50 or 75 as a storm anchor).  I found a number of other interesting ones from this era - Such as the Lawley, Meridian, and the Laughlin's. The Lawley's and Meridan ones seem to be copy's of the HMCo.'s, but always shied away because - while not mentioning these company's by name - L. Francis wrote that these "copy's" were un-balanced and did not work well. The Thomas Laughlin Co (Portland Me) seem a bit "older" design - which doesn’t surprise me as they were around in the 1830's and were one of - if not the -largest ships foundry/chandler of that era. Anyway I came across a very interesting design by Laughlin from the 1880's - called the "Dirigo" Anchor - and is nothing more then a "folding" Kedge - which is , well, sort of neat....Kind of does away with the problem lots of people have with the Kedge type design - storage issues, and hard to handle. I found a few on line over the years but nothing in the right size and condition. Until now....Winsome's "like new" 100+ year old Folding Kedge....not a Herreshoff but a cool design nonetheless IMO...

[Steve]

Funny you should bring this up.  Just yesterday, I was researching Herreshoff patents for a document I am working on.  I found the patent for the/a Herreshoff anchor.  It was issued to LFH, not NGH.  That was a surprise (at least to me).

[Adam]

That surprises me also - not for him designing one but that he'd patent one. In his "common Sense of Yacht Design" he goes to great accolades about his Fathers/Grandfathers anchor design. Is his design appreciatively different?

[Adam]

Steve I noticed that Mystic has in their LFH records 4 Anchor designs - are these the patented ones you mentioned?

[Steve]

Not sure ... here is the patent:

http://www.herreshoffregistry.org/forum/images/Anchor_Patent.pdf

[Adam]

So Muriel applied for the Patent in his name after he died....interesting....The design is different - not sure I understand the sliding stock -how does that save space? or why it's concave as well as forward slant. An attempt to have the stock arms also act as palms? Interesting anyway....