by John Marshall

“ By the perfect facility with which the machinery is made to act, or the contrary, it is easily altered and applied to any purpose, in ten or fifteen seconds; and the slowness, and consequent steadiness of the power, render it infinitely less trying to the hawsers than any purchase we were before enabled to adopt on board a ship, independent of the great personal risk consequent on the snapping of a hawser. ”

“ Whenever it is necessary to use a greater power than the leverage of the bars produces in the simple capstan, a resource is found in tackles; but they are not continuous, very long in application, and very difficult to be removed, particularly when surges take place: with Captain Phillips’s capstan, on the contrary, the application of the power is immediate, it is subject to no difficulty in removal, and continues its motion as long as may be required; whereas the motion of the tackle can but continue until the two blocks come together. ”

“ The experience of ten years, the period since Captain Phillips’s capstan was first introduced into His Majesty’s service, has enabled him to submit three several plans of improved capstans, founded upon his first invention, engravings of which are attached. His arrangement of wheel-work produces a greater power with the same proportioned wheels than any he has ever seen, as the power gained by the difference of diameter between the first and last wheel is always increased equal to an entire revolution of the first mover ”