Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/609

ANCHITHERIUM. nial was of the size of tlio Sliotlaiul ponj', and had the middle toe of each foot well developed, while the lateral toes, one on each side of the middle toe, though of a length sullicient to reach the ground, were of such delicate construction as to lie incapable of supporting any weight. Anchitheriiun was at one time thought to be one of the ancestors of the modern horse, but is now considered to represent an oH'shoot from the main line of evolution of the horse, although it lived at the same time and in company with the direct horse ancestors. A complete skeleton of Anchitherium affine, found at Pawnee Buttes, Colorado, in 1001, is on exliibition in the Ameri- can Museum of Natural History in New York City. For descriptions of other forms of fossil horses, the reader is referred to the article on Hok.se. Fossil.

AN'CHOR (Lat. ancora, Gk.. ayiwpa, anicyra, akin to Engl, anyle ; literal meaning, '"something crooked, hooked"). A heavy instrument designed to rest on the sea bottom, and, by means of a cable or rope, hold a vessel, buoy, or other floating object in a desii'ed position. Anchors for buoys frequently consist merely of heavy blocks of stone, but those for ships arc now almost in- variably of iron or steel. Many forms of anchors were used by the ancients. The earliest consisted of stones, or baskets of stones, which acted mere- ly as weights without hooking into the ground ; these were followed bj' hooked sticks, weighted to make them sink, and having only one arm. Other arms were eventually added, so that the anchors resembled the modern grapnel. The earliest recorded use of anchors was by the Egyp- tians on tlicir Red Sea galleys, while the Greeks are cr'.'dited with having used the first iron an- chor. Greek vessels had several anchors, one of which, called the "sacred anchor," was never let go until the ship was in dire distress; and a similar custom was, for many years, observed in the British Navy. All sea-going vessels ordi- narily carry several anchors. Two of these, at least, are carried well forward, one on each bow, and are therefore called boicers, and are desig- nated as the 2iort boivcr or starboard bower, ac- cording to the side of the ship on which they are carrieil. In addition to these, large vessels carry one or two anchors of about the same size, called shrct anchors. They are stowed like the bowers, but usually some distance further aft, and, not being intended for immediate use, are generally securely lashed in place.

A stream anchor is a light anchor, not more than half as heavy as one of the bowers, and usually about one-fourth. It is often very use- ful. Very light anchors are called ked;ies. In the United States Navy the weight of a battleship's bower or sheet anchor is from 14,000 to 18.000 pounds. Stream anchors (the term "stream" is not now much used) weigh from 1,000 to ,3,000 pounds, and kedges from 100 to 1,000 pounds. Smaller anchors are carried for the boats. For the purpose of grappling and holding to such objects as a vessel's rigging, trees on shore, chains and the like, a small instrument called a grapnel is used. It has no stock, but has several arms, each sharply pointed. They were nuich used in "cutting out;" expeditions in the days when such enterprises were common. The grap- nel, with a short length of chain attached, as the enemy would have severed a rope with their cutlasses, was thrown into the rigging of the ship attacked. This enabled those of the attacking partj', in a tideway, or when the ship attacked was moving, to keep alongside until they could clamber on board. Grapnels are still issued for use in boats in the United States Navy, and a large folding grapnel, with straight hinged arms, is used to some extent in naval boats in place of an anchor of the customary shape. An- chors were formerly made of wrought iron, but are now very largely made of cast steel. There are two types in use, the old, or ordinary type, in which the stock is at right angles to the arms, and patent anchors, which have no stock at all, or if they have, it lies in the same plane with the arms. The shape of the ordinary anchor is familiar, and is shown in Fiu:. 1. The main body is

A Ring B Stock (' Shank IJ Crown E Palm ANCHOR. J? Fluke O Ann n Bill K Shackle or Jewsharp L C'hib-link called the shank; at one end it joins the arms, and at the other is pierced by a hole through which passes the iron (or steel) stoek. The lat- ter has a ball cast on one end ; the other end is bent at right angles a few inches from its ex- tremity, and also terminates in a ball, but the ball is removable.^ The stock is held in position in the shank by a raised lug, or shoulder, on one side, and by a key on the other. The bend at the end permits it to be partly drawn out and folded down along the shank. At the other end of the shank from the stock are the arms, which are cast or forged in one piece with it. They taper slightly toward their ends, which are called pees, or 6t7/s, and on the side toward the shank have shield-shaped pieces called the flukes. The f.aces

PIG. 2. PATENT ANtliuK. A Ring B Shank S Pivot C Crown DP Flukes of the flukes are called palms. The middle of the curve of the arms, opposite to and in line with the shank, is called the crown.