patent log

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patent log

n. Nautical

A torpedo-shaped instrument with rotary fins that is dragged from the stern of a vessel to measure the speed or distance traveled. Also called screw log, taffrail log.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

patent log

(Nautical Terms) nautical any of several mechanical devices for measuring the speed of a vessel and the distance travelled, consisting typically of a trailing rotor that registers its rotations on a meter. Compare chip log

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun

patent log - a cigar-shaped log with rotary fins that measure the ship's speed

screw log, taffrail log

log - measuring instrument that consists of a float that trails from a ship by a knotted line in order to measure the ship's speed through the water

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Wolf Larsen was smoking a cigar and examining the patent log which the Ghost usually towed astern, but which had been hauled in for some purpose.

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They strolled aft to where Captain Dettmar, one foot on the rail, was oiling the gear of the patent log. At the wheel stood a tall South Sea Islander, clad in white undershirt and scarlet hip-cloth.