In 1736, Jonathan Hulls obtained a patent for a method of towing ships into or out of harbour against wind and tide. This method was little more than a revival of that proposed by Papin in 1690. The motion, however, was to be communicated to the paddle-shaft by a rope passing over a pulley fixed on an axis, and was to be maintained during the returning stroke of the piston by the descent of a weight which was elevated during the descending stroke. There is no record, however, of this plan, any more than that of Papin, ever having been reduced to experiment.