Patent GB-213306-A (GB)
Title: An instrument for indicating as well as recording the course of ships, airships, and other vehicles
IPC: G01C17/00
Filed: 1922-11-23
Abstract: 213,306. Rapino, S. Nov. 23, 1922. Course-recording apparatus; magnetic compasses; logs.-In an instrument for indicating and recording the course of a ship, aircraft, or vehicle, the rotation of a water or air screw carried forward by the ship &c. is transmitted to wheels 42, 55, Figs. 3 and 8, contacting respectively with the upper and lower faces of a floating disc 56 carrying magnets which maintain a line 74 on the disc in the magnetic meridian so that the length and direction of the course are traced on the upper face of the disc by the wheel 42, and means are provided for eliminating the effects of pitching and rolling movements on the transmitting mechanism. The vessel 10 carrying the liquid on which the disc floats is pivotally suspended on diametrically-opposite sleeves 8, 8<1> carried by a ring 9 pivoted on sleeves 7, 7<1> carried by the casing 4 of the instrument. This casing is fixed to the ship of which the longitudinal axis is in the direction FG, Fig. 2, and the direction of the sleeves 7, 7' is at right angles to that of the sleeves 8, 8'. The device 5, Fig. 2, for eliminating the effects of rolling movements is shown in detail in Fig. 5, and the device 6, Figs. 2 and 3, for the pitching movements is similarly constructed. The rotation of the water or air screw is transmitted through gearing to a shaft 15 passing through the sleeve 7 into a cylindrical box 11 provided at one end with a hub 12 mounted on the sleeve 7 and at the other end with a hub mounted on a sleeve 30 fixed to a member 35 secured to the ring 9. A pinion 17 on the shaft 15 engages a pinion 18 loose on a shaft 19 fixed to the wall 11' of the box 11, and a pinion 20 rigid with the pinion 18 engages with internal teeth 21 on a wheel 22 loosely mounted on the inner end of the shaft 15. Other internal teeth 21<1> on the wheel 22 engage with a pinion 23 rigid with a pinion 24 loose on a shaft 25 fixed to a plate 26 provided with a slot 27. The pinion 24 engages a pinion 28 on a shaft 29 passing through the sleeve 30. A pinion 31 loose on a shaft fixed to the plate 26 and extending across the slot 27 engages with internal teeth 32 on the box 11, and a pinion 33 rigid with the pinion 31 engages a pinion 34 rigid with the sleeve 30. The shaft 29 is connected through transmission devices 73, Fig. 2, to a shaft 16 passing through the sleeve 8 to the device 6, and the shaft 29a from this device, corresponding to the shaft 29 from the device 5, is connected through a universal joint 36 to a telescoping transmission shaft 44 extending diametrically of the vessel 10 and connected through a second universal joint 45 to the shaft of a pinion 46 driving a series of pinions 47 - - 50, Fig. 8. The shafts of the pinions 47 and 50 are connected through shafts 53, 54<1> and universal joints to the shafts of the wheels 42, 55 respectively. These wheels are carried by frames 41 sliding vertically in frames 39, 40 carried by rods 38, 38<1> supported by floats 37, and are spring- pressed against the disc 56. The rods 38, 38<1> are connected by the plates 51, 52, Fig. 8, supporting the shafts of the gearing 46 - - 50, and are movable with a ring 60 supported by rollers 59 on a ring 58 supported by rollers 57 on the edge of the vessel 10. Adjustment of the ring 58 on the vessel 10 to correct for course deviations due to air or water currents is indicated by a pointer 62 on the ring moving over a scale 61 on the vessel. Adjustment of the ring 60 on the ring 58 to correct for magnetic deviations is indicated by a pointer 64 on the ring 60 moving over a scale 63 on the ring 58. To enable the deviations of the line 74 on the disc 56 in relation to the ship &c. to be read, a ring carrying a diametral indicating wire is adapted to be mounted horizontally above the disc 56 and is rotatable in a graduated ring supported from the casing 4.