IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Murray, Chief Engineer of H.M. Dock-
yard, Portsmouth, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING
APPARATUS,"
Sealed the 24th July 1866, and dated the 1st February 1866.
5. 4
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Murray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st February 1866.
I, ANDREW MURRAY; Chief Engineer of H.M. Dockyard, Portsmouth, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STEERING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in steering apparatus. For
these purposes a small or donkey engine is employed, which gives motion to
a crank shaft. It is preferred that this small engine should have two steam
cylinders, and that it should give motion to a two-throw cranked shaft. The
shaft of this engine has fixed on it a screw or worm which takes into and
drives a screw or worm wheel on a second shaft on which shaft are also one
or two pinions which take into one or two parallel toothed racks connected to
one or two parallel cross heads fixed on the end or ends of a piston rod which
passes through a stuffing.box in one'end, or through two stuffing boxes in the
[Price 8d.]

page_text: two ends or covers of a cylinder; or motion may be given to the piston rod
by an ordinary screw and nut made to revolve by the crank shaft, or by any
of the ordinary means to convert a rotary into a reciprocating motion. On
this piston rod is a piston which works in a cylinder which is kept con-
stantly full of a liquid which in warm climates or weather may be water,
but when subjected to very low temperatures it is to be such as will not
freeze. Near the rudder head is a second cylinder with piston and piston
rod. This cylinder is of like capacity with the one above mentioned, and
the ends of it are connected by suitable pipes to the ends of the first cylinder,
which is worked by the small steam engine, which in giving a to-and-fro
motion to the piston rod gives motion to the piston in this cylinder, by
which motion the liquid is driven out from one side of the piston into the
second cylinder, and so as to press on one side of the piston therein, whilst
the liquid on the other side of the piston in this cylinder near the rudder
will be caused to flow back into the corresponding end of the first-mentioned
cylinder. Motion may be transferred from the piston rod of the second
cylinder to the tiller in any suitable manner, but by preference the piston
rod of this second cylinder is arranged to give motion to the tiller by
block sliding in a groove in a cap or cross head fixed on the end of the
piston rod. The small steam engine may ordinarily be supplied with steam
from the boilers of the other or propelling engines, or it may have its own
boiler. By this arrangement the steering will be by the working of the
small steam engine, which together with the steersman will in a war ship
or vessel be in a protected part of such ship or vessel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Andrew Murray in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
MURRAY, Chief Engineer of H.M. Dockyard, Portsmouth, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Andrew Murray, Her special licence that I, the said Andrew
Murray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Andrew Murray, my executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an luvention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Andrew Murray, my executors or adıministrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Andrew Murray, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in hydraulic steering
apparatus. Heretofore when the rudder of a ship has been acted upon by an
hydraulic cylinder the pressure of water has been produced by the action of
pumps; now my improvements consist in the use of two cylinders, which when
once filled with water or other liquid are intended to remain full, the water or
liquid in them being made to circulate or pass from each end of one cylinder
to each end of the other cylinder through separate pipes by the action of a
steam engine or any other motive power. The two cylinders may be at any
distance from each other. They are both fitted with pistons and piston rods, and
the piston of one of these cylinders, which we shall call the first cylinder, is acted
upon by the steam engine or other motive power in the manner shown on the
Drawings and hereafter described or by some other arrangement of mechanism.
When the piston rod and piston of the first cylinder are put in motion the
water or liquid is forced to flow from one of the ends of this cylinder into that
end of the second cylinder with which it is connected by its pipe, and the
water or liquid in the other end of the second cylinder is made to flow back
through the pipe attached to that end into the corresponding end of the first
cylinder. Whenever motion is required to be given to the rudder the steam
engine is started, and it gives motion to the piston of the first cylinder, and
this motion is communicated to the piston of the second cylinder as before
described, and this acts on the tiller, the motion given being in the direction
and to the extent that may be desired. When the steam engine is stopped
the rudder will be held in the position into which it has been put, as the
water will no longer circulate. The steam engine and the first hydraulic

page_text: cylinder may be put in any convenient position, and steam may be obtained
for the engine from any boiler in the ship. The engine may be of any
ordinary construction so long as care is taken that the arrangement is such as
to admit of the engine being set to work and stopped and reversed with
great facility. Motion may be transferred from the piston rod of the
second cylinder to the tiller in any suitable manner, but by preference the
piston rod of this second cylinder is arranged to give motion to the tiller
by a block sliding in a groove in a cap or cross head fixed on the end of the
piston rod.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe
more fully the mode of carrying it out.
In Drawing No. 1, A, A, are the two cylinders giving motion to the two-
throw cranked shaft B; C is a screw or worm fixed on this shaft, giving
motion to the worm wheel D and the shaft E. On this shaft are the two
pinion wheels F, F, working into the two racks G, G, connected to the
two cross heads H, H, on the ends of the piston rods I, I, which are
attached to a piston in the hydraulic cylinder K. L, L, are the orifices on
the two ends of this hydraulic cylinder, from which two separate pipes go to
the two ends of the second hydraulic cylinder which is connected with the
tiller and act upon the rudder of the ship.
In Drawing No. 2, A, A, as in Drawing No. 1, are the two cylinders giving
motion to the two-throw cranked shaft B; C is a spur pinion wheel on this
shaft working into the spur wheel D; this wheel is made fast upon the nut E,
which revolves in the bearings F, F, and which by its revolutions in either
direction, as may be required, gives motion to the screwed rod G, G, and to
the piston H in the hydraulic cylinder K; L, L, are the orifices on the two
ends of this cylinder, from which, as in Drawing No. 1, two separate pipes go
to the two ends of the second hydraulic cylinder which act upon the tiller.
One of the bearings F and a portion of the nut E are shown with collars to
resist the thrust of the screwed rod G when moved in either direction by the
action of the nut E, and both bearings may be so fitted if desired. The
hydraulic cylinder in this Drawing is shown of a different diameter and a
different length from that in Drawing No. 1, but of the same capacity, so that
cither of these two first cylinders would act in the same manner on the same
second cylinder. Water is the liquid which I prefer to employ, and when
necessary ordinary precautions should be taken to guard against its freezing
The second cylinder, and the mode of its connection with the tiller, are not
shewn in the Drawings, because the arrangements for this cylinder and its
connection to the tiller do not differ from what has before been practised, and

page_text: they may conveniently be such as are described in the Specification of a
Patent granted to Edward Humphrys, and dated 25th day of April 1859,
No. 1037.
I do not confine myself to the modes shown in the Drawings to give motion
to the piston in the first hydraulic cylinder; this motion may be given by any
of the ordinary means of communicating a reciprocating motion from any
motive power. Also in place of using a moving piston in a fixed cylinder a
cylinder moving on a fixed piston may be employed, but perhaps not so
conveniently.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Murray, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
ANDREW MURRAY (L.S.)