MENTS IN SHIP STEERING APPARATUS
Year: 1872

page_text: " IMPROVE-
LETTERS PATENT to John Hastie, of Greenock, in the County of
Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of
MENTS IN SHIP STEERING APPARATUS."
Sealed the 6th August 1872, and dated the 10th February 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hastie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th February 1872.
I, JOHN HASTIE, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP STEERING APPARATUS," to be as follows, that is to
say:—
This Invention has for its objects to improve and simplify ship steering
apparatus, and to render it less liable than hitherto to be injured.
The apparatus comprises a horizontal screw shaft carried in bearings
in a hollow pedestal, and having fast on it externally the usual steering
wheel. The rudder stock has on its upper end a disc or plate, the boss
of which is turned to work in a bearing formed for it in the pedestal,
whereby the stock is rendered steady. The disc has a radial groove
formed in its upper side, and a block or roller lying in this groove is

page_text: acted upon to move the rudder by a nut or internally screwed head on
the screw shaft. A strong pin connects the nut and block and can be
removed at any time when it is wished to disconnect the parts. The nut
may be guided in the ordinary way, or it may be formed with a part
projecting on the side opposite to the block and bearing on a part of the
rudder head or disc. Instead of fixing the rudder head or disc rigidly
on the rudder stock, a rosette clutch is interposed, the parts of which
are kept together by rubber or other springs, so that on any severe strain
acting suddenly on the rudder the parts can yield without breaking.
When working the rudder from a bridge amidships, instead of using the
screw gear at the bridge and transmitting thence the comparatively
great force for acting directly on the rudder, the screw gear is applied at
the stern, and a light chain or equivalent connection is used for trans-
mitting the comparatively small force required from the bridge; and this
arrangement has the further advantage that from the nature of the
screw gearing, no back strain from the rudder can be transmitted by the
chain to the bridge. In the case of a large steam ship with arrangements
for working the rudder by power, a donkey engine placed in the engine
room under the control of the engineers is employed to force water or
air into an accumulator.
By these means a pressure considerably greater than the steam in the
boiler can be obtained for at any moment acting powerfully or rapidly
on the rudder. The water or compressed air is conveyed from the
accumulator by pipes to the steering gear, and is applied to work a ram
or a small engine similar to what is in use, but which may be made
smaller and more compact on account of the greater pressure available.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Hastie in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th August 1872.
TO ALL TO
WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HASTIE, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the

page_text: thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Hastie, Her special
licence that I, the said John Hastie, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Hastie, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SHIP STEERING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Hastie, my executors or administrators, 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 John Hastie, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
:-
My said Invention has for its object to improve and simplify ship
steering apparatus, and to render it less liable than hitherto to be
injured. And in order that my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a
Sheet of explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and
representing my improved steering apparatus. In these Drawings the
same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts
wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1 is a plan of the apparatus as with a cover 1 removed, and
Figures 2 and 3 are vertical sections as at right angles to each other.
My improved apparatus comprises a horizontal screw shaft 2, carried
in bearings in a hollow pedestal 3, and having fast on it externally the
usual steering wheel 4. The pedestal 3 is fixed down on the deck so as
to enclose the upper end of the rudder stock 5, and the rudder. stock has
on its upper end a disc or plate 6, the boss 7 of which is turned to work

page_text: The nut
in a bearing formed for it in the pedestal 3, whereby the stock is kept
steady. The disc 6 has a radial groove 8 formed in its upper side, and
a side block or roller 9 lying in this groove is acted upon to move the
rudder by a nut or internally screwed head 10 on the screw shaft 2. A
strong pin 11 connects the nut or head 10 and the block 9, and can be
removed at any time when it is wished to disconnect the parts.
or head 10 may be guided in the ordinary way, or it may be formed as
shown with a part 12 projecting on the opposite side to the block 9, and
bearing on a part of the rudder head or disc 6. It is not essential for
the screw shaft 2 to be placed centrally above the rudder stock 5, as
shown, this being done merely for the sake of a symmetrical appearance
in comparatively light apparatus.
In cases requiring more powerful apparatus it will be advantageous
to place the screw shaft 2 a little to one side and so as to be as nearly
as possible over the block or pulley 9.
In some cases, instead of fixing the rudder head or disc 6 rigidly on
the rudder stock 5, I interpose a yielding appliance such as is shown in
side elevation in Figure 4. The head 6 with its boss 7 are fitted so as
to be capable of turning on the rudder stock 5, but are held down by a
small head indicated by dotted lines at 13, and fixed on the top of the
rudder stock. Below the boss 7 there is a clutch boss 14, fitted to the
stock 5, with a groove and key, so as to turn only with it, but at the
same time movable up and down on it. The top of this clutch boss 14
and the bottom of the disc or head boss 7 are shaped and adapted to each
other to form what is known as a rosette clutch, and the lower part 14 is
pressed upwards against the upper boss 7 by rubber rings 15 held by a
metal ring 16, which last is adjusted by screws 17 tapped into a boss 18
fixed on the rudder stock 5. With this arrangement, when any severe
strain acts on the rudder, the parts can yield without breaking, as the
increased strain will compress the rubber rings 15, and the parts 7, 14, of
the rosette clutch will turn to a small extent upon each other.
When working the rudder from a bridge amidships, instead of using
the screw or spur gearing at the bridge and transmitting thence the
comparatively great strain for acting directly on the rudder, the screw
gear is applied at the stern, and a comparatively light chain or equivalent
connection is used for transmitting the comparatively small force
required from the bridge; and this arrangement has the further advantage
that from the nature of the screw gearing no back strain from the rudder

page_text: can be transmitted by the chain to the bridge. When the screw gearing
is to be actuated in this way, the screw shaft 2 may be elongated at its
after end, and have a pitch pulley fixed on it for the chain, as indicated
by dotted lines at 19, in Figures 1 and 3.
In my Provisional Specification lodged on applying for the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent; I described certain arrangements
for working the steering apparatus of large ships by means of an
accumulator, but I have been advised that the said arrangements are not
so novel as I supposed them to be, and do not now therefore claim them
as any part of my present Invention.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do
not restrict myself to the precise details herein described or delineated,
but that what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is,-
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of ship steering
apparatus, substantially in the improved manner herein described and
delineated.
2. The interposing of a spring clutch or equivalent yielding appliance
between the rudder stock and the parts for actuating it, substantially in
the manner and for the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof T the said John Hastie have herunte cot
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN HASTIE. (L.S.)