IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GIVING SIGNALS ON BOARD SHIP OR OTHER PLACES."
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Williams Hooper, of Bow, in the County
of Middlesex, Òptician, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR GIVING SIGNALS ON BOARD SHIP OR OTHER PLACES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Williams
Hooper at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th January 1868.
I, WILLIAM WILLIAMS HOOPER, of Bow, in the County of Middlesex,
Optician, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
'IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR GIVING SIGNALS ON BOARD SHIP OR OTHER
PLACES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates chiefly to apparatus for giving signals from the
captain to the helmsman or to the engineer, and consists, firstly, in
the combination with pneumatic apparatus and words, letters, or signs,
of racks, pinions, and shutters or their equivalent, as hereafter described.
The pneumatic apparatus consists of a transmitting apparatus fitted
in a case or otherwise on the bridge, and of a receiving apparatus

page_text: within view of the helmsman or of the engineer, as the case may be.
The transmitting apparatus consists of several air chambers or pumps
with rods projecting through the case; cach of these rods when driven
home forces the air through a tube leading to the receiving apparatus.
The receiving apparatus is composed of several clastic chambers, each
of which is connected by a tube with the corresponding chamber of
the transmitting apparatus. When the air is forced into one of the
receiving chambers, as before explained, the chamber expands and a
rack connected to it acts on a pinion, the shaft of which has a shutter
pivoted thereto. The turning of the pinion moves the shutter and
discloses a word, letter, or sign, a bell or alarum being sounded at the
same time if desired. The transmitting apparatus has corresponding
words, letters, or signs for the guidance of the captain. The rod which
is driven home is held by a spring and released by a chain or cord
when any other rod is acted upon. Instead of forcing air through the
tubes the air may be exhausted. The number of chambers in the
transmitting apparatus is preferably the same as that of the chambers
of the receiving apparatus, the corresponding chambers being connected
by tubes, as before described; but there may if desired be only one
transmitting chamber from which all the tubes lead, and in this case
slides or valves will be employed to shut off those tubes not required.
My Invention consists, secondly, in means of balancing and regulating
the rate of action of the pointer in the indicating instrument of the
transmitting apparatus, known as the step-by-step apparatus, so as to
reduce the quantity of tubing used therein. Thus if the signals have
to be sent through, say, 200 yards of tube, the transmitter has hitherto
had fitted in its case a length of tubing offering about equal resistance,
or the pointer of its indicating instrument moved too rapidly. Now I
interpose between the transmitting apparatus and its indicating instru-
ment a resistance box or chamber containing diaphragms, plates, or
discs with one or more small perforations, the diaphragms, plates, or
discs being at regulated distances apart. The air forced through the
tubing in the case has to pass through the diaphragms, plates, or discs
in this box or chamber before reaching the indicating instrument, and
the force or passage of the air is thus impeded.
My Invention consists, thirdly, in improved means of communicating
back from the rudder or the engine to the bridge in order that the
captain may know that his order has been obeyed. An appliance

page_text: connected to the rudder or to the engine, as the case may be, acts on
an air chamber when the position of the rudder or movement of the
engine is changed, and air is thereby forced through a tube to an elastic
chamber at the bridge; a rod leading from this chamber acts on
another rod connected thereto; this second rod turns on a pivot and
moves a pointer forming a prolongation thereof, the pointer being
within view of the captain. The air chamber for the return signal
may if preferred be worked by hand by the helmsman or the engineer.
The novel feature in this return or tell-tale apparatus is the combination
of the two rods and pointer with the elastic chamber, no spring or
toothed gearing being required.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said William
Williams Hooper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th August
1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILLIAMS HOOPER, of Bow, in the County of Middlesex, Optician, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year.
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Williams Hooper, Her special
licence that I, the said William Williams Hooper, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Williams
Hooper, 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 APPARATUS FOR GIVING SIGNALS ON BOARD SHIP OR OTHER
PLACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Williams Hooper, 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,

page_text: and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within seven calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Williams Hooper, 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 thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention relates chiefly to apparatus for giving signals from the
captain to the helmsman or to the engineer, and consists, firstly, in the
combination with pneumatic apparatus and words, letters, or signs, of
racks, pinions, and shutters, or their equivalent, as hereafter described.
The pneumatic apparatus consists of a transmitting apparatus fitted
in a case or otherwise on the bridge, and of a receiving apparatus
within view of the helmsman or of the engineer, as the case may be.
The transmitting apparatus consists of several air chambers or pumps
with rods projecting through the case; each of these rods when
driven home forces the air through a tube leading to the receiving
apparatus. The receiving apparatus is composed of several elastic
chambers, each of which is connected by a tube with the corresponding
chamber of the transmitting apparatus. When the air is forced into
one of the receiving chambers, as before explained, the chamber
expands and a rack connected to it acts on a pinion, the shaft of
which has a shutter pivoted thereto. The turning of the pinion moves
the shutter and discloses a word, letter, or sign, a bell or alarum
being sounded at the same time if desired. The transmitting apparatus
has corresponding words, letters, or signs, for the guidance of the
captain. The rod which is driven home is held by a spring and released
by a chain or cord when any other rod is acted upon. Instead of
forcing air through the tubes the air may be exhausted. The number
of chambers in the transmitting apparatus is preferably the same as
that of the chambers of the receiving apparatus, the corresponding
chambers being connected by tubes, as before described.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a front view of the
ransmitting apparatus constructed according to the first part of my
Invention, and Figure. 2 a section of the same,
A is a section of one of the chambers or pumps of which there are
several fitted within the case B; this chamber has a piston a, which is

page_text: free to be driven home on pressure being applied to the crosshead or
handle b; the extremities of the crosshead 6 carry two rods c, c, which act
as guide rods to ensure the piston a and its rod d moving in a straight
line; e is a passage leading from the back end of the chamber, and
is in communication by a tube with a receiving chamber, as hereafter
described. The face of the crosshead 6 is engraved or has an engraved
transmit
plate on it with the name or order the sender wishes to
thereon. This apparatus may be fitted on the bridge or other part
of a vessel within reach of the captain or other person in charge of
the same. The guide rods c, c, are connected at their inner ends with
a plate g, which when the crosshead or handle has been pushed
home strikes against a stop piece h fixed inside the case, and when
the crosshead is out, that is its normal condition, the plate g comes
against a fixed partition i, the air for charging the chamber enters
freely by the hole ; when the piston is clear of it. There are several
chambers within the case, as before explained, and the one last acted
upon remains in that position, so that the last order is left exposed
until the next order is sent, when the back plate g of the second
chamber acts upon a chain attached thereto draws the piston of the
first-mentioned chamber to its normal position.
The chain arrangement is not shown in the Drawings, as it is well
understood in other transmitting apparatus. In Figure 1 it will be.
seen that there are five different crossheads, and on the driving or
pushing home of any one of these, that one remains home until one of
the others is acted upon, when it is released and the action of the chain
returns the first piston, as before explained.
The receiving apparatus is shown in front view in Figure 3, and
in section in Figure 4. This apparatus has a corresponding number
of chambers k, each having a tube f connected with it leading from
the transmitting apparatus; these chambers k are fitted between
plates 1, 1, secured inside the casing m. The chambers / are composed
of two diaphragms of very thin sheet metal connected at the outer
edges, one of these diaphragms is formed with a hole by which the.
air from the tube enters to expand the same, the other diaphragm has
a rod n secured to it, terminating in a rack, the teeth of which engage.
in a pinion, as clearly seen in Figure 4; the axle of this pinion is.
attached to a drop plate or shutter p, which when the pinion is moved.
by the rack the shutter p is caused to turn up and uncover the name

page_text: of the order transmitted by the instrument shewn in Figures 1 and 2.
The air in the tube f and chamber is confined therein until the next
order is transmitted, when on the releasing of the transmitting piston
as before explained, the air rushes back, the chamber k contracts,
the back motion of the rack acts upon the pinion in the reverse
direction, and the shutter falls to cover over the name or order.
The action is as follows:-In the position of the apparatus shown
in Figure 2 the order "starboard" is the one transmitted, the cross-
head or handle bearing that signal is shewn driven home; the air
within its chamber is compressed, and passes through the tube to its
chamber or diaphragm in the receiving apparatus, as shown in Figures
3 and 4, where by the expansion of the chamber the shutter is raised
to uncover the word "starboard" on that instrument. This receiving
apparatus may be fitted within view of the helmsman, and in order
that the captain may know that his order has been obeyed by the
helmsman I fit in the transmitting apparatus on the bridge a recording
instrument. This instrument forms the second part of my Invention,
and consists of an appliance connected to the rudder or to the engine,
as the case may be, which acts on an air chamber when the position
of the rudder or movement of the engine is changed, and air is thereby
forced through a tube to an elastic chamber at the bridge; a rod leading
from this chamber acts on another rod connected thereto; this second
rod turns on a pivot and moves a pointer forming a prolongation thereof,
the pointer being within view of the captain. The air chamber for the
return signal may, if preferred, be worked by hand by the helmsman or
the engineer. The novel feature in this return or tell-tale apparatus is
the combination of the two rods and pointer with the elastic chamber,
no spring or toothed gearing. being required.
This instrument will be fully understood on reference to Figures 1
and 2. The chamber or diaphragm q has on one side a rod r pro-
jecting; this rod r is pinned or jointed to a depending link forming
part of another rod s pivoted in a bracket t; one end of the rod 8
carries a pointer or index hand which works in front of a graduated
scale u.
The other end of the tube is in connection with a chamber
or diaphragm in close proximity to the rudder, and as the rudder is
moved over to either side this last diaphragm is compressed or expanded
as the case may be, and a corresponding motion of the diaphragm q
taking place at the same time moves the pointer or index hand to one

page_text: side or the other, and thus indicates that the rudder has been moved
in the required direction.
Figure 5 represents a sectional view of a transmitting apparatus in
which the crossheads or handles are drawn out for effecting the same
object as the apparatus shown in Figures 1 and 2, a tube being in
connection therewith at the front of the chamber A, the other parts
corresponding exactly as the parts in the previous Figures.
My Invention consists, thirdly, in means of balancing and regulating
the rate of action of the pointer in the indicating instrument of the
transmitting apparatus known as the step-by-step apparatus, so as to
reduce the quantity of tubing used therein. Thus, if the signals have
to be sent through, say, 200 yards of tube, the transmitter has hitherto
had fitted in its case a length of tubing offering about equal resistance,
or the pointer of its indicating instrument moved too rapidly. Now I
interpose between the transmitting apparatus and its indicating instru-
ment a resistance box or chamber containing diaphragms, plates, or discs
with one or more small perforations, the diaphragms, plates, or discs
being at regulated distances apart. The air forced through the tubing
in the case has to pass through the diaphragms, plates, or discs in
this box or chamber before reaching the indicating instrument, and the
force or passage of the air is thus impeded.
Figure 6 represents the resistance box as above described. v, v, are
the diaphragms of different diameters screwed to a step-like piece w;
cach of the diaphragms has a hole or holes in one end to put it in
communication with the next one, through the holes of which the air
finds its way; after passing through the whole of them it passes through
the continuation of the tube to the indicating instrument.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to he performed, I declare that I claim as
my "Improvements in Apparatus for giving Signals on Board Ship or
other Places,"-
First. The combination of apparatus, consisting of several air chambers
at the transmitting end communicating by separate and independent
tubes with a corresponding number of elastic air chambers at the
receiving end, in such manner that when any one chamber at the
transmitting end is compressed or expanded the corresponding chamber
at the receiving end is compressed or expanded so as to produce the
movement of a shutter or equivalent appliance to shew the required

page_text: indication or order, in the manner and for the purpose herein-before
described under the first part of my Invention.
Second. The employment in a return or tell-tale apparatus at the
bridge in communication with the rudder or the engine, as the case
may be, of two rods and a pointer acting in combination with an elastic
air chamber, in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described
under the second part of my Invention.
Third. The construction and employment of a resistance box or
chamber arranged and acting as and for the purpose herein-before
described under the third part of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Williams Hooper, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of August, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.