IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEERING VESSELS BY THE ACTION OF FLUID PRESSURE
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederick Edward Blackett
Beaumont at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 31st January 1874.
I, FREDERICK EDWARD BLACKETT BEAUMONT, of No. 2, Westminster
Chambers, Victoria Street, in the City of Westminster, Major in the
Royal Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEERING VESSELS BY THE ACTION OF
FLUID PRESSURE," to be as follows :-
This Invention relates to improved apparatus whereby the rudder of a
vessel is worked by fluid pressure, and whereby the action of that
pressure so as to turn the rudder in the one direction or the other or to
retain it in any desired attitude may be governed from a distant part of
the vessel either by fluid pressure or by electric currents.
According to my present Invention I employ two cylinders having
pistons, the rods of which are geared to a wheel fixed on the rudder
shaft, either by providing such wheel with teeth gearing into racks fixed
to the piston rods or by passing chains round grooves in such wheel,
which chains are attached to the wheel at one point of the circum-

page_text: ference while the ends of the chains are attached to the piston rods, the
effect in either arrangement being that as the motion of the one piston
rod in a certain direction causes the wheel and with it the rudder to turn
such motion of the wheel in its turn causes the other piston rod to move
in the contrary direction.
The two cylinders are connected at one end by a pipe in the course of
which there is a cock or valve, and at the other end they are connected
by pipes to ports in a slide valve box containing a piston valve like that
of a steam engine. The slide valve box is supplied with fluid under
pressure acting equally on each end of the slide, so that this is in
equilibrio, and from the middle port of the valve box there is a passage
for the escape of fluid. The valve is worked by an arm on a spindle
which passes through a stuffing box in the slide box, and which has on
its outer end an arm connected to the rod of a piston or flexible
diaphragm in a small cylinder or casing; from each end of this cylinder
pipes lead to each end of a similar cylinder or casing with piston or
diaphragm situated at the part of the vessel from which the steering of the
ship is to be effected. These two cylinders and their connecting pipes are
filled with water or other liquid, so that by moving the piston or diaphragm
of the last-mentioned cylinder in one direction or the other by hand a
corresponding motion will be imparted to the piston or diaphragm of the
other cylinder, which in its turn will move the valve of the rudder
cylinders so as to admit fluid under pressure to the one or other of these
cylinders, and thus effect the motion of the rudder.
For bringing the rudder amidships the slide valve is moved to its
central position, in which it closes the ports of both cylinders against the
entrance of fluid pressure, but opens both ports somewhat to the escape
pipe so that the rudder can then swing free in the same manner as when
the ordinary helm wheel is let go of by hand.
For actuating the slide valve by electric currents instead of fluid
pressure as described, the arm on the before-mentioned spindle passing
through the valve box is connected to a lever carrying an armature
suspended between two electro-magnets from which conducting wires
pass to the part of the vessel from which the steering is to be effected.
By sending an electric current through the coil of the one or the other
of the electro-magnets so as to render it active, the armature is attracted
and thus effects the motion of the slide valve in the one direction or
the other, while when neither electro-magnet is rendered active the

page_text: armature is suspended midway between the two, and the slide valve is
situated on the central position before described. The ends of the rudder
cylinders that are connected by a pipe with a cock or valve are filled
with water or other liquid, so that as the pistons of the cylinders are
moved in contrary directions by the fluid pressure acting in the one or
the other cylinder as above described, the said liquid will pass from the
one cylinder into the other through the connecting pipe, the cock thereof
being open, but if it be desired to hold the rudder in the position to
which it has been deflected, this may be effected by closing the cock in
the connecting pipe so as to prevent the passage of liquid.
The opening and closing of the said cock may be effected either by
apparatus worked by fluid pressure or by electro-magnets operating in
the same manner as described with reference to the slide valve.
Instead of arranging the piston rods of the rudder cylinders to act
directly upon a wheel fixed on the rudder shaft as described, the
cylinders may be arranged at some distance from the latter, and their
piston rods may be attached to chains leading aft to a rudder head
arranged in the usual manner.
In some cases I employ only one cylinder for actuating the rudder, in
which case the ports of the before described slide valve box communicate
with each end of the said cylinder so as to render this double acting, and
the holding of the rudder in any desired position may be effected by
simply throttling the exhaust or by fixing upon the piston rod or on an
extension thereof a second piston working in a small cylinder filled with
liquid. The two ends of this cylinder communicate with each other by
a pipe or passage in which is a cock, so that by closing such cock the
passage of liquid from the one end to the other of the piston is prevented,
and thus the piston rod of the rudder cylinder is held in whatever
position it has been moved into.