AN IMPROVED RUDDER
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Greenslade Bradford, of Torquay, Devonshire,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED RUDDER."
Sealed the 30th December 1856, and dated the 4th July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Greenslade
Bradford, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 4th July 1856.
I, EDWIN GREENSLADE BRADFORD, of Torquay, Devonshire, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED RUDDER," to be
as follows:-
According to this Invention the rudder, instead of being attached to the
vessel by means of pintles placed at one of its edges, is hung equally on each
side of a vertical or nearly vertical axis, so that when turned at right angles
to the keel it shall offer an equal resistance on each side thereof, and merely
retard the vessel's progress. In other positions it possesses increased steering
powers, with the advantage of being more easily moved than ordinary rudders.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said Edwin Greenslade Bradford in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 3rd January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
GREENSLADE BRADFORD, of Torquay, Devonshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Edwin
Greenslade Bradford, Her special licence that I, the said Edwin Greenslade
Bradford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Edwin Greenslade Bradford, 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 "AN
IMPROVED RUDDER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edwin
Greenslade Bradford, 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 Edwin Greenslade Bradford, 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 :-
According to this Invention the rudder, instead of being attached to the
vessel by means of pintles placed at one of its edges, is hung equally on each
side of a vertical or nearly vertical axis, so that when turned at right angles
to the keel it shall offer an equal resistance on each side thereof, and merely
retard the vessel's progress. In other positions it possesses increased steering
powers, with the advantage of being more easily moved than ordinary rudders.
Thus, maintaining the principle of construction which constitutes the dis-
tinguishing feature of my Invention, namely, so placing the axis or pivot
upon which the rudder turns, as that it shall be situated between instead of
at one of the edges thereof, and shall act on both instead of on one side only
of its axis, the position of the pivot or axis and the form of the rudder may

page_text: be so varied as that a somewhat less amount of surface shall be presented on
one side than on the other side of the said pivot or axis.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a side elevation of a rudder,
constructed and attached to a vessel according to my said Invention; and
Fig. 2, a horizontal section through the line y, z, of Fig. 1. a represents
the rudder, to the lower part of which is attached the pin or pivot b, which
works in an eye formed in the bracket c, fixed to the lower part of the keel
of the vessel d. The upper part a¹ of the rudder is supported by and works
in a suitable bearing e, fixed to the vessel; f is a stop fixed on the part a' of
the rudder, in order to limit the amount of its movement to a desired angle;
or the same result may be obtained by suitable stops or check-chains fixed
within-board or elsewhere, as may seem advisable. A portion of the keel
and dead wood at g in front of the rudder is cut away, in order to allow a
free passage for the current of water, which during a forward movement of
the vessel would tend to flow across the face of the rudder from that side of
the keel with which the forward portion of the rudder may at any time form
an acute angle to the opposite side of the keel. Fig. 3 is a side elevation
of a rudder similar to that described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2, but
formed with a reduced area at its upper forward part; and Fig. 4, a similar
view of another modification of form, in which the entire effective forward
portion of the rudder is of less width than the corresponding portion situated
aft or behind the axis thereof.
It is to be remarked that rudders constructed according to my said Invention
possess the advantage of being applicable to the stems or bows as well as to
sterns of vessels, as, when placed at the stem or bow, they act upon and
turn the bow at once, instead of having the effect, which an ordinary rudder
so placed would have, of causing the stern to slew round before the stem or
bow could take a new course.
On Sheet 2, Fig. 1 represents my improved rudder applied in front of the
stern of a vessel, and supported by the brackets c¹ & .e¹; the brackets c'
being prolonged and continued upward in front of the rudder, in order to give
increased strength and to ward off ropes, &c., with which the rudder would
otherwise be liable to become entangled.
Figs. 2 & 3 are modifications of the rudder applied in a recess formed in
the stem or bow of the vessel.
The advantages attendant upon constructing rudders according to my said
Invention are, that in consequence of the pressure of the water on each side
of the pivot or axis being almost or entirely balanced, they can be worked
with much greater ease and rapidity than those of the ordinary construction.

page_text: Supposing, for example, that there is a pressure or resistance of one thousand
pounds on a rudder of a given area, constructed in the ordinary manner, the
whole of the pressure has to be contended against and overcome by the
helmsman; but in the case of my improved rudder, the pressure, being
divided on each side of the axis, might either be exactly balanced by placing
the axis in the centre, in which case the helmsman would merely have to
overcome the friction of the parts, or it might be placed so that there would
be somewhat less resistance on the forward than on the after portion of the
rudder, in which case he would only have to contend against a pressure
corresponding with the difference of the areas of the respective forward and
after portions of the rudder.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Greenslade Bradford, have hereto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
EDWIN GREENSLADE (L.B.)
(L.8.) BRADFORD.