IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBINED STEAM AND HAND STEERING APPARATUS.”
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hastie, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew,
North Britain, Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBINED
STEAM AND HAND STEERING APPARATUS.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hastie at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd July 1882.
JOHN HASTIE, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBINED STEAM AND HAND STEERING APPARATUS.”
"
This Invention has for its object to simplify the construction and improve the
action of combined steam and hand steering apparatus.
In one modification of the improved apparatus the chain pulley or barrel by
which the action of the apparatus is communicated in the ordinary way to the
rudder is fixed on a main horizontal shaft carrying a wheel which is both a worm-
wheel and a spurwheel and which is movable on a feather on the shaft so that it
can be made to gear either with a worm below or a pinion above. The worm is
on a crank shaft arranged to be driven by a pair of horizontal oylinders with trunk
pistons; and the annular spaces round the trunks are always in communication
with the steam inlet passages, whilst the distribution valves act only in connection
with the passages of the other ends of the cylinders.
The pinion which is above the wormwheel is on the handing shaft or the shaft
having on it the handing wheel or geared to a shaft having on it the handing
wheel. On the handing shaft there is a screw thread acting on a nut or internally
screwed ring which is connected to a lever having also connected to it a nut or
internally screwed ring which works on a screw thread on the main or worm-
wheel shaft. The same lever is also connected to a controlling valve by which the
steam is admitted to the distribution valves and the direction of motion is
determined. Whenever the handing shaft is turned it acts on the lever so as to
open the controlling valve; but as the apparatus is being worked by the steam the
action of the main shaft on the lever moves the controlling valve back to its
neutral position. The nut on the handing shaft is formed with a pointer which
moves over a scale so as to indicate the position of the rudder.

page_text: When the apparatus is being worked by steam the wormwheel is in gear with
the worm on the crank shaft but not in gear with the pinion on the handing shaft;
and when the apparatus is to be worked entirely by hand the worm wheel is
shifted out of gear from the worm and into gear with the pinion. The worm wheel
may be made with inclined (but by preference straight-edged) teeth, the teeth of t
the pinion being correspondingly inclined; or the teeth of the wormwheel may be
without inclination the crank shaft being placed at a suitable angle instead. For
moving the wormwheel a fork is provided and engages in a groove in the boss of
the wheel, the fork being upon a horizontally sliding bar which is moved by
means of a crank on a shaft extending to the side of the machine, the arrangement 1
being such that the crank locks itself in its two extreme positions.
Some of the details of the apparatus may be modified; thus ordinary steam
cylinders (without trunks) may be used if preferred, and the pinion may be on a
separate shaft from the handing shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Hastie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st January
1883.
JOHN HASTIE, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBINED STEAM AND HAND STEERING APPARATUS.'
"
My said Invention has for its object to simplify the construction and improve
the action of combined steam and hand steering apparatus.
In one modification of my improved apparatus the chain pulley or barrel by
which the action of the apparatus is communicated in the ordinary way to the
rudder, is fixed on a main horizontal shaft carrying a wheel which is both a worm-
wheel and a spurwheel, and which is movable on a feather on the shaft so that it
can be made to gear either with a worm below or a pinion above. The worm is
on a crank shaft arranged to be driven by a pair of horizontal cylinders with trunk
pistons, whilst the pinion is on the handing shaft or the shaft having on it the
handing or steering wheel or geared to a shaft having on it that wheel.
When the apparatus is being worked by steam the worm wheel is in with
gear
the worm on the crank shaft but not in gear with the pinion on the handing shaft
and when the apparatus is to be worked entirely by hand the worm wheel is
shifted out of gear from the worm and into gear with the pinion. The worm wheel
may be made with inclined (but by preference straight-edged) teeth, the teeth of
the pinion being correspondingly inclined; or the teeth of the wormwheel may be
without inclination, the crank shaft being placed at a suitable angle instead.
Some of the details of my improved apparatus may be modified; thus ordinary
steam cylinders (without trunks) may be used if preferred; and the pinion may be
on a separate shaft from the handing shaft.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood I hereunto append two sheets of explanatory drawings
to be hereinafter referred to and representing two modifications of my improved
steering apparatus.
Figures 1 and 2, on sheet 1, of the accompanying drawings are an end elevation
and a longitudinal vertical section of one modification of my improved apparatus
and figures 3 and 4, on sheet 2, are a longitudinal vertical section and an end
elevation of a second modification. In these drawings the same reference numerals
are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
The framing of the apparatus shown in figures 1, and 2, consists mainly of a
pair of end standards, 5, 6, which are combined with a base plate, 7, and with
castings 8, 9, which last contains the steam cylinders and valve casings. The end
standards, 5, 6, carry a main shaft, 10, which has on one overhanging end a chain
pulley, 11, for communicating motion to a chain which also passes partly round
pulleys, 12, on studs and is connected to the rudder in the ordinary way. A large
wheel, 13, which is both a wormwheel and a spurwheel is carried on the main
shaft, 10, and is movable thereon on feathers so that it can be made to gear either
with a worm, 14, below, or with a piuion, 15, above. The worm, 14, is on a crank
shaft arranged to be driven by a pair of horizontal cylinders, 16, with trunk
pistons, 17, and the annular spaces round the trunks are always in communication
with the steam inlet passages, whilst distribution valves of any suitable known
kind are arranged to act only in connection with the passages of the other ends of
the cylinders.
The pinion, 15, which is above the worm wheel, 13, is on the handing shaft, 18,
which may either have a handing or steering wheel on its front end, or be geared
to a shaft having that wheel on it. On the handing shaft, 18, there is a screw
thread, 19, acting on a nut or internally screwed ring, 20, which is jointed to a
lever, 21, consisting of a pair of connected bars, and connected by a pair of links, 22,
to a block, 23, made with an internally screwed part which works on a screw
thread, 24, on the main shaft, 10. The same lever, 210 is connected to a controlling
valve, 25, shown in section in figure, 3, by which the steam is admitted to the
casings of the distribution valves of the steam cylinders, 16. This valve, 25, is an
ordinary slide valve working on a port face having three ports the middle one of
which communicates with the exhaust pipe whilst the others both communicate
with both distribution-valve casings and respectively act as inlet thereto and outlet
therefrom according to the position of the valve, 25, as in certain well known
arrangements. The valve, 25, determines the direction of motion; and whenever
the handing shaft, 18, is turned it acts on the lever, 21, so as to open the controlling
valve, 25, but on the apparatus being worked by the steam the consequent action
of the main shaft, 10, by its screw thread 24, on the lever, 21, moves the controlling
valve, 25, back to its neutral position. In the modification shown in figures, 1,
and 2, the block, 23, is guided by a rod, 26, fixed to the end standard 5; but in the
modification shown in figures 8 and 4, both this guide, 26, and the links, 22, are
dispensed with. The nut, 20, on the banding shaft, 18, is formed with a pointer, 27,
which moves over a scale, 28, so as to indicate the position of the rudder.
When the apparatus is being worked by steam the worm wheel 13, is in gear
with the worm, 14, on the crank shaft, but not in gear with the pinion, 15, on the
banding shaft, 18, and when the apparatus is to be worked entirely by hand the
worm wheel, 13, is shifted out of gear from the worm, 14, and into gear with the
pinion, 15. For moving the worm wheel 13, a fork, 29, is provided and engages in
a groove in the boss of the wheel, the fork being upon a horizontal sliding bar, 30,
which is moved by means of a crank, 31, on a shaft, 32, extending to the side of the
machine, the arrangement being such that the crank locks itself in its two extreme
positions. The sliding bar, 30, is formed with a pair of horns between which the
crank 31, acts; and the shaft 32, is at its outer end fitted with a sliding hand
lever, 33, for turning it by.
In the modification shown in figures 3, and 4, the sliding bar, 30, for moving the

page_text: wormwheel, 13, is shown as formed with a screw thread and as fitted to a hand
wheel, 34, the boss of which is formed with an internal screw thread; and the
worm wheel, 13, is moved by means of this hand wheel. The details of the steam
cylinders are not shown in figures, 3 and 4, but they may be of the ordinary or
any suitable kind.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same 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 and in terms of the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is :-
1. The arranging or combining together of the parts of steering apparatus
substantially in the improved manner hereinbefore described.
2. The arrangement wherein a large toothed wheel is made capable of being put
into gear either with a worm or with a pinion substantially as hereinbefore
described.
3. The arrangement of the lever (21) in combination with the shafts (18) and
(10) and the controlling valve (25) the parts operating substantially as hereinbefore
described.
In Witness whereof I, the said John Hastie, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this twenty-ninth day of December in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-two.
Witness.
EDMUND HUNT.
Patent Agent.
Glasgow.
JOHN HASTIE (L.S.)