A New or Improved Device for Ascertaining the Amount of Wear in and Condition of the Shaft or Bearings, or both of them, in Steam Vessels.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Aug., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 19th May, 1891-Accepted, 18th July,
1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Device for Ascertaining the Amount of Wear in
and Condition of the Shaft or Bearings, or both of them, in Steam
Vessels.
I, ANDREW BROWNE of No. 13 Fenchurch Avenue in the City of London
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of the said invention to be as follows:-
•
My improvement consists in applying a rod passing at one end through a hole in
the bush of the outer hearing of the screw shaft of a ship, and at the other passing
to the interior of the ship, so that by lowering the rod till the end which passes
through the bush touches the shaft, the other end may shew on a scale or by
reference to some fixed point in the ship how much, if any, of the shaft or bearing
may have worn down. Normally the rod is held off the shaft and is kept in that
position by means of any suitable retaining device. This rod I by preference
enclose in a tube for convenience and protection and when this is fitted I also use
it as a means for drawing off some of the water surrounding the shaft bearing to
ascertain its quality or temperature and I sometimes make the tube large enough
to admit of a register thermometer being lowered to or near to the bearing, the
better to ascertain the temperature there. This tube may for better support and
protection be led down the side or down the forward or after end of the stern post
in a single screw ship or in a twin screw steamer down alongside the upper leg of
the bracket which supports the screw or otherwise and may be embedded in a
groove made in the stern post or bracket, but I prefer where practicable to bore a
hole through the stern post or bracket to serve as a tube for the above purposes.
Where from one reason or another it would not be suitable to have a rod in one
piece it may be jointed for the sake of convenience or on the other hand where
stiffness is desirable it may be made in the form of a tube.
Dated this 10th Jo of Aunt 1800
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A. New or Improved Device for Ascertaining the Amount of Wear in
and Condition of the Shaft or Bearings, or both of them, in Steam
Vessels.
I, ANDREW BROWNE of No. 13 Fenchurch Avenue in the City of London
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention is applicable to the sternpost bearing of a single screw propeller
shaft and to the outer stern bearings of twin screw propeller shafts. According to
this invention a rod is provided the lower end of which can be passed down through
a hole in the bush of the said bearing or bearings so as to touch the propeller shaft
while the upper end passes into the interior of the ship where it can indicate on a
scale or by reference to some fixed point in the ship how much if any the shaft or
bearing may have worn down. Normally however the rod is held off the shaft
being kept in that position by means of any suitable retaining device. The rod is
in some cases enclosed in a tube for convenience and protection and in such case
the tube may be used for drawing off by means of a tap some of the water
surrounding the shaft bearing and rising in the said tube, to ascertain its quality

page_text: .
or temperature; and I sometimes make the tube large enough to admit of a
registering thermometer being lowered to or near the bearing in order the better to
ascertain the temperature there. This tube may for better support and protection
be led down the side or down the forward or aft end of the stern post in a single
screw propeller ship, or in case of a twin screw steamer down alongside the upper
leg of the bracket which supports the screw propeller or otherwise; the tube may
be embedded in a groove made in the sternpost for the single screw or the leg of
the bracket for a twin screw, but I prefer where practicable to bore a hole through
the said bracket leg to serve as a tube for the aforesaid purposes. Where from
some reason it would not be suitable to have the rod in one piece it may be jointed
for convenience, or on the other hand where stiffness and lightness are desirable it
may be made in the form of a tube.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a sectional elevation through the stern
frame bearings. A is the propeller shaft which is lined as usual and works in the
wood bushed and brass bushed tube B which is fixed in the stern-post C. E is a
tube the lower end of which is fixed into or on to the stern tube B and reaches up
above the water line. Within it is a rod D which as desired may be dropped down
to touch the shaft A a hole being provided through the bearing and its bushings,
but the rod is normally raised up from the shaft, as shewn, and more clearly in
Fig. 2 which is a vertical section to a larger scale of the rod, its tube and parts
adjoining. The rod D is tubular in the intermediate part and solid at each end
(but this is a mere practical detail and may be varied as desired). The tube E
passes through a stuffing box F at some convenient part and is fitted with a tap G
for withdrawing and examining the water in the stern tube B. The upper end of
the rod D is guided in a bracket H and has a crutch K for lifting it by. I is a
cotter which when the rod is raised clear of the shaft A holds it in the raised
position.
The tube E may if desired be connected to the stern tube aft of the stern post
instead of to the fore of it as here shewn, but I prefer the arrangement shewn.
Fig. 3 is an end view and
Fig. 4 a sectional side view illustrating my invention as applied to the upper
leg of the brackets which support the shafts A of twin screw propellers. The
leg C is formed with a hole through for the rod D.
Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the upper part of the leg C with parts
adjoining as they may conveniently be constructed. The upper end of the rod D
passes through a tube E¹ with stuffing box F and draw off tap G.
Fig. 6 is a cross section of the leg C when it is made solid and is provided with
a tube E along the aft side or edge for the rod D to be enclosed therein.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The application and use for aft bearings of screw propeller shafts of a rod
which can be brought down upon the shaft in the bearing as required to ascertain
the amount of wear of shaft or bush the other end of such rod being there gauged
against some fixed point or scale, substantially as set forth.
2. The construction of apparatus described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
1001
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.