IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUSES
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Louis Stocks at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th February 1859.
I, GEORGE LOUIS STOCKS, of Bridge Road, Poplar, in the County of
Middlesex, Ship Chandler, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUSES," to be as follows, namely:-
I claim a peculiar mode of working ships' rudders by compound leverage,
which I accomplish, first, by having a lever working a bar or shaft, which I
intend, when practicable, to pass through the rudder head and underneath the
tiller, having its bearing at one end on the rudder head and the other on the
end of the tiller or yoke attached to the end of the bar or shaft; just beyond
the tiller I place vertically an apparatus in the shape of a quadrant, to each
end of which is attached a block or sheave; the end of the tiller is formed
like a fish tail, and at the end of each tail is an eye to receive blocks to
correspond with those on the quadrant, as shewn in Drawing, Figure 1.
Secondly, I have a lever as in the first description, but which works a shorter
shaft or spindle before the rudder head, the couplings of which are fastened to
the deck of the vessel, above this I have, supported by staunchions, another,
but longer shaft or spindle, and the two spindles are connected by a lever
action, so that they both work in unison. Near the after end of the upper
spindle I fix a bar pointing downwards, at the end of which bar I place eyo
bolts to which blocks are attached. On the rudder head is fixed a yoke or

page_text: tiller, and the same is worked by chains and blocks reversed from the usual
way. In both plans, as above described, I gain instantaneous action on the
rudder, as one action of the lever from left to right, or from right to left gives
the whole sweep of the yoke or tiller. In each case I attach a pendulum to
the upper part of the main lever to assist in working the rudder, and I likewise
adopt a simple plan for shewing the position of the rudder at night; this is
done by placing two swing lamps, one near the upper end of the lever, and the
other about the centre, so that they will always shew which way the lever is
inclined, whether to port or starboard; and if the helm is amidships the lights
will be in a direct line one above the other. There are several other ways
applicable to this principle, but I prefer working it with blocks and chains as
being more simple and effective, as shewn in the Drawings, Figures 1 and 2.
With ordinary steering wheels I could, by applying the tiller chain, attain the
same speed for the rudder by reversing the action of the blocks, but I could
not obtain the same purchase without the lever, as described above. I likewise
claim a novel method of taking up the slack chain or ropes, namely, by placing
on the end of the tiller two small levers, to which are attached the chains or
blocks, which levers are connected by a small chain, the use of which will be
to draw round the slack chain, as shewn in the Drawings, Figure 4.
References to the Dre.sings.-Figure 1 shews the plan first above described;
Figure 2 shews the plan secondly above described; Figure 3 shews the fish
tail end of the tiller, and likewise the quadrant; Figure 4 shews the two
small levers on end of tiller to take up the slack chain.