A SHIPS' COURSE INDICATOR OR EXHIBITOR,' FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXHIBITING TO THE HELMSMAN AND OTHERS IN A LEGIBLE MANNER THE COURSE WHICH A SHIP IS TO STEER, AS WELL AS FOR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS' COMPASSES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Edward Boyd, of Hither Green, Lewisham, in
the County of Kent, Gentleman, for the Invention of "A SHIPS' COURSE
INDICATOR OR EXHIBITOR,' FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXHIBITING TO THE HELMSMAN
AND OTHERS IN A LEGIBLE MANNER THE COURSE WHICH A SHIP IS TO STEER, AS
WELL AS FOR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS' COMPASSES."
Sealed the 26th October 1855, and dated the 1st May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Edward Boyd at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st May 1855.
I, JAMES EDWARD BOYD, of Lewisham, in the County of Kent, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A 'SHIPS' COURSE
INDICATOR OR EXHIBITOR,' FOR THE, PURPOSE OF EXHIBITING TO THE HELMSMAN
AND OTHERS IN A LEGIBLE MANNER THE COURSE WHICH A SHIP IS TO STEER, AS WELL
AS FOR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS' COMPASSES," to be as follows:-
This is to be accomplished by means of certain machinery, implements, or.
appliances whereby or whereon the course of the ship is to be notified or indi-
cated or marked-by an index or monitor,. to be called the ship's coursc.indicator
or exhibitor; or otherwise, and which is to be constructed of brass; or any other
substance or material, and affixed to the ship's binnacle or elsewhere.
The indicator will be composed wholly or in part of a plate, dial, or index..
or otherwise, whereon will be stamped, cut, carved, cast, engraved, printed, or
otherwise fixed, a representation or drawing of a ship's compass, with its
cardinal and other points. This plate, dial, or index, or otherwise, will be
made to revolve round a stationary point or not, as occasion may require, and
being set or fastened to a given point, the ship's course will..be steered in

page_text: accordance therewith. The compass and compass card will be severally
improved upon, and the points of the compass will be described by figures,
thereby superseding, if desired, the necessity for the present nomenclature of
the points of the compass, which are so mysterious and difficult to be under-
stood. These improvements will exhibit to the helmsman and others in a
legible manner the course a ship is to steer, and greatly prevent the serious
losses which life & property have suffered for the want of such Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Edward Boyd in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
EDWARD BOYD, of Hither Green, Lewisham, in the County of Kent, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her, Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Edward Boyd, of Hither Green, Lewisham, aforesaid, Her special
licence that I, the said James Edward Boyd, of Hither Green, Lewisham,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Edward Boyd, 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 "A SHIPS"
COURSE INDICATOR OR EXHIBETER, FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXHIBITING TO THE HELMS-
MAN AND OTHERS IN A LEGIBLE MANNER THE COURSE WHICH A SHIP IS TO STEER,
AS WELL AS FOR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS' COMPASS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Edward Boyd, of Hither Green,
Lewisham, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 James Edward Boyd, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following.
statement:-
The ships' course indicator or exhibitor consists or is composed of a rim dial
circle, or other shaped piece of metal, [substance, contrivance, or material,
whereon is áttached, fastenéd, or fixed, stamped, cast, carved, cut, engraven,
printed, embossed, or otherwise, an index or representation or drawing of the:
cardinal and other points of a nautical or ship's compass. This appliance or
contrivance is intended to revolve or move in a horizontal, vertical, or other
position by means of certain machinery, for instance, by clock-work, or by:
cog wheel and ratchet, or other contrivance, or without any machinery what-.
ever, either round the edge, or the top, or the bottom, or the inside, or the-
outside of the machine, box, or other vehicle or contrivance for containing the
magnetic compass, and generally known as the ship's compass, and so to be
contrived or constructed as to form a portion of the said ship's compass, or to
be attached thereto or detached therefrom at pleasure. Supposing a ship with
one of these contrivances on board is required to sail in a northerly direction,
then the machine above referred to is so made to move or turn by means of a
key or otherwise, until the part containing. the north point thereon is brought
opposite to or in a line or contact with some mark, index, arrow, figure, or.
other point intended to represent the ship's head; or, to use a nautical term,
the lubber's point of the compass; or it may be so arranged that the mark,
index, arrow, figure, or lubber's point, or otherwise, may be made to revolve
round or move near or over the points of the compass on the machine above
referred to; the ship's head or bows is then turned towards the north, and the
north point on the indicator and the same point on the compass are thereby
brought to agree in a direct line, or to be immediately opposite each other, and
thus the north course should be steered until afterwards altered or changed to.
any other point or direction to which it may be necessary to move it.
There are also other methods of carrying into effect this part of the Inven-
tion: for instance, a circular or other shaped dial or instrument can be made
to contain the representation of the cardinal and other points of the compass,
and so made to move, turn, or revolve in a case, frame, enclosure, or other
apparatus or contrivance in a horizontal, vertical, or any other position round
some mark, arrow, index, figure, or lubber's point, or other point; or tlie same
mark, arrow, index, figure, or lubber's point can be made to move round the
dial or instrument last referred to, and set to any point desired, and can be so
constructed or arranged as to be placed on the compass box or binnacle or any
part of the ship.
The course can also be indicated by means of dividing the cardinal and other

page_text: points into-seperate and distinct points, parts, or piecés, each such point, part,
or piece to be cast, carved, cut, engraven, embossed, or stamped, or.otherwise
represented; and by exhibiting any one or more of such parts, "points, or
pieces by means of a box, frame, or case, or other contrivance, make such part
or parts represent or signify that to be the direction or course the ship is to
sail; for instance, supposing one of these parts is exhibited and intended
to represent the north point, then the ship will have to be steered north
accordingly.
...
The present system of boxing the compass is to be superseded or avoided,
owing to the difficulty most persons experience in rightly comprehending it,
and substituted by numbering the points of the compass, which will be marked
or understood as follows: From north to east, the seven intervening points
will be numbered consecutively from one to seven; from north to west, the
seven intervening points will be numbered consecutively from. one to seven;
from south to east, the seven intervening points will be numbered consecutively
from one to seven; from south to west, the seven. intervening points. will bo
numbered consecutively from one to seven.
7
The magnet or loadstone of the compass will be held under some subjection
or control, or otherwise insulated or deprived of its present disposition to vary,
by the local and other attraction that tends in influence it; this is to be accom-
plished by attaching or suspending to the case or box containing the magnet
or 'indicator, or to or in proximity of the compass card containing the load-
stone, or to or in proximity of the binnacle or other contrivance for containing
the compass, an appliance or collection of magnets or certain pieces of load-
stone, iron, steel, or other metal: The magnet or loadstone of the compass-is
to be composed of wholly or in part of steel, iron, or other metal, and made in
a spiral or other form, either tapering off from the centre to both ends or poles
of the magnet, or otherwise."
*
In witness whereof, I, the said James Edward Boyd, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
WILLIAM WAITE..
JAMES EDWARD BOYD. (L.S.).