AN IMPROVEMENT IN TILLERS OR YOKES."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Kidman, of Poplar, in the County of
Middlesex, Shipwright, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN TILLERS
OR YOKES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Kidman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
August 1855.
I, WILLIAM KIDMAN, of Poplar, in the County of Middlesex, Shipwright,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
TILLERS OR YOKES" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in making the standing part of the steering rope or
chain fast to the tiller or yoke, the rope or chain being then led through side
sheaves or blocks to single or double sheaves or blocks on the tiller or yoke,
and then through other single or double side sheaves or blocks to the barrel of
the steering wheel. By this arrangement all the slack of the steering rope or
chain is taken up, and an additional purchase obtained over those arrange-
ments in which the standing part of the rope or chain is made fast to chocks
or carlines at the sides of the tiller or yoke, and not directly thereto. I prefer
with a single purchase to place the after side sheaves in such a position that

page_text: one shall be abaft and the other ahead of their corresponding sheaves on the
tiller when that is hard over, or at an angle of 45° or thereabouts with the fore
and aft line of the vessel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Kidman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st February 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
KIDMAN, of Poplar, in the County of Middlesex, Shipwright, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Kidman, Her special licence that I, the said William Kidman,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as me, the said
William Kidman, 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 IMPROVEMENT IN
TILLERS OR YOKES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Kidman, 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 William Kidman, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in making the standing part of the steering rope or
chain fast to the tiller or yoke, the rope or chain being then led through side
sheaves or blocks to single or double sheaves or blocks in the tiller or yoke, and
then through other single or double side sheaves or blocks to the barrel of the
steering wheel. By this arrangement all the slack of the steering rope or chain
is taken up, and an additional purchase obtained over those arrangements in
which the standing part of the rope or chain is made fast to chocks or carlings

page_text: at the sides of the tiller or yoke, and not directly thereto. I prefer with a
single purchase to place the after side sheaves in such a position that one shall
be abaft and the other ahead of their corresponding sheaves in the tiller when
that is hard over, or at an angle of 45° or thereabouts with the fore and aft
line of the vessel.
In order to take up conveniently the little slack that may result from the
stretching of the steering rope, when rope is used, instead of attaching the
standing part of the rope directly to the tiller or yoke, I attach it to a screw
shackle, (or by a lashing, if preferred,) which is connected by an eye bolt or
otherwise to the tiller or yoke. By means of this screw shackle (or lashing)
the small amount of slack in question may be readily taken up.
The Drawings hereunto annexed represent the manner in which I carry my
Invention into effect.
Figure 1 is a plan of the arrangement when a single sheave or block is
fitted on each side of the end of the tiller. A is the tiller; B, the steering
rope or chain; C, C, are the screw shackles attached to the tiller A; D, D',
are the side sheaves or blocks; and E, E, the single sheaves or blocks on the
end of the tiller. These latter sheaves or blocks are, in the arrangement
shewn, capable of revolving about a pin passing through the tiller, in order
that the steering rope may be led more fairly to the side sheaves or blocks
when the tiller is in any other than the fore and aft position.
Figure 2 is an elevation of the tiller, in which this method of pivotting the
end sheaves or blocks is more clearly shewn than in Figure 1.
F is an eye
bolt placed in the end of the tiller to receive the books of relieving tackles in
cases of necessity. It will be seen from an inspection of Figure 1, that the
steering rope or chain B is rove so as to pass from the screw shackle C, round
the side sheave or block D, then away to the single sheave or block E, back
to the side where it passes round the sheave or block D', and then leads to
the barrel. This description applies to the rope or chain on either side
of the barrel.
Figure 3 is a plan of the arrangement when double sheaves or blocks are
fitted on each side of the end of the tiller. The same letters are applied to the
different parts in this Figure as are applied to the corresponding parts in
Figure 1. The only difference that exists between this and the preceding
arrangement is, that the sheaves or blocks D' and E respectively, which were
single in the former case, are double in this, and the steering rope or chain
is rove round both the sheaves of each block before it passes to the barrel.
Figure 4 represents a plan of the arrangement when a single sheave or
block, is fitted on each end of a yoke; and Figure 5 represents a plan of a

page_text: similar arrangement when double sheaves or blocks are employed in place of
single ones. The same letters are applied to the different parts in these
Figures as are applied to corresponding parts in Figures 1 and 3. In Figures
4 and 5, however, the sheaves or blocks D, D', are of course placed in front of
the yoke, instead of at the side, as in Figures 1 and 3.
The object of employing in some cases double sheaves or blocks at the ends
of the tillers or yokes, as in Figures 3 and 5, is to obtain thereby an unusually
great purchase, such as is necessary in the larger classes of ships which are
now coming into existence.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I déclare that I claim,-
First, the method of making the standing part of the steering rope or chain
fast to the tiller or yoke, the rope or chain being then led through side sheaves
or blocks to single or double sheaves or blocks in the tiller or yoke, and then
through other single or double side sheaves or blocks to the barrel of the
steering wheel.
Second, the several arrangements of parts herein-before described, and illus-
trated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Kidman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
WILLIAM KIDMAN. (L.s.)