IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR LESSENING THE OSCILLATIONS OP BESSEMER SALOONS,' GUN PLATFORMS, AND OTHER SUSPENDED VESSEL-BORNE STRUCTURES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John McFarlane Gray, of York Grove, Queen's
Road, Peckham, in the County of Surrey, Ohief Examiner of
Engineers, Marine Department, Board of Trade, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR LESSENING THE
OSCILLATIONS OP BESSEMER SALOONS,' GUN PLATFORMS, AND OTHER
SUSPENDED VESSEL-BORNE STRUCTURES."
Sealed the 13th April 1875, and dated the 15th October 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John M'Farlane Gray
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th October 1874.
I, JOHN MOFARLANE GRAY, of York Grove, Queen's Road, Peckham,
in the County of Surrey, Chief Examiner of Engineers, Marine Depart-
ment, Board of Trade, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR LESSENING
THE OSCILLATIONS OF BESSEMER SALOONS,' GUN PLATFORMS, AND OTHER SUSPENDED
VESSEL-BORNE STRUCTURES," to be as follows :-
Since the philosophical toy the gyroscope was first brought under the
notice of the public, it has been frequently proposed or suggested that

page_text: the seeming persistency of direction of the plane of rotation of the diso
of the gyroscope might be applied effectively to lessen the oscillations of
cabins, gun platforms, and observation stages at sea.
In the Specification filed by Mr. Henry Bessemer with his Petition
for Letters Patent, No. 3274, dated the 24th day of September, 1874, is
explained an arrangement of apparatus in which such an application of
the gyroscope is attempted to be carried out. In that Specification
Mr. Bessemer says, "I avail myself of that property of matter which
tends to maintain the axis of all rapidly revolving bodies continuously
in the same plane, as exemplified by the rotation of a rifled shot, and still
more clearly in the toy instrument known as the gyroscope."
The idea that an increased persistency of plane is induced by velocity
of rotation is only an idea, it has no foundation in dynamics, and con-
sequently in arrangements based upon that idea, that is to say, with the
axis of the trunnions of the fly wheel frame fixed in a position coincident
with or parallel with the axis of suspension of the saloon, as proposed by
Mr. Bessemer in his aforesaid Specification, when the vessel rolls only
the mechanism of the rotating disc controller will have absolutely no
more beneficial effect when it is revolving as intended, sometimes at five
thousand revolutions per minute, than it would have if the metal
composing it were carried in the form of pig iron at the same height in
the ship. Further, when the vessel pitches the action of the apparatus
will be to violently apply in the way to produce rolling all the power
that has been provided to resist rolling, and thereby, without at all
reducing the pitching of the saloon, add a most violent and destructive
transverse motion, probably striking the stops at each side each time the
vessel pitches. Such a machine will prove to be, if it be ever tried at all
at sea, a powerful oscillation producer, quite inoperative when the vessel
rolls only, and rocking the saloon to destruction when the vessel
pitches.
The seeming persistency of direction of plane manifested by the
gyroscope is due to a condition that is essential to that machine, and that
obtains also in the flight of a rifled shot, but which is excluded by
arrangement and construction from Mr. Bessemer's proposed apparatus
above referred to. A gyroscope may be defined to be a machine con-
sisting essentially of a rapidly rotating fly wheel, the axis of which has
angular motion in a surface that is approximately the surface of a cone,

page_text: and consequently exhibiting an inertia force beyond that due to the non-
revolving fly wheel. To produce gyroscopic resistance to change of
direction of plane in a given plane, the disc must be permitted at the
same time to tilt itself in a direction transversely to the direction in
which the effort to change the plane is exerted. That is, let there be
three planes A, B, C, intersecting each other at right angles and a
rotating fly wheel with its plane of rotation in A, and its axis at the
intersection of B, C, and (only to fix the idea) suppose the plane A to be
horizontal, the plane B to be edge on to the observer, and C to be the
plane of the diagram, as in the figure annexed, if while the fly wheel
moves in the direction A a force be applied to tilt the plane of the wheel
in the direction B, a couple of pressures will be produced acting in the
plane C, tending to tilt the plane of the wheel at the same time in the
direction C. If the plane of the wheel be permitted to move in the
direction of that couple, videlicet O, that motion will similarly create a
couple of pressures acting in the plane B in the opposite direction to B.
It is the misconception of this reaction that has given rise to the fallacy
about increase of inertia of plane by velocity of rotation. When the
transverse motion is prevented as in Mr. Bessemer's plans, the side
pressures due to velocity acting as a couple in the plane C just cancel
each other, and consequently when the wheel is tilted in the direction B
there will be no work done by the couple acting in the plane C, and
therefore there will be no increase of resistance to motion in the direction
B by the velocity of rotation, and the apparatus when so restrained is
not a gyroscope, there being no inertia manifested beyond what would

page_text: plane of oscillation of the suspended saloon or structure whose oscillatory
motion is to be reduced.
The beneficial action of gyroscopic apparatus applied to the purposes
of my Invention depends entirely upon the apparatus being so applied
as that when the plane is resolved as above there shall be at least a
considerable component in the direction just above mentioned, any com-
ponent in the direction at right angles thereto being wholly prejudicial.
In my plan the axis of the trunnions is placed at right angles with the
axis of the fly wheel, but not necessarily at the mid thickness thereof.
In order to facilitate a clear understanding of the nature of my
Invention I will now describe the apparatus as placed with the axis of
the fly wheel vertical, and with the axis of the trunnions horizontal,
premising that with suitable mechanism these axes may be otherwise
arranged so long as the distinctive character of my Invention as herein-
before stated be retained, it being understood that to secure the greatest
efficiency the axis of the fly wheel and the axis of the trunnions should
be practically at right angles with each other, and in the same or parallel
vertical transverse planes for lessening rolling, and in the same or
parallel longitudinal vertical planes for lessening pitching.
In carrying out my Invention according to one arrangement the gyro-
scopic apparatus is fixed on the suspended saloon or structure. In
another arrangement the said apparatus is carried by the vessel itself.
The fly wheel is by preference driven by a small steam engine, but
other motive power may be used. The crank shaft may be arranged
horizontally above the fly wheel with its axis parallel to the axis of the
-suspended saloon or structure. The crank shaft carries a friction driving
wheel acting upon a friction driven pinion on the vertical shaft of the
fly wheel. These wheels may be face-and-edge friction wheels. The
axis of the trunnions of the fly wheel frame should be a common tangent
with the friction surfaces of these two friction wheels at their points of
contact: By this plan, as is evident, the axis of the trunnions will be
out of line with the axis of the fly wheel by an amount equal to the
radius of the driven wheel.
When the axis of the trunnions is tilted with the rolling motion, the
true gyroscopic action herein-before described will produce a pitching
oscillation of the vertical spindle and of the frame in which it is carried.
The said frame I connect by suitable rods and levers to a valve, which

page_text: when operated by the movement of the frame will admit steam or other
actuating fluid to a controlling cylinder or cylinders arranged to prevent
to a greater or less extent the motion of the saloon or suspended
structure which would otherwise result from the rolling of the ship.
The valve will act in the same way as a steam engine slide valve,
admitting steam to one end or to the other, according as the tilting of
the fly wheel frame is in one direction or the other. *
In some cases I interpose an intermediate or first motion valve between
the gyroscopic apparatus and the main valve of the actuating cylinders
for the purpose of reducing to a minimum the amount of work or.
resistance to be effected or overcome directly by the movements of the
gyroscopic apparatus, such intermediate valve being arranged to govern
the movements of the main valve.
When the gyroscopic apparatus is carried by the suspended saloon or
structure the motion of the fly wheel will be very little, and as the
saloon is acted on by the power pistons it will carry the port face with it
to follow up the valve, the cylinders being by preference attached to
and carried by the suspended saloon or structure, and thus any over-
running will be obviated by preventing undue admission of steam or
actuating fluid.
When the gyroscopic apparatus is carried on the vessel itself the tilting
motion of the fly wheel frame will be much greater, and the action of
the apparatus will be to reduce the oscillation of the suspended saloon or
structure practically by an amount proportionate to the amount of
tilting of the fly wheel frame.
The amount of travel necessary and the extent to which the valves
should be opened will be regulated by experiment, and the connections
will provide for the adjustment of the motions by suitable slotted levers
-and-screwed-connecting rods, as in the fittings of ordinary marine engine
steam governors.
To provide against the possible not equal working of the apparatus
which may result in imparting an inclination to the suspended structure,
one of the rods connecting the machine and the slide valve is made
with right and left-hand screw and nut with a hand wheel, and by
shortening or lengthening that rod the inclination of the structure can
be corrected.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John M'Farlane Gray in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MCFARLANE GRAY, of York Grove, Queen's Road, Peckham, in the
County of Surrey, Chief Examiner of Engineers, Marine Department,
Board of Trade, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John McFarlane Gray, Her
special license that I, the said John M'Farlane Gray, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John M°Farlane
Gray, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ARRANGEMENTS AND APPARATUS FOR LESSENING THE
OSCILLATIONS OF 'BESSEMER SALOONS,' GUN PLATFORMS, AND OTHER SUSPENDED
VESSEL-BORNE STRUCTURES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John McFarlane Gray, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 John McFarlane Gray, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, and the Sheet of Drawings therein
referred to (that is to say) :-
Since the philosophical toy the gyroscope was first brought under
the notice of the public it has been frequently proposed or suggested
that the seeming persistency of direction of the plane of rotation of the

page_text: disc of the gyroscope might be applied effectively to lessen the oscillations
of cabins, gun platforms, and observation stages at sea.
In the Specification filed by Mr. Henry Bessemer with his Petition
for Letters Patent, No. 3274, dated the 24th day of September, 1874, is
explained an arrangement of apparatus in which such an application of
the gyroscope is attempted to be carried out. In that Specification
Mr. Bessemer says, "I avail myself of that property of matter which
" tends to maintain the axis of all rapidly revolving bodies continuously
" in the same plane, as exemplified by the rotation of a rifled shot, and
"still more clearly in the toy instrument known as the gyroscope."
The idea that an increased persistency of plane is induced by velocity of
rotation is only an idea, it has no foundation in dynamics, and con-
sequently in arrangements based upon that idea, that is to say, with the
axis of the trunnions of the fly wheel frame fixed in a position coincident
with or parallel with the axis of suspension of the saloon as proposed by
Mr. Bessemer in his aforesaid Specification, when the vessel rolls only
the mechanism of the rotating disc controller will have absolutely no
more beneficial effect when it is revolving as intended, sometimes at five
thousand revolutions per minute, than it would have if it were carried
without rotation at the same height in the ship. Further, when the
vessel pitches the action of the apparatus will be to violently apply in
the way to produce rolling all the power that has been provided to resist
rolling, and thereby without at all reducing the pitching of the saloon
add a most violent and destructive transverse motion, probably striking
the stops at each side each time the vessel pitches considerably. Such
a machine will therefore prove to be, if it be ever tried at all at sea, &
powerful oscillation producer, quite inoperative when the vessel rolls only
and rocking the saloon perhaps to destruction when the vessel pitches.
The seeming persistency of direction of plane manifested by the
gyroscope is due to a condition that is essential to that machine, and
that obtains also in the flight of a rifled shot, but which is excluded by
arrangement and construction from Mr. Bessemer's proposed apparatus
above referred to. A gyroscope may be defined to be a machine con-
sisting essentially of a rapidly rotating fly wheel, the axis of which has
angular motion in a surface that is approximately the surface of a cone
and exhibiting an inertia force beyond that due to the non-revolving fly
wheel. To produce gyroscopic resistance to change of direction of plane

page_text: :
Gray & improvements 2 Tyroscopic smagumas y
in a given plane the disc must be permitted at the same time to tilt itself
in a direction transverse to the direction in which the effort to change
the plane is exerted; that is, let there be three planes A, B, C, (Fig. 1
of the Drawings,) intersecting each other at right angles, and a rotating
fly wheel with its plane of rotation in A and its axis at the intersection
of B, C, and (only to fix the idea) suppose the plane A. to be horizontal the
plane B to be edge on to the observer, and C to be the plane of the diagram,
as in Fig. 1. If while the fly wheel moves in the direction Ⓐ^ a force
be applied to tilt the plane of the wheel in the direction BJ a couple
of pressures will be produced acting in the plane O tending to tilt the
plane of the wheel at the same time in the direction
If the
plane of the wheel be permitted to move in the direction of that couple,
videlicet
that motion will similarly create a couple acting in the
plane B in the opposite direction to BJ. It is the misconception
of this reaction that has given rise to the fallacy about increase of inertia
of plane by velocity of rotation. When the transverse motion is pre-
vented as in Mr. Bessemer's plans the side pressures due to velocity
acting as a couple in the plane C just cancel each other, and consequently
when the wheel is tilted in the direction B✓ there will be no work
done by the couple acting in the plane O, and therefore there will be
no increase of resistance to motion in the direction B✔ by the
velocity of rotation, and the apparatus when so restrained is not a
gyroscope, there being no inertia manifested beyond what would obtain
in the tilting of the non-revolving fly wheel.
Now my Invention consists in methods of applying what I have above
explained to be the true gyroscopic force to control the valves of
pressure cylinders to lessen the oscillation of suspended vessel borne
structures.
An essential and distinctive part of my Invention consists in so
arranging and combining the fly wheel and its carrying frame with the
structure whose oscillations are to be reduced as that the trunnions or
vibrating axis of the frame carrying the fly wheel as well as the axis of
the fly wheel itself shall each be situate in a plane which when resolved
rectangularly into the longitudinal vertical and transverse vertical planes

page_text: shall be wholly in or shall have a considerable component parallel to the
plane of oscillation of the suspended saloon or structure whose oscillating
motion is to be reduced.
The beneficial action of gyroscopic apparatus applied to the purposes
of my Invention depends entirely upon the apparatus being so applied
as that when the plane is resolved as above there shall be at least a
considerable component in the direction just above mentioned, any
component in the direction at right angles thereto being wholly
prejudicial. In my plan the axis of the trunnions is placed at right
angles with the axis of the fly wheel, but not necessarily at the mid.
thickness thereof.
In order to facilitate a clear understanding of the nature of my
Invention I will now describe the apparatus as placed with the axis of
the fly wheel vertical and with the axis of the trunnions horizontal,
premising that with suitable mechanism these axes may be otherwise
arranged so long as the distinctive character of my Invention as herein-
before stated be retained, it being understood that to secure the greatest
efficiency the axis of the fly wheel and the axis of the trunnions should
be practically at right angles with each other, and in the same or
parallel vertical transverse planes in apparatus applied for the: purpose
of lessening rolling, and in the same or parallel longitudinal vertical
planes in apparatus applied for the purpose of lessening pitching.
In carrying out my Invention according to one arrangement the
gyroscopic apparatus is fixed on the suspended saloon or structure; in
another arrangement the said apparatus is carried by the vessel itself.
The Ay wheel is by preference driven by a small steam engine, but
other motive power may be used. The crank shaft may be arranged
horizontally with its axis parallel to the axis of the suspended saloon or.
structure. The crank shaft carries a friction driving wheel acting upon
o a friction driven pinion or boss carried on the vertical shaft of the fly
wheel. These wheels may be face-and-edge friction wheels. The axis
of the trunnions of the fly wheel frame should be a common tangent
with the friction surfaces of these two friction wheels at their point of
contact. By this plan, as is evident, the axis of the trunnions will be out
5 of line with the axis of the fly wheel by an amount equal to the effective
radius of the driven wheel.
When the axis of the trunnions is tilted with the rolling motion, the
true gyroscopic action herein-before described will produce a pitching

page_text: oscillation of the vertical spindle and of the frame in which it is carried.
The said frame I connect by suitable rods and levers to a valve which
when operated by the movement of the frame will admit steam or other
actuating fluid to a controlling cylinder or cylinders arranged to prevent
to. a greater or less extent the motion of the saloon or suspended
structure which would otherwise result from the rolling of the ship.
The valve will act in the same way as a steam engine slide valve,
admitting steam to one end or to the other according as the tilting of
the fly wheel frame is in one direction or the other.
In some cases I interpose an intermediate or first motion valve
between the gyroscopic apparatus and the main valve of the actuating
cylinders for the purpose of reducing to a minimum the amount of work
or resistance to be effected or overcome directly by the movements of
the gyroscopic apparatus, such intermediate valve being arranged to
govern the movements of the main valve.
When the gyroscopic apparatus is carried by the suspended saloon or
structure the tilting motion of the fly wheel will be very little, and as
the saloon is acted on by the power pistons it will carry the valve port
face with it to follow up the valve when the motion of the saloon with
reference to the hull is sufficient to prevent further oscillation, and thus
any overrunning will be obviated by preventing undue admission of
steam or actuating fluid.
When the gyroscopic apparatus is carried on the vessel itself the
tilting motion of the fly wheel frame will be much greater, and the
action of the apparatus will be to reduce the oscillation of the suspended
saloon or structure practically by an amount proportionate to the
amount of tilting of the fly wheel frame.
The amount of travel necessary, and the extent to which the valvos
should be opened, will be regulated by experiment, and the connection
will provide for the adjustment of the motions by suitable levers and
screwed connecting rods, as in the fittings of ordinary marine engine
steam governors.
To provide against the possible unequal working of the apparatus,
which may result in imparting an inclination to the suspended structure,
one of the rods connecting the machine and the slide valve is made
with right and left hand screw and nut with a hand wheel, and by

page_text: shortening or lengthening that rod the inclination of the structure can
be corrected.
I now proceed to describe the manner of carrying my Invention into
practical effect, with reference to the accompanying Drawings thereof,
premising that as my improvements refer only to methods by which I
propose to automatically control the operation of the means whereby
the saloon is moved in relation to the ship, I have not shewn the
suspended saloon or its actuating apparatus.
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of apparatus constructed
according to my Invention, the section being taken in the line D, E,
of Fig. 4, which line is supposed to run in a direction parallel with the
axis of the trunnions of the suspended saloon. Fig. 3 is an elevation of
the apparatus at right angles to Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a plan of the apparatus;
and Fig. 5 is a side elevation of part of the same.
According to the Specification of Mr. Bessemer's aforesaid Patent the
saloon is moved by fluid under pressure, the force being applied in a
sense regulated by the position of an equilibrium valve, shewn in section
on Sheet O and in elevation on Sheet D of his Drawings, and indicated
by the letter K, the valve box being there indicated by the letters
A¹, A³, A³.
My improvements begin at the spindle of this equilibrium valve.
Let A' on my Drawings be the top of the valve box containing the
equilibrium valve, and h³ the spindle attached to that valve; my
Drawings shew how that spindle is to be operated automatically to
lessen the angle of rolling.
1 of
Aging Torking by steam nower Or he water

page_text: h, a piston on the spindle of the distribution equilibrium valve for the
cylinders.
pressure
,, port passages to cylinder containing piston h.
As already explained, according to my Invention the axis of suspension
of the trunnions carrying the gyroscope fly wheel is a line (F, G,) at
right angles to the axis of the trunnions of the suspended saloon. By
comparing d' in Fig. 3 with d* in Fig. 5 it will be seen that the axis of
the knife edge trunnions is a tangent to the friction surfaces at the point
of driving contact. The crank shaft is shewn below the fly wheel and
by that arrangement the weight of the wheel is partly carried by the
crank shaft. I have already explained in what direction a fly wheel
tends to tilt when its axis is moved. The direction of motion of the
engine will have to be made to suit the arrangement of the distribution
valve (K) in A', so that the induced tilting shall cause f to move in a
direction opposite to the direction in which the piston h is required to
move. The valve fis made with almost no cover, and small projections
are left to give the valve a bearing. When steam is used to act on h
the valve should have less than cover on the exhaust side, and the
clearance and port capacities should be kept small.
g
I prefer the whole-of-my-apparatus to be carried by the saloon. Its
´action when so carried will be as follows:-When the saloon oscillates a
little, so as to tilt the gyroscope in the direction to move ƒ down, the
pressure fluid entering by will be admitted to the port ³, and thereby
to the underside-of-the-piston-h. The piston h will rise, the sleeve
valve will thereby be forced to descend upon f until the port /³ is
thereby closed. The lever g³ is shewn with its ends in the proportion of
-three to one, but a greater or lesser proportion may in some cases be
-found more beneficial. It is evident that the action of the valves f, g, and
piston h will be to make the sleeve valve g follow the valve ƒ, and to
make the piston h move in the opposite direction a distance in
5 the present instance three times the distance travelled by f. The
distribution valve in the box A' will move with h. It is evident also
that the power required to operate g, h, and the valve (K) in A' is

page_text: supplied by the pressure fluid admitted to the piston h, and that only
the friction of f, g, and of the spindle ƒ in the stuffing box f³ have to
be provided for by the gyroscopic force produced in the tilting of the
gyroscopic wheel d.
The friction of the valve ƒ should be reduced to a minimum and be
quite uniform. The friction off in the stuffing box can be adjusted by
tempering the gland. Some friction will be necessary to give stiffness
to the otherwise balanced gyroscope.
The valve in A¹ having been opened by the movement of h the
pressure pistons will operate on the saloon to prevent it from continuing
the roll which it began when it moved h. It will be evident that h will
move just as far as is requisite to prevent the gyroscope tilting further,
that is, just as far as to stop the saloon from rolling, because if it opened
further it would cause the saloon to roll in the contrary direction, and
that would tilt the gyroscope in the contrary direction, and thereby close
the inlet /³ and open ^, and that would move h to close or partly close
the valve in A¹; or if the movement was of sufficient amount it might
open the valve in A¹ in the other sense.
3.
The starting and stopping of the engine driving the gyroscope should
be effected slowly, so as to gradually incrèase and reduce the speed.
This precaution is to prevent injury to the friction driving surfaces by
slipping. The driving surface 65 may be of metal.
The apparatus when carried by the saloon does not require to be in
the centre of the saloon, the direction of its axes being the only limitation
of its position..
When the gyroscope is carried by the hull of the vessel. the arrange-
ment does not admit of such exact adjustment. The portions marked a,
b, c, d, e, f, are carried on the hull and the portions g, h, k, A¹, are
carried on the saloon. The apparatus is then placed necessarily a little
to one side of the centre line of the trunnions of the saloon, and with 8
the gland fat about the level of the saloon trunnion centre.. When
the vessel rolls, for example, raising the side at which the apparatus is
placed, the gyroscope should be run so as then to tilt the valve ƒ down,
and the valve (K) in A' should then act to depress that side of the
saloon. By adjusting the position of the apparatus and the speed of the 8
gyroscope, so that the tilting of the gyroscope will be as near as can be

page_text: got to being proportionate to the angle of rolling of the ship and the, with
reference to the horizon, nearly stationary point of the gyroscope to be
at f, then will be stationary on the saloon when the saloon does not
partake of the rolling of the ship, and as the action of the valves is then
such as to make g and k follow f, it is evident that the arrangement
will admit of an adjustment that will diminish the extent of oscillation
of the saloon.
In apparatus intended to be worked without an intermediate valve I
connect the arm f¹ directly with the link h¹, which I provide with a
right and left hand screw adjustment and hand wheel similar to that
shewn at g. Or I may interpose a lever similar to that shewn at W on
Sheet D of Mr. Bessemer's Drawings.
I have referred throughout this description of my Invention to
operating the distribution valve of pressure cylinders applied to control
or steer a suspended structure as in Mr. Bessemer's Specification.
I would however prefer to steer the saloon by the intervention of positive
gearing which may be operated by a steam engine, the governing valve
of which is an equilibrium valve similar to the valve K. in Mr. Bessemer's
Drawings, arranged substantially as shewn in the Drawing of the steam
steering engine in my Specification No. 3321 of 1866. In this case it
would be better to carry this steering engine on the ship itself, say at
one end of the saloon, with the spindle of this valve in a line with the
axis of suspension of the saloon, and the gyroscopic apparatus arranged
on the end of the saloon and carried by the saloon so that the spindle hª
shall be horizontal and in a line with the axis of the saloon.
Having described my said Invention, and explained the manner
of carrying it into practical effect, I hereby declare what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent to
be,-
First. The application and use in the manner herein-before described
of gyroscopic apparatus for controlling the valves of pressure cylinders
to lessen the oscillation of suspended vessel-borne structures.
Secondly. Controlling the valves of pressure cylinders to lessen the
oscillation of suspended vessel-borne structures by means of a gyroscope
driven by an engine, substantially as herein-before described.

page_text: Thirdly. The combining a first motion valve with the main valve of
the actuating cylinders in apparatus for lessening the oscillation of
suspended vessel-borne structures, such first motion valve being arranged
to govern the movements of the main valve, substantially as herein-
before described. .
Lastly. The combination of parts forming the improved apparatus
constructed, arranged, and operating as herein-before described and
illustrated for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said John M°Farlane Gray, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.