IMPROVEMENTS IN MARINE ENGINE GOVERNORS OR SPEED GOVERNING AND REGULATING APPARATUS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT. to Henry Phillips, of No. 19, Salisbury Street,
"
. Strand, W.C., Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MARINE ENGINE GOVERNORS OR SPEED GOVERNING AND REGULATING APPARATUS
Sealed the 7th July 1874, and dated the 4th May 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Phillips at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th May 1874.
I, HENRY PHILLIPS, of No. 19, Salisbury Street, Strand, W.C.,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN MARINE ENGINE. GOVERNORS OR SPEED GOVERNING AND REGULATING
APPARATUS FOR THE MOTORS OF STEAM SHIPS AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES," to be as
follows:
The object of this Invention is to make the causes of the irregularities
of motion in a marine steam engine or other motor provide in each case
the remedy for the particular irregularity to be met. The causes of such
irregularities of motion in a screw steam engine are generally that, the

page_text: screw or other propeller is at times wholly or partially out of the water
in consequence of the "pitching" or "pitching and yawing" motions
of the ship. When this happens, the engines no longer having to drive
or rotate the screw against an uniform resisting medium, fly off at a
high speed, which is a great source of danger, and is technically called
"racing." Again when the screw whilst thus rapidly turning in air is
suddenly immersed in the water the check given to the engines is also a
source of danger. This also occurs to a certain extent in a "following"
or in a "cross sea and when the ship rolls heavily.
"
This Invention is intended to do away with these evils altogether by
utilizing their cause, viz., the varying immersion of the screw, so that as
the screw rises out of the water or the water falls away from the screw
the speed of the engines shall be simultaneously and proportionately
diminished, or when the screw is working for a time in a body of water
deeper than that in which it is intended to work or is regulated to, and
by which there would be a loss of speed, the steam is admitted to a
correspondingly or proportionately increased extent for the time. For
this purpose a float is provided near the screw, either outside or inside
the ship, and fitted with proper guides to keep it in its place. The float
may be wholly in the water or only partially so. When the ship is at
her normal line of immersion the float is also in its normal position and
has no influence on the speed of the engine; but when the water leaves
the screw or the screw rises out of the water, the float being no longer
sustained by the water falls, and in so doing diminishes or cuts off the
supply of steam to the engine or engines by acting on the throttle valve,
cock, or other contrivance for regulating the supply of steam. When
the screw is again properly immersed in the water the float rises to its
normal place and allows the steam to flow freely as before, whilst when
there is an excess of immersion from a "following sea" the float
apparatus may act upon the valve in a correspondingly suitable
manner.
'
The means by which the motion of the float is communicated to the
throttle valve or other contrivance may be by a rod or rods or a chain
or equivalent means. The valve or cock may be brought back to its
normal position, when the screw is again submerged by means of a
counterweight or spring or by the direct action of the float as it rises to
its own normal position by the screw becoming again properly sub-
merged.

page_text: Water would be prevented from entering the ship where the connecting
wire, rope, chain, rod, bar, or tube is so fitted as to pass through it by
means of say a stuffing box, and a float may be fitted or applied on each
side of the dead weed or in and under each counter of the ship, and
they may be connected together or be worked separately as may be
preferred.
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they may be connected together or be worked separately as may be
preferred.
The rods or other connections may be regulated so as to accommodate
the position and action of the float or floats to the variations in the load-
immersion of the ship.
In conjunction with the float or floats, and in substitution for the rods,
chains, or bar connections, tubes may be substituted and a fluid column
be employed to give the required pressure or vacuum to act through a
closed vessel or cylinder or upon a diaphragm to operate the steam
supply or throttle valve or the cut-off gear for regulating the admission
of steam to the engine or motor. Either water, oil, or mercury may be
employed, or any other suitable fluid may be substituted, and the tube or
tubes containing the fluid may be fitted transversely across as well as
longitudinally along the ship.
The float or floats may be made to effect the same objects and to do
the same work by electric or galvanic action instead of by the actual
motion or movement of the rods or bars or by acting or being caused to
act on a small steam or hydraulic engine; or a steam or hydraulic
cylinder may be so interposed as to move the valve for admitting the
steam, such apparatus being in every case regulated in its own move-
ments by mechanism such as or similar to that hercin-before described
and by being connected to or in connection with the flotative action
described.

page_text: '
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto the said Henry Phillips, Her special
licence that I, the said Henry Phillips, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Phillips,
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 MARINE ENGINE GOVERNORS OR SPEED GOVERNING AND REGU-
LATING APPARATUS FOR THE MOTORS OF STEAM SHIPS AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Phillips, 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 Henry Phillips, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
1
The object of this Invention is to make the causes of the irregularities
of motion in a marine steam engine provide in each case the remedy for
the particular irregularity to be met. The causes of such irregularities
of motion in a screw steam engine are generally that the screw or other
stern propeller is at times wholly or partially out of the water in conse-
quence of the "pitching" or "pitching and yawing" motions of the
ship. When this happens, the engines no longer having to drive or
rotate the screw against an uniform resisting medium, fly off at a high
speed, which is a great source of danger, and is technically called
"racing." Again when the screw whilst thus rapidly turning in air is
suddenly immersed in the water the check given to the engines is also a
source of danger. This also occurs to a certain extent in a "following"
or in a cross sea" and when the ship "yaws" and rolls heavily.
<

page_text: This Invention is intended to do away with these evils altogether by
utilizing their cause, viz., the varying immersion of the screw, so that
as the water falls away from the screw the speed of the engines shall be
simultaneously and proportionately diminished, or when the screw is
5 working for a time in a body of water deeper than that in which it is.
intended to work or is regulated to (and by which there would be a loss
of speed), the steam is admitted to a correspondingly or proportionately
increased extent for the time. For this purpose a float is provided near
the screw either outside or inside the ship and fitted with proper guides.
to keep it in its place. The float may be wholly in the water or only
partially so. When the ship is at her normal line of immersion the
float is also in its normal position, and has no influence on the speed of
the engine; but when the water leaves the screw, the float being no
longer sustained by the water falls, and in doing so diminishes or cuts
off the supply of steam to the engine or engines by acting on the throttle
valve, cock, or other contrivance for regulating the supply of steam..
When the screw is again properly immersed in the water the float rises
to its normal place and allows the steam to flow freely as before; whilst
when there is an excess of immersion from a "following sea" the float
apparatus may act upon the valve in a correspondingly suitable
manner.
J
The means by which the motion of the float is communicated to the
throttle valve or other contrivance may be by a rod or rods or a chain or
equivalent means. The valve or cock may be brought back to its'
normal position, when the screw is again submerged by means of a
counterweight or spring or by the direct action of the float as it rises to
its own normal position by the screw becoming again properly sub-'
merged, and the shock may be relieved by a spring.
Water would be prevented from entering the ship where the con-
necting wire, rope, chain, rod, bar, or tube is so fitted as to pass through
it by means of say a stuffing box, and a float may be fitted or applied on
each side of the "dead wood" or in and under each counter of the ship,
and they may be connected together or be worked separately as may be
preferred.
The rods or other connections may be regulated so as to accommodate
the position and action of the float or floats to the variations in the load-

page_text: In conjunction with the float or floats, and in substitution for the rods,
cbains, or bar connections, tubes may be substituted and a fluid column
be employed to give the required pressure or vacuum to act through a
closed vessel or cylinder or upon a diaphragm to operate the steam
supply or throttle valve or the cut-off gear for regulating the admission
of steam to the engine or motor. Either water, oil, or mercury may be
employed or any other suitable fluid may be substituted, and the tube
or tubes containing the fluid may be fitted transversely across as well as
longitudinally along the ship.
The float or floats may be made to effect the same objects and to do
the same work by electric or galvanic action instead of by the actual
motion or movement of the rods or bars, or by acting or being caused to
act on a small steam or hydraulic engine; or a steam or hydraulic
cylinder may be so interposed as to move the valve for admitting the
steam, such apparatus being in every case regulated in its own move-
ments by mechanism such as or similar to that herein-before described,
and by being connected to or in connection with the flotative action
described of a float at the stern of the ship.
The float may be made of wood or other material of suitable specific.
gravity, or it may be a hollow metallic air-tight vessel suitably loaded,.
connected, and guided, as herein-before and as herein-after described.
The means of adjusting the float to the altered conditions, flotation,
or load line of the ship may be effected within the ship or vessel by
means of a right and left-hand screw lanyard or any other convenient
mechanical contrivance for the purpose of lengthening or shortening the
connecting rod or chain.
For the purpose of illustrating my Invention and some of the modes-
or methods of applying the same in practice, I have shown in the two
Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed some of the modes or methods in
which I prefer to apply it.
In Sheet 1 I have shown (in Figure 1) an external view of the stern
portion of a screw steam ship in which portions of the side of the ship
are removed so as to show the moving parts and means of communicating.
the motion of the float to the throttle valve.
- In Sheet 2 I have shown (in Figure 2) a similar view with a modifi-
· cation in the mode of applying the float at the stern and of the

page_text: mechanical arrangements for communicating the motion to the throttle
valve.
In Figure 3 (Sheet 1) I have shown another modification in the inter--
mediate connections or gear for transmitting the movements of the float;
and in Figures 4 and 5 (on Sheet 2) I have shown other modifications,
but.in each and every case a freely moving float is employed, and it is
to be fitted in the stern of the ship either externally on one or on both
sides of the "dead wood" (as in Sheet 1), or within the "dead wood":
or the ship's side (as in Sheet 2), in which latter case the vertical cylinder,
chamber, or vessel, in which the float rises and falls freely, has an opening
or openings at its lower end by which the water enters, and is discharged
therefrom in a sea-way.
In Sheet 1 (Figure 1) A is the float; B, B, guides for the float; C, a
stuffing box through which the suspending rod of the float passes; D,
the suspending rod; D', D", &c., the chains, rods, &c., for transmitting
the motion of the float to the throttle valve lever; E, the steam supply
pipe; F, the throttle valve lever or spanner; and G, a counterweight
employed for overcoming the friction of the various moving parts.
In Figure 2 (Sheet 2) A is a lateral hole or opening leading to the.
chamber or vessel B, in which the float moves up and down; C, the stuffing.
box, through which the suspending rod of the float slides up and down
freely; D, the float rod; D¹, D", are the pulleys and chains or ropes.
and the levers and rods for transmitting the movements to the throttle.
valve lever; E, the steam pipe; F, the throttle valve lever or spanner;
and G, the counterweight.
I have not in Figures 3 (Sheet 1), 4, and 5 (in Sheet 2), employed any
letters of reference to denote the several parts thereof, as they are only
given as illustrations of mechanical variations and modifications in the
details of the mechanism interposed between the upper end of the float
rod D and the throttle valve spanner or lever F, and will be so readily
understood on reference thereto as to be quite unnecessary for the
purpose of explaining the action of the apparatus and the mode of
putting my Invention into practice.
Instead of transmitting the movement of the float (or floats) to the
throttle valve direct by rods and chains or otherwise, as illustrated in the
Drawings hereunto annexed, I may cause the float rod to act upon a
closely fitting valve mounted upon or attached to a vessel or reservoir

page_text: containing a fluid, with the bottom of which vessel or reservoir a hori
zontal tube or pipe is connected, the other end of which pipe or tube is
in like manner connected to and with a closed vessel containing a piston
or float, which passing through a stuffing box or gland is connected to
and with the main throttle valve, spanner, or lever, so that when the
water falls away from the stern of the ship and a "racing" of the screw
would otherwise occur from the removal of the resistance to the revolu-
tion of the screw (proportionately to its immersion) the throttle valvo
would be closed by reason of the falling of the float at the stern of the
ship and the proportionate opening of the valve in the fluid chamber or
vessel fitted at the stern of the ship, thus allowing the weight of the
fluid to act upon the piston or float contained within the cylinder or
vessel at the other end of the horizontal connecting pipe, and so by its
weight to act upon and move correspondingly the throttle valve (through
its lever or spanner), or it may call into action a donkey steam engine
(or hydraulic power engine) interposed between the marine governor
gear and the main throttle valve (or the cut-off valve or valve gear) of
the main engines. For this purpose I propose either to employ glycerin
or glycerin mixed with water (or it may be mercury) within the closed
cylinders or vessels and in the connecting pipe between them; and I
wish it to be understood that I do not intend hereby to take advantage
of the rising of the ship's stern or the pitching of the ship for acting
upon a piston or plunger contained within a closed vessel containing
water or other fluid connected to or with and for the purpose of moving.
the throttle valve lever by the rising of the stern of the ship, but by my
Invention I depend in every case for the control or regulation of the
steam supply to the motive power engines upon the falling away of the
water from the stern of the ship (and not upon the rising of the stern
of the ship) and upon the vertical motions or movements of a float or
floats applied at the stern close to the screw or under the counter of the
ship; and moreover I do not intend hereby to make any claim for the
mechanical means or connections employed and interposed between the
float rod at the stern and the spanner or lever of the throttle valve in
the engine room; but I intend herein and hereby to limit myself to the
use or employment of a float or floats applied and fitted as herein a
described for acting upon (either directly or indirectly) the steam
admission or throttle valve of marine engines through the varying
relations or rising up to and falling away from the ship's stern of the
water in a sea-way……
.

page_text: :
I wish it also to be understood that I am aware that a suspended
weight or weighted arm or lever (forming a pendulum) fitted in the
engine room of a ship has been heretofore employed for operating the
throttle valve through the pitching movement of a ship in a sea-way.
I am also aware that a vessel or cistern containing water or other fluid
fixed in the engine room, and which fluid is caused to act upon a piston
moving in a barrel connected with such cistern have been heretofore
employed for operating the shut-off or throttle valve through the pitching
or by means of the rising of the ship's stern acting upon the piston,
which is in turn connected with the main throttle or shut-off valve.
I am also aware that a pneumatic apparatus or governor has heretofore
been employed by which the varying pressure of water acting upon a
diaphragm placed in a chamber under the "counter" or in some other
convenient part of the vessel has been employed for overcoming the
resistance of a spring or body of air contained-within a closed vessel,
and so communicating a limited motion or movement to the throttle
valve, such motion being produced by the variations of the external
head or pressure of water in which the ship is supported!
But I wish it to be understood that by my Invention full advantage is
taken of the flotative power, weight, and greater range of motion of a
freely suspended long range float fitted and moving freely vertically
under guidance at the stern of the ship or vessel, and which float may
communicate its motion or movement either directly through rods,
chains, pulleys, and levers, or by rods and levers to the throttle valve or
valves, or by acting upon a regulating valve so as to call in aid the
weight of a fluid column, and so to act upon in turn the throttle valve
or valves of marine engines, or to act upon and move the steam admission
valve for operating or working the shut-off valve or valves of a donkey
engine interposed and employed for working the main throttle or steam
admission valve of marine engines in manner herein set forth.
What I claim is the application and use or employment of a freely
suspended and guided vertically-moving long range float at the stern of
screw steam ships in the manner and for the purpose herein described,
by which advantage is taken of the variations in the water level at the
stern of a screw steam ship in a sea-way (and more particularly by the
falling away of the water from under the counter and from the screw

page_text: propeller) for the purpose of operating the throttle valve, and so regu-
lating the admission of steam to the propelling engine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Phillips, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
HENRY PHILLIPS. (L.S.)
Witness,
H. H. MONTAGUE SMITH,
Assistant to Mr. W. Smith, C.E.,
19, Salisbury Street,
Strand, W.C.