IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEER- ING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS.
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Miller, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEER-
ING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS.".
Sealed the 6th January 1863, and dated the 11th July 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Miller at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
July 1862.
I, JAMES MILLER, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
RATUS FOR STEERING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS," to be as follows:-
My apparatus consists of two racks, each of which carries a vane or
blade, which blades are free to be protruded through the vessel's side, on one
side or the other, by communicating up-and-down motion through a toothed
wheel to the racks. The racks are so fitted with respect to the wheel,
that while one is raised to bring its vane within the vessel, the other is
lowered, so as to cause its vane to be protruded. The vanes may be set
at right angles, or at any other desired angles with the side of the vessel, and
they may be fitted in the dead wood, or in any other part of the hull.
Instead of racks, the vanes may be connected to a band or chain, working
over a drum or wheel, but I prefer the racks as above described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Miller in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th January 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MILLER, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Miller, Her special licence that I, the said
James Miller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Miller, 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 APPARATUS FOR STEERING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said James Miller, 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 James Miller, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:
My apparatus consists of two racks, each of which carries a vane or blade,
which blades are free to be protruded through the vessel's side, on one side or
the other, by communicating up-and-down motion through a toothed wheel to
the racks. The racks are so fitted with respect to the wheel, that while one
is raised to bring its vane within the vessel, the other is lowered so as to cause
its vane to .be protruded. The vanes may be set at right angles or at any
other desired angles with the side of the vessel, and they may be fitted in the
dead wood, or in any other part of the hull. Instead of racks, the vanes may
be connected to a band or chain, working over a drum or wheel, but I prefer
the racks as above described.

page_text: Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an end; and Figure 2 a side ele-
vation, both partly in section; and Figure 3 a plan of this apparatus for steering
ships and other vessels. a, a³, are the racks carrying vanes 6, 61, which are
free to move up and down in guides c, c; d is a pinion in gear with the racks
a, a; it is mounted on a spindle e, carrying a toothed wheel f, in gear with a
pinion 9 on the shaft h of the steering wheel i. By turning this wheel i,
motion is communicated to the racks and vanes, thus causing one rack, say the
rack a³, and vane 61, to descend or protrude below the guides c, c, and beyond
the hull of the ship, and enter the water, while the other is raised up within
the guides, as shown in Figure 1. The action of the water against the vanes,
is to steer the ship according to the vane, which is lowered, and the extent to
which it is protruded into the water.
Figure 4 is an end, and Figure 5 is a side elevation of an apparatus
similar in construction to that before described, but in which the vanes are
caused to rise and fall by a chain instead of racks. 6, 61, are the vanes with a
chain a attached to them. This chain passes round a drum d, having a toothed
wheel e at one end, which is in gear with a wheelf on the shaft h of the
steering wheel i. By turning the wheel as before, the vanes are raised or
lowered through the guides c, c, and the water acts on them; and steers the
ship or vessel, as before described.
The vanes in this, as well as in the previous arrangement may be set
at any angle, other than a right angle, as shewn with the keel of the
ship.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
the particular arrangement herein-before described for communicating motion
to the vanes or blades, but I claim the improved apparatus for steering
ships and other vessels, consisting of vanes or blades made to protrude beyond
the hull of the vessel on one side or other, substantially in manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Miller, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty towe