IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING GEAR FOR FISHING AND OTHER BOATS to be as follows:
Year: 1885

page_text: '
I JAMES DEAS JACK, Manager, of Newmill Foundry, Elgin, in the county of
Moray, North Britain do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING GEAR FOR FISHING AND OTHER BOATS to be as
follows:-
"
This invention relates to improvements in the construction of the steering and
rudder head gear of fishing boats and other craft.
In carrying out my invention I fix in any suitable position on the deck of the
boat a cast iron sole plate to which a bracket is bolted carrying an upright. shaft ;
on the top of the said shaft the steering wheel is placed working horizontally by
preference, as in this position it is more out of the way, but it can if required be
placed vertically. The said upright shaft carries a pinion gearing into two wheels
situated one at each side, the pinion being common to both wheels, underneath the
wheels and each cast in one piece with them, are two other pinions gearing into
suitable racks. The wheels and pinions revolve on studs fixed to the sole plate,
and are bushed with patent or white metal as are also rollers which work on the
back of the racks and serve to hold them in gear with the pinions. To the racks
are attached the guide rods and chains leading aft to the rudder supported by
rollers where necessary and passing through the gunwale of the boat in hawse
pipes, fitted at right angles, or nearly so, to the stern post, on the rudder head,
which is kept below the stern post, a malleable iron jointed yoke is fixed, the arms
being free to fold up or down; to the said arms are attached the steering chains,
on the ends of the guide rods fixed to the racks is a jointed lever to which the
rudder chains are attached in such a manner that when the levers are folded
back the chains are released, and run back through the hawse holes allowing the
arms of the jointed yoke to fold down out of the way, thereby preventing any
damage occurring to the gear from another boat striking the stern, or from any
other cause.

page_text: Improvements in Steering Gear for Fishing and other Boats.
I JAMES DEAS JACK, Manager of Newmill Foundry, Elgin, in the county of
Moray, North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in the construction of the steering and
rudder head gear for fishing boats and other craft.
In carrying out my invention I fix in any suitable position on the deck of the
boat a cast iron sole plate to which a bracket is bolted carrying an upright shaft ;
on the top of the said shaft the steering wheel is placed working horizontally by
preference as in this position it is more out of the way but it can if required be
placed vertically. The said upright shaft carries a pinion gearing into two wheels
situated one at each side the pinion being common to both wheels; underneath the
wheels and each cast in one piece with them are two other pinions gearing into
suitable racks. The wheels and pinions revolve on studs fixed to the sole plate
and are bushed with patent or white metal to prevent them becoming rusty and
setting fast as are also the vertical shaft and rollers which work on the back of
the racks and serve to hold them in gear with the pinion. To the racks are
attached the guide rods and chains leading aft to the rudder and supported by
grooved pullies or rollers where necessary and passing through the gunwale of the
boat in hawse pipes, fitted at right angles or nearly so to the stern post; on the
rudder head which is kept below the stern post a jointed malleable iron yoke is
fixed the arms being free to fold up or down; to the said arms are attached the
steering chains; on the ends of each of the guide rods fixed to the racks is a
jointed pin to which the rudder chains are attached in such a manner that when
the pins are folded back the chains can be released and run back through the hawse
holes allowing the arms of the jointed yoke to fold down out of the way thereby
preventing any damage occurring to the gear from another boat striking the stern
or from any other cause.
D
In order to enable iny invention to be fully understood I will proceed to describe
the same by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1, represents
an elevation of a steering gear for fishing and other boats, constructed according
to my invention; figure 2, is a plan of the same; figure 3 is a plan of part of the
apparatus. Similar letters in all the figures represent similar parts.
a, is the cast iron sole plate bolted to the deck b, of the boat in any convenient
position near the stern; c, is the bracket bolted to the sole plate a, and d, is the
upright shaft carried by and rotating in the bracket c, and centre of the sole
plate a; e, is the spoked hand steering wheel fixed to the top of the shaft d; and
working horizontally by preference as shewn in the drawing;f, is the pinion
keyed on the shaft d, below the steering wheel e; g, and h, are the toothed wheels
one on each side of and gearing with the pinion f; i, and j, are the pinions
under the wheels and h, respectively and cast in one piece therewith; and 1,
are the studs on which the combined wheels and pinions g, h, i, j, revolve, the said

page_text: studs being fixed to the sole plate a; m and n, are the racks gearing into the
pinions i, and j, respectively and made of a length to suit the extent of rotary
motion of the rudder; o, and p, are the rollers working on the backs of the racks m,
and n; and serving to hold the racks in gear with the pinions i and j; q, and r, are
the studs on which run the rollers o and p, the said studs being fixed to the sole
plate a; 8 and t, are the guide rods of malleable iron attached to the racks.m
and n; and v, are the chains leading aft to the head gear of the rudder f1 and
passing for this purpose through the gunwale of the boat (not shewn in the
drawing) in hawse pipes fitted at right angles or nearly so to the stern post w;
x,x, are the grooved pullies or rollers running in bearings y, y, bolted to the deck b,
of the boat; z, is the rudder head kept below the top of the stern post w, and
provided with the usual pivot pin a¹, working in a socket b', fixed to the stern
post w; c¹, cl, represent the malleable iron yoke the arms of which jointed at d¹ d',
are free to, fold up or down; the steering chains u, and v, are attached to the
arm c¹, at e¹, e¹, and pass to the back of the rudder f¹, to which they are fastened
at g, h, 2, represent the jointed pins by means of which the rudder chains u
and v, are attached through tightening couplings 1, 2, to the guide rods s and t;
the pins h¹, h, are fastened by chains 2, 3, to the deck b, and are formed in two
parts jointed to each other as shewn so that when the pins are passed through the
ends of the chains u and v, and the eyes j,j, of the couplings and the ends
of the pins are turned down as shewn at h¹, figure 2, the chains will be securely
connected to the guide rods 8, t; when however the said ends of the pins are turned
in a line with the body thereof as shewn at ³, figure 2, the chains can when
required by drawing out the said pins be released from the guide rods and run
back through the hawse holes thereby allowing the arms c¹, c¹, of the jointed yoke
to fold down out of the way for the purpose herein before described.
k, kl, are the pins or cotters for connecting the couplings, to the guide rods &
and t, by being passed through eyes 1, 1, in the ends of the couplings and guide
rods respectively; m³, m³, are round eyes forged near the ends of the guide rods 8
and t, which eyes can be brought opposite corresponding short vertical tubes n', n',
bolted to the deck b; o, o', are pins or bolts attached to the deck at p¹, by links q', q',
and adapted to be passed through the eyes m¹, and into the tubes n', (as shewn in
the drawing) so that when the couplings ¹, have been tightened up the rudder can
be held amidships and practically locked in this position when the boat is riding at
the nets, instead of it being necessary to unship the rudder as has hitherto been
the case when a tiller is employed and which operation is attended with consider-
able danger.
Below the steering wheel e, a brake or drag is provided (shewn in figure 1 and
also in detached plan view at figure 3) consisting of a collar rl, encircling the
centre shaft d, and having a screw threaded rod s¹, on which works a nut t¹; the
collar, and rod 8¹, work loosely in a bracket u¹, on the bracket c; by this
arrangement if the nut t, be screwed up so as to bear tightly against the face of
the bracket u¹, the shaft d, will be firmly gripped and the rudder can thereby be
kept steady when fishing with large. lines and when staying the boat.
The use of a tiller in such cases has hitherto been a source of great danger in
rough seas as it was liable to be driven violently from side to side and in doing so
frequently injured the fishermen or knocked them overboard.
For the smaller classes of boats, I find it only necessary to employ one stud,
spur wheel and pinion, the racks in this case work on opposite sides of the one
pinion and are held in gear by the two rollers. The spoked hand steering wheel
is hereindescribed and shewn as being used in a horizontal position but it will be
obvious that it can if required be placed in a vertical position by adding a small
horizontal shaft connected to the vertical centre spindle by mitre pinions.
Instead of the hereinbefore described racks m and n, I sometimes employ one
or two chain barrels on vertical, angular or horizontal spindles in combination or
not with the herein described spur gearing; if used without the spur gearing
power could be obtained by employing a block with one or two sheaves for each

page_text: chain leading to the rudder head. A pitch chain can also be employed in place of
the two racks.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I déclare that what
I claim is
1. The combination of parts forming the improved steering gear for fishing and
other boats substantially as herein before described and represented in the accom-
panying drawing.
2. The use for steering fishing and other like boats, of the improved gear herein-
before described and represented in the accompanying drawing-or the herein
described modifications of the same.
3. The use in combination with steering gear such as that herein described of
the rudder head gear substantially as herein before described and represented in
the accompanying drawing.