Steam or other Ships.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Dec., 1888
Specification Accepted, 16th Feb., 1889.
Steam or other Ships.
I MICHAEL PAGET BAXTER of 33 Drayton Park, Highbury in the County of
Middlesex Engineer 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 :-
My invention relates to an improved ship break or apparatus for steering and
stopping steam or other ships, and has for its object to provide an apparatus which
in case a ship was in impending danger of coming into collision with another
ship could be used either to instantly stop the motion of the former by sending the
two breaks out or to turn the same suddenly by letting out either one or the other
of the breaks.
And in order that my invention may be more fully understood I have shewn the
same in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is an elevation of the bow
of a ship having its breaks out, Fig. 1º is a plan shewing the mechanism actuating
such breaks, Fig. 3 is a cross section on line X X of Fig. 1 of a ship fitted with
my improved break apparatus, Fig. 4 being a longitudinal section of the same.-
Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views.
In any convenient part of the hold of a vessel but preferably in front of the boiler
house. I mount upon suitable supports s s¹ a reservoir of compressed air R and
in front thereof two cylinders C Carranged in any suitable manner or as shewn in
interverted order the bottom of one cylinder being placed against one side and that
of the other against the opposite side of the ship S. Within these two cylinders
move two pistons p p', fixed to the rods r r whose free extremities are tongue shaped
to receive the plates P P forming the break proper and which are firmly fixed therein
by means of bolts and nuts. These plates P P₁ are formed preferably of cast steel
and are held at their upper and lower extremities in the central grooves of the
bars gg, being made to slide within guides b' of brass, phosphor bronze or other
suitable metal conveniently fixed to the lowermost flange of the girders forming the
lower deck D' of the ship.or in the manner shewn in Fig. 3 by means of T irons
rivetted to the said girders.

page_text: The cylinders Care provided with slide valves u u! whose rods are furnished at
their outer extremities with pistons moving in cyclinders 11. The ports of
these cylinders are closed or opened by another slide valve n n¹ whose rods e el are
angular as shewn in Fig. 3 and held at the summit of their angle while their
extremities are prolonged upwards through a tube e° (Figs. 3 & 5) and terminate
with an elbow piece surmounted by handles d d¹ working upon a notched arc of iron
or other suitable material carried upon the stands or supports ss.
The handle d carries a forked piece o on the top and is hinged at i so that it can
be bent down and connected with the handle d¹.
The object of this arrangement is to enable the two rods to be operated simultaneously
if required in order to send the two breaks P P¹ out at once.
The compressed air reservoir has a pipe O at the rear which leads to the air pump
placed in any suitable part of the vessel and actuated by the ship's engine in any
convenient manner.-
.-From the said reservoir issue four pipes a c¹ a¹ c leading
respectively to the cylinders CC and to the cylinders in order to supply them
with compressed air, the pipes a¹ e serving to start the piston K K until compressed
air is admitted in the cylinders C C and then further to assist their motion.
The stands or supports ss carry the above mentioned arcs and are fixed on the
Captain's bridge as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.
When a collision is impending, and the Captain wishes suddenly to stop his ship,
he reverses the engines and having bent the handle d so that its fork end should
grip the handle he moves the latter towards him, and thus causes compressed air
to be admitted in the cylinders and the breaks to be forthwith pushed out. If on
the contrary the Captain wished his ship turned in one direction, he would act only
upon the handle corresponding to the cylinder whose piston will have to travel in
order to force the required break out.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is-
1st. The improved ship break apparatus constructed arranged and operating
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
2nd. The mode of operating ship breaks such as above claimed by means of
compressed air substantially as described and shewn and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 4th day of December 1888.
HUGHES, SON & Co.,
38, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.