Improvements in or relating to Automatic Telegraph Apparatus for Indicating the Direction and Speed of Motion of Marine or other Engines.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Aug., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 18th May, 1895-Accepted, 22nd June, 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Automatic Telegraph Apparatus
for Indicating the Direction and Speed of Motion of Marine
or other Engines.
I, PETER DOUGLAS of 32 Strand Street, Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention has for its object an indicator or automatic telegraph apparatus
for indicating the direction of motion of marine or other engines. It has been
designed primarily for ships to be used in conjunction with ordinary telegraphing
apparatus so as to indicate automatically that orders given to the engineer in charge
of the engines have been properly carried out. The invention may also be
employed for indicating the speed of rotation of the engines as will hereafter be
described.
My invention avoids the necessity of utilizing the wiper shaft or weigh shaft of
the reversing gear, and moreover is simpler in construction and cheaper to
manufacture than any existing arrangement.
In carrying my invention into effect, as applied to indicating the direction of
motion of the engines, the plan I prefer is to couple, by means of a connecting rod
or chain either the forward or backward eccentric rods with a rotatable sheave or
pulley, mounted on the frame of the engine or carried by the condenser or any
other convenient part. An endless chain connects this pulley to another pulley
or wheel on a spindle which operates the tell-tale pointer on the dial of the
transmitting instrument.
The mode of action is as follows:-
Supposing, for example, that the reversing gear is moved from its middle position
(in which the slide valve is inactive and the engine is at rest) to the full speed
ahead position, it is obvious that the eccentric rod which is coupled to the pulley
by the connecting rod will rotate this pulley, a part of a revolution, and this latter
being geared to the tell-tale pointer by the chain, the dial will indicate that the
ship is going ahead. To reverse the engine the link and eccentric rods of the
reversing gear are pulled over in the opposite direction; this rotates the pulley
back again and turns the tell-tale pointer to the word Astern on the dial. The
connecting rod aforesaid may be slotted sufficiently to allow of the working of the
eccentric rods, and thus insure that the tell-tale pointer upon the dial will remain
stationary after it has once indicated the direction of motion of the engines and
will not move until the engines are again reversed. It is obvious that a tell-tale
pointer may be provided on the dial of the receiving instrument in the engine room
as well as on the bridge, and thus the position of the reversing gear is shown in
the engine room as well as on deck. It is obvious too, that instead of using a
sheave or pulley, a sector or segmental disc or quadrant may be used, also that
instead of a chain, a cord or band or even an arrangement of levers or rods or a
combination of these may be employed.
When applying the invention to indicating or telling the speed of number of
revolutions of the engines, I shorten or do away with the slot aforesaid in the
connecting rod, or attach springs or weights to the sheave or its equivalent in such

page_text: a way that the tell-tale pointer on the dial is actuated every revolution or stroke
of the engine.
Dated this 18th day of August 1894.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in or relating to Automatic Telegraph Apparatus
for Indicating the Direction and Speed of Motion of Marine
or other Engines.
I, PETER DOUGLAS of 32 Strand Street, Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer, 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 has for its object an indicator or automatic telegraph apparatus
for indicating the direction of motion of marine or other engines. It has been
designed primarily for ships to be used in conjunction with ordinary telegraphing
apparatus so as to indicate automatically that orders given to the engineer in charge
of the engines have been properly carried out. The invention may also be
employed for indicating the speed of rotation of the engines as will hereafter be
described.
My invention avoids the necessity of utilising the wiper shaft or weigh shaft of
the reversing gear, and moreover is simpler in construction and cheaper to
manufacture than any existing arrangement.
In carrying my invention into effect, as applied to indicating the direction of
motion of the engines, the plan I prefer is to couple, by means of a connecting rod
or chain, either the forward or backward eccentric rods with a rotatable sheave or
pulley, mounted on the frame of the engine or carried by the condenser or any
other convenient part. An endless chain connects this pulley to another pulley or
wheel on a spindle which operates the tell-tale pointer on the dial of the transmitting
instrument.
The invention is best described by aid of the accompanying diawings, in which,
Figure 1 is an elevation of my apparatus and such parts of an engine as are
necessary to depict,
Figure 2 enlarged side view of sheave wheel.
In these, A is the telegraph instrument, a pointer worked by my invention,
B cord or chain connecting a wheel not shown on the spindle of pointer a with
the sheave C. C sheave having a crank pin D attached thereto, shown in enlarged
view Figure 2, E connecting rod connecting said pin with a clamp F on eccentric
rod G, H part of frame of engine.
The mode of action is as follows:-
Supposing, for example, that the reversing gear is moved from its middle
position (in which the slide valve is inactive and the engine is at rest) to the full
speed ahead position, it is obvious that the eccentric rod G which is coupled to the
pulley C by the connecting rod E will rotate this pulley a part of a revolution,
and this latter being geared to the tell-tale pointer a by the chain, B, the pointer
will indicate that the ship is going ahead. To reverse the engine the link and
eccentric rods of the reversing gear are pulled over in the opposite direction; this
rotates the pulley C back again and turns the tell-tale pointer to the word Astern
on the dial. The connecting rod E may be slotted at 1 sufficiently to allow of
the working of the eccentric rods, and thus insure that the tell-tale pointer a will
remain stationary after it has once indicated the direction of motion of the engines

page_text: and will not move until the engines are again reversed. It is obvious that a
tell-tale pointer may be provided on the dial of the receiving instrument in the
engine room as well as on the bridge, and thus the position of the reversing gear is
shown in the engine room as well as on deck. It is obvious too, that instead of
using a sheave or pulley, a sector or segmental disc or quadrant may be used, also
that instead of a chain, a cord or band or even an arrangement of levers or rods or
a combination of these may be employed, or links and bell crank could be substituted
for pulley C and cord or chain.
When applying the invention to indicating or telling the speed or number of
revolutions of the engines, I shorten or do away with the slot aforesaid in the
connecting rod, or attach springs or weights to the sheave or its equivalent in such
a way that the tell-tale pointer on the dial is actuated every revolution or stroke
of the engine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The improvement in automatic telegraph apparatus for indicating the
direction and speed of motion of marine or other engines, which consists in
connecting a pointer on the dial with the eccentric rod or its appurtenances by a
connection allowing a small amount of play whereby whenever the engine is
reversed the pointer is also reversed as regards its indication, and thus the action
of the reversing motion is indicated without oscillation at each stroke.
2. The improvement in automatic telegraph apparatus for indicating the
direction and speed of motion of marine or other engines which consists in
connecting a pointer on the dial with one of the eccentric rods whereby the position
of that eccentric or its position and its oscillations as the case may be are indicated
on the dial.
3. The mechanism for connecting an indicator in any convenient part of the ship
with an eccentric rod substantially as described and illustrated.
Dated this 17th dow of Mar 1805
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London, Patent Agents.