IMPROVE- MENTS IN COMPASSES OR APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE COURSE STEERED BY A VESSEL DURING ANY GIVEN PERIOD
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Arthur, of Atherington, in the County of
Devon, Commander in the Royal Navy, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COMPASSES OR APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE COURSE STEERED
BY A VESSEL DURING ANY GIVEN PERIOD."
Sealed the 19th September 1865, and dated the 21st March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Arthur at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
March 1865.
I, WILLIAM ARTHUR, of Atherington, in the County of Devon, Commander
in the Royal Navy, do hereby declaro the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPASSES OR APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE COURSE STEERED
BY A VESSEL DURING ANY GIVEN PERIOD," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to make a compass register the courses
steered by a vessel during any given period. For this purpose I suspend
framing, in which a cylinder is supported vertically, on an axis at the lower
end, while the upper end terminates in a shaft which passes through the
framing; on this shaft a guide plate is fitted which guides two pins on a
socket free to rise and fall on the shaft. The socket is formed with two
flanges above the guide plate, between which rollers work. The socket carries
at its upper end a compass card or magnetic needle. The rollers just men-
tioned are carried on the end of a horizontal lever pivoted near its centre to a
bracket on the framing; the other end of the lever carries a roller which rides
in a cam groove in a block carried on the upper end of a vertical threaded

page_text: rod. This rod passes through the framing which contains the cylinder and
carries a pencil or marker which is kept in contact with a sheet of paper
wrapped round the cylinder. The pencil is held in a frame fitting over the
threaded rod, and is caused to descend thereon by means of rotary motion
imparted to the rod by clockwork; or instead of the pencil being kept in
contact with the paper, it may be caused to strike against or come in contact
with it at regular intervals by the ribs on a ribbed roller (made to revolve by
clock work) coming against a projection on one end of an arm forming part
of the pencil frame; or the pencil may be brought into contact with the
paper in any other convenient manner. The paper, which is secured to the
cylinder, is marked with thirty-two perpendicular divisional lines at equal
distances apart, each line representing a point of the compass. The paper
is also marked with horizontal lines representing the distance the pencil
descends in one hour or other stated time. In the descent of the magnetic
needle its position is transmitted to the cylinder by a roller on the socket
riding on one of the inclines of a double inclined cam fixed on the under part
of the compass card.
The action is as follows:-As the threaded rod rotates the roller on the
end of the horizontal lever is alternately raised and lowered by riding in the
cam groove in the block on the threaded rod; as the roller and that end of
the lever are thus raised and lowered the opposite end of the lever is lowered
and raised, whereby the socket and rollers on this end of the lever receive a
similar movement. In the upward movement of the socket and parts con-
nected therewith the compass card is raised from the upper surface of a fixed
frame upon which it rested, and is now free to turn together with the double
inclined plane, and the needle points to the north. In the downward move-
ment the socket and magnetic needle are lowered until the under side of the
needle bears upon the surface of the fixed frame, which is roughened, and
which prevents it turning. The socket continues to descend, carrying with
it the guide pins and roller, which latter bears against one of the inclined
edges of the double inclined plane and compels the socket and cylinder to
turn, and the turning of the cylinder causes the pencil to make a horizontal
mark thereon. To secure the cylinder between the periods of registering I
form the lower edge thereof with notches or teeth, into which a paul takes;
the paul is released, when the compass card descends by a cam wheel on the
tlireaded shaft or otherwise, I sometimes prepare the surface of the cylinder
so that the pencil will mark thereon in the same manner as the marks are
made on the paper, and the marks may be noted in a book. Sometimes, also,
I substitute for the cylinder a strip or band of paper passed over rollers and

page_text: moved by clockwork, and in this case I prefer to employ three pencils on an
endless band above the strip of paper. The rollers which carry the pencil
band are placed at an incline in order that there may be always one pencil in
contact with the paper. The pencil band is connected with the magnetic needle
and moves with it. If the registering apparatus be required for a magnetic
observatory a series of needles may be fitted in the cylinder itself, so that
it may receive its polarity without the intervention of a lever, as before
described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Arthur in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ARTHUR, of Atherington, in the County of Devon, Commander in the Royal
Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Arthur, Her special licence that I, the said William Arthur, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Arthur, 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
COMPASSES OR APPARATUS FOR REGISTERING THE COURSE STEERED BY A VESSEL
DURING ANY GIVEN PERIOD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Arthur, 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 William Arthur, 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

page_text: thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to
say:-
The object of my Invention is to make a compass register the courses
steered by a vessel during any given period. For this purpose I suspend a
framing, in which a cylinder is supported vertically, on an axis at the lower
end, while the upper end is formed with a step to receive a socket and a
shaft which passes through the framing; on this shaft a guide plate is fitted
which is guided by two pins carried by a lower plate, forming part of the
socket, which is free to be raised and lowered on the shaft for the purpose
hereafter mentioned. The shaft is formed with two flanges above the guide
plate, between which rollers work. The framing carries at its upper part a
compass card or magnetic needle. The rollers just mentioned are carried on
the end of a lever pivoted near its centre to a bracket on the framing; the
other end of the lever carries a roller which rides in a cam groove in a block
carried on the upper end of a vertical threaded rod. This rod passes through
the framing which contains the cylinder and carries a pencil or marker which
is kept in contact with a sheet of paper wrapped round the cylinder. The
pencil is held in a frame fitting over the threaded rod, and is caused to descend
thereon by means of rotary motion imparted to the rod by clockwork. The
paper, which is secured to the cylinder, is marked with 32 perpendicular
divisional lines at equal distances apart, each line representing a point of the
compass. The paper is also marked with horizontal lines representing the
distance the pencil descends in one hour or other stated time. In the descent
of the magnetic needle its position is transmitted to the cylinder by a roller
on the shaft riding on one of the inclines of a double inclined cam fixed on the
under part of the compass card.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation with the com-
pass card raised; Figure 2, a similar view with the compass card lowered;
Figure 3, a front elevation; and Figure 4, a plan of a compass or apparatus
constructed according to my Invention.
A, A, is a framing, which is suspended in any convenient manner, and in
which a cylinder B is supported vertically on an axis C at the lower end,
while the upper end is formed with a step D to receive a socket E which acts
as a guide to a shaft F passing through the framing. a is a guide plate fitted
on the shaft F and guided by two pins b, b, carried by a plate c, forming part
of the socket E. The shaft F is formed with two flanges d, e, between which
rollers work. The framing carries at its upper part a compass card or
magnetic needle g. The rollers fare carried on the end of a lever h pivoted
at i to a bracket k, the other end of the lever is weighed and carries a roller

page_text: which rides in a cam groove m in a block F' on the upper end of a vertical
threaded rod G. This rod passes through the framing A and carries a pencil
or marker hereafter fully described, which is caused to descend on the rod G
by rotary motion imparted to the rod by clockwork acting on the pinion H.
n is a roller carried by the shaft F, and which, by riding on one or other of
the inclines of a double inclined cam I fixed on the under part of the compass
card g, transmits the position of the needle to the cylinder B.
The action is as follows:-As the threaded rod G rotates the roller l on the
end of the lever h is alternately raised and lowered by riding in the cam
groove m in the block F' on the threaded rod; as the roller and that end of
the lever h are thus raised and lowered the opposite end of the lever is lowered
and raised, whereby the shaft F and rollers f on this end of the lever h receive
a similar movement. In the upward movement of the shaft F and parts con-
nected therewith the compass card g is raised from the upper surface of the
fixed frame A, upon which it rested, and is now free to turn, together with
the double inclined plane I, and the needle points to the north. In the down-
ward movement the shaft F and magnetic needle are lowered until the under
side of the needle bears upon the surface of the fixed frame, which is rough-
ened, and which prevents it moving. The shaft continues to descend, carrying
with it the plate a and roller n, which latter bears against one of the inclined
edges of the double inclined plane I and compels the shaft F to turn. The
turning of the shaft, and thereby of the plate a, turns the pins b, b, and these
pins b, b, being carried by the plate c on the socket E, this plate and the socket
likewise turn and transmit a corresponding movement to the cylinder B. The
turning of the cylinder causes the pencil to make a horizontal mark thereon:
To secure the cylinder B between the periods of registering I roughen the
edge of the plate a, against which a spring on the framing A bears when the
needle is up; when the needle is down the cylinder is free to turn; or I form
the lower edge of the cylinder with notches or teeth into which a paul takes;
the paul is released, when the compass card descends by a cam wheel on the
threaded shaft, or otherwise.
o is a frame free to
Figure 5 is a plan of the pencil apparatus detached.
slide up and down guide rods J, J, forming part of the framing A. The
frame o has pivoted thereto at p a bar q, in which a pencil is fitted; the
pencil is kept in contact with the paper wrapped round the cylinder B by a
springs. In the Figure I have shown the pencil holder open, as the parts
are seen more clearly in this position. t, t, are two threaded rollers kept in
contact with the threaded rod G by a spring u; on bringing the outer ends of
the bars v, v, nearer together the spring u is compressed and the rollers t, t, are

page_text: released from the rod G, and the pencil apparatus may then be moved to any
desired part of the rod. As the rod G is caused to rotate by the clockwork
the threads thereon, by taking into the threaded rollers t, t, cause these rollers
to descend, together with the pencil, towards the bottom of the rod. w, w,
are rollers for reducing the friction between the frame o and rods J, J; the
arms which carry the rollers w' are pivoted to the frame o and are kept
extended by a spring w³. Instead of the pencil being kept in contact with
the paper it may be caused to strike against or come in contact with it at
regular intervals by the ribs on a ribbed roller (shown at M, Figure 6,) coming
against a projection N on one end of an arm O forming part of the pencil
frame. The ribbed roller should be made to revolve by clockwork, or the
pencil may be brought into contact with the paper in any other convenient
manner. When it is required to remove the cylinder B and replace it by
another, or to put fresh paper thereon, I raise the bottom of the socket E out
of the step D, or the top of the cylinder, by means of a lever K pivoted at L,
so that the cylinder may be taken out. When another cylinder has been
substituted or the same cylinder has been replaced the socket E is allowed to
descend into the step D. x is a thin strip of metal upon the end of which the
under side of a button y on the compass card rests during the descent of the
card, whereby vibration of the card is prevented. I sometimes prepare the
surface of the cylinder so that the pencil will mark thereon in the same
manner as the marks are made on the paper, and the marks may be noted in
a book.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing
compasses or apparatus for registering the course steered by a vessel during
any given period, substantially as herein-before described and represented in
the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Arthur, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five.
W. ARTHUR. (L.S.)