IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION Of Rudders
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Edmund Commerell, Captain Royal Navy,
of Alverbank, Alverstoke, Hants, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION Of Rudders.”
•
Sealed the 4th May 1875, and dated the 10th November 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Edmund
Commerell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 10th November 1874.
I, JOHN EDMUND COMMERELL, Captain Royal Navy, of Alverbank,
Alverstoke, Hants, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF RUDDERS," to be as follows :-
My Invention refers chiefly to providing means for constructing and
applying a rudder, say, at sea, or under circumstances when the rudder
proper may be carried away or rendered useless, and when the ship
cannot be docked or otherwise be in a condition to replace it. For this
object I provide a tube to be inserted in and down the hole through
which the head of the rudder enters the ship, the lower end being
arranged to enter and work in the hole in the shoe plate forming the

page_text: axis of the rudder at the bottom.
On the aft side of this tube are certain
openings or apertures, or it may be one aperture, as may be required.
In connection with' this tube are pieces of wood or metal of suitable
shape and size to drop down the tube. The ends of these pieces of wood
or metal are provided with fittings, so that when such pieces complete
their fall or descent in the tube, and the upper ends escape out of the
apertures aforesaid, which they are intended to do, and will do, the lower
end is secured inside the tube, and this also fixes the piece of wood or
metal to a position at right angles to the tube. It will thus be under-
stood that on a number of these pieces of wood or metal being dropped
down the tube and falling outwards through the apertures aforesaid
they will on lying on the top of each other form a surface representing
the blade part of the rudder; in fact providing the means for steering
the ship, the upper part of the tube which remains in the ship being
furnished with suitable fittings to receive the tiller, yoke, or other
appliances for moving the rudder about.
Although I have described the tube as a separate application it can be
included in the fittings of the rudder proper. In this way it can be
arranged to be fitted to the stern post, or a second stern post or part
when the rudder is fixed, the straps of the gudgeons or pintles of the
rudder embracing the tube, and being arranged so that the tube shall be
capable of revolving within the straps, and so that if at any time it be
required to complete this tube into a rudder it will be ready for the
purpose.
Provision should be made to tighten up and secure the ends of the
pieces of wood or metal in the tubo when the formation of the rudder is

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Edmund Commerell,
Her special licence that I, the said John Edmund Commerell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Edmund Commerell, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION
OF RUDDERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Edmund Commerell, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, 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 John Edmund Commerell, 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 tho
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My Invention refers chiefly to providing means for constructing and
applying a rudder, say, at sea, or under circumstances when the rudder
proper may be carried away or rendered useless, and when the ship.
cannot be docked or otherwise be in a condition to have it replaced,
but rudders constructed according to 'my Invention may be used
permanently.
My rudders may be applied in all ships which are fitted either with
stern posts, or which have a sole plate or -shoe plate on the keel-for the
rudder to rest in, and whether the rudder be balanced or otherwise..
The main piece of my rudder consists of a tube or trunk, hollow in the
centre, and having a slot or long opening cut in the aft side of it. This
tube or trunk may be shipped in various ways; it may, for example, be
kept permanently shipped before the usual rudder; or it may form part
:

page_text: of the stern post; or it may be kept inboard, and when required be
lowered down, cither through the rudder trunk or through a guiding.
trunk fitted in the stern or quarters, as convenient. In connection with
this tube or trunk are pieces to form the rudder blade, and made of
wood or metal, or of wood plated with iron or other metal. These pieces
are of suitable size to drop down the tube or trunk, and they are
furnished at or near one end with pins or projections to enter vertical.
grooves or guides in the tube or trunk. The said pieces are formed at
their top and bottom with rabbets, bevils, dowels, tumblers, or similar
devices, as found most convenient, to keep them together when in place;
or if such devices be not requisite the said pieces may be plain. When
the tube or trunk has been.shipped and its lower end either rests on the
keel or is secured with chains the pieces of wood or metal are lowered
down the said tube one by one, the pins or projections thereon entering
the grooves or guides in the tube; and as each of the said pieces reaches:
the bottom of its course it falls outwards through the slot or opening to
a position at right angles to the tube, its inner ond being retained by the.
pins or projections. It will thus be understood that a number of these
pieces being dropped down the tube and falling outwards, as above.
explained, will lie on the top of each other and form a surface resembling
the blade part of a rudder, and will in fact provide the means for
steering the ship. When the said rudder pieces are all in place they
should be tightened up or tautened in the tube, and this may be con-
veniently effected by filling up the tube with a core and then inserting
and tightening a screw at the head. The tiller or yoke is then applied
to the top of the tube, and the ship may be steered in the usual way.
4
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a side elevation shewing
my rudder applied to a vessel; Figure 2 shews the aft side; and
Figure 3 a plan of the tube or trunk.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 are respectively a side view, an end view, and a
plan (on a larger scale) of one of the rudder pieces.
a is the rudder tube or trunk inserted through a trunk 6, and through
gudgeons or guides c, c, on the stern post, one of which is represented
in plan in Figure 7. d is the slot or opening in the aft side of the
tube a; e, e, are the vertical grooves or guides in the tube a, which
grooves may be of any suitable form; f, f, are the pieces which form
the blade of the rudder; 9, 9, are the pins or projections on these pieces to

page_text: enter the grooves e, e; h, h, are pins, one on the bottom of each pieceƒ,ƒ,
to take into a countersink or recess i in the piece f immediately below.
It will be found desirable to make this countersink of greater length
than the pin h so as to facilitate the entrance of the pin therein. k is
the tiller or yoke secured to the top of the tube a so as to move the
rudder about in the usual way.
In case the tube a should be permanently fixed or shipped before the
usual rudder the usual rudder may be used in sections to allow of the
usual gudgeons being fitted round the tube. If the rudder head of the
usual rudder should be wrung, provided it can be detached from
the main piece of the rudder, the said main piece can be secured to the
tube or trunk by means of one of the pieces f.
1 It will be evident that many modifications in the construction and fitting
of my improved rudders may be made without departing from the essential
or distinguishing features of my Invention, which are the tube or
trunk a and the pieces f, which are dropped down the said tube, and fall
out therefrom so as to form a rudder blade, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Edmund Commerell, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.