AN IMPROVED STEERING APPARATUS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ROBINSON, of North Shields, in the County of Northumberland, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Sixteenth day of December, in the third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Robinson, Her especial licence that I, the said John Robinson, my exors,
adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Robinson; my exors,
adors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED
STEERING APPARATUS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said John Robinson, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within.
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Robinson, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist

page_text: to have an elastic motion freely yielding (without any sudden jerk likely to
break the gear) to the occasional shocks given by the action of the waves
against the rudder. And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said John Robinson, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Inven-
tion is to be performed by the following statement thereof, reference being
had to the Drawing annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a plan of my said Invention. A is a segment of a
cogged wheel fixed on the head P of the rudder; B is an ordinary steering
wheel;
C, C, the axle of the same; and D, an endless worm or screw to
turn the rudder as required; E, E, are two arms of the frame E, F, F, E,
serving for bearings for the axle C, C, of the steering wheel B, and turning on
a fixed pivot at G, which is let down into a solid block or stanchion raised on
and fixed to the deck to support it and the frame which turns upon it; II, I,
are the tops of two belaying pins for a purpose herein-after explained; j is the
top half of what I call my travelling nippers, the under half being exactly
like the upper half. These nippers, it will be seen, lie over the endless worm
D, and partly over the cogged wheel A resting loosely on the part F, F, of the
frame E, F, F, E, at one end, and taking into a hollow K, K, cast to receive
it on the wheel A, better shewn in the sectional Figure which will be bere-
after described. From this arrangement it would result that on the rudder
receiving a sudden blow from a wave while the wheel B was held firmly from
turning round, the wheel A, acting upon the worm D, would cause the frame
E, F, F, E, to turn on its centre G, enough to allow the worm D to accom-
modate itself to the altered position of the cogs of the wheel A, while the
nippers will traverse a little distance on the frame at F, F, the axle C, C,
also sliding a little way in its bearings E, E, the whole apparatus assuming
the position shown in Figure 2. But it is desirable that there should be
some counteracting spring or elastic medium to bring the nipper and frame
back to their former position, after having yielded to the shock of the wave
before alluded to, and this I effect as the most simple method by a small rope
and the belaying pins before mentioned, applied as shown at Figure 3. The
2 pins L, M, are for the purpose of receiving the ropes, which, after being
passed round them and the belaying pins, as here represented, are belayed in
the ordinary manner, and form a sufficiently elastic medium to allow of tho

page_text: necessary motion of the nippers and gear to prevent the cogs of the wheel A
or the worm D breaking by the shocks before alluded to. In this Figure,
N is the block or staunchion fixed on the deck to support the apparatus.
Figure 4 is a sectional view of the apparatus, O being the bottom part of the
travelling nippers and R the screw, which, in addition to the screws at the
ends of the pins H and I, serve to screw the jaws of the nippers together at
their binder part, and as similar letters are used to denote similar parts in all
the Figures, no further description of this Figure will be necessary. It will
be observed that as the whole of the apparatus which rests upon the block N
is only kept on it by the loose pin G, if at any time the stern of the vessel
should strike the ground, so as to raise the rudder in its gudgeons and pintles,
the apparatus will remain undisturbed and will continue to act; for the wheel
A being fixed to the rudder head and nipped by the travelling nippers J, the
whole apparatus will rise, as shown at Figure 5, all the parts preserving their
relative positions, and when the rudder resumes its proper place in the
gudgeons the apparatus will also resume its place on the block N. Now,
whereas it is evident that various kinds of springs or clastic media may be
applied in different ways to answer the object obtained the rope and
belaying pins, which I have only adopted as being more congenial to the
views of sailors; and whereas endless screws or worms working into a
cogged wheel attached to the rudder head in various ways are not new, I
therefore do not claim them as any part of my said Invention; but whereas
I do claim as my Invention the fastening or holding together of the gear on
the shaft of the steering wheel, whether the same be an endless screw or
worm or a system of bevelled or cogged wheels (all being equally capable of
adaptation to the principle of my Invention), and the gear on the head of the
rudder (and which must in all cases of course correspond with the gear on
the steering wheel shaft) by means of travelling nippers, such as herein-before
described, arranged with elastic springs or media, as aforesaid, and placed on
a moveable frame, as aforesaid, so that the sudden shocks given to the rudder
by waves or by striking the ground may neither break the cogged gear nor
alter the relative position of its various parts, so as to prevent its acting as
desired upon the rudder under all circumstances.
And such my Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief
entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said
Dominion of Wales or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my
said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or

page_text: disguise with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters
Letters contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Robinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Sixteenth day of June in the year of our Lord.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid John Robinson came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.