Iм- PROVEMENTS IN SPEED REGULATING APPARATUS FOR MARINE ENGINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Laurence Hill, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of “Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN SPEED REGULATING APPARATUS FOR MARINE ENGINES."
Sealed the 10th February 1874, and dated the 15th August 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Laurence Hill at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th August 1878.
I, LAURENCE HILL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPEED REGULATING APPARATUS FOR MARINE
ENGINES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention comprises improvements whereby speed regulating
apparatus for marine engines is rendered extremely. sensitive and
effective, and at the same time very simple and applicable with great
facility, and without making large apertures in the ship's plating or
planking.

page_text: The Invention consists in arranging an electro-magnet to act on the
lever of the throttle or regulator valve, either directly or as is preferred
through the intervention of a frictional clutch moved by the engine,
the electro-magnet being made to act by the closing of an electric
circuit on the propeller becoming too little immersed in the water.
In carrying out the Invention according to one modification a small
tube is arranged in the neighborhood of the propeller whereby the
external water has access to a small float or diaphragm connected to
the contact maker of the circuit wire of the electro-magnet, so that
when the outside water level descends relatively to the tube the
consequent movement of the diaphragm or float makes contact and
so sets the electro-magnet in action. The electro-magnet is arranged
against the engine shaft, or opposite a disc or wheel driven from the
engine shaft, and thus becomes an electric clutch; being, when in
action, attracted to the shaft, disc, or wheel, and made to turn thereby.
The turning movement of the magnet or electric clutch is limited by
stops, and is transmitted to the throttle or regulator valve by links and
levers, or in any other convenient way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Laurence Hill in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th February 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LAURENCE
HILL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Laurence Hill, Her special
licence that I, the said Laurence Hill, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Laurence Hill, 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

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR REGULATING THE SPEED OF MARINE ENGINES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Laurence Hill, 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 Laurence Hill, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention comprises improvements whereby speed regulating
apparatus for marine engines is rendered extremely sensitive and
affective, and at the same time very simple and applicable with great
facility, and without making large apertures in the ship's plating or
planking.
My Invention consists in arranging an electro-magnet to act on the
lever of the throttle or regulator valve, either directly, or, as I prefer,
through the intervention of a frictional clutch moved by the engine;
the electro-magnet being made to act by the closing of an electric
circuit on the propeller becoming too little immersed in the water.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing
some of the various arrangements of apparatus that may be made for
carrying out my improvements. In these Drawings the same reference
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are
repeated.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a vertical section of a simple and
convenient arrangement for effecting the closing and opening of the
electric circuit by the action of the water outside the ship. Into a
perforation through the ship's plating 1, in the neighborhood of the
propeller, there is screwed a casting 2, formed with a passage 8, by

page_text: which the external water has access to a diaphragm 4 of vulcanised
rubber or other suitable material, fixed across the inner end of the
passage 3. The diaphragm 4 is secured by a cover 5 bolted down on
the casting 2, and which is formed with a guide tube for the spindle 6
of a small disc 7 resting upon the diaphragm 4. The spindle 6 bears
up a lever 8 of vulcanite or other suitable non-conducting material,
jointed to a small pillar 9 and working in a guide 10; and one, 11, of the
electric circuit wires is fixed to the pillar 9, and the other wire 12 to
a metal strip 13 fixed on the top of the vulcanite lever 8, in metallic
communication with an upper contact piece 14, which is formed with
a conical cavity at its bottom end, and is placed directly over a pointed
contact piece 15 fixed or formed on the cover 5. As long as the propeller
remains sufficiently immersed the external water will have sufficient
hydrostatic pressure in the passage 3 and up against the diaphragm 4
to lift up the lever 8 and keep the contact pieces 14, 15, separate; but
on the vessel rising so as to diminish the immersion of the propeller
the hydrostatic pressure up against the diaphragm 4 will be corre-
spondingly diminished, the lever will fall, and the parts 14, 15, becoming
in contact the electric circuit will be closed. The electric current then
acting by means such as are herein-after described will close the throttle
or regulator valve of the engines and diminish the supply of steam,
whereby will be prevented the racing of the engines that would
otherwise take place in consequence of the diminished immersion of
the propeller.
Figures 2 and 3 are vertical sections as at right angles to each other
showing a simple mode of arranging the electro-magnet, so as to become
itself an electric clutch by means of which power is derived from the
engine shaft for acting on the throttle valve. The magnet 16 is held on
a brass plate or holder 17, mounted loosely on a pin 18, screwed into the
end of the engine shaft 19, and the poles are bended towards the shaft
so that their ends are in contact therewith. The insulated electric
circuit wires 11, 12, are wound round the poles in the usual way, and
when the electric current is set in operation through the action of
apparatus, such as is herein-before described with reference to Figure 1,
the magnet 16 is attracted to the end of the shaft 19 and is turned
round thereby. The holder 17 is connected by a rod 20 to the lever of
the throttle valve 21, which consequently becomes closed when the
magnet 16 is turned by the shaft,

page_text: Figure 4 is a horizontal section, and Figure 5 is an end elevation of a
modified arrangement to suit cases where the throttle valve requires
more power to move it than can be conveniently obtained by an
arrangement such as is shown in Figures 2 and 3. A disc 22 with a
cylindrical rim is fixed on the end of the shaft 19, and a straight electro-
magnet 16 is mounted on the pin 18, so that its ends are in contact with
the rim of the disc 22. The magnet 16 has jointed to it a metal strap 23
fitted with friction blocks 24 to bear on the outside of the rim of the
disc 22, and the other end of this strap 28 is connected to the throttle
valve. When the electro-magnet is made active by the closing of the
electric circuit in the manner herein-before described its first effect on
being turned by the shaft 19 is to tighten the friction strap 23 upon
the shaft, which gives the shaft an ample moving command over the
throttle valve connections. The arrangement of magnet and disc shown
in Figures 4 and 5 may in some cases be used without the friction
strap 28.
Figure 6 is a horizontal section of a modification in which a disc 25
is employed that is not fixed to the shaft 19, but can remain as it were
united to the magnet 16 when this is rendered active, and thus reduce
the friction on the poles of the magnet. A piece 26 of leather or other
suitable material is interposed between the shaft 19 and the diso 25, so
that the shaft may act frictionally on the disc and the latter is pressed
against the former by an adjustable spring 27.
Figures 7 and 8 are end elevations showing how a magnet of the
ordinary horse-shoe form may be applied in carrying out my Invention.
In the arrangement shown in Figure 7 the magnet 16 is fixed to a
holder 17, which is centred on a pin 18 fixed in the end of the shaft,
and in the arrangement shown in Figure 8 the magnet holder 17 is
fitted to move vertically in guides 28 fixed on any convenient stationary
part at the side of the shaft. In each case the holder is to be connected
to the throttle valve lever.
The electro-magnet may be arranged in connection with a shaft, diso,
or wheel turned by means of the crank shaft instead of with that shaft
itself.
The electric current employed in carrying out my Invention may be
obtained from any suitable galvanic battery or from a magneto-electric

page_text: be arranged to be put into or out of operation at will, so that the
electricity need not be generated excepting during such weather as may
render it necessary to regulate the speed in the manner herein-before
described.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the t
manner of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that
what I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. The arranging of an electro-magnet to act on the throttle valve of 1
marine engines for preventing the racing of such engines, as herein-
before described.
.
2. The arranging of contact pieces in an electric circuit to be acted
upon in accordance with the varying immersion of a ship in the
neighborhood of a propeller, as and for the purposes herein-before 1
described.
3. The arranging of the electro-magnet in connection with the engine
shaft or with a shaft or disc in gear therewith, so as (when required) to
derive power frictionally from that shaft for acting on the throttle or
regulator valve, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Laurence Hill, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
2
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
LAUR. HILL (L.S.)