IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEERING AND MANEUVRING VESSELS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Stavers, of Morpeth, in the County of Northum-
berland, Master Mariner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR STEERING AND MANEUVRING VESSELS."
Scaled the 18th July 1876, and dated the 7th April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Stavers at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th April 1876,
GEORGE STAVERS, of Morpeth, in the County of Northumberland, Master Mariner,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEERING AND MANOEUVRING VESSELS."
My Invention has reference to apparatus for steering and manoeuvring vessels in
which what are termed fish fin rudders are employed as auxiliaries to or in lieu of
the ordinary rudder, and the Invention consists of an improved arrangement of
machinery or gear for working such rudders. Hitherto they have been generally
worked by having toothed quadrants on their shafts, and a similar quadrant on the
tiller shaft, but the teeth of these quadrants are liable to get broken, and the
apparatus is then difficult to work.
Now, according to my present Invention, I fix to the shaft of each of the two
fish fin rudders an arm, the outer end of which carries a pin. The two pins work
in a cam-shaped slot or cam groove in a yoke or plate, which is free to be
turned within certain limits upon a vertical pin. To this yoke wheel chains or
wheel ropes from the barrel of the steering wheel are led, so that as the wheel is
turned in the one or the other direction so is the plate moved to one side or the other,
and the fin rudders are thereby acted upon through the intermediation of the arms
before described; but the cam slot or cam groove in the plate is so shaped that only
one of the arms connected to the fin rudder shafts is acted upon at a time. I prefer
to employ a double barrel on the steering wheel, and to connect to it wheel chains
or wheel ropes from the main or ordinary rudder, as well as from the yoke of the
fin rudders, so as to allow of the inain rudder being worked when desired in con-
junction with the others, and by the same wheel, pauls or other suitable devices
being employed to throw either the main or the fin rudders into or out of gear as
required. In some cases I connect the yoke of the fin rudders and that of the main
rudder by rods, so that by working the main rudder by a wheel in the usual way
the fin rudders are worked simultaneously with it, the barrel and the wheel chains
[Price Gd.]

page_text: of the fin rudders being then dispensed with. These rods are disconnected when it
is required to work the main rudder only.
The apparatus or gear herein-before described may be placed on the "iron flat,"
or in any other convenient position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said George Stavers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th October
1876.
GEORGE STAVERS, of Morpeth, in the County of Northumberland, Master Mariner.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEERING AND MANOEUVRING VESSELS."
My Invention has reference to apparatus for steering and manoeuvring vessels in
which what are termed fish fin rudders are employed as auxiliaries to or in lieu of
the ordinary rudder, and the Invention consists of an improved arrangement of
machinery or gear for working such rudders. Hitherto they have been generally
worked by having toothed quadrants on their shafts, and a similar quadrant on the
tiller shaft, but the teeth of these quadrants are liable to get broken, and the
apparatus is then difficult to work.
Now, according to my present Invention, I fix to the shaft of each of the two
fish fin rudders an arm or tiller, the outer end of which carries a pin. The two
pins work in a cam-shaped slot or cam groove in a yoke or plate, which is free to
be turned within certain limits upon a vertical pin. To this yoke wheel chains or
wheel ropes from the barrel of the steering wheel are led, so that as the wheel is
turned in the one or the other direction, so is the plate moved to one side or the
other, and the fin rudders are thereby acted upon through the intermediation of the
arms before described; but the cam slot or cam groove in the plate is so shaped that
only one of the arms connected to the fin rudder shafts is acted upon at a time. I
prefer to employ a double barrel on the steering wheel, and to connect to it wheel
chains or wheel ropes from the main or ordinary rudder as well as from the yoke of
the fin rudders, so to allow of the main rudder being worked when desired in con-
junction with the others, and by the same wheel, pauls or other suitable devices
being employed to throw either the main or the fin rudders into or out of gear as
required.
My Invention will be fully understood by the accompanying Drawing, which is a
plan of my apparatus.
a, a, are the shafts of the two fish fin rudders, the said shafts being carried
through stuffing boxes in the vessel's quarters; b, b, are arms or tillers fixed to
these shafts. On the end of each of these arms is a pin c working in a cam-shaped
slot or cam groove d in a yoke or plate e, which is free to turn on a vertical pin f;
g is a tiller fixed to the yoke f, and from this tiller wheel chains or ropes h, h, are
carried, as seen, to the barrel of the steering wheel, which is not shewn in the
Drawing, but the position of which is on the bridge at A. It will be readily
understood that as the wheel is turned in the one or the other direction, so is the
yoke e moved to one side or the other, and that the fin rudders are thereby acted
upon through the intermediation of the arms b, b; also that by the peculiar form of
the cam slot or groove d only one of the arms b, b, and therefore only one of the fin
rudders is acted upon at a time, because the pin c of the other arm moves in the
portion of the cam, such portion being a curve struck from the centre f. i is the
tiller of the main or ordinary rudder; it is connected by wheel chains k, l, to a
second barrel of the steering wheel, so as to allow of the main rudder being worked
in conjunction with the fin rudders when desired, as has already been herein-before
explained. The chains can if desired be carried through the main shaft tunnel and
up the engine room to the wheel, and when fin rudders are fitted to the fore part of
the vessel a similar apparatus can be applied to them. In some cases I connect the
yoke of the fin rudders and that of the main rudder by rods, so that by working

page_text: the main rudder by a wheel in the usual way, the fin rudders are worked simul-
taneously with it, the barrel and the wheel chains of the fin rudders being then
dispensed with. These rods are disconnected when it is required to work the main
rudder only.
The apparatus or gear herein-before described may be placed on the "iron flat,"
or in any other convenient position.
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 machinery or apparatus for working fish fin rudders, substantially
as herein-before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Stavers, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-ninth day of September, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-six.