CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON THE TILLERS AND STEERING WHEELS OF VESSELS OF VARIOUS DENOMINATIONS
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
PHILLIPS, of Upnor, in the Parish of Frindsbury, in the County of Kent,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirteenth day of July, in the fifth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Phillips, His especial licence that I, the said Charles Phillips, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Phillips, my
exors, adñiors, and 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, and also in all His said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON
THE TILLERS AND STEERING WHEELS OF VESSELS OF VARIOUS DENOMINATIONS;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Charles Phillips, 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 bo performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months

page_text: next and immediately after the date of the said in part 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
Charles Phillips, do hereby declare that my Invention of Certain Improve-
ments on the Tillers and Steering Wheels of Vessels of various Denominations
are herein set forth and explained, reference being made to certain parts of the
Drawings hereunto annexed.
Drawing 1, Fig. 1. A, A, represents a plan or bird's-eye view of a part
of the deck of a vessel with one of my improved steering wheels and tillers
affixed thereto. B shews the upper end of the rudder, to which is fixed the
cast-iron wheel a. The centre of this is concentric with the pintles of the
rudder, and moves with it whenever its position is changed. b, b, is a
thin elastic strap of wrought iron or any other suitable metal fixed at c
by a bolt or pin that goes through the hole made at c to receive it; this
bolt or pin enters the beam C, and is made fast by a nut and screw, or any
other suitable means. D shews the position of a lever which moves on the
bolt or pin, shewn in dotted lines at d. One end of the strap or bar b is united
to the lever D by a pin or bolt that passes through holes made in each, as
shewn at e. The strap or thin bar 6, b, acts as a brake when the lever D is
acted upon by the rope E, which rope passes from the lever under the pullies f
and g, as seen in Fig. 2, from whence it proceeds towards the steering wheel
F; but before it reaches that point it may be made to branch off two ways,
so as to present itself on either side of the steering wheel after it has passed
over the pullies h and i. G represents the improvement I have made in tho
tiller, which is shortened so much that it leaves all the space that used to be
occupied by its range from side to side of the vessel quite unoccupied; but
as it requires a greater power to move the rudder with so short a tiller as is
hero shewn, I apply an increased power, in the following manner :-
Fig. 2 of Drawing 2 represents a front elevation of the rigger wheel or curb
H, and three pinions k, l, m, combined therewith; by means of this combination,
when the steering wheel is turned a sufficient power is gained to move the rudder
with the same facility as when a longer tiller is used without the same com-
bination of wheel and pinions, provided the diamiter of the wheels correspond
with the power required. In order to explain this more fully, in Fig. 1, I, I,
is a common barrel of a steering wheel; D, D, aro spokes of d°; P, P, is the
rigger for a chain that is connected with the tiller; k is a pinion fixed on the
spindle K that runs through the steering wheel, and is a fixture to it; land m,
seen in Fig. 2, are pinions hung between the rigger wheel I, II, and the

page_text: flanch w, w, of which and the rigger wheel or or a curb H, H, a section is
shown in Fig. 2. The carb or rim wheel H, H, is fixed by bolts to the
standard L; thus, when the steering wheel is set in motion by the spokes, the
spindle K being a fixture to the steering wheel, and the centre pinion k
a fixture to the spindle, whatever power is obtained by the differenco of
diameter between the pinion k and the flanch or curb H, H, as well as that
gained by one wheel revolving round another (when set in motion by the
interior or centre one), is given to the rigger through the medium of the
pinions and m. A chain M being led from the tiller to the rigger wheel
P, P, fastened to both, communicates the power gained by the wheels to the
tiller, and thus the tiller may be shortened to the most convenient length the
space in the ship requires. The form of the rigger wheel is of necessity
eccentric, as shewn by the Diagram, Fig. 7; for by refering to the plan of
the tiller, Drawing 1, Fig. 1, it will be seen that the end of the tiller G goes
through an arc, while the rope or chain which moves it goes through the chord
of that are, and consequently, when the helm is put hard up or hard down,
the rope or chain becomes slack; to take that slack up the rigger wheel is
made eccentric, the degree of eccentricity being equal to the difference between
the chord and are which the chain or rope and end of the tiller passes through;
seo the Diagram, Fig. 7. Should it be found necessary at any time to fix a
tiller of the ordinary length to the rudder, the tiller ropo may be placed upon
the barrel of the steering wheel I, I, and the usual method of steering be
resorted to, or both may be used in combination without difficulty, provided
the chain M be made fast to the long tiller at a point whose length is com-
mensurate with the short tiller before described, as may be seen by inspecting
the barrell of Fig. 1, Drawing 2, where the tiller rope a is shewn coiled round
the barrell several times, in the usual way, and which admits of a range or
extent of motion equal or proportionate to the common range of the tiller.
Fig. 4 represents another plan, and Fig. 5 a side elevation of my improve-
ment applied to a rudder where the common steering wheel is used with an
increased I power, produced in the following manner :-, Fig. 4, represents the
plan of a wooden wheel; to this is fixt the cast-iron rim wheel a, having a
part p cast with it, in which is formed the groove 9 and the centro holor;
b, b, represents an edge view of the elastic strap or bar, which acts as a brake,
and has the same parts applied or combined with it, as before described.
Fig. 5.-1 and 2 represent sections of two bars or carriages, which support
the moving parts in the following manner:- is a gudgeon or fulcrum, apon
which the lever i moves. A plan of this lever or tiller is shown in Fig. 6; the
groove or mortise represented in dotted lines near i, receives the cylindrical

page_text: The tiller rope s is placed
end of the bar h. k is a gudgeon fixed on the end of the lever or tiller i; this
enters the groove q, more plainly seen in Fig. 4. n, n, Fig. 5, shews a centre
pin or gudgeon, upon which is placed the wheel o.
in the groove formed on the edge, and is made fast to it at 8. 2 is a bar or
carriage which supports the gudgeon 7, and which is the fulcrum for the lever i.
When the wheel a is moved by the tiller rope, the gudgeon k being in the
groove q is obliged to obey the motion of the wheel 'a, and the bar h, being
connected to the lever i, moves with it, and consequently carries the rudder
with it. The peculiar formation and construction of the groove q, Fig. 4,
permits the sacrafice of time necessary to gain the increased power required.
It will be seen that the action of this combination is very simple, for when
the rudder is to be moved by the action of the steering wheel F the tiller rope
s causes the wooden wheel a to turn partly round, and as the cylindrical pin k
of the lever i is placed in the groove shewn at 9 in Fig. 4, it must move with
the wheel, and thereby change the position of the rudder with ease and facility,
and whenever a heavy strain comes upon the rudder the brake may bo
applied in either combination to render it secure.
And I hereby declare that, although I prefer cast or wrought iron for many
of the parts of my Invention, yet the samo may be made of any suitable metal
or materials that may best answer the intended purpose. And in order to
identify my Invention more distinctly, I hereby further declare that it
consists,―
Firstly, in the application of a brake to the rudder of any vessel, by which
means it may be secured most completely.
Secondly, in the application of the well-known combination of a wheel or
curb and pinions, in the way I have described, to the steering wheel of any
vessel, which, being so applied, produces such an encrease of power that a
ship's rudder with a short tiller may be moved with as much ease and facility
as those of the ordinary length; and,
Thirdly, for the construction and application of a wheel and groove, as
shewn in Drawing 2, Figures 4 and 5, by which means a sufficient power is
gained with a common steering wheel, although the tiller be shortened to the
extent therein shewn.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Phillips, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.
CHARLES (L.B.) PHILLIPS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eleventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1825, the aforesaid Charles Phillips came before our said
Lord the King in His 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.