An Improved Method of and Electrical Apparatus for Automatically Reducing and Cutting Off the Steam from, and thus Preventing the "Racing" of, Marine Engines.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 2. d Mar., 1996
Complete Specification Left, 27th July, 1596-Accepted, 13th Feb.. 1897
NAL ST
An Improved Method of and Electrical Apparatus for Automatically
Reducing and Cutting Off the Steam from, and thus Preventing
the "Racing" of, Marine Engines.
We, SAMUEL MARK FOLK, of "Tarlee," Dandenong Road, East St. Kilda, near
Melbourne, in the Colony of Victoria, Student, and DAVID SOLOMON ELLIS, of
"Yatala," Jackson Street, St. Kilda, near Melbourne aforesaid, Clerk, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has been devised in order to automatically and gradually or
wholly cut off the steam from marine engines and thus prevent their "racing" when
the propellor comes out of the water, or the main shaft or other part of the machinery
breaks.
Now our invention consists essentially in the employment of two or more copper
or other inetallic plates or contact pieces electrically insulated from each other and
supported in any convenient manner at the stern of the vessel, at such a height that
when the propellor comes near the surface they will be lifted more or less out
of the water and thus the area of electrical contact will be lessened or completely
broken.
These plates are connected by an insulated wire up to a relay arranged to complete
a circuit through an electromagnet or solenoid whenever the circuit through the plates
is broken, and said magnet or solenoid is arranged to operate either upon the
eduction or throttle valve of the main engines either directly or indirectly and
preferably through the agency of a small auxiliary engine connected on to the eduction
or throttle valve and slide valve links of the main engines.
Said plates may if preferred be coupled up to a solenoid and dynamo and be so
arranged that the current flowing through said solenoid will be regulated by the
depth to which the plates are immersed and said solenoid may be coupled up to the
slide valve of said auxiliary engine by a cross bar or lever which will determine
what part of the stroke the steam is to be cut off at.
In order to prevent "racing" in the event of the propellor shaft or other part of the
machinery breaking, insulated branches are led from the insulated wire above
mentioned and are then led along or around and in contact with the important
parts of such machinery and can be in a closed electric circuit with another relay
adapted to operate the electromagnet or solenoid which as above mentioned acts upon
the eduction and throttle valves or slide valve links of the engines.
By the above means it will be evident that steam will be automatically shut off
either partially or wholly from the ship's engines in the event of the propellor being
raised out of the water or of any vital part of the machinery breaking and thus the
racing" of marine engines from either of these causes will be automatically
prevented.
Dated this Twenty-eighth day of January One thousand eight hundred and

page_text: An Improved Method of and Electrical Apparatus for Automatically
Reducing and Cutting Off the Steam from, and thus Preventing
the "Racing" of, Marine Engines.
We, SAMUEL MARK FOLK, of "Tarlee," Dandenong Road, East St. Kilda, near
Melbourne, in the Colony of Victoria, Student, and DaviD SOLOMON ELLIS, of
"Yatala" Jackson Street, St. Kilda, near Melbourne, aforesaid, Clerk, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention has been devisad in order to automatically cut off the steam from and
thus prevent the "racing" of marine engines when the propeller comes out of the
water.
Hitherio on sea going vessels it has been necessary in rough weather to station
a man at the throttle valve in order to shut off the steain whenever the propeller was
raised out of the water.
Now this invention consists essentially in the employment of two or more copper
or other metallic plates or contact pieces electrically insulated from each other and
supported in any convenient manner at the stern of the vessel, at such a height that
when the propeller comes near the surface they will be lifted more or less
out of the water and thus the electrical communication between them will be
broken.
These plates are connected up to a relay arranged to complete a circuit through
an electromagnet whenever the circuit through the plates is broken and said
magnet is arranged to operate upon the throttle valve of the main engine either
directly or indirectly and preferably through the agency of a small auxiliary engine
connected on to the throttle valve of the main engine.
Said plates may if preferred be coupled up to a solenoid and dynamo and be so
arranged that the current flowing throngh said solenoid will be regulated by the
depth to which the plates are immersed and said solenoid may be coupled up to
the slide valve of said auxiliary engine by a cross bar or lever which will determine
at what part of the stroke the steam is to be cut off.
If preferred two or more plates or contact pieces can be employed at different levels
and they can be so arranged as to gradually shut off steam as the propeller is rising
out of the water.
This invention will be readily understood by reference to the accompanying
drawings wherein :-
Figure 1 is a view of part of the stern of a vessel with said invention illustrated
diagrammatically.
Figure 2 is a sectional view of said invention with the parts in their normal position,
that is as
they would be when the screw is in the water.
Figure 3 is a similar view with the parts in the positions they assume when the
screw is raised out of the water by the pitching of the vessel.
Figures 1 to 7 are diagrams illustrating the operation of the invention.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.
A represents the metallic plates or contact-pieces which as above mentioned are
supported at the stern of the vessel at such a height that when the propeller comes
near the surface they will be lifted more or less out of the water.
These plates are insulated one from the other and they are electrically connected to
a dynamo indicated at B as well as to a solenoid C.
The core of this latter is supported upon one end of a lever E whose other end is

page_text: connected by a rod to a second lever F the lower end of said rod / being the fulcrum
of said second lever.
The short arm of the lever F is connected by a pitinan y to a valve G whereby
steam or other motive fluid is admitted into a cylinder H. The opposite end of the
lever is connected to the rod i of a piston I working inside said cylinder Hand
adapted to open or close the throttle valve J of the engine through the medium of a
forked arm or other convenient connection.
The levers E and F are so proportioned to each other and to the travel of
the solenoid core D, valve G and piston I as to ensure the proper relative movement
of this latter compared to the former.
This will be readily understood from the diagrams in which the parts are shewn in
their normal positions in Figures 2 and 4 that is as they would be when the contact
plates A are in the water and a current is flowing through the solenoid C so as to
keep the core D in its raised and the piston I in its lowest position.
In the event of the vessel "pitching" so that the screw is partly raised out
of the water the plates A will also be lifted a corresponding amount the effect of
which will be that the electrical resistance between the plates will be increased
consequently less current will flow round the solenoid C and the core D will drop a
certain distance. The effect of this movement of the core will be to move the lever E
and so raise the valve G opening the port leading to the lower end of the cylinder E
and causing the piston I therein to rise and partially close the throttle valve J.
As however the piston I on rising operates the lever F the effect will be that
after said piston has risen a certain distance it will again close the valve G the
effect being to lock the piston I and therefore the throttle valve J in their
corresponding positions (as indicated in Figure 6) until the amount of the plates A
immersed in the water has been again altered.
For instance, if they are lifted entirely out of the water as indicated in Figure 7
the core D will fall to its lowest position and the valve G will be held in its highest
position until the piston I has reached the top of its stroke when the lever I will
return the valve G to its closed position as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 7,
the effect being to hold the throttle valve closed and therefore to cut off the steam
from the engines whilst the plates A are out of the water. By this means the racing
of marine engines whenever the screw comes out of the water will be prevented.
The plates A may be adjusted vertically in any convenient manner in order that
the engineer in charge of the vessel may vary their position according to whether
the vessel is heavily laden or as he may find advisable and if preferred provision can
be made for lifting them out of the water entirely in calm weather.
The connections above described may be arranged to operate the link motion of the
engine or a valve in the eduction or exhaust pipe of the engine in addition to or in
conjunction with the throttle valve and as above mentioned an electro-magnet may
be used instead of a solenoid.
It will be evident that by means of this invention steam will be automatically
shut off from the ship's engines in the event of the propeller being raised out
of the water, and thus the "racing" of marine engines will be automatically
prevented.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The herein described method of automatically cutting off the steam from and thus
preventing the "racing" of marine engines by supporting two or more insulated
metallic plates or contact pieces at the stern of the vessel so that normally they will
be in the water and by connecting them up to a solenoid or electro-magnet adapted to
actuate the throttle valve or the link motion of the main engines or a valve
in the eduction or exhaust pipe of the engine substantially as and for the purpose
specified.
2. The herein described electrical apparatus for automatically cutting off the

page_text: steam from and thus preventing the "racing" of marine engines consisting essentially
of a pair of metallic plates or contact pieces in circuit with a solenoid and electrio
generator said solenoid being coupled up to the valve of a small auxiliary engine
adapted to actuate the throttle valve or the link motion or a valva in the eduction
or exhaust pipo of the marine engine substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Dated this 25th day of July One thousand eight hundred and ninety-six.
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents for the Applicants.