IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATING AND RECORDING.THE DISTANCE RUN AND DIRECTION OF A SHIP OR VESSEL, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Chatwood, of Bolton, in the County of Lan-
caster, Safe and Lock Engineer, John Sturgeon, of Burley, near Leeds,
in the County of York. Consulting Engineer, and Thomas Sturgeon. of
Euston Road, in the County of Middlesex, Draughtsman, for the
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATING AND RECORDING.THE DISTANCE
RUN AND DIRECTION OF A SHIP OR VESSEL, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Chatwood, John
Sturgeon. and Thomas Sturgeon at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 21st March 1866.
We, SAMUEL CHATWOOD,. of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Safe
and Lock Engineer, JOHN STURGEON, of Burley, near Leeds, in the County of
York, Consulting Engineer, and THOMAS STURGEON, of Euston Road, in the
County of Middlesex. Draughtsman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATING AND RECORDING THE DISTANCE
RUN AND DIRECTION OF A SHIP OR VESSEL, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to improvements in indicating and recording, the
distance run and direction of a ship or vessel, and in apparatus employed

page_text: therein, and it object is, in the first place, to cause a ship or other vessel,
by its own movements, to mark or trace upon a map, chart, sheet of paper,
or any suitable surface the direction, speed, and course pursued by the vessel
by means of a pencil or other tracer. so that the position of the said pencil or
tracer upon the map or chart shall at any time indicate approximately the
then position of the vessel as regards latitude and longitude, as well as the
course which has been passed over by the vessel and its rate of progress, in
such a manner that upon a mere inspection of the apparatus any person of
ordinary capacity may be enabled at once to ascertain, without any such
observations and reckonings as have heretofore been necessary, the position and
course of the vessel, and to guide and navigate it without any difficulty within
a near degree of approximation, and also that the vessel's course and position
may be always approximately known and indicated upon the map or chart
under circumstances which would render it difficult or impossible to take
observations or ascertain the vessel's position by any of the means heretofore
in use. In order to effect this object we. in the first place, provide a suitable
apparatus for registering the speed of the vessel, which apparatus is caused
to actuate, by means of a screw, rack, or other suitable gear, a moveable
table, or a cylindrical, spherical, or other suitably formed framework, to which
a chart or piece of paper may be attached in such a way that the progressive
movement of the said framework, together with the chart or paper attached
thereto may so correspond with the speed of the vessel as to be always pro-
portionate thereto in the necessary ratio to suit the size or scale of the map
or chart. By this means this progressive movement of the said table or frame-
work will indicate the distance and rate of progress of the vessel, the direction
of which towards any point of the compass may be indicated by means of a
magnetic bar or needle, which is so arranged and applied as to vary the
direction of the movement of the said table or framework with the map or
chart, as before described, whenever the direction of the vessel is changed.
One of the modes, amongst various others. of effecting this object is by pro-
viding a series of electro-magnets corresponding to the points of the compass
or degrees of a circle so applied in connection with the progressive gear of the
apparatus that any one of these electro-magnets may, when magnetised by
means of a current of electricity passed round it, influence the direction of the
said progressive motion, the proper magnet being selected and brought into
connection with the battery by means of the magnetic bar or compass needle,
which is caused to operate so as to complete the circuit necessary to bring
into action the magnet corresponding to that point of the compass opposite
which the needle may be. By these means the variations in the ship's course

page_text: will produce corresponding variations in the direction of motion in the appa-
ratus. And if a pencil or tracer be held in a fixed position over the table
which is caused to traverse beneath it at the rate proportioned to the vessel's
progress and in directions varying in accordance with the direction of the
vessel a line will be traced upon the map or chart placed on the table cor-
responding approximately to the ship's course. So also conversely the required
movements may be applied to the pencil or tracer, the map or chart being
fixed in a constant position; or the required movements may be otherwise
varied, and the diagram may be traced either with a common marker or by
electrical or chemical decomposition of a suitably prepared surface, or in any
other convenient way.
In the second place, the principles above described may be applied for the
purpose simply of registering and recording by self-acting appliances the rate
of progress, direction, and duration of direction of the vessel upon suitably
arranged paper, which may be attached to tables or cylinders or otherwise
carried, and receive a uniform movement in one direction indicating duration
of time by means of a chronometer or by ordinary clockwork, the other
movements already described being also imparted to the apparatus. From
the combined diagrams, registers, or log thus produced sufficient data will be
obtained to enable any person of ordinary capacity to mark down upon a chart
a line approximately indicating the vessel's course and its then present position.
The necessary apparatus for effecting this may be variously arranged and
modified; for instance, the magnetic needle may be hung so as to support and
carry with it a light cardboard cylinder, to which sensitive paper may be
attached so as to be chemically acted upon by rays of light or heat obtained
from a lamp and collected by a suitable lens into a focus sufficiently acute to
produce a discoloration on the sensitive paper, so as to form a continuous mark
or line either by the axial motion of the cylinder or by the movement ver-
tically of the lens along the cylinder, which may be effected by means of
clockwork. The prepared paper being divided into equal spaces indicating
time in the direction pursued by the lamp tracer," and into divisions cor-
responding to the points of the compass in the direction of its axial motion
given by the magnetic needle will clearly indicate by the diagram produced
upon it the direction in which the vessel has been sailing at any hour of the day,
and the length of time during which that direction has been maintained, the
various tacks" and changes of direction, and the precise time at which such
tacks and changes took place. The number of miles travelled in a given
time may be indicated upon a strip of paper divided into spaces indicating
divisions of time which is wound round a barrel by clockwork at a speed cor-

page_text: responding to time. A pencil or other traçer is pressed against the paper so
as to mark a line upon the paper as it passes beneath the tracer, in which
line slight breaks or marks are made at intervals dénoting distance run, these
breaks or marks being produced either by electrical action or by mechanical
arrangements acted upon by any suitable apparatus for recording the dis-
tance run by a vessel. The two diagrams thus obtained will supply all the
data necessary for tracing a line indicating the ship's course upon a map or
chart
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Chatwood, John Sturgeon, and Thomas Sturgeon in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL.
CHATWOOD, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Safe and Lock Engineer,
JOHN STURGEON, of Burley, near Leeds, in the County of York, Consulting
Engineer, and THOMAS STURGEON, of Euston Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Samuel Chatwood, John Sturgeon, and Thomas Sturgeon, Her special licence
that we, the said Samuel Chatwood, John Sturgeon, and Thomas Sturgeon,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Samuel Chatwood, John Sturgeon, and Thomas Sturgeon, our 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 vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INDICATING AND RECOLDIN
THE DISTANCE RUN AND DIRECTION OF A SHIP OR VESSEL, AND IN APPARATU
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Samuel Chatwood, John Sturgeon, and Thomas Sturgeon, our executors on
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals,
or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Thomas Sturgeon, on behalf of myself
and the said Samuel Chatwood and John Sturgeon, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
In indicating, registering, and recording by self-acting appliances the rate
of of progress, direction, and duration of direction of the vessel upon suitably
arranged paper, which may be attached to tables or cylinders, or otherwise
carried, and receive a uniform movement in one direction indicating duration
of time by means of a chronometer or by ordinary clockwork; other move-
ments being also imparted to the apparatus as herein described. From the
combined diagrams, registers, or log thus produced sufficient data will be
obtained to enable any person of ordinary capacity to mark down upon a
chart a line approximately indicating the vessel's course and its then present
position.
The necessary apparatus for effecting this may be variously arranged and
modified. For instance the magnetic needle may be hung so as to support
and carry with it a light cardboard cylinder, to which sensitive paper may be
attached so as to be chemically acied upon by rays of light or heat obtained
from a lamp and collected by a suitable lens into a focus sufliciently acute to
produce a discoloration on the sensitive paper, so as to form a continuous
mark or line either by the axial motion of the cylinder or by the movement
vertically of the lens along the cylinder, which may be effected by means of
clockwork. The prepared paper being divided into equal spaces indicating
time in the direction pursued by the "lamp tracer," and into divisions cor-
responding to the points of the compass in the direction of its axial motion
given by the magnetic needle will clearly indicate by the diagram produced
upon it the direction in which the vessel has been sailing at any hour of the
day, and the length of time during which that direction has been maintained,
the various tacks" and changes of direction, and the precise time at which
such tacks and changes took place. The number of miles travelled in a given
time may be indicated upon a strip of paper divided into spaces indicating
divisions of time, which is wound round a barrel by clockwork at a speed
corresponding to time. A pencil or other tracer is pressed against the paper,
so as to mark a line upon the paper as it passes beneath the tracer, in which
line slight breaks or marks are made at intervals denoting distance run; these
breaks or marks being produced either by electrical action or by mechanical

page_text: arrangements acted upon by any suitable apparatus for recording the distance
run by a vessel The two diagrams thus obtained will sunuly all the data
necessary by tracing a line indicating the ship's course upon a map or chart.
Having thus stated the nature of our said Invention we will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
necessary by tracing a line indicating the ship's course upon a map or chart.
Having thus stated the nature of our said Invention we will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
Figure
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
is a plan, Figure 2 is an elevation, Figures 3 and 4 are views of
part of the mechanism for registering the speed.
A is a case which contains the clockwork which imparts a revolving motion
to the horizontal drum B. On the lower edge of this drum teeth are formed as
at C, and these teeth work into the teeth of a wheel D fixed on same axis
as wheel E. The wheel E works into the teeth of a wheel F firmly fixed on.
the axis of an upright screw G. This screw works through a nut H, to which
is attached the lamp I; this lamp is also furnished with a guide K on the
other side. It will now be seen that the motion of the clockwork in case A
is carried from the drum B by means of the gearing C, D, E, F, to the
screw G, and this movement of the screw imparts an up or down motion to
the lamp. The drum B shown in the Drawing is intended to revolve once in
twelve hours, and the gearing is so arranged that the lamp may be lowered a
quarter of an inch for every hour. L is a circular case (shown in plan
uncovered), and in the centre of this case is fixed the pivot M (Figure 2), and
upon the pivot M is balanced the magnetic needle N. This needle is furnished
with a disc O, and a cylinder formed of some light material (such as card) is
attached to the circumference of the disc O. In the case L is a vertical
slot P, and the case is so fixed that this slot may be just opposite to the lamp I,
which is furnished with a lens so placed that the focus of the rays emitted
may be thrown on the surface of the cylinder carried by the magnetic needle.
A long slip of metal or other material is attached to the lamp and moves
with it so as to cover up the slot in the case L and prevent and extraneous
light from entering it. The instrument being a fixture in the ship it is clear
that any alteration in the direction of the ship will bring the lamp and the
slot in the case L opposite a different portion of the cylinder carried by the
magnetic needle (the needle and the cylinder remaining constant in their
position), and if a piece of sensitive paper divided vertically into spaces
corresponding to the points of the compass, and horizontally into spaces cor-
responding to the space travelled by the lamp in a certain space of time, (say
one hour, which in the instruments shown would be a quarter of an inch); it
is clear that the line traced by the light from the lamp on the sensitive paper

page_text: would, owing to the combined movement of the ship horizontally and of the
lamp vertically, shew in what direction the ship had been travelling during any
portion of the time during which the apparatus was in action; also when and
what changes in direction took place during that time. Such a diagram is
shewn in Figure 5. Sheet 2, and will be more fully described hereafter.
We accomplish the self-acting registration of the speed in the following
manner We employ a small well-known instrument called a ship's log,
which is so arranged that being attached to the ship by a tow line and being
drawn through the water after the ship a revolving motion is imparted to an
axis contained in the log, which is always proportionate to the speed of the
ship through the water. To this instrument we attach the ends of two copper
insulated wires, the instrument being so arranged that during every revolution
of the axis of the log it forms metallic connection between the ends of these
two wires and breaks it again (or. instead of forming metallic connection
between the two wires and breaking it again every revolution. it may be
arranged so as to form metallic connection and break it once in a certain
fixed number of revolutions by simple well known contrivances of mechanism).
One of these wires is connected with one of the poles of a galvanic battery, and
the other wire is connected with the binding screw R. Figure 3. and is thus
placed in metallic connection with a coil of insulated wire S. S. (Figures 1
and 3). This coil passes round bars of soft iron, and the other end of it is
connected to the binding screw T, Figure 3. and from this another wire is
carried to the other pole of the galvanic battery, and therefore every time the
revolving log in the water forms metallic connection between the two wires a
current of electricity passes through the whole circuit and causes the soft iron
cores in the coil S to become magnetic.. Immediately over these bars there
is a piece of iron U (Figures 1 and 3), which is fixed to the end of the lever V
working on fulcrum W. This lever carries a catch X which works into the
teeth of a ratchet wheel Y. It will now be seen that every time the circuit
is completed by the revolving log in the water the piece of iron U on the
end of the lever V is attracted and drawn downwards, and the catch X moves
the ratchet wheel Y through a part of a revolution. When the circuit is again
broken the lever is forced up to its original position by means of the spring Z.
Figure 3, and the ratchet wheel is retained in its position by means of the
catch A (Figures 3 and 4). On the same axis as the wheel Y is fixed a
worm B' working into a worm wheel C', and on the axis of this worm wheel
is fixed a cam D'. This cam is made to act on one end of the lever E' which
carries the pencil or marker which marks the diagram, and the angle of the
vanes of the revolving log in the water and the teeth of the wheels are so

page_text: calculated as to cause the cam to revolve once in one mile of distance, or it
may be some other fixed measure of distance according to convenience, and it
will consequently he readily perceived that for every mile (or other measure.
as the case may be,) which the ship travels the pencil is caused to make one
deflection or angle on the paper diagram which is carried by the drum B.
This diagram being divided into spaces corresponding to time, and being
carried, round at the proper rate, it is clear that the number of deflections or
angles marked in one of these spaces will indicate the number of miles (or
whatever measure the apparatus may be arranged for) travelled during the
time to which that space corresponds.
We may state here that we prefer to make the time spaces on the diagram
correspond to hours, and to cause the pencil to mark one deflection per mile,
but we do not limit ourselves to this.
Although in our Drawing, for the convenience of illustration, we have
shewn the speed and direction recorder as one combined instrument we do not
confine ourselves to this arrangement. We prefer to make them separate
instruments, each having its own clockwork, and in the direction diagram we
place the clockwork concentrically with the pivot on which the needle swings,
or in some such position that the steel centres may not cause the needle to be
deflected from its true position. It is necessary that the instruments, whether
combined or separate, should be suspended from universal joints like an
ordinary ship's compass, so that it may not be affected by the movements of
the ship and its action thus interfered with.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Sturgeon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand. eight hundred and sixty-six.
THOMAS STURGEON. (L.s.)