Improvements in Apparatus for Steering or Retarding the Motion of Navigable Vessels.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Dec., 1892-Accepted, 15th July, 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Steering or Retarding the Motion of
Navigable Vessels.
I, FERDINAND TOBIAS, of Lagenhauserstrasse 38/2, and 15/0, Mühlstrasse,
Munich, in the Empire of Germany, Engineer, 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 relates to apparatus for steering or retarding the motion of
navigable vessels, and has for its object to provide an apparatus which shall be
capable of stopping the motion of such vessels very rapidly in case of impending
collision; or where it is too late to stop the vessel, to be capable of steering or
turning such vessel very quickly, and for manoeuvreing navigable vessels generally.
According to this invention one or more fins or wings is or are hinged to each
side of the ship below the water line, and when it is desired to retard the motion of
the vessel, or to alter her course, these fins are caused to be opened or turned
about their hinges in the direction of the motion of the vessel by the main
propelling engine of the ship, through suitable intermediate mechanical gearing.
Thus in addition to the retarding effect upon the ship of the opened out fins, the
power necessary for opening such fins is obtained from the propelling engine, and
its effective energy is thereby reduced.
In the drawings hereto annexed, Figure 1 shows a general arrangement of
apparatus according to my invention for retarding the progress of a ship.
a designates the framing of a vessel or ship, and 6 the plating or skin of the
ship, as seen in sectional plan. c designates a fin or shutter, which is hinged to
the side of the ship at d, and to the outer end of c is hinged the secondary fin or
wing e. A recess is formed in the ship's side for the reception of the fins c and e,
when in their normal or closed position, by removing a portion of the ship's skin or
plating and covering the aperture with an inner plate f, as shewn in Figure 1. It will
be understood that the fins c and e, which are shewn in plan in the figure, are of con-
siderable depth, their depth varying with the size of the vessel or other circumstance.
The fins c and e are held and guided by the stay g, which is hinged at one end to
the ship's side and at its outer end to the outer extremity of the fin e, and is
provided with a longitudinal slot in which is held the pin h of the fin c. To the
fin c is also connected the toothed quadrant i which passes through an aperture
in the ship's side and into the sheath k.
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The mechanism which operates the quadrant i and consequently the fins c and e,
is illustrated in detail in Figures 2, 3, and 4, and consists of the following parts.
The shaft n is mounted at one end in fixed bearings I and at its other end in sliding
bearings o. Upon the shaft n and between the bearings 1, 1, is mounted the spur
wheel m which gears with the quadrant i, and to the opposite end of the shaft is
keyed the bevel wheel p, adapted to gear with the bevel wheel p' of the engine
shaft 9. The bearing o and with it the shaft n and wheel p are caused to advance
towards and recede from the wheel p¹, by the hand operated screw gear t, whereby
the wheels p and p' may be put in and out of gear with each other. Figure 2 is a
side view of the gear t and attendant parts, Figure 3 is a sectional end view-taken
on the line A. B., Figure 1-and Figure 4 is a plan, in which the bevel wheels p, p²
are shewn out of gear with one another. Upon reference to these figures it will be
seen that designates a bracket bolted to the frame a of the ship. o is a bearing
block for the shaft n and slides in grooves provided in the brackets. The screwed
end of the shaft u enters a corresponding female screw in the block o, so that when
the shaft u is revolved by the hand wheel the block o is caused to advance or
1

page_text: recede as desired. Above the shaft u and also journalled in the brackets is the
shaft 2, the shafts u and a being geared together by the spur wheels y and z.
The quadrant is locked in its inward and outward positions by the pins and w,
which enter corresponding apertures in the quadrant. The pins are withdrawn
from and dropped into the quadrant alternately by the chains ¹ and w¹ which pass
in contrary directions over the shaft .
In operation, when it is desired to extend the fins from the ship's side, as shewn
in Figure 1, the hand wheel t is revolved and the block o is caused to advance
towards the bevel wheel p' by the screwed shaft u. The shaft a revolves
simultaneously with the shaft u, by means of the spur wheels y, z, and the
chains and w¹ are respectively wound upon and unwound from the shaft,
and the pin is withdrawn from the quadrant i. The bevel wheel phas
now become geared with the bevel wheel p¹, and motion is transmitted to
the spur wheel m which gears with the toothed quadrant i and the latter is
thereby caused to be run out of the ship's side. The fin c is thus caused to stand
almost at right angles to the ship's side. The travel of the fin e is governed by the
stay 9, which causes it to stand at an angle to the fin c, whereby a considerable
body of water is imprisoned between the fins and the ship's side, which forms an
impediment to the further progress of the vessel. While this action is in progress
the speed of the propelling engine is reduced, on account of the power required for
the extension of the fins being derived from the main shaft of such engine. The
pin w is adapted to enter an aperture in the quadrant i when extended, and to hold
the quadrant in such extended position.
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In the above description and in the drawings hereto annexed my invention has
been described and shewn adapted to be operated by the main shaft of a paddle
wheel engine, the shaft being lettered q and the paddle box r, but it will be evident
that the invention is equally adaptable for use on board ships which are driven by
screw propellers. It will also be understood that the apparatus according to this
invention may be used to steer or manœuvre vessels, as well as to stop or retard
their progress, as the fins may be operated on one side of the vessel independently
of the fins upon the other side.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
Apparatus for steering or retarding the motion of navigable vessels, comprising
hinged wings or fins such as c and e connected to a toothed quadrant such as i
adapted to be operated by a spur wheel such as m driven from the main shaft of
the ship's engine through intermediate mechanical gearing; combined and adapted
to operate substantially as and for the purposes herein described and set forth.
Dated this 27th day of December 1892.
H. & W. PATAKY,
25, Luisen-strasse, Berlin, Agents for the Applicant.