IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Skinner, of Hebburn, Gateshead-on-Tyne,
Naval Architect, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING
APPARATUS."
Sealed the 28th August 1866, and dated the 1st March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Skinner at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st March 1866.
I, JAMES SKINNER, of Hebburn, Gateshead-on-Tyne, Naval Architect,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STEERING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to apparatus for steering ships or vessels, and to
improvements in the same, whereby the power of controlling the rudder is,
greatly increased and augmented gradually as the rudder is moved over to
either side, and consequently as the resistance of the water increases.
According to one mode of carrying out my Invention I affix to the
rudder head a cross head, disc, or tiller of any convenient shape or material,
and I have a guide or guides of cast iron or other material, such guides
being either straight or curved, but I prefer to make them of the
form of an arc of a circle, so placed as to be eccentric to the cross

page_text: head, disc, or tiller. Attached to the cross head, disc, or tiller will be one
or more guide blocks working on the said guides, and when the guides are
moved they will communicate the required motion to the rudder. The
guide blocks may be fitted with india-rubber or spring buffers to receive
any concussion, such as that caused by a sea striking the rudder.
According to another mode of carrying out my Invention I substitute
for the above-mentioned guides a link or links of iron or other material so
placed that one end may describe the arc represented by the guides in the
former mode. The guides or links may be kept in position and supported
by a framework and standards of cast iron or other material, or partly by
one standard and partly by the rudder head, and they may be moved by
a screw and nut or nuts, or by a worm and rack, in either of which cases
an ordinary steering wheel is intended to be used, or the guides or links
may be moved by hydraulic power with or without an ordinary steering
wheel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Skinner in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SKINNER, of Hebburn, Gateshead-on-Tyne, Naval Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the 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 me, the said James Skinner, Her special license that
I, the said James Skinner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Skinner, my executors, administrators,
or 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 STEERING APPARATUS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Skinner, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same:
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Skinner, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the'
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to apparatus for steering ships or vessels, and
to improvements in the same, whereby the power of controling the rudder
is greatly increased and augmented gradually as the rudder is moved over
to either side, and consequently as the resistance of the water increases.
According to one mode of carrying out my Invention I affix to the
rudder head a cross head, disc, or tiller of any convenient shape or material,
and I have a guide or guides of cast iron or other material, such guides
being either straight or curved, I prefer to make them of the form of
an arc of a circle, so placed as to be eccentric to the cross head, disc, or
tiller. Attached to the cross head, disc, or tiller will be one or more
guide blocks working on the said guides, and when the guides are moved
they will communicate the required motion to the rudder. The guide
blocks may be fitted with india-rubber or spring buffers to receive any
concussion, such as that caused by a sea striking the rudder.
.
According to another mode of carrying out my Invention I substitute
for the above-mentioned guides a link or links of iron or other materials
so placed that one end may describe the arc represented by the guides
in the former mode. The guides or links may be kept in position and
supported by a framework and standards of cast iron or other material, or
partly by one or more standards and partly by the rudder head, and they
may be moved by a screw and nut or nuts, or by a worm and rack, in either:
of which cases an ordinary steering wheel is intended to be used, or the
guides or links may be moved by hydraulic power either with or without.
an ordinary steering wheel.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
I shall refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in
all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a side elevation

page_text: of one arrangement of my improved steering apparatus; Figure 2 is a
corresponding plan of the same; and Figures 3, 4, and 5 are details showing
the rudder in three different positions. A is the tiller, which may or may:
not have attached to it a socket for a spare tiller; B, B, are the guides,
which in this case are attached to a rectangular metal plate C, D, E, F
(Figures 3, 4, and 5); G is the guide block attached to the tiller; H is
the screw, and I the nut attached to the metal plate by which the guides.
are moved;. K. is the metal framing for keeping the guides in position,
which is supported in this case partly by two standards L and partly by
the rudder head. When the rudder is amidships the guides, guide block,
and tiller will be in the position shown in Figure 4; let the guides be
then moved by the screw and nut in the direction of the arrow and the
guide block and tiller will be moved towards X, and when this movement
has been continued long enough the guides, guide block, and tiller will be
in the position shown in Figure 5, and the rudder will be "hard over." If
the screw H be now turned in the opposite direction the guides, guide
block, and tiller will be brought back to the position shown in Figure 4,.
and the rudder will again be amidships; and if the motion be further.con-
tinued, the guide block and tiller will be moved towards Y, and will
ultimately be in the position shown in Figure Three, and the rudder will
be "hard over" on the other side; and if the screw be moved with a
uniform force the power applied to move the rudder will be gradually,
increased and augmented as the rudder is turned over to either side. A
cross head or disc may be used instead of the tiller, and a roller or rollers
may be used instead of the guide block. The guides may be in the form
of any required arc of a circle, or of any circle, or they may be either
curved or straight, and a link or links so placed as to radiate through the
arc described by the guides may be used instead of the guides; and the
guides, guide blocks, rollers, standards, screws or nuts, or other parts
may be made of any suitable shape or material. The guides or links may be
moved either by a screw and nut or nuts, or by a worm and rack, or by
hydraulic or by any other well known mechanical means, either with or
without any ordinary steering wheel. The advantages resulting from the
use of this improved steering apparatus are the increased power obtained of
moving and controlling the rudder and of holding it in any position, whilst
the steering apparatus is rendered generally more efficient than hitherto.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of iny.
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used.or

page_text: carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st, the general combination and arrangement of apparatus for steering
ships and vessels, substantially as herein-before described.
2nd, the application and use to and in steering apparatus of guides or
links arranged and operating substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Skinner, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six.
JAMES SKINNER. (L.S.)