Improvements in Marine Governors.
Year: 1886

page_text: Improvements in Marine Governors.
I, CHARLES DICKENSON, of Portland, in the State of Oregon, United States of
America, Gentleman, do declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MARINE GOVERNORS". and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention has relation to Marine Governors for Steam Ships and the objects
is to provide an automatic device for regulating the speed of the engine, and to
this end the novelty consists in a float, located near the screw propeller, on the
outside of the vessel, so arranged to be operated by the water to raise and lower it,
and provided with means for transmitting said motion directly to the throttle or
an independent governor valve, whereby the supply of steam to the engine will be
increased or diminished as the waves raise or lower the said float, and in proportion
to the distance which the float rises and falls as will be more fully described.
In the accompanying drawing the same letters of reference indicate like parts of
the invention,
Figure 1. is a longitudinal sectional view of a steam ship with my improved
governor in position, and
Figure 2. is a detail view of the valve gear.
A. is a guide rod, preferably made of pipe, and secured into the hinged shoe B.
while its upper end passes through a guide bracket C.
D. is a hollow metal float, which may be fashioned after any suitable ornamental
design, and said float has a free vertical movement, the entire length of the guide
rod A. on which it slides and the guide rod may be round as shown or angular in
cross section to prevent the float revolving about the rod. When the round guide
rod is used the tail of the float-figure forms a rudder d, and when the vessel is in
motion it keeps the float in proper position.
In case it is necessary to apply the governor while a vessel is afloat it can be
done without docking her, by securing the lower end of the guide rod by stays
or braces in any convenient manner.
From the float D. a chain E. runs over antifrictional pulleys to a pulley e thence
round a block F. secured to the governor lever G. and back again to the hook e² on
the pulley & It will thus be seen that the lever G. is raised as the float D. falls,
and reversely the lever lowers as the float raises.

page_text: The lever G. is attached to a plug cock or governor valve H. so arranged that
when the lever is up to its highest point, the supply of steam is nearly shut off,
and when the lever is at its lowest point the said valve is open to its full extent,
therefore as the float falls, it raises the lever and cuts off the steam proportionately
to the distance which the float moves, and as the float raises the lever falls and
admits the steam in the same proportion, and as the float is set or adjusted to
correspond to the load or draft of the ship and the position of the screw, it follows
that as a wave leaves a portion of the screw bare, the float falls to that exact point
and consequently an amount of steam is cut off, proportionate to the surface of the
screw exposed above the water.
The pulley e is adjustibly secured to the lever G. by a thumbscrew c by means
of which it may be moved in or out on the lever to compensate for the water or
load line of the vessel, so that the float may be correspondingly set, whether the
vessel is light or loaded.
I. is a weight on the lever G: adjustibly secured thereon by a screw i to counter-
balance the weight of the float which of course may be appropriately weighted to
overcome the friction of the chain, pulleys and valve and thus secure an instant
movement of the valve for each variation of the float.
A very important feature of my governor is, that it is operated entirely and
automatically operated by the water irrespective of the position of the vessel, as in
a chop sea, the vessel may maintain a comparatively level position, while the waves
would raise and fall so as to expose the screw, and in this case the float responds
to every motion of the water level irrespective of the motion of the ship, and this
is a result that must be attained to produce a perfect governor for Marine Steam
Engines.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:
In a Marine governor, a float located in the rear of the rudder, outside of the
vessel so as to be operated by the water, and means for transmitting said motion
to the governor valve as set forth.