IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR * INDICATING THE POSITION OF THE RUDDERS IN VESSELS TO AVOID COLLISION
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Justus Albert Brièbach, of No. 1, Meltham Villas,
Rendlesham Road, Clapton, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS
FOR * INDICATING THE POSITION OF THE RUDDERS IN VESSELS TO AVOID
COLLISION,'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Justus Albert Brièbach
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th January 1875.
I, JUSTUS ALBERT BRIÈBACH, of No. 1, Meltham Villas, Rendlesham
Road, Clapton, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS
of and APPARATUS FOR ' INDICATING THE POSITION OF THE RUDDERS IN VESSELS TO
AVOID COLLISION,' "to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to lamp indicating apparatus to be used on
board ships, connected to and acted automatically by the rudder or helm

page_text: for the purpose of showing at a distance the position of the said rudder
or helm, and consequently the direction in which a vessel is steering.
In such apparatus it is necessary that the desired color of the light
exhibited should be presented and rendered visible in a definite manner
as soon as the rudder shall have moved from the central position to port
or starboard.
The object of my Invention is to effect these movements in a reliable
and simple manner, thereby preventing complication in the action and
so avoid as much as possible the possibility of the apparatus getting
disabled.
I effect my Invention by a lever or projection on the rudder post and
connected by a lever or crank to a rod passing under the deck, and to which
is transmitted the movements of the rudder or helm, and the said rod I
carry to a lamp placed at a point as near as practicable at the stem of
the ship, where by means of a crank or cranks and a rod or rods it is
attached to a certain slide belonging to the lamp having a vertical action
and consisting of a bicolored glass, i.c., red & green, or a combination
of glasses of these colors. When the rudder or helm is steady or
'midship the lamp shows an equal portion of the red or green light, and
any movement of the rudder away from such position either to port or
starboard is at once recorded by the lamp showing more of such color
representing such position in a greater or less degree. This side I
equipoise by a weight attached to a lever in connection with the slide.
The same movement may also be given to the slide by a series of
bevelled cog wheels of certain proportions, or by pneumatic or fluid
pressure attached to the rudder and suitably connected to the rod; but
I prefer the lever attachment, thereby considerably simplifying the
working of such apparatus.
The lever or projection on the rudder is so constructed that the lever
or crank attached thereto may be disconnected when not required. The
lamp also can be removed, and I so construct the lense of same that the
light proceeding from such lamp may be visible from almost all points,
and that it may be easily distinguished from the light of the ordinary
side lights such lamp would be of a larger size.
To prevent the rod which passes under the deck being impeded in its
working by the cargo of such vessel when fully laden, I carry it, working

page_text: either on or without rollers, through another hollow rod or pipe, and I
also encase or cover in such other part or parts of the gear as may seem
to require it.
A brake may be connected with the rod near to or where attached to
the rudder or helm to retain the apparatus in position should the steering
gear fail at any time.
For daylight purposes the slide action may be imparted to two flags
similarly colored and attached to an arm or lever, and suitably connected
on each side of the lamp, causing them to rise or fall in accordance with
the movements of the rudder or helm when in action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Justus Albert Brièbach in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 27th July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JUSTUS
ALBERT BRIEBACH, of No. 1, Meltham Villas, Rendlesham Road,
Clapton, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Justus Albert Brièbach, Her
special license that I, the said Justus Albert Brièbach, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Justus Albert
Brièbach, my 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 THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR INDICATING THE POSITION
OF THE RUDDERS IN VESSELS TO AVOID COLLISION," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Justus Albert Brièbach, my executors or admi.
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of

page_text: their hands and seals, 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
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Justus Albert Brièbach, 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 thereof, that is to say:—
My Invention relates to lamp indicating apparatus to be used on
board ships, connected to and operated automatically by the rudder or
helm for the purpose of showing at a distance the position of the said
rudder or helm, and consequently the direction in which a vessel is
steering. In such apparatus it is necessary that the desired color of the
light exhibited should be presented and rendered visible in a definite
manner as soon as the rudder shall have moved from the central position
to port or starboard.
The object of my Invention is to effect these movements in a reliablo
and simple manner, and thereby preventing complication in the action,
and so avoid as much as possible the possibility of the apparatus getting
disabled.
I effect my Invention by a lever or projection on the rudder post, and
connected by a lever or levers or crank or cranks to a rod passing under
the deck, and to which is transmitted the movements of the rudder or
helm, and the said rod I carry to a lamp placed at a point as near as
practicable to the stem of the ship, where by means of a crank or cranks
and a rod or rods it is attached to a certain slide belonging to the lamp
and having a vertical action, and consisting of a bicolored glass, viz.,
red and green, or it might be other colors or a combination of glasses of
these or other such colors. When the rudder or helm is steady or
'midship the lamp shows an equal portion of the red or green light, and
'any movement of the rudder away from such position either to port or
starboard is at once recorded by the lamp showing more of such color
representing such position in a greater or less degree. This slide I
equipoise either by a weight attached to a lever in connection with the
slide or by other suitable means. The same movement may also be

page_text: given to the slide from the rudder post by a series of bevelled cog wheels
and shafts, or by fluid conveyed through pipes leading from one end of
the vessel to the other.
The lever or projection on the rudder is so constructed that the lever
or crank attached thereto may be disconnected when not required. The
lamp also can be removed, and I so construct the lens of same that the
light proceding from such lamp may be visible from almost all points,
and that it may be easily distinguished from the light of the ordinary
side lights such lamp would be of a larger size.
To prevent the rod which passes under the deck being impeded in its
working by the cargo of such vessel when fully laden, I carry it, working
either on or without rollers, through another hollow rod or pipe, and I
also encase or cover in such other part or parts of the gear as may seem
to require it.
A brake may be connected with the rod near to or where attached to
rudder to retain the apparatus in position should the steering gear fail
at any time.
For daylight purposes the slide action may be imparted to two flags
similarly colored and attached to an arm or lever, and suitably connected
on each side of the lamp, causing them to rise or fall in accordance with
the movements of the rudder or helm when in action.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed I have shewn the arrangement I
prefer for carrying out my Invention.
Figure 1 represents a side view of the apparatus with the lantern for
indicating the position of the rudder shewn in section; Figure 2 is a
plan view of the apparatus in this view, also the lantern is shewn in
section. In thesc Figures a is the rudder post; b, an arm thereon, to
which is jointed a rod c which passes to the fore part of the vessel, being
surrounded by a fixed stout tube d to prevent its being injured; for
vessels of considerable length the friction upon the rod may be reduced
by supporting it upon pullies, as before stated. The forward end of the
rod is coupled to a lever arme on an axis f; this arm may either project
upwards from the axis, as shown, or downwards so as to bring the rod c
close down to the bed plate of the frame by which the axis fis carried;
on this axis is another arm g, which by a vertical rod / is connected to

page_text: a slide which can move up and down in the interior of the lamp case 7.
This lamp case has a nearly all round opening through which the
light is to be exhibited. The slide k has an openwork frame in which
are carried two colored glasses m, red and green, one above the other.
When the rudder is in a line with the keel or 'midship the slide
carrying the colored glasses will be in its central position, and an equal
amount of light of each color will be exhibited through the opening 1,
but when the rudder is moved over in one or other direction the slido
will be raised or lowered, and a greater amount of one or other color
will be exhibited, so denoting the direction in which the rudder has been
moved.
To counterbalance the weight of the slide and glasses carried by it
the axis has attached to it a weighted arm n, other means may however
be adopted for counterbalancing the weight of the slide.
In order that the movement of the rudder may be denoted equally:
well at day time as at night, the slide k is formed with an arm o standing
out from it which passes through a vertical slot in the lamp casing. To
the back of the lamp casing, that is, to the side away from the bow of
the vessel, is jointed a lever p, one arm of which carries a red flag and
the other a green; the arm o projecting from the lamp slide is jointed to
one arm of this lever in such manner that when the slide is raised or
lowered the lever p will be turned on its axis, and either the red flag
will be raised and the green lowered, or vice versa.
In cases where the rod c cannot be carried conveniently in a straight
line amidships from the arm on the rudder post to the fore part of the
vessel to give motion to the lamp slide, the apparatus above described
may be modified by carrying the rod c along one side of the vessel and
connecting it up with the arm on the rudder post by intermediate cranks
and connecting rods in such a manner that it shall be moved to and fro by
the movement of the rudder, as will be well understood. In this case the
axis fin place of being placed crosswise of the vessel may be placed
longitudinally, and an arm upon it be connected by a rod to one arm of
a bell crank, the other arm of which has jointed to it the foremost end
of the rod c. By this means the lamp slide will be similarly raised and
lowered by the movement of the rudder as in the former arrangement.
In cases also where the rod c cannot be led along the vessel from the arm

page_text: on the rudder post to the arm on the axis f for working the lamp slide,
one portion of the length of the rod, may be upon a different level to
another portion, and the ends of the two portions may be coupled to
arms on a vertical axis carried from one level to the other.
Another arrangement for raising and lowering flags of two different
colors in accordance with the movements of the rudder is shewn at
Figure 3; in this case a lever p is jointed to the back of the lamp casing
and is coupled by a link to the sliding rod h. Each end of the lever p
is connected by a rod to the short arm of a lever r, the longer arm of
which carries a flag, as shewn, so that as the sliding rod h rises or falls
in accordance with the movement of the rudder one flag will be raised
and the other lowered.
8
Figure 4 shews an arrangement in which the flag signalling apparatus
for indicating the position of the rudder at day time is independent of
the lamp, so that the lamp may be entirely removed when not required.
In this arrangement h is the upright sliding rod which is raised or
lowered, as in the former arrangements, by an arm on the axis f, and
giving motion by a link at its upper end to an arm on an axis & mounted
in a suitable frame. On the axis are two longer arms carrying flags or
colored discs, as shewn. The rod h may also be formed with an arm
standing out from it at t, and having at its end a socket into which a
rod in connection with the lamp slide may be dropped and secured by a
pin, a suitable stand being provided for the lamp to rest upon. By this
arrangement the lamp may be entirely removed when the pin above
mentioned is withdrawn.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that. I do not confine
myself to the precise details of the construction of the apparatus herein-
before described, as the same may be modified to suit the particular
design or construction of the vessel to which the apparatus is to be
applied; but what I claim is,—
First. The combined arrangement of apparatus, substantially as
herein-before described, to indicate the position of a ship's rudder.
Second. Coupling up with the rudder a lamp slide carrying two
different colored glasses, in such manner that when the rudder is in a

page_text: line with the keel an equal amount of light of each color shall be
exhibited by the lamp, and that when the rudder is put over in one or
other direction an increased amount of light of one or other color shall
be exhibited and thereby denote the direction in which the rudder has
been turned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Justus Albert Brièbach, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.