METHODS OF COMMUNICATING BETWEEN DIFFERENT PARTS OP SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1854

page_text: METHODS OF COMMUNICATING BETWEEN DIFFERENT PARTS OP SHIPS AND OTHER
VESSELS."
Sealed the 21st November 1854, and dated the 30th May 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Ridsdale at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
May 1854.
I, JOSEPHI RIDSDALE, of the Minorics, in the City of London, Brass Founder,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS
OR METHODS OF COMMUNICATING BETWEEN DIFFERENT PARTS OF SEIPS AND OTHER
VESSELS to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in signalling between the captain or any other
person and the steersman, or any other person to whom it may be necessary to
give orders, by means of a lamp or lamps, or a disc or discs, or an arm or
arms, or any other suitable telegraphic signal or signals, or combination of
signals, and either connected together or separately disposed, but so as to bo
under the controul of the person giving the signals, and so arranged or placed
as to be seen by the steersman or other person who is to receive them.

page_text: And the manner in which I think the said Invention is best to be performed
is as follows: At night I employ a single lamp, provided with differently
coloured lenses or slides, and fixed on a post or stand on the bridge between
the boxes of paddle wheel steamers, or in any other suitable position, according
to the description of vessel; the lenses or slides of the lamp being worked by
levers, or other suitable means or contrivance, readily available by the hands
or feet of the person in command. Or I use two or more lamps of the same
colour, and communicate with the steersman by altering their relative positions;
or I use two or moro lamps of different colours for the purpose. In the day
time I substitute discs, arms, or blades, or other suitable signals, in place of
the lamps.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Ridsdale in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
RIDSDALE, of the Minories, in the City of London, Brass Founder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the.
said Joseph Ridsdale, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Ridsdale, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Ridsdale, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to tinic 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 "IMPROVED MEANS OR METHODS OF
COMMUNICATING BETWEEN DIFFERENT PARTS OF SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Ridsdale, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I. the said Joseph Ridsdale, 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 state-
ment thereof (that is to say):
My Invention consists in signalling between the captain (or any other
person) and the helmsman or quartermaster (or any other person to whom it
may be necessary to give orders) by means of a lamp or lamps, or a disc or
discs, or an arm or arms, or any other suitable telegraphic signal or signals, or
combination of signals, and either connected together or separately disposed,.
but so as to be under the controul of the person giving the signals, and so
arranged or placed as to be seen by the helmsman or quartermaster (or other
person) who is to receive them.
And having thus set forth the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner in which I believe it is to be and may be best and most
advantageously performed.
The Drawing represents several views of one of my improved telegraphs,
drawn to a scale of about three-eighths of an inch to a foot. Figure 1 is a
front elevation, with all the signals (A, B, and C) turned on or exposed to
view; Figure 2 is a back elevation, with the signal A turned on or exposed to
view, and the signals B and C turned off or concealed from view. This Figure
exhibits the three doors to the three respective chambers into which the box
of the apparatus is divided, one of the doors being represented as closed and
the other two as standing open, in order to shew the lamps placed in the
interior of the chambers; and certain parts of this Figure are drawn in
section, in order the more clearly to explain the construction of the telegraph.
Figure 3 is a transverse section across one of the chambers, the lanp having
been removed; Figure 4 is a partial plan view. Similar letters of reference
are placed upon corresponding parts in all the Figures. a is a box of brass or
other suitable material, divided, as above mentioned, into three separate cham-
bers by partitions inside and across it, each being furnished with a door b,
for obtaining access to the lamp c, placed within it. Over each chamber is
a pillar d, through which a rod e is passed, to which a handle f is attached
for turning it round, and the handle f has a spur f*, which serves to stop
or limit the amount of turning. The lower end of each rod passes into the
chamber beneath it, and carries a sliding socket g, which fits over a stud or
projection e* upon the upper surface of the lamp c, which is supported upon
the projecting ring a* on the floor of the box a. By raising the sliding
socket and lifting the lamp a little, the lamp may be removed when desired;

page_text: or the lamp may be connected with the rod c by any other suitable connec-
tion or fastening, and may be supported on a pivot, or in any other convenient
manner. The upper end of each rod protrudes through its pillar d, and carries
a disc h, in place of which a diamond, or an arm, or a blade, or any other
suitable signal may be substituted. Each chamber of the box is furnished
with two openings, one in the one side, and the other in the door on tho
other side, and each opening is covered by a flat piece of glass i. Each lamp
has two bulls-eyes or lighted faces on opposite sides, so that they may simul-
taneously front the respective glasses i, i, or may simultaneously be shut off
from them. For the convenience of reading the Drawing, I have marked the
signals A, B, and C, respectively, by which the particular signals may be dis-
tinguished the more readily in the different views. The one at A is intended
as a "port" signal; its disc has the letter P exhibited, as a space or blank
through it, and is painted of a red color, and the glasses i, i, over the openings
in the chamber beneath it are likewise of a red color. In like manner the
signal at B, which is intended to be used as a "steady" signal, has a star in
its disc, and is painted white, and has white glasses over the openings of its
chamber; and so also the signal at C, which is intended to be used as a
"starboard" signal, has the letter S in its disc, and is painted green, and has
green glasses over the openings in its chamber. The several colors and
devices may of course bo varied, as may be desired. The discs and colored
lights are intended to bo used as day and night signals respectively; but both
aro worked by the same movement, namely, by turning the handle of the
particular signal desired, by which it may be either turned on or off, and, when
on, the signal will be exhibited in two opposite directions. It is intended to be
placed on the bridge of steam boats, or in any other suitable position in these
or other vessels, so as to exhibit the signal both "aft" and forwards.
But I wish it to be understood that, if preferred, the lamps may be made
with only one face or bulls-eye, and the chambers with only one opening and
glass to the same; and also, that in place of the box a being divided into
separate chambers, each lamp may have a separate case or chamber, isolated
from the others, and either in a square, or circular, or other convenient form;
and also, that the lamps themselves may carry colored glasses, and in such
cases the glasses to the openings in the chambers may be dispensed with;
and also, that any other number of signals than three, as represented, may be
grouped into and to form one apparatus; and also, that a single lamp may be
used, being made so as to revolve and present different faces, the same being
enclosed, as before, in an outer case or chamber, having openings furnished

page_text: with moveable slides, so as that. different colored signals may be shewn either
in one direction only or in different directions.
Having now described both the nature of my said Invention and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I claim the manufacture of lamps or
lanterns for ship telegraphic purposes with external cases or chambers around
them, having openings in such cases or chambers, covered by plain or colored
glasses; and I also claim the general combination and arrangement of ship
telegraphic apparatus, above described, and as represented in the Drawings, as
my improved means or methods of communicating between different parts of
ships and other vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Ridsdale, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
JOSEPH RIDSDALE. (L.S.)