IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING SIGNALS ON SHIPBOARD
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Canning, of No. 7, Great Winchester Street
Buildings, in the City of London, Knight, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING SIGNALS ON SHIPBOARD."
Scaled the 1st October 1878, and dated the 4th April 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Canning at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th April 1878.
SAMUEL CANNING, of No. 7, Great Winchester Street Buildings, in the City of
London, Knight.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING SIGNALS
ON SHIPBOARD."
My Invention relates to the apparatus which is employed on shipboard for the
purpose of communicating signals, as from an officer to an engineer or steersman,
and replies thereto.
Such apparatus usually consists of instruments placed in different parts of the
vessel and connected together by endless wires, rods, or chains, so that when the
operating handle of one of these instruments is moved, the handles or indices of
others of the instruments are moved in accord with it.
As at present arranged, the handles of the communicators or instruments that
send orders placed in different parts of the vessel, as, for example, on the bridge, in
the conning towers, or in the battery of men-of-war, all work by one and the same
line of connection, the indices of the indicators or the instruments that receive the
orders, as, for example, in the engine room or steering house, and the reply handles
of the indicators in like manner work by similar connections the indices of all the
communicators. In consequence of all the instruments being thus connected
together in one circuit, when any part of the connection becomes fractured or
injured, all the instruments are thrown out of use or made to give incorrect indica-
tions.
The object of my Invention is to provide against accidents of this kind, and I
effect this by placing in some strong or safe part of the vessel an intermediate
mechanism consisting of two pullies, each made with as many grooves as there are

page_text: communicators and indicators, the one pulley receiving the connections for con-
veying the signals from the communicators to the indicators, and the other receiving
those for conveying the replies.
I lead a duplicate set of wires, rods, or chains from each instrument, the one set
to a groove of the one pulley, and the other set to a groove of the other pulley.
By thus giving each instrument its separate lines of connection to the intermediate
pullies, when one is worked, all the others are worked in accord with it, and should
the connectious of any of the instruments to the intermediate pullies be damaged
or fractured, as long as the connections of the other instruments to these pullies
remain entire, the working of these instruments is not interfered with.
The intermediate pullies above mentioned may in some cases form part of one of
the instruments.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Samuel Canning in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd October
1878.
SAMUEL CANNING, of No. 7, Gront Winchester Street Buildings, in the City of
London, Knight. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING SIGNALS
ON SIПPBOARD."
My Invention relates to the apparatus which is employed on shipboard for the
purpose of communicating signals, as from an officer to an engineer or steorsman,
and replies thereto.
Such apparatus usually consists of instruments placed in different parts of the
vessel and connected together by endless wires, rods, or chains, so that when the
operating handle of one of these instruments is moved, the handles or indices of
others of the instruments are moved in accord with it.
As at present arranged, the handles of the communicators or instruments that
send orders placed in different parts of the vessel, as, for example, on the bridge, in
the conning towers, or in the battery of men-of-war, all work by one and the same
line of connection the indices of the indicators or the instruments that receive the
orders, as, for example, in the engine room or steering house; and the reply handles
of the indicators in like manner work by similar connections the indices of all the
communicators. In consequence of all the instruments being thus connected
together in one circuit, when any part of the connection becomes fractured or
injured, all the instruments are thrown out of use or made to give indirect indica-
tions.
The object of my Invention is to provide against accidents of this kind, and I
effect this by placing in some strong or safe part of the vessel an interinediate
mechanism consisting of two pullies, each made with as many grooves as there are
communicators and indicators, the one pulley receiving the connections for con-

page_text: veying the signals from the communicators to the indicators, and the other receiving
those for conveying replies.
I lead a duplicate set of wires, rods, or chains from each instrument, the one set
to a groove of the one pulley, and the other set to a groove of the other pulley.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a front view, Fig. 2 a side view, and
Fig. 3 is a half plan of a pair of such intermediate pullies with grooves for the com-
munications of four instruments, these pullies being mounted loose on a spindle
that is held in a bracket fixed in some safe intermediate position in the vessel.
The one of the two pullies may receive in two of its grooves the separate cords,
chains, or wires from two signalling instruments from which orders are sent, and in
the other two grooves it may receive the separate cords, chains, or wires leading to
two receiving instruments where the orders are to be shewn; and in like manner,
the other pulley may receive the separate cords, chains, or wires for communicating
replies from the two receiving instruments to be shewn on the two sending instru-
ments.
The same pullies would serve for one sending and three receiving instruments,
or for three sending and one receiving instrument, and for various numbers of
instruments the pullies are made with various numbers of grooves, as may be readily
understood.
By thus giving each instrument its separate lines of connection to the intermediate
pullies, when one is worked, all the others are worked in accord with it, and should
the connections of any of the instruments to the immediate pullies be damaged or
fractured, as long as the connections of the other instruments to these pullies
remain entire, the working of these instruments is not interfered with.
The intermediate pullies above mentioned may in some cases form part of one of
the instruments, that is to say, the two intermediate pullies inay be mounted on
the spindle of one of the instruments, the one pulley working its receiving index,
and the other being worked by the replying handle, in which case, one set of the
connecting cords, chains, or wires for the reception and reply of signals may be
dispensed with.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I claim, in apparatus for communicating signals on ship-
board, connecting each signalling and receiving instrument with a set of intermediate
pullies by separate wires, cords, or chains, substantially as and for the purposes
herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Canning, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Second day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
SAMUEL CANNING. (L.S.)