IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING SHIPS OR BOATS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Jeffs, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer of Letters, and Joseph Pennock, of Blackney,
near Manchester, aforesaid, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
Sealed the 26th September 1861, and dated the 27th March 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Jeffs and Joseph
Pennock at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 27th March 1861.
We, WILLIAM JEFFS, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manu-
facturer of Letters, and JOSEPH PENNOCK, of Blackley, near Manchester,
aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING SHIPS OR BOATS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
Our Invention refers to the application of hydraulic power to the steering
of ships or boats. For this purpose we employ a cylinder, within which is a
piston, on either side of which water can be forced by means of a pump, so
that the said cylinder is caused to travel in the one direction or the other as
may be desired. To the cylinder is attached a boss turning loosely, within
which is a pin projecting from the tiller of the rudder, which is capable of

page_text: sliding therein; the cylinder therefore being propelled turns the rudder, and
as the tiller moves therewith it slides in the aforesaid pin. The pump for
working this apparatus may be placed in any part of the vessel, the commu-
nication being made by suitable pipes and cocks. It may also be worked by
steam power if desired, and the water allowed to pass from more than one
part of the vessel by pipes and cocks. Our Invention also refers by the like
apparatus to the use of the direct action of steam or other elastic fluid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Jeffs and Joseph Pennock in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
JEFFS, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer of Letters,
and JOSEPH PENNOCK, of Blackley, near Manchester aforesaid, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said William Jeffs and Joseph Pennock, Her special license that we, the
said William Jell's and Joseph Pennock, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said William Jeffs and Joseph Pennock,
our 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, usc, 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 SHIPS
OR BOATS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition,
amongst others, that we, the said William Jeffs and Joseph Pennock, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
sanic was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within 6 calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that 'we, the said William Jeffs and Joseph Pennock,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained

page_text: in and by the following statement (and accompanying Drawings), that is to
say) :-
Fig. 1 represents the deck plan of a ship with our improvements applied;
Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the stern end upon an enlarged scale; and
Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, are detached views of the operating parts upon a still
larger scale. The rudder of the ship is shewn at a mounted in any ordinary
manner, and the tiller, which in this case extends towards the stern of the
ship, is at (6). Upon this tiller is mounted a boss c in such manner as to be
capable of sliding inward and outward thereon, and from it there extends a
pin d, which passes into a boss e, projecting from a cylinder f, the said pin
being free to turn within the boss. The cylinder is provided with a V-shaped
part g, situate with a guide h attached to the timber of the ship, and the said
cylinder may therefore move in the one direction or the other transversely!
Within the cylinder f is a piston i (see Fig. 3) provided with rods k, l,
which are made fast at the points m, n, Fig. 1, and the said piston is there!
fore stationary. The rods k, l, are provided with passages o, which at their
inward ends communicate with the cylinder f, and at their outward ends with
pipes p, q, shewn by dots in Fig. 1, which pipes pass along the ship to a force-
pump at A, which pump may be of any ordinary construction, and is provided
with suitable cocks for causing water to be forced by the said pump into the
one or the other of the pipes p, q, as may be desired. The operation is as
follows: When it is desired to move the rudder the helmsman puts the
pump A in action, and by opening a cock forces the fluid through one of the
pipes p or q, say, that shewn at p, by which means pressure will be exerted
against the end r of the cylinder f (see Fig. 1), and the said cylinder will be
caused to travel within its guides h in the direction of the arrow. This opera-
tion will carry forward the pin d and boss c so as to turn the rudder, such
motion being permitted by the sliding of the boss c upon the tiller b. When
it is desired to turn the rudder in the other direction, the cocks at the pump A
are so changed as to cause the fluid within the pipe q to press against the
ends of the cylinder f, and the desired reversed action will take place.
We have shewn the pump as situate in the fore part of the vessel, but it
may be placed in any other required position; in the plan view, Fig. 8, it is
supposed to be at the bridge of a river boat. We would also observe, that
there may be two or more pumps with suitable cocks so as to provide means
for steering the vessel from more than one situation, or one pump may effect
this, by providing the pipes p, q, with cocks at as many places as it is desired
to steer from. The pumps may be worked by hand or by steam power, as
desired.

page_text: Our Invention as above described has reference to hydraulic power only,
but it also consists in using the direct action of steam or other elastic fluid, as
air after the same manner, for which application it will merely be necessary
to admit steam by suitable cocks into the pipes p, q, so as to allow it to exert
its pressure within the cylinder f, or to convert the hydraulic pumps into
pnumatic apparatus, in which case the necessary power may be obtained by
forcing air into the cylinder, or by exhausting it therefrom.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be
understood that we claim, as sucured to us under the above in part recited
Letters Patent,-
Firstly, the application of hydraulic pressure to the steering of ships or
boats.
Secondly, the application of the direct action of steam, air, or other clastic
fluid to the same purpose.
. And, thirdly, the arrangement of apparatus shewn and described,
In witness whereof, we, the said William Jeffs and Joseph Pennock, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fifth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
R
WILLIAM JEFFS.
(L.S.)
JOSEPH PENNOCK. (L.S.)