IM- PROVEMENTS IN STEERING ENGINES, AND APPLICABLE TO STARTING HOISTING AND OTHER ENGINES, THE MOTIONS OF WHICH REQUIRE TO BE CONTROLLED IN DIRECTION OR EXTENT, OR BOTH, BY HAND
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Paul and John Haythorn, of Dumbarton, in the
County of Dumbarton, North Britain, Engineers, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN STEERING ENGINES, AND APPLICABLE TO STARTING HOISTING
AND OTHER ENGINES, THE MOTIONS OF WHICH REQUIRE TO BE CONTROLLED IN
DIRECTION OR EXTENT, OR BOTH, BY HAND."
Sealed the 29th November 1878, and dated the 11th June 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Paul and John
Haythorn at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th June
1878.
ANDREW PAUL and John HaythoBN, of Dumbarton, in the County of Dumbarton,
North Britain, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING ENGINES, AND APPLICABLE
TO STARTING HOISTING AND OTHER ENGINES, THE MOTIONS OF WHICH REQUIRE TO
BE CONTROLLED IN DIRECTION OR EXTENT, OR BOTH, BY HAND."
This Invention relates to the parts of steering engines which connect the handing
or manual shaft with the valve gear on the one hand, and on the other hand with a
shaft driven by the engines, the function of these parts boing to transmit the
requisite movements to the valve gear, and to restore it to its neutral position as the
consequent movements of the engines become accomplished.
The improved parts are simple, convenient, and compact, whilst they are capable
of being easily modified in their proportions to suit different relations between the
movements of the handing and engine shafts; and they are advantageously
applicable to various kinds of steering engines, and also to starting, hoisting, or
other engines, the motions of which require to be controlled in direction or extent,
or both, by hand.
In carrying out the Invention the handing shaft, or a shaft moved thereby, is
formed with one or more screw threads, on which is fitted an internally screwed
tube guided so as to be capable of moving along the shaft without turning, the part

page_text: This tube is formed
on the guide serving to indicate the position of the rudder.
with a screw thread or threads on its outside, of a pitch generally smaller than
that of the screw thread or threads on the handing shaft; and the tube is conse-
quently termed the differential tube.
The differential tube has on it an internally serewed outer tube which extends to
a shaft driven by the engines, such shaft being in line with the handing shaft, and
having the outer tube connected to it by a cross key passing through a slot in it
and fixed to the outer tube. The slot is as much longer than the key as corresponds
to the extent of movement which the handing shaft is allowed to have in advance
of the engine shaft. The outer tube carries between collars on it a loose ring,
which, by studs, causes a lever to be moved by the longitudinal movement of the
tube, and this lever acts on the valve gear. When the handing shaft is turned it
moves the differential tube, which takes the outer tube with it longitudinally, and
the valve gear is acted on accordingly. The engines then operate to move the
rudder, and at the same time by turning the outer tube on the differential tube
cause the outer tube to return to its middle position, and the valve gear to return
to its neutral condition, when the movement of the handing shaft has been discon-
tinued.
In one modification of the parts which act on the valve gear there is a single
eccentric for working the valves of two cylinders placed at right angles to cach
other; and this eccentric is fitted to slide across the shaft, having on one face of it
With these
rack teeth along each side of the slot through which the shaft passes.
rack teeth two toothed sectors gear, the sectors being on a pin passed through the
shaft, and having also in gear with them rack teeth carried by a tube which is
movable longitudinally by the lever herein-before described as acted on by the outer
tube of the connecting apparatus.
Bell cranks may be substituted for the sectors, and may be connected to the tube
and to the eccentric by links, or in any other convenient way.
In another modification the eccentric is moved across the shaft by a pin in a
block fitted to a slot in the eccentric, the pin being carried by a ring or tube which
is turned on the shaft by the longitudinal movement of a tube fitted to it with
helical feathers and grooves, and acted on by the lever of the connecting apparatus.
In a third modification the cross movement of the eccentric is obtained from the
longitudinal movement of the tube on the shaft by toggle-link connections, the
outer ends of the links being jointed to the shaft and eccentric respectively, and
the middle joint being acted on by the tube.
In some cases the differential and outer tubes may be applied in immediate
connection with the shaft carrying the valve eccentric or eccentrics, the interposed
lever being dispensed with.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Andrew Paul and John Haythorn in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th December 1878.
ANDREW PAUL and JOHN HAYTHORN, of Dumbarton, in the County of Dumbarton,
North Britain, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING ENGINES, AND APPLICABLE
TO STARTING HOISTING AND OTHER ENGINES, THE MOTIONS OF WHICH REQUIRE TO
BE CONTROLLED IN DIRECTION OR EXTENT, OR BOTH, BY HAND."
Our said Invention relates to the parts of steering engines which connect the
handing or manual shaft with the valve gear on the one hand, and on the other
hand with a shaft driven by the engines, the function of these parts being to
transmit the requisite movements to the valve gear, and to restore it to its neutral
position as the consequent movements of the engines become accomplished.
The improved parts are simple, convenient, and compact, whilst they are capable
of being easily modified in their proportions to suit different relations between the
movements of the handing and engine shafts; and they are advantageously
applicable to various kinds of steering engines, and also to starting, hoisting, or
other engines, the motions of which require to be controlled in direction or extent,
or both, by hand.
In carrying out our Invention the banding shaft, or a shaft moved thereby, is
formed with one or more screw threads, on which is fitted a tube screwed internally
and externally, and termed the differential tube, the pitch of its external screw
thread being generally smaller than that of the internal thread.
On the differential tube there is an internally screwed outer tube connected to
one of the engine shafts so as to turn therewith, but capable of longitudinal move-
ment, and arranged to act on a lever which acts on the valve gear. When the handing
shaft is turned it moves the differential tube, which takes the outer tube with it
longitudinally, and the valve gear is acted on accordingly. The engines then
operate to move the rudder, and at the same time, by turning the outer tube on
the differential tube, cause the outer tube to return towards its middle position, and
the valve gear to return to its neutral condition when the movement of the handing
shaft has been discontinued.
Our Invention comprises various arrangements of the parts for acting on the
valve gear, and which are herein-after particularly described.
And in order that our said Invention, and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, we hereunto append two Sheets of explanatory
Drawings, to be herein-after referred to and representing our improved mechanism.
In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like
parts wherever they are repeated.
Figures 1 and 2 on Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings are respectively a
side elevation and an end elevation of a set of steering engines as fitted with our
improved details.
Figure 3 on Sheet 2 is a vertical section showing some of the parts on a larger
scale.
And Figures 4 and 5 are a plan and a sectional elevation corresponding to parts
of Figure 3.
Figures 6 to 15 show modifications of the parts intervening between the diffe-
rential and outer tubes and the valve gear.
The engines delineated comprise two steam cylinders 1 acting at right angles to
each other on a single crank on a first-motion shaft 2, which is geared by a pinion 3
and spur wheel 4 to a second-motion shaft 5. This second-motion shaft 5 has on it
a pinion 6 gearing with a spur wheel 7 on a shaft 8 having fast on it a chain
barrel 9; and chains from this barrel pass under guide rollers 10, and thence to the
rudder. The second-motion shaft 5 also carries a large handing or steering wheel 11
for use when the engines are not working, clutches 12 and 13 being provided for
engaging and disengaging this wheel 11 and the spur wheel 4 as may be required.

page_text: The valves of the two steam cylinders 1 are worked by rods 14 connected to a
ring or strap on a single eccentric 15 upon the first-motion or crank shaft 2; and it
is by moving this eccentric 15 across the shaft 2 that the action of the valves and
the consequent operation of the engines are controlled.
A handing wheel 16 is fixed on the outer end of a horizontal shaft 17 termed
the handing shaft, and carried so as to be in line with the second-motion shaft 5.
The handing shaft 17 is formed with one or more screw threads 18, on which
there is fitted an internally screwed tube 19 termed the differential tube, and which
is guided by means of a cross head 20 sliding on a fixed guide rod 21, so as to be
capable of moving along the shaft 17 without turning the cross head 20, serving to
indicate the position of the rudder on a slotted index plate 22.
The differential tube 19 is formed with a screw thread or threads on its outside
of a pitch generally smaller than that of the screw thread or threads 18 on the
handing shaft 17; and the differential tube 19 has on it an internally screwed outer
tube 23, which extends so as to be partly upon the second-motion shaft 5 of the
engines, and which is connected to that shaft 5 by a cross key 24 passing through a
slot in the shaft and fixed to the tube. The slot is as much longer than the key 24
as corresponds to the extent of movement which the handing shaft 17 is allowed to
have in advance of the engine shaft 5. The cross key 24 has to be withdrawn
when disconnecting the shaft 5 from the engines. The outer tube 23 carries
between collars on it a loose ring 25, which, by studs, causes a lever 26 to be moved
by the longitudinal movement of the tube 23, and this lever 26 acts on the valve
gear.
In the modification shown in Figures 1 to 5 the eccentric 15 is fitted to slide
across the face of a disc 27 on the crank shaft 2, being formed with a slot to work
on a block 28 formed on or fixed to the disc 27 on the shaft, and held in its place
by a cover plate 29.. Teeth 30 are formed on the outer face of the eccentric above
and below its cross slot, and with these teeth there gear two toothed sectors 31
centered on a pin 32 held by the shaft 2. The toothed sectors 31 also gear with
toothed arms 33 formed on a tube 34 fitted on the shaft 2 with a groove and key,
and having on it between collars a loose ring 35 connected by studs to the lever 26.
The lever 26 moves the tube 34 longitudinally independently of the rotation of the
shaft 2, and the tube 34, by means of its toothed arms 33 and of the toothed
sectors 31, moves the eccentric 15 correspondingly with the movement imparted to
the handing shaft 17, and with the consequent movement of the engine shaft 5.
In the modification shown in Figures 6 and 7 an eccentric pin 36 formed or fixed
on the tube 34 acts on the eccentric 15 by means of a small rectangular block 37
on it fitted into a short slot in the eccentric. The tube 34 is formed with internal
screw threads of quick pitch, which engage with screw threads formed on the
shaft 2 or on the tube 38 fixed on that shaft, so that when the tube 34 is moved
longitudinally by the lever 26 it is by the screw threads made to turn relatively to
the shaft and shift the eccentric.
In the modification shown in Figures 8 to 10 bell cranks 39 connected to the
tube 34 by a link 40, are substituted for the toothed sectors (31) of the first
modification; and in the modification shown in Figures 12 to 15 a toggle-link
arrangement is used for communicating a cross movement to the eccentric 15 by
means of the longitudinal movement of the tube 34. One pair of links 42 are
jointed at one end to a plate 43 fixed on the shaft 2, and at their other ends to a
second pair of links 44 which are jointed to the eccentric 15. The links 42 aro
formed with slots, into which project studs formed or fixed on the tube 34, so that
the longitudinal movement of this tube acts through the links 42, 44, on the
eccentric.
In some cases the differential and outer tubes 19, 23, may be applied in immediate
connection with the shaft 2 carrying the valvo eccentric 15, the interposed lever 26
being dispensed with. In such cases the longitudinal movement of the outer
tube 23 may be made to act on the eccentric 15 by means similar to those herein-
before described as employed between the tube 34 and the eccentric 15.

page_text: The combination consisting of the handing shaft 17, 18, the differential tube 19,
and outer tube 23, with or without the lever 26, may be advantageously applied to
other arrangements of valve gearing besides those herein-before described.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, we have to state that we do not restrict ourselves to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what we believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to us by and in terms of the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
1. The combination of the differential and outer tubes (19, 23) with the handing
shaft (17) and engine shaft (5), substantially as and for the purposes herein-before
described.
2. The combination of parts for communicating a cross movement to the
eccentric (15) by means of a longitudinal movement of a tube on the shaft of the
eccentric, as herein-before described with reference to Figures 1 to 5 of the accom-
panying Drawings.
3. The combination of parts for communicating a cross movement to the
eccentric (15) by means of a longitudinal movement of a tube on the shaft of the
eccentric, as herein-before described with reference to Figures 6 and 7 of the accom-
panying Drawings.
4. The combination of parts for communicating a cross movement to the
eccentric (15) by means of a longitudinal movement of a tube on the shaft of the
eccentric, as herein-before described with reference to Figures 8 to 11 of the accom-
panying Drawings.
5. The combination of parts for communicating a cross movement to the
eccentric (15) by means of a longitudinal movement of a tube on the shaft of the
eccentric, as herein-before described with reference to Figures 12 to 15 of the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Haythorn, on behalf of the said Andrew
Paul and myself, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
eight
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN HAYTHORN. (L.S.)