AN IMPROVED APPARATUS, FOR INDICATING THE SPEED OF SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jacobus Tyssen, of Rotterdam, in the Kingdom of
Holland, Mariner, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
Sealed the 22nd September 1859, and dated the 22nd March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jacobus Tyssen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
22nd March 1859.
I, JACOBUS TYSSEN, of Rotterdam, in the Kingdom of Holland, Mariner, do.
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS,
FOR INDICATING THE SPEED OF SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of an apparatus to be fitted to a ship or vessel for
the purpose of showing inboard the rate at which she is going through the
water.
I fit on the axis of a three-bladed screw which is placed outside the vessel
a wheel inboard, which wheel gears into one or more wheels, and causes the
last in the train to make, say, one revolution when the vessel is progressing at
the rate of ten knots an hour, which revolution is shown upon an indicating
dial; I do not confine myself to wheels made to work and show this speed
only, my Invention consisting in indicating by means of registering wheels
placed inboard, the revolutions of a screw working in the water fitted on the

page_text: axis of the first wheel in the train, the train of wheels being set to show so
many knots per hour on the indicator according to the revolutions of the
screw in the water..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jacobus Tyssen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JACOBUS
TYSSEN, of Rotterdam, in the Kingdom of Holland, Mariner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Jacobus Tyssen, Her special licence that I, the said Jacobus Tyssen,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Jacobus Tyssen, 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 "AN IMPROVED APPA-
RATUS FOR INDICATING THE SPEED OF SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Jacobus Tyssen, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
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 Jacobus Tyssen, do hereby declare the
nature of any 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to
say:-
My Invention consists of an apparatus to be fitted to a ship or vessel for
the purpose of showing inboard the rate at which she is going through the
water.
I fit on the axis of a three-bladed screw which is placed outside the vessel
a wheel inboard, which wheel gears into one or more wheels, and causes tho

page_text: last in the train to make, say, one revolution, when the vessel is progressing
at the rate of ten knots an hour, which revolution is shown upon an indicating
dial;
I do not confine myself to wheels made to work and show this
speed only, my Invention consisting in indicating, by means of registering
wheels placed inboard, the revolutions of a screw working in the water, fitted
on the axis of tho first wheel in the train, the train of wheels being set to
show so many knots per hour on the indicator, according to the revolutions of
the screw in the water.
Figure 1, of the accompanying Drawings, is an exterior front elevation of
an apparatus for indicating the speed of ships and other vessels constructed
according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a front, and Figure 3 is a side elevation
of the same, with the front plate removed; Figure 4 is a front, and Figure 5.
is a side elevation with the back plate removed; and Figure 6 is a side eleva-
tion of the apparatus with the exterior case removed. The same letters of
reference indicate like parts in all the Figures.
A, B, are two metal plates held together by rods C, C, C, secured to the front
plate by washers and screws, as shewn. The plates A, B, with the mechanism
they hold between them, and about to be described, are placed in an outer
case D, which is suspended by a lug E to the side of a ship's cabin, or the stern
of a vessel, on deck, or in any other convenient position. a is the main spindle,
from which the whole motion is derived; the outer end of this spindle carries a
link and eye to which a line is attached, which line carries at its extremity,
a three-bladed screw, a view of which is given at Figure 7, but I do not limit
myself to this form of blade. As the vessel moves through the water, this
screw revolves, which through the line attached to it gives motion to tho
spindle a, and this through wheels and pinions indicates on a dial or dials the
speed at which the ship is travelling, as is about to be explained.
The spindle a carries a pinion b, which gears into a wheel c, supported by a
bracket & screwed to the back plate B. The shaft that carries the wheel c
also carries a pinion e, which gears into a wheelf containing the same number
of teeth as the wheel c. This wheel is supported by a bracket g, and the
shaft which carries the wheel falso carries a pinion h, that gears into a wheel i
on a shaft, which carries a pointer 2, that revolves round a dial plate m,
which when it has made one revolution shows that the ship has run one knot.
The shaft also carries a pinion n, which gears into a wheel o on a shaft
supported by a bracket p screwed to the front plate A. This shaft carries a
pointer that revolves round a dial plate q, and indicates when the ship has run
from one to ten knots. The shaft which carries the wheel o, also carries a
pinion v that gears into a wheels containing the same number of teeth as

page_text: the wheel o. The shaft which carries this wheels is supported by a bracket t
screwed to the front plate A, and carries a pointer u that revolves round a
dial plate v, and indicates from ten knots to a hundred the distance the vessel
has run; w is a tube for the passage of oil to lubricate the spindle a. I have
shewn the apparatus to indicate up to a hundred knots the distance a ship
has run, but without departing from my Invention the apparatus can be
arranged to show any other number.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the indicating
of the speed of a ship or other vessel on a dial or dials placed inboard, by
means of wheels and pinions worked by a screw that revolves in the water,
and attached to a line connected to the axis of the first wheel in the train,
substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jacobus Tyssen, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Sixteenth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.