IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING AT SEA
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Swan, of Gateshead, in the County of
Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING
AT SEA."
Sealed the 19th September, 1871, and dated the 23rd March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Swan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd March 1871.
66
I, JOHN SWAN, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
SIGNALLING AT SEA," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in a novel telegraphic apparatus for enabling
steam ships or sailing ships to indicate by means of audible signals to
any vessels that may be within hearing distance, the course they are
steering or within one point thereof; also when the helm is put to port
or to starboard, its chief use being at night or during foggy weather to
prevent collision.
In adapting my Invention to steam ships I provide two sounding
instruments of different qualities or tone, and connect them with the

page_text: steam boiler, so that the steam discharged therefrom into the instru-
ments may cause one or other or both of them to sound according to a
set code of signals, and thereby indicate the course of the ship.
I prefer for this purpose to use a whistle and a horn or a buzzer,
which will produce sounds of very marked difference, and I fit these
instruments with valves, the opening of which at given intervals will
cause the instruments to sound in a manner that will indicate the course
of the ship. These valves are opened and shut at the required periods
by the action of a rotary cylinder fitted with pins or provided with
notches for the purpose of acting on levers or other intermediate con-
nection after the manner of the barrel of a mechanical organ. The
valves may also be connected with the steering wheel, so that when the
helm is put hard to port the whistle will be sounded continuously, and
when the helm is put hard to starboard the buzzer or the horn will be
similarly set in action, or the valves may be operated by hand.
To enable the pinned cylinder to act upon the valves so as to produce
audible signals that will by an established code indicate the course of
the ship, I fit a dial graduated like a compass card with a pointer, the
spindle of which turns in its bearings as the pointer is set to indicate
the course of the ship. This axial motion of the spindle will through
the medium of a pinion and rack, or other suitable gearing, shift the
tails of the valve levers so as to bring them under the action of that
portion of the pinned cylinder which corresponds to the signal intended
to be given. Thus, if a signal desired to be given consists of one note
of the buzzer and two notes of the whistle the tails of the levers will be
brought under the action of that portion of the cylinder which during
one rotation will act upon the whistle lever twice and on the buzzer
lever once.
To this pinned or notched cylinder I propose to impart a continuous
rotary motion, driving it either from the shaft of the engine or by
clockwork mechanism.
When applying the Invention to sailing vessels I may use compressed
air in lieu of steam for sounding the whistle and horn or buzzer, or
I may substitute a bell and a gong for these sounding instruments,
causing levers actuated by the pinned barrel or cylinder to bring
hammers into action instead of opening and closing the valves, as
before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Swan in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SWAN, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Swan, Her special licence that I,
the said John Swan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Swan, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SIGNALLING AT
SEA," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Swan,
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 John Swan, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :-
:-
My Invention consists in a novel telegraphic apparatus for enabling
steam ships or sailing ships to indicate by means of audible signals to
any vessels that may be within hearing distance the course they are
steering, or within one point thereof if considered necessary, but
generally within (say) eight points, its chief use being at night or during
foggy weather to prevent collision.

page_text: In adapting my Invention to steam ships I provide one or more
sounding instruments of different qualities of tone and connect the same
with the steam boiler by means of a small steam engine which actuates
the machinery necessary to open
and shut the valve or valves used for
admitting the steam into the sounding instrument or instruments, and 5
by causing the instrument or instruments to sound according to a set
code the course of the ship will be indicated. The same machinery
will also serve to sound a bell which may be used to denote a vessel
at anchor, or the bell may be made to perform a part of the code of
signals.
I prefer for the purpose of my Invention to use different instruments
for steam vessels and sailing vessels, and the sounding instruments
which I prefer to employ are whistles, fog horns, buzzers, and bells,.
which will produce sounds of very marked difference.
1
In the accompanying Drawings I have shewn an arrangement of 1
machinery suitable for a steam vessel and designed to signal within
eight points, the course of the ship. The signals will all be produced
by the aid of a whistle, the bell contained in the apparatus being
intended solely to indicate that the ship is at anchor.
When a closer indication of the ship's course is required the code 2
used will 'necessarily be of a more complex character, and I then
propose to bring into action two sounding instruments which would be.
sounded by steam jets, or the bell might be used to perform a part of
the code.
In Sheet 1 of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the 2
signalling apparatus, in which a bell and steam whistle are employed;
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same; and Fig. 3 is a back elevation
with the case in section, the better to show the mechanism contained
therein; Fig. 4, Sheet II., is a front elevation and Fig. 5 an end
elevation on an enlarged scale of the mechanism for actuating the a
valve of the whistle and the hammer of the bell; and Figures 6
and 7 are detached views of parts to be hereafter more particularly
referred to.
A, A, is a pedestal case surmounted by a hollow standard B, from
which depends the bell C, and on the top of which is mounted a 3
whistle D. This whistle is connected by a pipe D¹ with the steam
boiler and the valve of the whistle is carried by an arm d pivotted at a
to a standard, and carrying a rod d² which besides steadying its motion

page_text: may be used for actuating the whistle by hand. Pendent from the
arm is a chain d³ which is connected to one end of a rock lever d', the
other end of which carries a pendent rod d³. This rod d³ connects at
its lower end with a tripping lever arrangement E which, when rocked,
sets the whistle in action. This tripping lever arrangement is acted
upon by a horizontal pinned barrel F mounted in bearings in a
framing G and receiving a continuous rotary motion for a small steam
engine H, the cylinder of which is made fast to a base plate that carrics
the framing G. The arrangement of gearing for transmitting the
motion of the engine to the barrel F is clearly shown at Fig. 4. On
either side of the barrel F and parallel thereto at or near the plane of its
axis is a squared shaft E¹ and E*, the ends of which are rounded to
permit of the shafts rocking in their bearings in the frame G. These
shafts severally serve to support and guide a tripping lever arrangement
which is intended to be brought into line with one of the several sets of
pins that stand out from the periphery of the barrel F, and correspond
severally with a signal intended to be sounded. Opposite each set of
pins shewn in the Drawing the shaft E' is notched in the notch forming
a stop to the tripping lever arrangement as it is adjusted from time to
time to suit the various signals desired to be given.
The tripping-lever arrangement is shewn in side view at Fig. 6, and
in plan view at Fig. 7.
This arrangement may be described as a hand lever e provided with a
hub e¹ fitting onto and capable of sliding over the squared shaft. This
lever is provided with lugs or guides to receive a sliding bar e², which
overlies the hand lever e and carries on its upper side a pointer. The
hub is notched to secure this sliding bar and allow of its sliding in a
notch of the shaft E. This bar is notched on its under side at an angle
corresponding to the upper angle of the shaft, when, therefore, its notch
is brought into coincidence with this angle of the shaft the tripping
lever is free to be slidden laterally to any desired position on the shaft for
the purpose of bringing the sliding bar opposite and under the action of
any desired set of pins on the barrel. By the depression of a bell-crank
lever e³, pivotted on the lever e and connected by a link rod e* to the
sliding bare, that bar may be drawn back into the position requisite
for allowing of the lateral movement of the lever e on its shaft. A
spring fitted to the under side of the bell-crank lever will throw
forward the sliding bar and put it within reach of the pins of the barrel.

page_text: Supposing this apparatus to be brought opposite a set of pins numbering,
say, two or three in the set, and the barrel to be set in action, the
tripping apparatus will be rocked two or three times, as the case may be,
and thereby through its connection with the rod ď³, the whistle will be
caused to give out a corresponding number of sounds. In like manner
when it is desired to sound the bell the tripping apparatus on the other
side of the barrel will be adjusted so as to come within the action of the
pins intended to operate it, and if a continuous ringing of the bell is
required to indicate, for example, that the ship is at anchor the barrel
will be provided with a ring of pins set equidistant apart. The hammer
lever c of the bell is carried by a standard c¹ within the bell and pendent
from the tail of the hammer lever is a rod c², which connects with a
tripping-lever apparatus of similar construction to that just described
carried by the shaft E*. For the convenience of sounding the bell by
hand the external hammer c³ is provided, the same being swung from
the standard which carries the arm d.
I have stated that the sliding bar e² is fitted with a pointer. This
is intended to move over an index plate and thus shew the mariner for
the delivery of what signal the apparatus is adjusted..
For the more perfect understanding of my improved apparatus I
will give an example of the simplest code which should be adopted
for indicating at night or in a fog the state and movements of a steam
ship.

page_text: and in the absence of a steam engine for driving the pinned barrel a
clockwork mechanism may be employed for imparting the requisite
continuous rotary motion to the barrel.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved
Apparatus for Signalling at Sea," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, producing audible signals
by means of apparatus constructed and operating in the manner above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Swan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Signed and sealed by the
above-named John Swan,
in the presence of
GEO. WAILES,
Sol.,
Newcastle-on-Tyne.
JOHN SWAN. (L.S.)