IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING GEAR POR SUIDS AND RED PORT
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Robert Tilling, of Birkenhead, in the
County of Chester, Millwright, and John Park, of Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Die and Seal Engraver, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING GEAR POR SUIDS AND RED PORT"
Sealed the 31st May 1864, and dated the 7th December 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Robert Tilling
and John Park at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 7th December 1863.
We, GEORGE ROBERT TILLING, of Birkenhead, in the County of Chester,
Millwright, and JOHN PARK, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Die
and Seal Engraver, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING GEAR FOR SHIPS ARD OTHER VESSELS," to be as
follows:-
We secure a tiller or arm to the rudder head, and in or to the former we
fit a sliding block of peculiar construction, hereafter described, the opening
through the inner part of which is screwed to work on a screwed shaft.
Rotatory motion obtained from a steering wheel or steering wheels handled in
the usual way, or rotatory motion otherwise obtained, is conveyed by wheel or
other connecting gear to the screwed shaft above mentioned, to cause the
sliding block to travel in accordance with the motion given towards one end
or the other of the said screwed shaft. The sliding block fitted as above

page_text: mentioned will, therefore, when motion is given, move the tiller or arm, the
outer end of which will describe the. arc of a circle, with it the rudder head,
and thereby bring the rudder into the desired position..
The sliding block can most conveniently be fitted to travel in a slot or
opening in the tiller or arm, and the outer parts thereof, which come in contact
with the surfaces of the slot opening, are made smooth and fitted with guiding
flanges. Inside the said block there is a nut or piece with a screwed opening
therethrough in which the screwed shaft works. The external form of this nut
or piece is spherical, with two projecting poles which represent the axis on
which it moves, to fit the screwed shaft properly at all times and in any
position or angle in and at which the tiller or arm and the rudder may be
placed.
In some arrangements two or more tillers would be employed, each of
which could have a separate sliding block, and such sliding blocks could also
be provided with separate screwed shafts, the latter being in all cases made to
rest in and against bearings supported by strong framework.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Robert Tilling and John Park in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 7th June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
ROBERT TILLING, of Birkenhead, in the County of Chester, Millwright, and
JOHN PARK, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Die and Seal Engraver,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said George Robert Tilling and John Park, Her special licence that
we, the said George Robert Tilling and John Park, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Robert Tilling
and John Park, 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, 'use,
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 GEAR FOR SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst

page_text: others) that we, the said George Robert Tilling and John Park, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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 we, the said George Robert Tilling and John
Park, 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 in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
We secure a tiller or arm to the rudder head, and in or to the former we
fit a sliding block of peculiar construction, the opening through the inner
part of which is screwed to work on a screwed shaft. Rotatory motion
obtained from a steering wheel or steering wheels handled in the usual way, or
rotatory motion otherwise obtained, is conveyed wheel or other connecting
gear to the screwed shaft above mentioned, to cause the sliding block to travel
in accordance with the motion given, towards one end or the other of the said
screwed shaft. The sliding block fitted as above mentioned will, therefore,
when motion is given, move the tiller or arm, the outer end of which will
describe the arc of a circle, with it the rudder head, and thereby bring the
rudder into the desired position.
The sliding block is fitted to travel in a slot or opening in the tiller or arm;
and the outer parts thereof, which come in contact with the surfaces of the
slot opening, are made smooth and fitted with guiding flanges. Inside the
said block there is a nut or piece with a screwed opening therethrough in
which the screwed shaft works. The external form of this nut or piece is
spherical, with two projecting poles which represent the axis on which it
moves, to fit the screwed shaft properly at all times and in any position or
angle in and at which the tiller or arm and the rudder may be placed.
In some arrangements two or more tillers would be employed, each of
which could have a separate sliding block, and such sliding blocks could also
be provided with separate screwed shafts, the latter being in all cases made to
rest in and against bearings supported by strong framework.
The accompanying Sheet of Drawings which we have attached, that our
said Invention may be clearly understood, contains views illustrative of our
apparatus or gear, both with single and double arms or tillers, arranged in
conjunction with the several parts necessary for operating the said apparatus
or gear he hand

page_text: Fig. 1 represents a plan view of an arrangement in which one tiller or arin,
one screw, and two steering wheels are employed; Fig. 2, a plan view; and
Fig. 3 a front elevation of an arrangement where two tillers or arms, or what
is known as a yoke, two screws, and one steering wheel, are used.; Fig. 4, a
side elevation of the tiller shewing the slot opening with sliding block and
swivel nut or piece; Fig. 5, a longitudinal and vertical section of the parts
shewn in Fig. 4; and Fig. 6, a longitudinal and horizontal section of Fig. 4,
at about the line A. B. In all the views like letters of reference are marked
on the same or equivalent parts.
a denotes the framework; b, the steering wheels with shafts c, resting on
the framework a, and carrying toothed wheels d, which gear with other
toothed wheels on the screws f. 9, the rudder stocks or heads to which
the arms. or tillers are secured by keys or otherwise, as may be convenient.
, the slots or openings in the tillers or arms, wherein the sliding blocks j are
made to travel. These blocks can be made of various forms, but we prefer
to make them in two pieces and to use bolts k to fasten them together; the
guiding flanges marked (only in Fig. 4) k*, we also prefer to use, although
tongue-pieces projecting from the blocks might be made to slide in grooves
formed in the parts of the tillers or arms h, which surround the slots or
openings i; m, the nuts or pieces with poles or projections n thereon, which
fit into recesses in the sliding blocks j. When the screws f are made to rotate
by force or power applied to the steering wheels, the nuts or pieces in swivel
round on their poles or axes n and fit the screws f properly at all times. At
the time, however, that the nuts or pieces m swivel round, the sliding blocks
as well as the nuts or pieces .m, move in the slots or openings i, towards one
of the ends of the screws f, and in so moving carry the arms or tillers and the
rudder stock and rudder into the desired position.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and particularized
the same in conjunction with parts of apparatus or details suitable for practical
use, we would have it understoood that we do not confine ourselves to the use
of only one or two tillers or arms on the rudder head or stock, as a larger
number might be used; nor to only one screw and one sliding block and nut
for each tiller or arm, as more than one might be employed; nor to the
particular forms or shapes of the slots or openings, the sliding blocks, and
swivel nuts or pieces, as these may be variously modified; but what we claim
is, in each of the tillers or arms, fastened on or to the rudder head or stock,
forming a slat or opening, and, by a screw, made to rotate by hand or other
power, causing a swivel nut or piece and a guiding sliding block to travel
therein, substantially as herein set forth and shewn on the accompanying

page_text: Sheet of Drawings, the whole constituting important "Improvements in Gear
or Apparatus for Steering Ships."
In witness whereof, we, the said George Robert Tilling and John Park,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
GEORGE ROBERT TILLING. (L.S.)
(LS.)
In the presence of
JOHN THOMSON KING,
Patent Agent,
JOHN PARK.
4, Clayton Square,
Liverpool.