IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEERING VESSELS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Donald Napier, of George Street, in
the City of Westminster, 'Gentleman, and William Lund, of
Cornhill, in the City of London, Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEERING VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said. William Donald
Napier and William Lund at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 4th October 1852.
We, WILLIAM DONALD NAPIER, of George Street, in the City of
Westminster, Gentleman, and WILLIAM LUND, of Cornhill, in the
City of London, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEERING
VESSELS" to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in steering ships and vessels by means of a
steam cylinder with a piston rod passing through both ends thereof,
connected with the rudder by means of chains, ropes, or rods attached
to the piston rods, and combined or not with a cylinder with a piston
rod passing through both ends thereof, containing water, for fixing the

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Donald Napier and William Lund in
the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 4th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
WILLIAM DONALD NAPIER, of George Street, in the City of West-
minster, Gentleman, and WILLIAM LUND, of Cornhill, in the City of
London, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Donald Napier and William
Lund, Her special licence that we, the said William Donald Napier
and William Lund, executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said William Donald Napier and William Lund,
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 APPARATUS FOR STEERING VESSELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Williamı Donald Napier and William
Lund, by an instrument in writing under our hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and

page_text: 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 William Donald Napier and
William Lund, 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 thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, that is to say:
Our Invention consists,-
First, in steering ships and other vessels by the combined agency of
steam and water, the steam acting as a motive power to the rudder, and
the water as a break thereto.
Second, in steering ships and other vessels by water pressure alone;
and,
Third, in steering ships and other vessels by steam pressure alone.
The manner in which our Invention may be performed is exhibited
in Figures 1, and 2, of the Drawings hereunto annexed. Figure 1,
shews a side elevation, and Figure 2, a plan of a steam cylinder and.
water break for acting upon the rudder and for retaining it in any
required position. A, A, is a steam cylinder provided with two covers
and stuffing boxes B, B; C, C, are two piston rods connected to one
common piston; the cylinder is provided with valves and ports for
admitting the steam before or behind the piston as may be necessary;
steam supply and exhaust pipes are also connected to the cylinder as in
an ordinary high-pressure steam engine; D, is a water cylinder fitted
with a piston and piston rods in the same manner as the steam cylinder
before described. A cock E, is fitted to this cylinder, by which the
communication between the two ends of the cylinder is opened or
closed. This cock is moved by means of the lever or handle F, seen
in elevation in Figure 3, (a detached view,) and in dotted lines in
Figure 2; G, is a valve casing enclosing the slide valve of the steam
cylinder A; H, is the valve spindle, and I, a link by which it is con-
nected with the lever J, seen in dotted lines. On the shaft of the lever
J, is keyed the spur wheel K, (or a segment may be used instead of
the wheel,) which gears into a pinion L, which is firmly fixed on the

page_text: tube M, through the centre of which tube passes the shaft. N, on which
the handle or lever F, is keyed; O, is another handle or leyer, which
is keyed on the tube. M; on, which the pinion L, is fixed below the
handle F. The ends of the piston rods C.-C; are furnished with frames
P, P, which support the pulleys, Q, Q, and over these pulleys pass.
the
chains R, R, one end of each of which is attached to the ship's side by
the shackle bolts a, a.
The other ends of the chains R, R.,pass over
pulleys b, b, and thence along the ship's sides and round other pulleys
not seen in the Drawings; to the tiller of the rudder S, S, are eyes
formed in the frames P, P, to which, are fixed the chains T, T, which
pass round the pulleys c, c, c; c, which run in brackets d, d, d, d, attached
to the sides of the ship or otherwise conveniently situated. The ends of
the chains T, T, after passing round the pulleys, c, c, c, c, are connected
to the ends of the piston rods of the water cylinder by means of the
links e, c.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows: Supposing the rudder
is required to be moved in either direction, the handle O, is turned,
and by means of the pinion. L, and wheel K, gives, motion to
the lever J, on the same axis as the wheel K, which through the
intervention of the link I,, and valve. spindle H, causes the steam
to be admitted to the cylinder A, through the valve in the casing
G, and the piston in that cylinder is thereby forced to traverse it,
drawing with it the chain R, attached to the tiller: In order to allow
the movement just mentioned to be performed, the handle F, must be
turned, and by this means, the cock E, will be opened; and the water
before the piston in the water cylinder D; which would otherwise, have
obstructed its movement, allowed to flow out until the rudder has arrived
at the desired position,, in which it may be retained by closing the cock
E. When the rudder is required to be again shifted the motion of the
handles O, and F, must be reversed, and the steam admitted on the
opposite side of the piston so as to give motion to it in the contrary
direction.
In some cases, instead of a steam cylinder as in the arrangement,
before described for giving motion to the rudder, we employ a water
cylinder, and force the water into the same by means of a pump or

page_text: other apparatus so as to cause the piston therein to be moved, and so
give motion to the rudder by a similar arrangement of chains, &c., to
that before described, the water on the opposite side of the piston being
allowed to escape from the cylinder at any required velocity so as to
act more or less as a break or check.
We also use a water cylinder in combination with a rudder arranged
according to the ordinary plan, and employ the same either as a break
or to fix and retain the rudder in any desired position.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which it is to be performed, we declare that what we claim
is, the steering of ships and other vessels by means of the steam and
water cylinders herein-before described, and whether such cylinders be
used in combination with each other, or whether the steam or water
cylinder be used separately.
In witness whereof, we, the said, William Donald Napier and
William Lund, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Fourth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
WILLIAM DONALD NAPIER. (L.S.)
WILLIAM LUND.
(L.S.)