IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUS WORKED BY STEAM OR FLUID PRESSURE
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Brotherhood, of No. 25, Ladbroke Gardens,
Notting Hill, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUS WORKED BY STEAM OR FLUID
PRESSURE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Brotherhood at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th December 1875.
I, PETER BROTHERHOOD, of No. 25, Ladbroke Gardens, Notting Hill,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUS WORKED BY STEAM
OR FLUID PRESSURE," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to steering apparatus worked by steam or other
fluid under pressure, and has for its object a compact arrangement of
gear, whereby great power is given to move the rudder, and great
facility is afforded for rapidly connecting the movement of the rudder
to that of the motor engine, so that the helm can at once be moved

page_text: towards the one side or the other, and for rapidly disconnecting the
rudder from the motor, so that the helm can right itself even while the
motor engine continues in motion. For this purpose I fix on the engine
shaft a pinion, and I fix on a shaft in the same line with the engine shaft
one or more arms or a disc, on which are mounted one or more toothed
planet wheels gearing with the central pinion. On bearings in the
same line of axis with the engine shaft I mount an internally toothed
brake wheel gearing with the planet wheel or wheels previously
described. I surround the brake wheel by a flexible brake band worked
from a piston in a cylinder, to which the steam or working fluid is
admitted, but from which it can at will be cut off by a slide or cock
worked by a treadle. When the fluid pressure acts in the said cylinder
the brake band is drawn by its piston firmly against the brake wheel,
preventing it from revolving. In that case the shaft of the motor
engine being caused to revolve in either direction the planct wheels are
also caused to revolve and to travel round the interior of the brake
wheel, thus giving motion to the rudder at a speed reduced considerably
below that of the engine shaft, and with a power proportionally
increased. If now by means of the treadle the pressure on the brake
piston is relieved, the brake wheel being thus left free to revolve, then
the planet wheels driving it remain stationary in their position, or are
free to be moved by the rudder righting itself independently of the
movement of the engine.
As a motor engine for working this apparatus I prefer to use the
three cylinder engine described in the Specifications of Patents
previously granted to me, and to apply to it a reversing rotatory slide,
which can be set so as to make the engine shaft revolve in either
direction or to remain at rest.
For altering the set of the said slide I prefer to employ a hand
steering wheel operating on the slide through planet gear similar to that
above described, the hand wheel in this case having the planet wheel or
wheels mounted on arms or a disc fixed on its shaft, and the internally
geared wheel corresponding to the brake wheel being fixed. The
gearing for the slide is so arranged relatively to that for the rudder that
the rudder is moved by the motor engine in the direction and to tho
extent determined by the movement of the hand steering wheel.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Brotherhood in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
BROTHERHOOD, of No. 25, Ladbroke Gardens, Notting Hill, in the
County of Middlesex, 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 seventy-five, in
the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Peter Brotherhood, Her
special license, that I, the said Peter Brotherhood, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter
Brotherhood, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUS WORKED BY STEAM OR
FLUID PRESSURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter
Brotherhood, 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 Peter Brotherhood, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 accompanying
Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to
say:―

page_text: gcar, whereby great power is given to move the rudder, and great
facility is afforded for rapidly connecting the movement of the rudder
to that of the motor engine, so that the helm can at once be moved
towards the one side or the other, and for rapidly disconnecting the
rudder from the motor, so that the helm can right itself even while the
motor engine continues in motion. For this purpose I fix on the engine
shaft a pinion, and I fix on a shaft in the same line with the engine shaft
one or more arms or a disc, on which are mounted one or more toothed
planet wheels gearing with the central pinion. On bearings in the
same line of axis with the engine shaft I mount an internally toothed
brake wheel, gearing with the planet wheel or wheels previously
described. I surround the brake wheel by a flexible brake band worked
from a piston in a cylinder, to which the steam or working fluid is
admitted, but from which it can at will be cut off by a slide or cock
worked by a treadle. When the fluid pressure acts in the said cylinder
the brake band is drawn by its piston firmly against the brake wheel,
preventing it from revolving. In that case the shaft of the motor
engine being caused to revolve in either direction, the planet wheels are
also caused to revolve and to travel round the interior of the brake
wheel, thus giving motion to the rudder at a speed reduced considerably
below that of the engine shaft, and with a power proportionally
increased. If now by means of the treadle the pressure on the brake
piston is relieved, the brake wheel being thus left free to revolve, then
the planet wheels driving it remain stationary in their position, or are
free to be moved by the rudder righting itself independently of the
movement of the engine.
As a motor engine for working this apparatus I prefer to use the
three cylinder engine described in the Specifications of Patents
previously granted to me, and to apply to it a reversing rotatory slide,
which can be set so as to make the engine shaft revolve in either
direction or to remain at rest.
For altering the set of the said slide I prefer to employ a hand
steering wheel operating on the slide through planet gear similar to
that above described, the hand wheel in this case having the planet
wheel or wheels mounted on arms or a disc fixed on its shaft, and the
internally geared wheel corresponding to the brake wheel being fixed.
The gearing for the slide is so arranged relatively to that for the rudder

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation, partly in section, of a triple cylinder
engine and steering gear according to my Invention; Fig. 2 is an end
view of the same; Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line W, W,
of
Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a section on X, X; Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are sections on
thic line Y, Y, shewing the rotating slide of the engine in different
positions; and Fig. 8 is a section on Z, Z, shewing the passages for
admission of steam into the interior of the rotary slide.
A is the driving shaft, which is coupled to the main steering shaft,
having fixed on it three arms a, or it might be a disc, on which are
mounted so as to revolve freely three planet wheels a¹; one such planet
wheel would suffice, but I prefer to employ a greater number for the
purpose of balancing and subdividing strain. The planet wheels a¹
gear both with an internally geared wheel B and also with a pinion aª
fixed on the engine shaft C, which is in the same axial line with the
shaft A. The wheel B is mounted so as to turn freely on bushes b, in
which are mounted respectively the shafts A and C, and which are
supported by framing or standards b¹. The wheel B is surrounded by a
flexible brake strap b², both ends of which are jointed to a double
lever D pivotted to the framing near one end at d, and jointed at the
other end by a connecting rod d¹ to a plunger d³ working in a cylinder ď³.
E is a triple cylinder engine fitted with a rotary slide e, commanding
the ports to the three cylinders. Through this slide passes axially a
spindle e', having at the one end a screw, which works in a nut e², and
at the other end a screw of coarse pitch, which works in a bush e
driven by a crank from the crank pin of the engine. The spindle e¹ is
provided with one or more feathers fitting slots within the slide e, so
that the said spindle can move longitudinally within the slide, but the
slide must revolve with it. F is a hand steering wheel, the shaft of
which fis coupled to a shaft ƒ¹ that passes through a stuffing box into
a circular casing G, which is fixed. On the shaft f¹ there are two or
more arms f³ (or there might be one), on which are freely mounted
planet wheels f that gear both with internal teeth of the casing G and

page_text: :
also with a pinion e² on the nut of the screw spindle e'. The interior
cavity of G is always in communication with the exhaust chamber of
the engine by passages g¹, and it communicates by a pipe g² with a valvo
box g³. This valve box has a communication g' with the steam chamber
of the engine, and by means of a pipe d'it communicates with the
cylinder d³. The valve in the box g³is worked by a treadle H con-
nected to it by a rod and bell crank ', so that it can be moved either
to admit the steam to the cylinder d³ or to allow the steam to escape
therefrom into the exhaust. I is the steam supply pipe to the engine,
and K is the exhaust or discharge pipe.
It will be seen that the slide e is made with a diagonal diaphragm e*,
which separates the steam passages from the exhaust passages in the
şlide.
The operation of the mechanism is as follows:-On turning the hand
whcel F in either direction and thereby causing the planet wheels f³ to
revolve within the fixed gearing of G the pinion e² is caused to revolve
at a greater velocity, as determined by the proportions of the gearing.
The nut of es being thus caused to revolve on the spindle e' causes that
spindle to move longitudinally forwards or backwards as the case may
be, and the coarse threaded screw thereon moving longitudinally through
the bush causes the spindle e¹ to turn in the one direction or the
other, and the slide e to turn with it. A partial revolution of the slide
being thus effected the slide passages, which in the neutral or middle
position of the slide have the attitude shewn in Fig. 5, are turned
towards the attitude of Fig. 6 or that of Fig. 7, according to the
direction in which the hand wheel F has been turned. The slide is thus
set in the attitude suited for the revolution of the engine shaft O in
either direction, and as long as the hand wheel F is kept turning at a
rate suited to that of the engine the continued movement of the engine
'shaft C in either direction can be maintained; but if the wheel F should
remain stationary then the continued revolution of the shaft C causing
the spindle e' to rotate and so to screw itself into or out from the nut e³
thereby turns back the slide e to its neutral position, and so brings the
engine to rest.

page_text: If now the friction strap * be loose then the wheel B being free to
revolve will be driven by the planet wheels a¹ without giving any
movement to the steering shaft A; but if the friction strap 63 be
tightened on the wheel B then that wheel being kept at rest the planet
3 wheels a¹ revolving within it will give rotary motion to the arms a, and
thereby to the steering shaft A. The tightening of the brake strap 6ª
is effected by the movement of the lever D, when its end is pushed up
by the plunger d² acted on by the steam pressure, but when the
treadle H is pushed down so as to close the steam communication in
O the valve box g³ and to open communication to the exhaust, then the
plunger de descends, releasing the brake strap and leaving the wheel B
free to revolve, whereupon the helm is free to take the midship
position.
The proportions of the gearing in the casing G being made to corre-
› spond with those in B the steering shaft A is made by the series of
movements above described to revolve in accord with the shaft f, and
thus the helm is always made to correspond in position with the hand
steering wheel F, while at the same time by the releasing of the brake
it can when required be left free to come to its middle position.
Although I have described the apparatus as worked by steam it
could obviously be worked in like manner by other fluid under
pressure.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim,-
First. Connecting the driving shaft of steering gear to the steering
shaft through sun and planet gear provided with a brake, so that when
the brake is released the steering shaft is left free for the rudder to right
itself, substantially as herein described.
Second. Setting the rotary slide of a steering engine by a spindle
) connected to the slide through sun and planet gear in such manner
that when the spindle remains stationary the engine shaft by its own
revolution moves back the slide to its neutral position, thereby bringing
the engine to rest, substantially as herein described.
Third. The combination of an engine having its slide gear arranged in
5 the manner referred to in the second claim, with sun and planet steering

page_text: gear operating in the manner referred to in the first claim, substantially
in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Brotherhood, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of June, in the year of..
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
5
PETER BROTHERHOOD. (L.S.)