IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEERING VESSELS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Cartwright, of the Dean, Broseley, in the
County of Salop, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR STEERING VESSELS."
Sealed the 24th November 1863, and dated the 28th May 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Cartwright, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
May 1863.
I, HENRY CARTWRIGHT, of the Dean, Broseley, in the County of Salop,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEERING VESSELS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the mode of working rudders and screw propeller
frames, and consists in the adaptation and application of the mechanism,
berein-after described, to the tiller of the rudder, or to a lever fixed to the
frame of the screw propeller for the purpose of turning such rudder or frame
in the manner required for steering the vessel.
The said mechanism consists of a screw passing through a nut, which is
pivotted on the inner end of the "tiller or lever, such screw being connected at

page_text: one end to a driving shaft by means of an universal joint. By this means, on
the revolution of such shaft, the screw will be turned, and will work the tiller
or the lever in the direction required, according to the direction in which the
screw is caused to turn. The nut on the end of the tiller or the lever is
mounted on two pivots, one at the top and the other at the bottom fixed in
suitable bearings, in order to allow for the variations in the position of the
tiller or the lever, as it is acted upon by the serew, and a slot and pin or
other suitable contrivance are adapted to the box or carrier for the nut and
the end of the tiller, or the lever to which it is applied, for the purpose of
preventing any undue strain upon either one of the pivots, owing to any
deviation of the tiller or the lever from the horizontal. The driving shaft
may be variously driven; but I prefer to make it a short shaft mounted in
bearings on a frame fixed to the deck, and to drive it from another short
shaft mounted in the same frame, to which second shaft is connected a small
donkey engine for the purpose of working it; the two shafts being connected
by two cog wheels, which I prefer to make of different diameters, for the
purpose of adapting the speed of the engine to that of the screw, as may be
required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Cartwright in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
CARTWRIGHT, of the Dean, Broseley, in the County of Salop, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 'Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Cartwright, Her special license that I, the said Henry Cart-
wright, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Cartwright, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at.
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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

page_text: APPARATUS FOR STEERING VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Henry Cartwright, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Henry Cartwright, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
"
My Invention of "Improvements in Apparatus for Steering Vessels
relates to the mode of working rudders and screw propeller frames, and
consists in the adaptation and application of the mechanism, herein-after
described, to the tiller of the rudder, or to a lever fixed to the frame of the
screw propeller for the purpose of turning such rudder or frame in the manner
required for steering the vessel.
The said mechanism consists of a screw or screwed rod passing through a
nut, which is pivotted on the inner end of the tiller or the lever, such screw
or screwed rod being connected at one end to a driving shaft by means of an
universal joint. By this means, on the revolution of such shaft, the screw or
screwed rod will be turned, and will work the tiller or the lever in the direc-
tion required according to the direction in which the screw is caused to turn.
The nut on the end of the tiller or the lever is mounted on two pivots, one at
the top and the other at the bottom fixed in suitable bearings, in order to
allow for the variations in the position of the tiller or the lever as it is acted
upon by the screw or screwed rod, and a slot and pin or other suitable con-
trivance are adapted to the box or carrier for the nut, and the end of the
tiller or the lever to which it is applied for the purpose of preventing any
undue strain upon either one of the pivots owing to any deviation of the tiller
or the lever from the horizontal. The driving shaft may be variously driven;
but I prefer to make it a short shaft mounted in bearings on a frame fixed to
the deck, and to drive it from another short shaft mounted in the same frame,
to which second shaft is connected a small donkey engine for the purpose of
working it; the two shafts being connected by two cog wheels, which I prefer:
to make of different diameters for the purpose of adapting the speed of the.
engine to that of the screw, as may be required.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to

page_text: above referred to.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS..
Fig. 1 is a plan or horizontal view of the mechanism combined with a
steering wheel, and Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same, combined with a
small donkey engine as the motive power.
A is the tiller of the rudder, or it might be the. lever fixed to the screw
propeller. frame; B is a screwed rod, which is connected to one end by an
universal joint C to a short shaft or axis D, mounted in a frame E fixed to
the deck of the vessel, the other end being passed through a screwed nut F
pivotted to the end of the tiller. By means of this connection of the parts, on
rotary motion being given to the shaft or axis D, the same will be commu-
nicated through the universal joint C to the screwed rod B, which by working
in the screwed nut F will cause the forward end of the tiller to move towards
or recede from the frame E (according to the direction in which the screwed
rod may be turned), and by that means cause the rudder, skeleton rudder, or
screw propeller frame to make any required angle with the keel of the vessel.
The mode of driving the shaft D is herein-after more particularly described.
The forward end of the tiller is formed round, as shewn detached in Fig. 3;
or it may be conical, and this rounded portion G of the tiller is enclosed in a
correspondingly formed cap or cover H, which is free to turn on the part G to
an extent limited by a cross slot therein, and a pin I, which is passed through
the slot and screwed into the part G of the tiller. The cap or cover H may be
made in two parts with the flanges united together by bolts, as shewn, or it
may be otherwise made. By means of the slot and pin I the cap or cover H
may be turned round a little way, but will be prevented from coming off from
the part G. The forward end of the cap or cover H is formed with a fork
at K and L, between which parts the screwed nut F is pivotted by means of
two studs or pivots on it, which enter holes formed in the parts K and L of
the fork, and as the cap or cover is free to turn round a short distance on the
end G of the tiller, the strain of the nut against the tiller will be taken by
the two pivots in such a manner as to obviate any binding effect of the nut
on the screwed rod B. The object of the universal joint between the shaft D
and the screwed rod B is to allow the latter to accommodate itself to the
curvilinear motion of the end of the tiller, and the object in pivotting the
screwed nut F to the end of the tiller is to allow the tiller and the screwed

page_text: rod to form different angles with each other, as may be required, in order to
cause the requisite. varying positions of the rudder, skeleton rudder, or pro-
pelling frame in steering the vessel of which M is the rudder.
In order to prevent the tiller from being carried over too far either to the
right or left hand, a stop, consisting of a socket or short pipe, may be fixed on
the screwed. rod near to its free end. This socket or pipe has an enlargement
on one side, through which there is a hole for the insertion of a key in the
direction of across the screwed rod, so as to be capable of holding the stop in
its position on the rod by passing through a recess formed therein. The other
end of the screwed rod may have a pipe or collar fixed upon it for the purpose
of preventing the tiller from approaching too near to the universal joint C;
or the sweep of the tiller may be limited as required by means of a rope or
chain fixed to the forward end thereof, and to some stationary object on board
of the vessel. The driving shaft or axis D. may be set in motion by various
means, but I will proceed to describe the two modes shewn in the Drawings,
to neither of which, however, do I confine myself. In Fig. 1, N is a steering
wheel, on the axis O of which is keyed a bevil wheel P, gearing with another
similar wheel Q on the shaft R, mounted in the fixed frame E. On the same
shaft R is a spur wheel S, gearing with a similar wheel T on the shaft or axis
D. By means of this connection the required motion may be communicated
from the steering wheel N to the shaft or axis D, and thence to the screwed
rod B. But the mode of driving the shaft or axis D which I prefer for large
vessels is that represented at Fig. 2, in which U is an auxiliary reversing
engine, V the crank shaft of the same, which is connected with the shaft or
axis D by means of the two wheels S and T. In this manner the power of
the engine U is communicated as required to the shaft or axis D, and through
it to the screwed rod B. And here it may be remarked that by making use of
two intermediate wheels, such as S and T, of different sizes, the power of the
auxiliary engine may be transmitted to the shaft or axis D, and through it to
the screwed rod B, in the manner best adapted for the engine to work with
useful effect on the screwed rod.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would remark that I do not claim as of my
Invention the mode or modes of driving the screwed rod, nor any of the parts
herein-before described, when taken by themselves, and not combined for the
purpose described. But what I claim as of my Invention is the combination
of parts, consisting of a screwed rod working through a screwed nut pivotted
on the forward end of the tiller of a rudder, or the lever of a screw propeller

page_text: frame, for the purpose of turning the rudder, skeleton rudder, or propeller
frame, into any position required for steering the vessel, such screwed rod
being suitably driven either by manual or mechanical power, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Cartwright, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
WILLIAM BURNET, Grocer,
Broseley.
HENRY CARTWRIGHT. (L.s.)