IMPROVEMENTS IN HANGING "SHIPS RUDDERS
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Wilkinson Snowden
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th April 1883.
SAMUEL WILKINSON SNOWDEN Engineer "West Hartlepool" “IMPROVEMENTS
IN HANGING "SHIPS RUDDERS
"
The rudder may be constructed in two or more sections for convenience of being
shipped and unshipped. The rudder "head or "spindle" and "pintles" may
also be made either solid or hollow or tubular.
The pintles are of a conical or taper form and are received in corresponding
sockets in the brackets or braces.
Below the taper socket the point of each pintle rests on a hard metal cap or
block supported on an india rubber cushion contained in a cylindrical metal
bushing fitted into the brace or bracket
The thickness of the india rubber is adjusted to allow each pintle to bear in the
brace or socket sufficiently and without play, or the india rubber can be set up by
a screw passed upwards through the bottom of the brace or bracket.
On deck the rudder head or spindle where it works through the stuffing box or
deck plate is conical or taper the reverse way to the pintles and is received into a
metal bushing which is pressed downwards by a block of india rubber.
The object attained by this construction is that the rudder is held firmly and
that it works smoothly so that the constant vibration and wear of the working
parts of the rudder (caused especially by the action of the screw propellor) and the
consequent tendency to derangement are entirely removed.
The weight of the rudder is taken by the whole of the india rubber cushions
(and all the "pintles" will be what is technically called "Dumb pintles") in the
braces or sockets. The thickness of the india rubber will regulate the amount of
pressure or weight of the rudder supported by the taper parts of the rudder pintles
and prevent these tapered parts of the pintles from resting too heavily in the taper
sockets.

page_text: and is here made of a conical form tapering the reverse way to the pintles, it is
surrounded by a metal bush D¹ which is pressed downwards by a gland D' and
ring of india rubber E as is seen in Figure 6. In this way the rudder head is held
firmly and works smoothly and can be readily adjusted when wear takes place by
tightening down the gland D'.
The rudder head C has an upper section C¹ in a separate piece and connected by
a clutch like connection with it and with the boss of the tiller F. The tiller boss
has horns on its upper and lower faces fitting accurately to corresponding horns
formed on the flanges of the rudder head C and C'. Bolts are passed through
these flanges to hold them firmly together. The tiller then cannot get loose which
sometimes occurs at present with disastrous results.
In Figure 2 the arrangements are similar to those in Figure 1 but the rudder
head is without the upper length and the connection between the rudder and the
rudder head is made by a clutch connection and a cone on the top of the rudder
entering a corresponding socket or recess in the lower end of the rudder head. No
bolts are required.
The rudder may be constructed in two or more sections for convenience of being
shipped and unshipped. The rudder head or spindle and pintles may also be made
either solid or hollow or tubular.
The weight of the rudder is taken by the whole of the india rubber cushions or
as many as may be thought desirable (and all the pintles will be what is technically
called "dumb pintles") in the braces or sockets. The thickness of the india rubber
will regulate the amount of pressure or weight of the rudder supported by the
taper parts of the rudder pintles and prevent these tapered parts of the pintles
from resting too heavily in the taper sockets.
In the drawings the head or spindle of rudder is represented hollow. When a
hollow head is employed I fit a lifting apparatus as represented in Figure 7, and in
the event of the head breaking at sea I pass this apparatus down the head, let go
the catch which releases the tubular piece which carries the prongs so as to allow
them to descend over the wedge. Then when the lifting strain is put on the prongs
are spread out and lift the head out of its connection with the rudder blade.
In shipping the rudder head to guide the head into its place on the rudder when
it is of a hollow section I first pass down the rudder trunkway a tube having a
taper end to enter a corresponding hole (see Figure 7) in the rudder. The head is
then lowered over the tube and so is guided into its place.
When the head is solid the trunkway is made at its lower end to suit as a guide
for the head.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same I would have it understood that I claim-
First. Hanging ships rudders substantially as herein described and represented
by the annexed drawings.
Second. The pintles and braces and parts immediately connected therewith
substantially as described.
Third. The rudder head or spindle with the bush and parts which retain it and
prevent it rising substantially as described.
In witness whereof I the said Samuel Wilkinson Snowden have hereunto set my
hand and seal this thirteenth day of October in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty three.
SAMUEL WILKINSON SNOWDEN. (LS)