IMPROVEMENTS IN RECORDING INSTRUMENTS, CHIEFLY FOR USE ON BOARD SHIP
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Pickwell, of Kingston-upon-Hull, in the County
of York, Civil Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RECORDING
INSTRUMENTS, CHIEFLY FOR USE ON BOARD SHIP."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Pickwell at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th January 1882.
ROBERT PICKWELL of Kingston upon Hull in the County of York Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RECORDING INSTRUMENTS CHIEFLY FOR USE ON BOARD
SHIP."
.
My Invention has for its object the application of the mariner's compass or
magnetic needle to the purpose of automatically making a diagram or register
showing the direction or course in which the ship or other moving body is tra-
velling. I do not confine the use of this instrument to ships only as it is obviously
applicable to other moving bodies, boats, balloons, caravans, railways &c., but I will
describe it as applied to a ship.
By this invention a record or register of the direction or course of a ship, from
the time she leaves one port to the time she arrives at her destination can be kept
and being continuous and automatic it records the course or changes thereof during
the whole voyage and forms a valuable check. upon the captain and officers in
charge of the vessel.
The record being automatic and continuous it follows in case of casualty to the
vessel at sea that the bearing of her head would be shown at the time when the
casualty occurred and the constant conflicting evidence of officers and men would
be in a great measure rendered needless and obviated.
One way of carrying my Invention into practise is to employ stationary or
moving pieces or strips of paper or other suitable material conveniently placed or
a travelling strip or band may be used if preferred and actuated by clockwork, so
that the compass or needle may trace a diagram which indicates the bearing of the
ships head during the whole voyage. This diagram may be marked upon the paper
ID 611

page_text: by one of the methods usually employed for taking indicator diagrams and the like
with a pencil point or other marking point or by the aid of photography or
electricity care being taken not to interfere with the free working of the
compass.
In connection with the diagram I have clockwork or other motive power motion
which in some cases I use for moving the strips of travelling paper and in others
for moving either the paper separately or together with the pencil of light electric
points or pencil points, so as to represent a uniform motion per hour of these lines
traced on the diagram..
Suitable provision is made for inspecting or ascertaining whether the clockwork
or other machinery is in motion and also so that the diagram itself can be consulted
at any time, the separate diagrams (when such are employed) taken off or the con-
tinuous diagrams either taken off or consulted.
I prefer to arrange the compass so that it can be seen and checked with the
ordinary compass as to adjustment and truth and the instrument is arranged so
that the officer in charge may either have access to the diagrams or not as may be
desirable during the voyage and the ship's course be daily laid down on a chart and
the diagrams be filed and certified if desired.
The details may be varied without departing from the spirit of this invention;
thus the precise ruling or marking of the diagram paper is immaterial so long as it
clearly sets forth the essential particulars of the course and time.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Robert Pick well in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th July
1882.
"
ROBERT PICKWELL of Kingston-upon-Hull in the County of York Civil Engineer.
IMPROVEMENTS IN RECORDING INSTRUMENTS, CHIEFLY FOR USE ON BOARD
SHIP."
My invention has for its object the application of the mariners compass, or mag-
netic needle, to the purpose of automatically making a diagram or register showing
the direction or course in which the ship or other moving body is travelling; I do
not confine the use of this instrument to ships only, as it is obviously applicable to
other moving bodies, (boats, balloons, caravans, railways &c.) but I will describe it
as applied to a ship.
By this invention a record or register of the direction or course of a ship, from
the time she leaves port to the time she arrives at her destination, can be kept and
being continuous and automatic, it records the course or changes thereof during the
whole voyage and forms a valuable check upon the captain and officers in charge of
the vessel.
:
The record being automatic and continuous, it follows in case of casualty to the
vessel at sea that the bearing of her head would be shown at the time when the
casualty occurred, and the constant conflicting evidence of officers and men would
be in a great measure rendered needless and obviated.
One way of carrying my invention into practice is to employ stationary or
moving pieces or strips of paper or other suitable material conveniently placed, or
a travelling strip or band may be used if preferred and actuated by clockwork, so
that the compass or needle may trace a diagram which indicates the bearing of the
ship's head during the whole voyage. This diagram may be marked upon the
paper by one of the methods usually employed for taking indicator diagrams and
the like with a pencil point or other marking point or by the aid of photography
or electricity care being taken not to interfere with the free working of the
compass.
In connection with the diagram I have clock work or other motive power motion
which in some cases I use for moving the strips of travelling paper and in others for
moving either the paper separately or together with the pencil of light electric
points or pencil points so as to represent a uniform motion per hour of these lines
traced on the diagram.
Suitable provision is made for inspecting or ascertaining whether the clockwork
or other machinery is in motion and also so that the diagram itself can be'
consulted at any time, the separate diagrams (where such are employed) taken off,
or the continuous diagrams either taken of or consulted.
I prefer to arrange the compass so that it can be seen and checked with the
ordinary compass as to adjustment and truth and the instrument is arranged so
that the officer in charge may either have access to the diagrams or not, as may be
desirable, during the voyage, and the ships course duly laid down on a chart and
the diagrams be fixed and certified if desired.
The details may be varied without departing from the spirit of this Invention ;
thus the precise ruling or marking of the diagram-paper is immaterial so long as it
clearly sets forth the essential particulars of the course and time.
My invention has for its object the application of the mariners compass or
magnetic needle to the purpose of automatically making a diagram or register
showing the direction or course in which the ship, or other moving body to which it
.

page_text: is applied, is travelling. I do not confine the use of this instrument to ships only
as it is obviously applicable to other moving bodies, but I will describe it as applied
to a ship. By this Invention a record or register of the compass course of a ship
from the time she leaves port till she arrives at her destination can be kept, and
being continuous and automatic it records the course and changes thereof during
the whole voyage and in case of a casualty to the vessel at sea, the bearing of her
head at the time would be shown and the constantly conflicting evidence of officers
and men would in great measure be obviated.
I employ either stationary or moving pieces or strips of sensitized paper, or their
equivalent or a travelling band actuated in any suitable manner, but preferably by
a train of clockwork in such a way, that a ray of light passing through or on to the
compass card, photographs the diagram, which is thus marked or traced out by a
pencil of day light or artificial light and the compass card or paper is not touched
by any marking instrument whatever.
The train of clockwork may be employed either for moving the paper or for
moving the opening through which the light passes onto the paper, so as to represent
a uniform motion per hour of the lines traced on the diagram. Suitable provision
is made for inspecting or ascertaining whether the train of wheels is in motion
and also for consulting the diagram itself at any time or for removing the band
or sheets when required.
I prefer to arrange so that this compass may be used either as the steering,
standard or bridge compass and that the officer in charge may have access to the
diagram or not during the voyage as may be desirable.
In the accompanying drawings, in which like letters represent like parts,
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a binnacle dome showing this apparatus and
the compass card and lawup.
Figure 2 is a plan showing the slits in the case beneath the compass card which
is removed for clearness.
Figures 3 & 4 show the compass card with two arrangements of the curved slit
or opening in it.
Figure 5 is another view of the compass-card with the points of the compass
marked thereon and
Figure 6 shows part of a strip of the sensitized paper with diagrams upon it.
A is an ordinary compass bowl, B the compass card suspended from the centre
at B' as usual C the metal box containing the clockwork D of any construction
and arrangement suitable to propel either a continuous band or separate pieces
of sensitized paper, or the light slits if preferred. E is the travelling and exposed
to the light at C' (Figure 1) by means of the two narrow slits C and C³ in the top
of the case which is otherwise light proof. F is a lamp for use when daylight is
not available. C and C³ Figure 2 are fine slits in the top of case C and at
right angles to the course of the travelling band E. Figure 3 shows the compass
card in place above the case, the slits C2 C3 being dotted in beneath. The form
of slit B2 in the compass card itself may be varied so long as its. range causes the
point where it crosses the underneath slits C2 and C³ to traverse the entire length
of these slits. Figures 3, 4 and 5 show two forms of slit that in Figures 3 and 5
being preferable because they are so divided and set out that the lines representing
the thirty two point of the compass upon the band E can be evenly spaced as
shown in Figure 6. This curve is easily set out by marking upon a line drawn
from the centre of the card to the due N point the sixteen divisions of one
hemisphere of the travelling band. These divisions are then marked upon the
radii from the centre to the sixteen corresponding points upon the card and thus
give the proper curve as will be well understood. This slit B is so arranged that
it is always across one of the slits C² or Cs but never across both at the same time
except at the extremities and its range is such that in one complete revolution of
the card the point of crossing traverses the whole length of the slits un ierneath and
a pencil of light passes through both slits at the point of crossing and as this point
changes its position across the travelling band of paper it photographs a black

page_text: mark wherever the crossing point may be and as the paper is constantly travelling
along, a longitudinal line is produced, the position of which upon the paper
corresponds with the point of the compass on which the ships head is bearing at
the time.
Figure 6 shows a diagram as produced by the above described arrangement the
lines marked N, NE to S and SW to N corresponding with the points of the
compass and the dots on the edge of the paper representing hours or days as
desired. The heavy diagram line represents the black mark as photographed and
so the bearing of the ships head and the time she remained on each course.
'
The diagram lines on the upper half of the paper show courses to the eastward of
N and S and the lines upon the lower half of the paper show courses to the west-
ward of N and S.
I will now describe a method of carrying out this Invention by the aid of
electricity instead of photography.
Figure 7 is a vertical section through the binnacle, compass bowl and card;
Figure 8 shows a ring of armatures inside the compass bowl; Figure 9 shows
compass card and wire D; Figures 10 and 11 are details of construction, Figure 12
shows the compass fixed upon the bridge or on deck and the checking device in the
captains cabin or other convenient position, the wires g connecting the two;
Figure 13 is a plan of the apparatus showing the travelling band and the pins or
points for marking it; Figure 14 is a vertical section through Figure 13.
In Figure 7 A is the compass bowl, B the compass card, C the dome, d a ring of
insulated armatures round the inside of bowl, c a delicately slung bent connection
trail piece connected by the conducting wire D laid between the needles and leading
up to the N point of card, f are conducting wires leading from each armature d,
and g is the united cable of insulated wires f
In Figure 8, A is the bowl ddd the ring of armatures, one for each quarter
point.
In Figure 9, A is the bowl B the compass card and D the conducting wire
coming from the battery or other source of electricity placed in the base of the .
compass stand or any convenient position.
Figures 10 and 11 show the armatures and trail piece connection on the card on
a larger scale. Figure 12 shows the compass A placed in any convenient position
of the ship, being the clockwork and diagram frame placed by preference in the
captain's cabin.
Figures 13 and 14 are enlarged views of the diagram frame in which is the
moving paper, g the cable leading from the compass and k the row of markers one
for each of the separate conducting wires f.
The mode of action is as follows: When the trail piece c is in contact with any
armature d corresponding with the point of the compass on which the ships head
is travelling a current passes up the central spindle, upon which the card is hung,
along the wire D through c and d and along the particular wire f and depresses
the marking point k corresponding with the said point of the compass and traces a
line on the travelling band of paper h for the length of time during which the ship
is on such bearing-and so on for the entire round of the compass card-A diagram
is thus traced showing the points steered and the duration of such courses.
I prefer using voltaic electricity as a motive power.
Having now described my invention and the method of performing the same, I
wish it to be understood that I am aware that attempts have been made to obtain
a diagram of the readings of the compass, chiefly by mechanical means, and that
I therefore do not broadly claim the principle of obtaining a diagram from the
mariners compass, but that what I do claim and desire to protect under the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is:
First: The application of photography or the aid of daylight or artificial light to
the mariners compass for the purpose of producing a diagram showing the courses
followed and changes made in such courses substantially as set forth and shown.
Second: The combination with the mariners compass of a travelling band of

page_text: sensitized paper or equivalent material enclosed within a light proof case, said case
being provided with suitable openings for the passage of a pencil of light substan-
tially as and for the purposes set forth and shown.
Third: The combination with the mariners compass of a stationary piece of
sensitized paper or equivalent material enclosed within a light proof case, said case
being provided with travelling slits or apertures for the passage of a pencil of light,
substantially as set forth and shown.
Fourth: In a compass card the employment of the slit B² suitable for the passage
of light for the formation or production of a diagram or record substantially as set
forth and shown.
Fifth The production of a diagram from the mariners compass by the aid of
electricity employed substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth and
shown.
In witness whereof I, the said Robert Pick well, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this fifteenth day of July in the year of Our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eighty two.