Year: 1896

page_text: I, EDWARD JOEL PENNINGTON, of the City of Racine, in the County of Racine
and State of Wisconsin, United States of America, Gentleman, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to aeronautical ships and comprises the various improve-
ments hereinafter set forth.
According to one part of my invention I control the steering of the ship by means
of a magnetic compass which I connect to electrical steering apparatus in such a
way that any deviation from the course to which the ship has been set causes the
steering motor to revolve in one or the other direction and thereby bring the ship
back to the straight course.
In combination with the aforesaid steering device I provide a second magnetic
needle or similar maguetic device to be actuated by a large mass of iron, a man of
war for example, when sufficiently near and when so actuated the said second needle
or device operates to disconnect the first steering device and then takes upon itself
the control of the steering apparatus. In this way I am enabled to start the air
ship on any pre-arranged course and then when it comes within a given distance
of a man of war or other large mass of iron its course will be automatically changed
as above indicated and the air ship will be steered direct for such man of war or
mass of iron.
I also provide the air ship with automatic means for discharging dynamite or
other explosive material upon a vessel or the like underneath it. The said means
comprises a magnetic arm which is directed by magnetic attraction towards the
vessel or other large mass of iron in the vicinity of the air ship and which is so
combined or connected with the mechanism for discharging the explosive material
that when the magnetic arm becomes vertical or nearly so it operates to liberate
the explosive material which then falls upon the vessel or other object to be
destroyed underneath.
In some instances I provide the air ship with a mechanical or other time-
mechanism or appliance which operates after a given time to start the discharging
mechanism and so discharge the explosive material upon any given object underneath
the air-ship. The time-mechanism or appliance can be initially adjusted to start the
discharging apparatus atter any desired interval.
11
1
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: I, EDWARD JOEL PENNINGTON, of the City of Racine, in the County of Racine
and State of Wisconsin, United States of America, Gentleman, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to aeronautical ships and comprises the various improve-
ments hereinafter set forth.
According to one part of my invention I provide for controlling the ship by means
of a magnetic compass which I connect to electrical steering apparatus in such a
way that any deviation from the course to which the ship has been set causes the
steering motor to revolve in the proper direction for bringing the ship back to the
desired course.
In combination with the aforesaid steering device I provide a second magnetic
needle or similar magnetic device to be actuated by a large mass of iron, a man of
war for example, when sufficiently near and when so actuated the said second needle
or device operates to disconnect the first steering device and then takes upon itself
the control of the steering apparatus. In this way I am enabled to start the air
ship on any pre-arranged course and then when it comes within a given distance
of a man of war or other large mass of iron its course will be automatically changed
as above indicated and the air ship will be steered direct for such man of war or
mass of iron.
According to another part of my invention I provide the air ship with automatic
means for discharging an explosive shell or other explosive material upon a vessel
or the like underneath it. The said means comprises a magnetic arm which is
directed by magnetic attraction towards the vessel or other large mass of iron in
the vicinity of the air ship and which is so arranged that when the magnetic arm
becomes vertical or nearly so it operates to liberate the explosive material which
then falls upɔn the vessel or other object to be destroyed underneath.
In some instances I provide a mechanical or other time-mechanism or appliance
which operates after a given time to discharge the explosive material upon any
given object underneath the air-ship. The time-mechanism or appliance can be
initially set to operate after any desired interval of time.
Referring to the accompanying drawings which illustrate how my invention may
be carried into effect,
Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of the apparatus for controlling the course of
the ship as hereinafter described.
Figures 2 and 3 are diagrammatic views of the compass and commutator in
relation to the terminals when the ship has deviated from its proper course.
Figures 4 and 5 are sectional elevations of apparatus for dropping explosive
material upon an object underneath the air ship one of said apparatuses being
controlled by a magnetic device and the other by time mechanism.
Like letters of reference denote corresponding parts in the several figures.
A is the compass needle for use in steering the air ship on any pre-arranged
course, said needle being adjusted and compensated in the usual way to counteract
magnetic interference produced by neighbouring masses of iron. B is a commutator
ring connected to and moving with the said needle; C, C, C C are four terminals
fixed to the vessel and adapted to make contact with the conducting parts of the
commutator ring opposite to them. The commutator ring is constructed with two
conducting segments b, b¹ in one balf and four conducting segments 63, 63, 6 6 in
the other half connected by wires 6, 6, 8, 6 as shown and separated by insulating
pieces 60 denoted by the full black segments.

page_text: D is another magnetic needle intended to be attracted by a large mass of iron.
such as a man of war when in the immediate vicinity of the air ship; E is a
commutator ring connected to the needle D and similar in construction to the
aforesaid ring B; F F F F are the four terminals of the ring, E. G'G' are
two switches so constructed and connected that in one position of said switches the
ring B is thrown out of circuit, and in the other position the ring E is thrown out.
of circuit.
H is an electric steering motor, and J is the battery for supplying the necessary
current for driving the motor.
The switches G G are arranged to be worked in unison and for this purpose
they may be connected by a chain or wire 9 passing over segment wheels 9', on
the axles of the switches. Normally the switches are set so that the ring B is in
circuit, and the ring E is out of circuit, but when the needle D becomes attracted.
by a neighbouring mass of iron, such as a man of war, to the position indicated by
dotted lines, the switches are operated to switch out the ring B and switch in the
ring E. For operating the switches I preferably employ an electro magnet K.
the core of which is connected to the chain or wire g. The said magnet is
energized by a local battery L the circuit being completed by a contact piece d on
the needle D when the said needle is moved to the position indicated by dotted
lines. Upon the electro magnet becoming energized its core is sucked in and the-
switches are simultaneously changed over to the other position of rest. The ring.
of each switch is formed with four conducting segments of suitable lengths in one-
half and two in the other half, and the connections are made as indicated clearly
in the drawing.
The action of the device is as follows, when the air ship is travelling along the
desired course (westerly for example which is determined by initially adjusting
the commutator ring in relation to the needle) no current can pass the ring B and
the steering motor H therefore remains inoperative, but should the air ship deviate
from its true course say to the northward of said course as indicated in Figure 2
or to the southward of said course as indicated in Figure 3 the circuit will be
completed through the ring B and the motor H will be started, the ship being
thereby caused to return to its true course. When the deviation is in the direction
shown in Figure 2 the current will pass to the motor through the terminal C³ say
and return by the terminal C4, but when the deviation is in the direction shown in.
Figure 3 the current passes from the terminal C to the motor and back to the-
terminal C so that the motor will be reversed.
Meanwhile the needle D is inoperative, but when the said needle comes in the
sphere of attraction of a large mass of iron such as a man of war for example and
is thereby moved to the position denoted by dotted lines, the contact pieced on
said needle operates to close the circuit of the battery L whereupon the coil K
becomes energized, and its core is sucked in, so that the switches G G are
thereby reversed. In this way the ring B is thrown out of circuit and the ring E
is thrown in circuit and the control of the steering motor is then taken up by the
needle D which directs the air ship toward the man of war.
For discharging an explosive shell or other explosive material upon an object
beneath the air ship we provide apparatus such as that shown in Figure 4 in
which M is the shell or material to be dropped, the same heing suspended from the
short end of a trip hook lever N pivoted at N'. The long end of the lever N is
held down by a lever O which is pivoted at O' and is connected at its lower end
to the core of an electro-magnet P the battery circuit Pl of which is normally
open. Qis a magnetic dip needle pivotted in suitable centres so as to turn freely
and furnished with a contact piece q for closing the battery circuit P¹ when the
needle is vertical. The action of the device is as follows, the needle Q is attracted
and points to any large mass of iron, a man of war for example, in its vicinity and
gradually becomes more and more vertical as the air ship passes to a position
directly over the man of war. When the needle becomes quite vertical it closes
the battery circuit P¹ whereupon the coil P becomes energized and its core is

page_text: sucked in; the trip hook lever N is thereby released and the shell or explosion
material M is dropped. q' is a stop to prevent the needle from turning over.
In Figure 5 I have shown a tine-mechanism for liberating the trip hook lever,
said apparatus consisting of an ordinary alarum clock mechanism R which is set to
pull a lever S at a specified time. The lever S is connected by a link S¹ to the
retaining lever O so that when the alarum mechanism begins to act the trip
hook lever is liberated and the shell or explosive material is dropped upon the
object beneath.
Both the magnetic device and the time-mechanism may be applied to the same
apparatus so that either or both may be in use at the same time.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The employment in an air-ship of a compass needle and commutator in
combination with electrical steering apparatus substantially in the manner described
for maintaining the vessel on any desired course.
2. The combination with the apparatus referred to in the preceding claim of a
second magnetic needle, commutator and switches, actuated substantially in the
manner described, for the purposes specified.
3. The means for discharging explosive material from the air-ship substantially
as described with reference to Figure 4 or to Figure 5 of the accompanying
drawings and operating as specified.
Dated this 27th day of h
2007
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.