IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JOHN MCSWENY, of Killarney, Gentleman, sends greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of March, in the ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas John McSweny, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Jolin
McSweny, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
John McSweny, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at. all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention.
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Thomas John McSweny,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately.

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas John McSweny, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say) :-
My "improvements in steering ships and other vessels" consist in preventing
violent jerking of the rudder, accelerating and steadying its motion by the
application of a universal joint and steering barrel, such as is described and
represented in the following description and annexed Figures, in which the
same letters represent the same parts.
Figure 1 represents a front view of the universal joint, by which the steering
wheel A is connected to one end of the spindle F, Figures 1, 2, 3. B, the
nave of the wheel; C, C, two axes, in the same line, fixed firmly in the nave
and turning freely in borings in the iron ring D; E an axis, fixed firmly in
the spindle at F, its ends turning freely in borings in the ring D. This
arrangement constitutes an universal joint, by means of which the helms-
man, when he apprehends a violent jerking of the rudder, can instantly
lock the wheel, and so prevent it by pulling the wheel into the oblique
position represented in Figure 3, in which a set of teeth on the nave of the
wheel interlock with a corresponding set of teeth in the ring G, which
ring is firmly bolted to the upright stanchion H. By thus locking the wheel
the helmsman can hold the rudder immoveably through the medium of the
usual connections of spindle barrel, wheel, ropes or chains, and tiller between
the wheel and rudder. The ring G contains a spiral spring, partially visible
at I, Figures 2 and 3, which by pressing against the nave of the wheel main-
tains it in its proper revolving plane, as represented in Figure 2, when not
required in the interlocked position, as shewn in Figure 3. J, Figures 2 and 3,
represents the steering barrel wedged fast on the spindle F. This barrel is
made of larger diameter in and about the middle of its length than at the
ends, the object being to accelerate the motion of the rudder, more especially
when moving in or near the midship position, and has two spiral channels K, K,
and L, L, Figure 2, for the wheel ropes or chains to wind in, separated by
flanges, and passing round it from end to end. Two ends of the wheel ropes
M, M, Figure 3, are made fast in these channels at opposite ends of the
barrel, the other ends being rove through the side blocks N, N, Figure 3, and
blocks O, O, Figure 3, at the head of the tiller P, Figure 3. These ropes are

page_text: so adjusted on the barrel as that when the rudder is hard-over to one side, as
indicated by the position of the tiller shown at Figure 3, one rope is wound on
and the other wound off the barrel, as represented by the tinted ropes; then
in passing the rudder to the position of hard-over on the other side, as indicated
by the tiller in red dotted lines, the rope originally wound on now winds off,
and the other winds on faster and faster in consequence of the increasing
diameter of the barrel, thereby accelerating the motion of the rudder until
the rope reaches the middle of the barrel, whence the acceleration decreases
until it reaches the end of the barrel where the ropes are in the position shewn
by the red dotted ropes. The channels are so adjusted to each other as to
prevent that slackness of the wheel ropes which is caused by the tiller head to
which they lead moving in an are of a circle and to keep them taut in every
position of the tiller, thereby giving great steadiness to the movement of the
rudder. This adjustment is attained when each portion of one channel's
circumference is as much greater or less than the corresponding portion of the
other channel's circumference as is necessary to compensate for the effect
of the tiller's circular motion on the length of rope off the barrel.
A good
way to effect this adjustment in practice is to fix the barrel on its spindle with
only one channel cut out, and attaching the ropes, as shewn in tinting, Figure 3,
to work the rudder from one side to the other, and cut out the other channel
so deep as just to admit the rope to wind on without becoming slack; other
methods may be resorted to, but I prefer this one. I wish to state that this
adjustment is not necessarily connected with a barrel larger in the middle than
at the ends, but may be applied to other forms of steering barrel; and the
adjustment of two channels or steering barrels constitutes one of the peculiarities
of my Invention.
In conclusion, what I claim as my Invention is the production of the several
"improvements" enumerated above by the application of an universal joint
and coupling box; also a steering barrel increasing in diameter from the ends
towards the middle; and I also claim the application of two channels adjusted
to each other on steering barrels, as therein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas John McSweny, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
THOMAS J. (L.S.) MCSWENY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that, on the Twenty fourth day of September,
in the year of our Lord. 1846, the aforesaid Thomas John McSweny came
before our said Lady: the Queen in Her, Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid; and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was - stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute måde for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord