IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STEERING VESSELS, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO VALVES FOR REGU- LATING THE FLOW OR FLUIDS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Dominicus Kittoc and Peter Brotherhood,
both of 56, Compton Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middle-
sex, Engineers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
STEERING VESSELS, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO VALVES FOR REGU-
LATING THE FLOW OR FLUIDS "
Scaled the 18th August 1871, and dated the 11th March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Dominicus
Kittoe and Peter Brotherhood at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 11th March 1871.
We, GEORGE DOMINICUS KITTOE and PETER BROTHERHOOD, both of
56, Compton Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
Apparatus for STEERING VESSELS, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO VALVES
FOR REGULATING THE FLOW OF FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to apparatus employed for steering vessels in
which fluid under pressure acts on a piston or ram for giving motion to
the tiller lever. It has for its object means of moving the rudder to any

page_text: required position, holding it there and indicating its position, and the
valve work which we employ for this purpose is applicable to pumps
and other apparatus for giving motion to fluids or for receiving motion
from fluids.
In the steam or hydraulic steering apparatus which have been hitherto
employed it has been customary to move a valve so as to admit fluid
under pressure to the one side or the other of a piston, or to one of two
pistons or plungers, or to the one end or the other of a cylinder working
on a fixed piston or plunger, and thereby to cause the tiller leyer which is
connected with the piston plungers or cylinder to be moved to the one
side or to the other. According to our Invention the slide or valve
work employed for this purpose is constructed and acted on in such a
manner that a certain regulated quantity of fluid cau be admitted to the
tiller cylinder or cylinders, the regulation being effected from a distance
by means which we will now describe. When the cylinder moves on a
fixed piston or ram we attach to it a slide casing communicating with it
by ports and moving with it. When the cylinders are fixed and the
rams or piston rods move the tiller, we attach the slide casing to the
moving rams or pistons so that it moves with them, communication
from it to the cylinder ports being effected by sliding or telescopic tubes.
working through suitable packing. Within this slide casing we mount
a tubular slide which we prefer to be cylindrical, and which is capable
of being moved to or fro so as to open or close ports leading respectively
from the middle portion and from the end portions of the casing to the
respective ends of the tiller cylinder, or to the respective tiller cylinders.
The middle and end portions of the slide casing being connected by
telescopic or sliding tubes with the discharge and supply pipes of the fluid
under pressure, the movement of the slide within the casing admits the
fluid to or allows it to be discharged from the respective ends of the tiller
cylinder, or the respective tiller cylinders, and thus causes motion to be
given to the tiller lever in either direction. In order to move the slide
within the casing we make it hollow and pass through it a tube of smaller
diameter than its interior bore. This tube is fixed in position, and has a
middle diaphragm separating it into two parts, and a swell or collar fitted
with suitable packing on which the slide works to or fro, the tube itself
passing through suitable packings at either end of the slide and having
apertures on either side of its collar by which communication is effected
from either end of the tube to the annular space around it within the
hollow slide. One end of the tube communicates by pipes with one end

page_text: of a regulating cylinder which may be placed in any convenient position
in the vessel, and the other end of the tube communicates with the other
end of the same regulating cylinder. This cylinder or its piston can be
moved to and fro by a lever or by convenient gearing and its action on
the slide is as follows:-The regulating cylinder, the pipes leading from
it to the slide, and the interior annular space in the slide being charged
with oil, water, or suitable fluid, when the regulating cylinder or its
piston is moved to the one side or the other the fluid conveys the pressure
to the slide, and acting on one or other of its annular ends causes it to
move to the one side or the other within its casing, and thereby to open
or close the ports communicating with the tiller cylinder or cylinders.
The position of this regulating cylinder or its piston thus determines the
position of the slide within the slide casing, and while its movement
scrves to move the slide, its position also forms an indicator of the
position of the slide and of the tiller whose movements is effected by that
of the slide.
A slide of a kind similar to that above described may be attached to
the piston rod or any other convenient moving part of a pumping engine,
or to the rod of a pump, for the purpose of governing the admission or
emission of fluid, or adjusting such admission or emission to any desired
part of the stroke.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Dominicus Kittoe and Peter Brotherhood
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
DOMINICUS KITTOE and PETER BROTHERHOOD, both of 56, Compton
Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Engineers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said George Dominicus Kittoe and Peter
Brotherhood, Her special licence that we, the said George Dominicus

page_text: Kittoe and Peter Brotherhood, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said George Dominicus Kittoe and Peter
Brotherhood, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times.
thereafter 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 APPARATUS FOR STEERING VESSELS, PARTS OF WHICH ARE
APPLICABLE TO VALVES FOR REGULATING THE FLOW OF FLUIDS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said George Dominicus Kittoe and
Peter Brotherhood, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 we, the said George Dominicus Kittoe and
Peter Brotherhood, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our Invention relates to apparatus employed for steering vessels in
which fluid under pressure acts on a piston or ram for giving motion to
the tiller lever. It has for its object means of moving the rudder
to any required position, holding it there and indicating its position,
and the valve work which we employ for this purpose is applicable to
pumps and other apparatus for giving motion to fluids or for receiving
motion from fluids.
In the steam or hydraulic steering apparatus which have been hitherto
employed it has been customary to move a valve so as to admit fluid
under pressure to the one side or the other of a piston, or to one of two
pistons or plungers, or to the one end or the other of a cylinder working
on a fixed piston or plunger, and thereby to cause the tiller lever which
is connected with the piston plungers or cylinder to be moved to the one
side or to the other. According to our Invention the slide or valve work
employed for this purpose is constructed and acted on in such a manner
that a certain regulated quantity of fluid can be admitted to the tiller
cylinder or cylinders, the regulation being effected from a distance by

page_text: means which we will now describe. When the cylinder moves on a
fixed piston or ram we attach to it a slide casing communicating with it
by ports and moving with it. When the cylinders are fixed and the
rams or piston rods move the tiller we attach the slide casing to the
moving rams or pistons so that it moves with them, communication from
it to the cylinder ports being effected by sliding or telescopic tubes
working through suitable packing. Within this slide casing we mount
a tubular slide, which we prefer to be cylindrical and which is capable
of being moved to or fro so as to open or close ports leading respectively
from the middle portion and from the end portions of the casing to the
respective ends of the tiller cylinder or to the respective tiller cylinders.
The middle and end portions of the slide casing being connected by
telescopic or sliding tubes with the discharge and supply pipes of the
fluid under pressure, the movement of the slide within the casing admits
the fluid to or allows it to be discharged from the respective ends of the
tiller cylinder or the respective tiller cylinders and thus causes motion
to be given to the tiller lever in either direction. In order to move the
slide within the casing we make it hollow and pass through it a tube of
smaller diameter than its interior bore. This tube is fixed in position
and has at its middle a diaphragm separating it into two parts and a
swell or collar fitted with suitable packing on which the slide works to
or fro, the tube itself passing through suitable packings at either end of
the slide, and having apertures on either side of its collar by which com-
munication is effected from either end of the tube to the annular space
around it within the hollow slide. One end of the tube communicates
by pipes with one end of a regulating cylinder which may be placed in
any convenient position in the vessel, and the other end of the tube com-
municates with the other end of the same regulating cylinder. This
cylinder or its piston can be moved to and fro by a lever or by con-
venient gearing, and its action on the slide is as follows:-The regulating
cylinder, the pipes leading from it to the slide, and the interior annular
space in the slide being charged with oil, water, or other suitable fluid,
when the regulating cylinder or its piston is moved to the one side or the
other the fluid conveys the pressure to the slide, and acting on one or
other of its annular ends causes it to move to the one side or the other
within its casing, and thereby to open or close the ports communicating
with the tiller cylinder or cylinders. The position of the regulating
cylinder or its piston thus determines the position of the slide within the

page_text: slide casing, and while its movement serves to move the slide its position
also forms an indicator of the position of the slide and of the tiller whose
movement is effected by that of the slide.
A slide of a kind similar to that above described may be attached to
the piston rod or any other convenient moving part of a pumping
engine, or to the rod of a pump for the purpose of governing the
admission or emission of fluid, or adjusting such admission or emission to
any desired wart of the stroke
Fig. 1 represents partly in elevation and partly in longitudinal section
the steering wheel and regulating cylinder of apparatus constructed
according to our Invention.
a is the wheel having fixed on it a toothed pinion a¹ which gears into
a rack b. This rack has at either end a plunger working through
packing in a cylinder c. From each of those cylinders c a pipe d
and leads to the slide valve which will hereafter be described. The
cylinder c and pipes d and d being charged with oil, water, spirit,
or other fluid, according as the steering wheel a is turned in the one
direction or the other, the fluid pressure is communicated by the one
or the other of the pipes d and d¹ for the purpose of working the
slide, as will now be described. Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal
section (with parts in elevation) of a hydraulic cylinder for working
the tiller, and of the slide for governing its action.
e is the hydraulic cylinder fitted to work to and fro on a fixed
piston f, and having a trunnion e¹ working in a slot in the tiller lever g,
so that as the cylinder e is moved to the one side or the other by fluid
pressure communicated to the one end or the other by the ports h, h³,
the tiller lever and rudder are moved to port or starboard.
Here we would have it understood that the working of a rudder by
the movement of a hydraulic cylinder on a fixed piston is not claimed by
us, as our Invention applies to the mode of governing that movement
and the apparatus for that purpose. k is a slide jacket attached by the
ports h, h¹, to the cylinder e, and moving with it. This jacket has two
ingress ports k¹, k³, connected by a pipe sliding like a telescope with the
supply pipe of hydraulic pressure, part of which is shewn at 1. It has
also an egress port ³ which may be connected by a flexible or telescopic

page_text: tube to any convenient discharge pipe. Within the jacket there is a
tubular slide m having at either end two swells or collars fitting the
borc of the jacket, the fitting parts being provided with suitable
packing. Within this slide m are the two pipes d and d', each passing
through packing at either end of the slide and terminating in a piston
d, d, in front of which piston there are apertures by which the fluid in
the pipes d, d', communicates with fluid in the annular space within the
slide m surrounding the tubes d, d', respectively. The operation of
this slide apparatus in conjunction with the apparatus represented in
Fig. 1 is as follows:-When by turning the steering wheel a the
pressure in one of the pipes dor d' is increased that pressure acting in
the interior of the slide m causes it to move towards the right or left, and
thus to cut off the communication of one of the ports h, h¹, with its
pressure supply or ³ and to open it to the discharge. The effect
of this is to relieve one end of the cylinder e of pressure, and thus to
subject it to the unbalanced pressure at the other end, which causes
it to move in the same direction as the slide was moved. When it has
moved as far as the slide m was moved carrying with it the jacket /
the port which had been opened to the discharge is again closed to the
discharge, and thus the cylinder e is brought to rest. By this means
the movement of the rudder is brought in accord with the movement
of the wheel a and the rack and plungers in Fig. 1, and their position
indicates the attitude of the rudder.
Instead of employing the apparatus represented in Fig. 1, whereby
the movement of the slide m (Fig. 2) is effected by fluid pressure, we
sometimes work the slide m to right or left by means of chains or cords
attached to the respective ends of the slide, which in this need not be
tubular.
The operation of the slide upon the cylinder e and the rudder is the
same as that which has been described above, and the wheel, lever, or
other gear which works the chains or cords attached to the slide serves
to indicate the altitude of the rudder in the same manner as the wheel a
and the rack and plungers b, Fig. 1.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, we would have it understood that we do
not limit ourselves to the details represented on the Drawing as these

page_text: may be varied to suit different cases without departing from the
principles embodied in our Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Brotherhood, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 11th day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM.
PETER BROTHERHOOD. (L.S.)