IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR STEERING SHIPS AND OTHER FLOATING BODIES
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL. SPECIFICATION left by Charles Atherton and Amherst
Hawker Renton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 15th November 1865.
We, CHARLES ATHERTON and AMHERST HAWKER RENTON, both of 5, White-
hall, in the City of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR STEERING SHIPS AND OTHER FLOATING BODIES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the steering of ships and other floating
bodies by means of a current or currents of water derived from the passage of
the vessel through the water when under way as a substitute for the rudders
ordinarily employed for that purpose, and it consists in the application of one
or more tubes or channels extending from the bow to the stern of a vessel, or
partially so, and placed or formed either on the inside or the outside of the
hull thereof. Through these tubes or channels water is allowed to flow freely
when the vessel is in motion, the water entering at the forward end or ends,
and escaping at the after end or ends of the said tube or tubes through a
lateral channel or channels or branch tube or tubes in each side of the ship,
so that by the escape of the water therefrom (at the option of the steersman)
the ship may be directed in any desired course. In all cases the water enters
at the leading end or ends of the tubes, and escapes or passes out at the
after end or ends thereof. Suitably formed and disposed openings are pro-
vided for the free entrance of the water to the said tubes or channels. The

page_text: escape apertures are so placed with respect to the line of keel as to produce
the most efficient reacting force in the opposite direction to that in which the
water escapes from either side of the ship as may be required, thus causing
the vessel to swing or turn upon its centre, and thereby to alter its course.
The discharge of the water from either side of the ship is regulated both as
to quantity and direction of the current by sluices, valves, cocks, or other
well-known equivalent suitable and convenient means, so that the steersman
by simply shutting one sluice and opening another, or opening or shutting
both simultaneously, may direct the course of the vessel either to starboard or
to port, or maintain it in a direct course at pleasure. By these arrangements
the water passing into the said tubes or channels by the movement of the
vessel through the water and escaping at either side of the vessel at pleasure,
causes the vessel to alter its course in a similar manner as the arms of a
Barker's mill are caused to rotate by the discharge of water from orifices at
their extremities, the column of water in the case of the Barker's mill gene-
rating the issuing velocity which in the ship is produced by the current of
water flowing through the tubes or channels. The ordinary rudder is thereby
entirely supersded, the casualcties attending its use are obviated, and the
power to turn the vessel being always proportional to its speed. The manual
power required to steer the vessel is limited merely to the working of the
sluices, valves, or cocks, which may be manipulated by a single man who in
the discharge of his duty may be placed entirely out of danger.