Improvement in Veering Drums for Lightships.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Oct., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 14th July, 1898-Accepted, 5th Sept., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvement in Veering Drums for Lightships.
HENRY BENEST of 15 Campbell Road Bow, London, Telegraph Engineer do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
The construction of a platform similar but smaller & lighter than that on the
bow of a cable steamer. Firmly secured to this platform a light wrought iron
rectangular framework the upper part formed of angle iron bars to serve as rails.
Resting upon this railway and free to be moved along it by means of pinion wheels
working in rack rails one on each side a rigid steel or iron crosshead. Pivotted
to the centre of this crosshead and suspended from it by means of a hollow steel
or iron pin secured by a screw nut and a washer working upon ball bearings would
hang the veering drum slung in a light steel or iron bow with bearings upon each
arm for the axle of drum brake rim strap crank handles ratohet & pawl as usual.
This arrangement would permit of the veering drum being run out or in or fixed
at any convenient position between.
When run out the veering cable would hang plumb from the drum through the
hollow mooring swivel to ground. When run in as in case of vessel pitching
heavily the bight of the cable would rest lightly upon the score of the bow chock
and the drum would be out of reach of the wash of the sea.
Connection between the conductor of the cable on drum and the lead to the
telegraph instrument or telephone could be effected by means of the hollow centre
of the pivot pin or other suitable method.
The action of this drum would be automatic. On vessel swinging round at
change of tide or wind etc. the twist which takes place in the cable would work
itself along upwards to the drum thus conveying an impulse sufficiently strong to
turn it round on its vortical axis and preserve the normal condition of twist in the
cable.
D: 1008
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvement in Veering Drums for Lightships.
1 HENRY BENEST of 15 Campbell Road, Bow, London, Telegraph Engineer, 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:
The object of this invention is to provide light-ships (which are fitted with an
electric cable) with means for automatically securing the normal condition of twist
in the electrical cable while the vessel swings round under the action of the shifting
tide or wind.
This result I obtain by mounting the cable drum iu bearings in a bow or frame
that turns on a hollow vertical pivot, the turning being effected by the torsion put
upon the cable, as the vessel swings round at its moorings.
The drum may be mounted upon a framework on the bow on the upper deck,

page_text: and capable of travelling in the direction of the keel, so as to hold the cable clear
of the ship's hull, or, if desired, the drum may be placed below deck, and receive
the cable from a swivelling guiding pulley, which would overhang the stem of the
vessel.
In either case, the cable will be led from the drum through a swivelling contact
piece to the telegraph instrument, which is in electrical communication with the
ground, as usual.
I will first describe the arrangement of mechanism which employ with the
automatic swivelling drum, when situated on the deck, and I will afterwards
describe the modification which enables me to place the drum beyond the stross of
weather.
In the accompanying drawings,—
Fig. 1 shows in side elevation the arrangement of apparatus which I employ
for taking in and letting out the electric cable by means of an automatic
swivelling drum which is capable of being traversed towards and beyond the stem
of the lightship.
A is the drum, which turns in bearings in a bow-shaped frame B, pendent from
a vertical tubular pivot C, which is flared out at its opposite ends, to facilitate the
passage through it of the electric cable, as it passes up from the bottom of the
sea to the druin, or runs out in an opposite direction.
This tubular pivot is furnished with a collar o, which bears upon anti-friction
balls d, running in an annular groove formed in a travelling cross bar D.
E is one of a pair of rails carried by a pair of light parallel frames F, which
stand up from a fixed platform G, raised to a level with the bulwarks of the
lightship.
The travelling cross bar D is furnished with a pair of bracket arms d', which
form bearings for a shaft H, one end of which is squared to receive a winch
handle. Keyed to this shaft H is a pair of pinions h, which gear into a pair of
racks (not shown in the drawings) affixed to the parallel frames F.
1 is the electric cable, drawn up from the sea, and passed through the ordinary
swivel K of the mooring cables to the drum A, around which the surplus portion
of the cable is wound, prior to its connecting with the swivel contact plate L, in
electric connection with the telegraph or telephoné instrument.
The drawing shows the drum in its usual working position, but if it is found
necessary to more it inwards, out of reach of the wash of the sea, the winch
handle applied to the shaft H will cause the pinions A to rotate, and draw back the
drum into the dotted position.
The drum shaft is fitted with the usual means for imparting axial motion thereto,
for winding or unwinding the cable, and for locking the drum fast when a sufficient
length of cable is wound up or paid ont.
The action of the apparatus will be as follows:—
Supposing the light-ship to have been swung round by change of tide or by a
chopping wind, a tendency will be given to the cable to twist, and not only displace
the electric wires from their central position, but become entangled with the
mooring chains. This twist, before any danger has occurred, will work itself
along upwards to the 'drum, and thereby convey an impulse sufficiently strong to
turn the suspended drum on its vertical axis, and restore the normal condition of
twist in the cable. The same result will be effected when the drum' is moved
inboard to the dotted position, to shelter it from the wash of the sea, when the
yessol is pitching heavily. In this case, the electric cable, instead of banging free
of jbe vessel, would rest lightly on the score of the bow chook, but it will be
free to impart the requisite swivelling motion to the pendent drum, and thus
automatically neutralise the twist which it has been caused to take.
To avoid the objections that may be raised to the exposure of the swivelling
pendent drum to the weather, I propose, instead of travelling the drum on a railway,
as described with reference to Fig. 1, to place it below the deck of the vessel,
and to arranco a avivellina cnide calls
11

page_text: the stem of the vessel), to lead the electric cable from the sea to the sheltered
drum.
-
This arrangement is shown in side elevation at Fig. 2, where A is the swivelling-
drum carried by the bow-shaped frame B between decks. This frame depends
from the vertical tubular pivot C, which is supported, as before described, on
antifriction balls d, in this case running in an annular groove in a plate D affixed
to the upper deck.
In this arrangement, G is a raised platform carrying a plate F, formed with a
pair of lugs to receive a horizontal fulcrum pin f, which serves to support a.
vertical rocking frame F. This frame carries a swivelling frame F', in which is
mounted a guide pulley F³.
The trunnions of the frame Fª are tubular, and flared, to permit of the electrio
cable passing inwards to the guide pulley, taking a lap around that pulloy, and
then passing out and rearwards to the vertical tubular pivot C, from which the
drum A is suspended between decks. The axle of the guide pulley F is at right
angles with the axis of the swivelling frame F, and it is free therefore to yield to
any torsion that may be put upon the electric cable.
To allow of the adjustment of the axis of the frame F', to suit the inclination.
of the electric cable, the frame F¹ is made adjustable in its bearings, and it is fixed
at any desired angle by a clamping bolt, which passes through, lugs on the
plate F, and through a segment slot (struck from the axis of the fulorum pin f)
formed on the frame F'.
The electric cable, as it leaves the guide pulley F³, passes down the hollow
pivot C to the drum A, and after forming a suitable number of coils thereon, is
fed to the swivel contact plate L, as before." The action of the apparatus, it will
be understood, so far as the twist of the cable is concerned, is identical with that
Arst described and shown at Fig. 1, the pendent drum being sensitive to any torsion
put upon the electric cable.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim :-
Mounting the electric cable drum in a swivelling pendent support carried by a
hollow trunnion in the manner above set forth, whereby the drum is made sensitive
to any torsion put upon the cable and is caused automatically to relieve the cable
of such torsion.
Dated thin esh Incons T... 1904e