IMPROVED. APPARATUS FOR DIRECTING, SIGNALLING, AND INDICATING ON BOARD SHIPS OR VESSELS, OR OTHER PLACES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Lungley, of Deptford Green Dockyard, Ship.
Builder, for the Invention of "IMPROVED. APPARATUS FOR DIRECTING,
SIGNALLING, AND INDICATING ON BOARD SHIPS OR VESSELS, OR OTHER PLACES."
"
Sealed the 16th February 1858, and dated the 11th September 1857. -
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left, by the said Charles Lungley at.
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th September 1857.
I, CHARLES LUNGLEY, of Deptford Green Dockyard, Ship Builder, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for. "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
DIRECTING, SIGNALLING, AND INDICATING ON BOARD SHIPS OR VESSELS, OR OTHER
PLACES," to be, as follows:-
The object of the "Improved Apparatus for Directing, Signalling, and Indi-
cating on board Ships or Vessels, or other Places," which forms the subject of:
the present Invention, is to enable the commander of a vessel to communicate
his orders from the look-out station to the man at the wheel more directly and
with greater certainty than heretofore.. To this end I construct an indicating
apparatus, which is to be placed immediately in front of the steersman; this
apparatus may be variously constructed, but in every case the index is made to,
move towards or over letters or degrees, colors or shades, as may be preferred,
to mark the directions for the guidance of the steersman. By night the several
points as well as the moveable indicator may consist of variously colored

page_text: lamps. The apparatus consists principally of a dial or sector, divided into
three or more sections or parts as may be required, and of different colors aud
shades, and fitted with lamps, so as to indicate different colors by night; these
sections are marked with figures or letters and divided into degrees, and an
index or pointer is mounted on a spindle before the dial or sector.
This apparatus is connected with another or others of the same construction
in one or more parts of the ship or place, as may be required; the several ap-
paratus are connected together by means of rods, chains, or other contrivances,
which will cause the index or pointer of the several apparatus to act simul-
taneously, so that the officer in charge may, by moving the index or pointer of
one apparatus, cause the index or pointer of the other apparatus to make the
same indications or signals, and thus his directions would be instantly con-
veyed to the man at the wheel or other persons. The advantages of this plan
are, that the degree of motion required in any direction can be given very
minutely, and the man at the wheel or station can road off his instructions
upon an apparatus fixed close to him; and thus the officer in command has
the guidance of the vessel completely under his own control; I also propose
to adapt to the tiller or rudder head of the ship an apparatus with an indi-
cator, shewing the movements of the helm or wheel, or of the vessel, and
which may be seen by the officer giving the instructions or signals, so as to
enable him to judge whether his instructions are attended to. I also fix
above each of the side signal lights another light of the same color, and which
light is screened until helm is given to the ship, and by the ship getting helm
this apparatus will draw away the shade and thus expose the upper or addi-
tional light, and so show two lights, and indicate to anything approaching
what helm the ship has and enable the ships to clear each other.
I also propose to adapt to the binnacle an indicator, which may be set by
the officer on duty, to point out to the steersmau the course he is to steer;
this indicator consists of a ring or card divided similar to a card of the compass
with an index or hand, and which may be set by the officer in charge and fixed
to the binnacle or compass, so that the directions may be fixed or locked up,
and thus prevent the misunderstandings respecting the course of theship which
so frequently arise from giving only verbal instructions. By this means the
steersman will always have before his eyes the course he is to steer, and
the officer or any person, by a simple inspection of the indicator and com-
pass, may at once see whether his instructions as to the ship's course are
being attended to.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Lungley in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
LUNGLEY, of Deptford Green Dockyard, Ship Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Lungley, Her special license that I, the said Charles
Lungley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles Lungley, my executors, administrators, andassigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR DIRECTING, SIGNALLING, AND INDICATING ON BOARD SHIPS OR VESSELS.
OR OTHER PLACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Lungley, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 I, the said Charles Langley, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The chief object of the "Improved Apparatus for Directing, Signalling,and
Indicating on board Ships or Vessels,or other Places," which forms the subject
of the present Invention, is to enable the commander of a vessel to commu-
nicate his orders from the look-out station to the man at the wheel more
directly and with greater certainity than heretofore. To this end I place an
indicating apparatus immediately in front of the steersman, the same being
'constructed in such a manner that it may be worked by the captain or person
in charge of the vessel at the look-out part or parts of the ship, a correspond-
ing indicating apparatus being there placed for the guidance of the captain
while giving his instructions to the steersman, and acting sympathetically with
.1'.

page_text: the steersman's indicating apparatus; by a slight addition to the indicator at
the look-out places, and the connection of the same with the helm, the captain
will also be enabled to see whether the helmsman is following his instructions
respecting the ship's course.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 shews in plan view so
much of a vessel fitted with my improved signal steering apparatus as will
serve to explain the principle of its action; and Fig. 2 shews in front elevation
the apparatus at the bridge or look-out post; asystem of signal lights for indi-
cating to passing ships the direction of the head of the vessel being connected
therewith; A is the indicating apparatus for the steersman, set up on the
deck immediately before him; and B is a similar apparatus fixed on the bridge
or look-out place for the captain or officer in charge of the vessel; these indi-
cators are connected together by means of cranks and rock levers and connect-
ing rods a¹, a¹, a¹, as may be clearly traced in the Drawing, so that when the
indicator B, which is provided with a handle for the purpose, is worked it
will cause the apparatus A to indicate sympathetically with the apparatus B;
on the deck below the bridge is a apparatus C (Fig. 2), precisely similar to
that of B, and in like manner connected to the apparatus A, its use being to
enable the captain in stormy weather to guide the ship while under compara-
tive shelter. The construction of indicator which I prefer to employ in
connection with vessels will be best understood by reference to Sheet II., in
which Fig. 1 is a front view, and Fig. 2 a vertical section of the indicator,
taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1; it consists of a case a, carrying at its upper
part a rocking axle b, which works in suitable bearings; on this axle is
mounted loosely a metal disc c, a segment of which is cut away to expose a
graduated transparent segment plate fixed behind it; attached to the disc c
is a handle d for working the plate, and keyed to the brush of the disc is a
rock lever e, from the opposite ends of which depend connecting rods a', a¹,
leading to the deck of the vessel; keyed to the axle b is a similar rock lever
f, from which depend rods 61, 61, that also lead to the deck of the vessel; and
on the front end of the axle 6 a pointer g is keyed. I have said that behind
the disc c is a transparent graduated segment plate; this is shewn in dotted
lines in Fig. 1, Sheet II., a portion only of it being exposed to view through
the segment slot in the disc c; the graduated plate I prefer to make of glass,
the middle portion plain or uncolored, the portion to the right hand green,
and that to the left red (see the detached view, Fig. 3), and behind this plate
I place a lamp h, which at night will serve to illuminate the exposed portion
of the plate, and enable the attendant to view the graduations which corres-
pond to the degrees of inclination which the steersman is able to give to the

page_text: ship's rudder; the peudent rods a¹ of the rock lever e, connect with the
arrangement of rods and cranks a' shewn in the plan view, Fig. 1, Sheet I.,
and thus the apparatus B and C (one or both) are brought into connection
with the apparatus A, which is similarly constructed to that just described.
When, therefore, the captain moves the handle d to the right or left, he com-
municates a corresponding motion to the metal disc c of the apparatus A, and
thus shews the steersman how much helm,either to the starboard or larboard,
to give the vessel.
For the purpose of shewing the officer in command of the ship whether or
not his indicated instructions have been obeyed, the motion of the tilleris com-
municated by a second set of cranks and rods 61, 61 (see Fig. 1, Sheet I.), to
the apparatus B or C through the pendent rods 6',6', before mentioned. Thus,
if the steersman follows bis instructions, the pointer g on the axle b will follow
the course of the disc c, and the two will retain their proper relative positions,
as shewn in the Drawing; but if this is not the case the pointer will lose its
position, and the officer will then know that the tiller has not been moved to
the point indicated.
As an improvement in the side signal lights now carried by ships by order
of the Admiralty, I propose to fix adjacent to each of the side signal lights
another light of the same color, and which light is screened until helm is given
to the ship, and by the ship getting helm the screen will be drawn away, and
thus expose the additional light, thereby indicating to any ship approaching
what helm the ship has, and enable the passing ships to clear each other.
This contrivance is shewn in connection with the apparatus just described
at Fig. 2, Sheet I., the object being to obtain the motion for screening and
exposing the extra lights from the movements of the tiller, connected to the
pendent rods 6, 61, of the apparatus. B is a three-armı rock lever i, the pen-
dent arm of which is jointed to a horizontal rod c' supported on the bridge of
the vessel. To either end of this rod a bolt is fixed, which works through
a link / jointed to a weighted rock lever m, having its fulcrum at n under the
bridge. The outer end of this lever carries a screen which covers the extra
side light o when that light is not required to be exposed, but when helm is
given in the direction which that light indicates, the screen falls and exposes
the light to view. The construction of the bolts and the parts in connection
therewith, by which the rising and falling motion is given to the levers m, will
be best seen on inspecting the large sectional view, Fig. 4, Sheet II. In
addition to these supplementary lights it may be convenient to apply a rising
and falling board or indicator, to be worked by the rod used for raising and
lowering the screen, as shewn in red at Fig. 4 of the Drawing, by which

page_text: means the course of an approaching ship may be seen at daylight at a greater
distance than if side lights only were used, and thus the risk of collisions may
be avoided.
The arrangement above described for indicating to the officer in charge of
the vessel whether or not his instructions have been obeyed, may also with
advantage be applied in other situations than on shipboard, as, for instance,
on railways, where the shunting apparatus near a station may be caused to
work an indicator in the office of the station master, and shew when the line
is prepared for the passage of a train or otherwise. This adaptation of my
Invention is shewn in Sheet II., where Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of so
much of a railway as may serve to explain the mode of working the signal
apparatus. 0, 0, are the switch rails, connected together as usual, and to the
segment piece p which carries the hand lever by which they are actuated. The
instrument, which in this instance will be a simple dial with an index pointer
(indicating by its position when the line is open or shut), is shewn at q as
situated in the station master's office. It is connected to the segment piece p
by means of rods and cranks r, and therefore, as the segment piece is rocked
to impart a lateral motion to the switches, the index pointer will travel over
the face of the dial, and indicate the position of the switches.
The last part of this Invention relates to the adaptation to ships' binnacles
of an indicator which may be set by the officer on duty, to point out to the
steersman the course he is to steer. This indicator is shewn in several views
in Sheet III. of the Drawings, Fig. 1 being a perspective view of a binnacle
constructed according to my improved plan; Fig. 2, a plan view, with the
upper part removed; and Fig. 3, a partial sectional elevation of the same,
shewing the construction and manner of adjusting the indicator; Fig. 4 is a
perspective view of an adjustable indicator of a somewhat different con-
struction, shewing the manner of adapting the improvement to binnacles
already constructed. Above the card of the compass, and concentric therewith,
a ring, graduated like the compass card, is mounted so as to turn freely in
its seat. On the periphery of this ring spur teeth are formed, and taking into
the teeth is a spur pinion s, the arbor of which carries a milled head t, by
turning which the ring may be adjusted to any required position. The
graduated ring is covered by a plate ", in which an opening is made to
present a portion of the graduations to view. Supposing, now, the course to
be steered is "east," that portion of the graduated ring will be brought to
view by turning the pinion until "east" comes under the opening in the plate
u, and coincides with the fore-and-aft line on the compass. The business,
then, of the steersman will be to bring the vessel round so as to make the

page_text: poiuts of the compass correspond with the graduations on the ring, and keep
her head steady in that track until the captain or other officer readjust the
indicator. By this means all mistakes as to orders will be avoided, and any
indifferent person looking on can see at a glance whether the steersman is
doing his duty. In Fig. 4 the indicator is mounted in a box attached to
the side of the binnacle, a glass slip being inserted in the cover of the box
to present the graduations to view, and a padlock being provided to prevent
access to the indicator except by the officer in charge of the ship.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved Apparatus
for Directing, Signalling, and Indicating on board Ships or Vessels, or
other Places," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim,-
First, the means herein described for transmitting signals by the officer
in command of a vessel from the look-out posts to the steersman. And
also the means described for indicating to the officer in command of a ship
or railway station or other place, if the duty required to be performed,
whether by the helmsman, pointsman, or other like servant has been
neglected or discharged.
Secondly, I claim the arrangement of self-acting signal, above described,
for indicating to vessels in sight what helm is given to an advancing ship.
And, thirdly, I claim applying to binnacles the adjustable indicator for
shewing the helmsman the course he is to steer.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Lungley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
CHARLES LUNGLEY. (L.s.)