A NEW AND USEFUL OR IMPROVED STEERING APPARATUS FOR NAVIGABLE VESSELS."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Theodore Mansfield Richardson, of the State of
Maine, of the United States of America, for the Invention of "A NEW
AND USEFUL OR IMPROVED STEERING APPARATUS FOR NAVIGABLE VESSELS."
son at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 5th October 1860, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT.
KNOWN, that I, THEODORE MANSFIELD RICHARDSON, of the State of Maine,
of the United States of America, do hereby declare that I have Invented "A
NEW. AND USEFUL OR IMPROVED STEERING APPARATUS FOR NAVIGABLE VESSELS," and
that the nature of such Invention and the manner in which it is to be per-
formed are fully described and represented in the following Specification and the
accompanying Drawings, of which Figure 1 is a top view; Figure 2, a rear
elevation; Figure 3, a vertical section; and Figure 4, a side elevation of a
rudder head, its tiller, and steering wheel shaft and barrel, and my Invention
applied thereto; Figure 5 is a top view; Figure 6, a horizontal section;
and Figure 7, a side view of the tiller and its slider.

page_text: The nature of my Invention consists in an improved combination and
arrangement of mechanical devices applied to the tiller and the barrel of the
steering wheel shaft.
The old mode of operating the tiller, viz., by means of two ropes leading in
opposite directions therefrom and through guide blocks, and thence to a wind-
lass or barrel fixed on the steering wheel shaft is liable to a serious objection,
as owing to the peculiar operation of the parts the coils of the ropes are apt
at times to override one another, or catch together on the windlass in a
manner to dangerously interrupt or obstruct the proper action of the steering
apparatus, and particularly at times when the safety of the vessel may depend
on the correct operation of the rudder, or its being under the complete com-
mand of the helmsman. My Invention is free from any such objection, it
being so constructed that there can be no such overriding of the actuating
ropes, they being always retained in their normal planes of action.
In the Drawings A exhibits the steering wheel shaft; B, the rudder head; C₁
the tiller; D, the hand wheel of the said shaft. A wheel or barrel E is fixed
on the shaft A, which is disposed above the rudder and its tiller, and is sup-.
ported in suitable bearings upheld by stanchions or posts F, G, extended
upward from the deck H. The tiller is slotted vertically and horizontally,
as shown at a, b, and receives a slider I, to opposite sides of which the two.
ends of a rope K are attached. This rope extends about two leading wheels"
or pullies L, L, affixed respectively to the sides of two other leading pullies
M, M. Each set of such pullies has its shaft c supported by one of two frames
or puppets N, N, which are fastened to the deck and arranged with respect to
the tiller and rudder as shown in the Drawings. An endless rope 0 extends
about each pulley M, and the drum or barrel E. There may be two such
ropes O, O, as shown in the Drawings, or there may be but one of them to lead
from the barrel E. I prefer to have two, because, should one become broken,
or not perform its duty correctly, the other will suffice to so communicate
power from the said barrel to one of the leading wheels, so as to put the tiller
in motion while the barrel is in rotation. Chains may be substituted for the
ropes, and the barrel as well as each leading wheel may be provided with
teeth to play either into or between the links of the chains. When ropes are.
used, the barrel as well as each leading wheel should be grooved circumferen-
tially to receive its rope, and prevent it from slipping laterally therefrom while
the steering apparatus may be in use. The slider I may be made so as to
encompass and slide on the tiller instead of being placed within it, as above
specified. When the band wheel is revolved by the helmsman the tiller will
be so set in motion as to turn the rudder; the slider of such tiller being moved

page_text: longitudinally in the tiller, and serving to increase the leverage on the rudder
as the tiller may pass either to port or starboard.
I claim the slider I, the rope (or chain) K, the two sets of leading wheels
L, M, and either one or two endless ropes (or chains) O, O, as arranged and
combined together, and with the barrel E of the steering wheel shaft A, and
made to operate therewith, substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Theodore Mansfield Richardson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this 14th day of September 1860.
THEODORE MANSFIELD RICHARDSON. (L.S.)