IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUS AND IN MACHINERY FOR STOPPING, STARTING, AND REVERSING HEAVY STEAM ENGINES.
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Betts Brown, of the Vauxhall Iron Works,
Wandsworth Road, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUS AND IN MACHINERY FOR STOPPING,
STARTING, AND REVERSING HEAVY STEAM ENGINES.".
Sealed the 20th August 1867, and dated the 28th February 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Betts Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th February 1867.
I, ANDREW BETTS BROWN, of the Vauxhall Iron Works, Wandsworth Road,
in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUS AND IN MACHINERY FOR STOPPING,
STARTING, AND REVERSING HEAVY STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in steering apparatus and in
machinery for stopping, starting, and reversing heavy steam engines. In
steering large and fast steam vessels it requires great power to put the rudder
over rapidly to the one side or the other; this power is readily obtained by
connecting a cross head on the rudder post with a piston working in a steam
cylinder, and admitting steam on one side or the other of the piston, or two
rams working in two separate steam cylinders may be similarly employed.
Steam, however, cannot be safely applied directly in this manner unless con-
trolled by other mechanism, because the resistance opposed by the water is
liable to be suddenly diminished when the ship pitches, and then the expansion
Price 8d.1

page_text: of the steam in the cylinder would throw the rudder violently over at the great
risk of fracture. In order to prevent any sudden and dangerous action of this
sort I cause each motion of the steam piston or ram to give motion to another
piston, or it may be to other rams working in another cylinder, or in other
cylinders containing water or liquid, and so the water or liquid is forced out,
and it is made to pass through a passage of small area; this passage is fitted
with a valve, by means of which the size of this passage can be regulated so
that it may be opened as widely as is consistent with safety when a rapid
movement of the rudder is required, and closed when it is desired that the
rudder should be held in the position to which it has been brought. Similar
means may be adopted for steering traction engines and other steam carriages,
the connection then being. in place of with a rudder of a ship with the locking
wheels of a carriage; also the starting, stopping, and reversing gear of heavy
engines requires great power to move it with rapidity, and may very
advantageously be moved by steam applied in the manner above described,
and controlled as already explained by arranging that every motion of the
steam piston or ram shall cause water or liquid to flow through a small passage
capable of being regulated by a valve. In these arrangements air under
pressure may be substituted for steam.
pursuance
Letters Patent, mea
by the said Andrew Betts Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th August 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
BETTS BROWN, of the Vauxhall Iron Works, Wandsworth Road, in the County
of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Andrew Betts Brown, Her special licence that I, the said
Andrew Betts Brown, my exécutors, administrators, and assigns. or such
others as I, the said Andrew Betts Brown, my 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, au

page_text: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEERING APPARATUS AND IN MACHINERY FOR
STOPPING, STARTING, AND REVERSING HEAVY STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Andrew Betts Brown, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 1, the said Andrew Betts Brown, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:
In
This Invention has for its object improvements in steering apparatus and
in machinery for stopping, starting, and reversing heavy steam engines.
steering large and fast steam vessels it requires great power to put the rudder
over rapidly to the one side or the other; this power is readily obtained by
connecting a cross head on the rudder post with a piston working in a steam
cylinder and admitting steam on one side or other of the piston, or two rams
working in two separate steam cylinders may be similarly employed. Steam
however, cannot be safely applied directly in this manner unless controlled by
other mechanism, because the resistance opposed by the water is liable to be
suddenly diminished when the ship pitches, and then the expansion of the
steam in the cylinder would throw the rudder violently over at the great risk
of fracture. In order to prevent any sudden and dangerous action of this
sort I cause each motion of the steam piston or ram to give motion to another
piston, or it may be to other rams working in another cylinder, or in other
cylinders containing water or liquid, and so the water or liquid is forced out,
and it is made to pass through a passage of small area; this passage is fitted
with a valve or cock, by means of which the size of this passage can be regu-
lated so that it may be opened as widely as is consistent with safety when a
rapid movement of the rudder is required. and closed when it is desired that
the rudder should be held in the position to which it has been brought.
This arrangement is illustrated at Figure of the annexed Drawings, in
which a is the rudder post with the rudder a' upon it, and a is a slotted cross
head fixed upon the rudder post, in the slot a slide works, and it is jointed to
the piston rod b, which at one end has upon it a piston b working in the
steam cylinder c; this cylinder is constructed in the usual manner with steam
and exhaust passages, and a slide valve regulates the admission of the steam

page_text: and the escape of the steam therefrom. The piston rod b has near its other
end a smaller piston d working in the water cylinder e; e¹ is a passage con-
necting the two ends of this cylinder and having in it a cock f by means of
which the passage can be opened or closed at pleasure; g is an arm on the
plug of the cock which is jointed to the slide valve rod in such manner that
the slide valve and the cock work in unison, but the valve gives steam to the
cylinder just before the cock opens the passage e'; is a long hand lever by
which the plug f and the slide valve are worked. Then it will be seen that
when steam is admitted to the cylinder it tends to force the rudder over one
way or the other, but it can only do so as fast as the water can pass from one
end of the cylinder e to the other past the plug f, and the action is imme-
diately arrested notwithstanding the tendency of the steam to expand when
the plug is so placed as to close the passage e¹. In order that the rudder
may not be too rigidly held, and also to insure that the cylinder e shall be
always full of water, I apply at each of its ends, and communicating with it, a
small cylinder containing a ram which is forced down with a powerful spring
adjustable by a screw; one only of these cylinders is represented in the
Drawings. The area of each of these small cylinders may conveniently be
about that of the water cylinder e, and the ram may have an extreme stroke
or distance of play of about one-sixth of that of the piston. The strength of
the springs should be such that no shock which is likely to come on the
rudder may be sufficient to overstrain them. Means may be provided for
shutting off the connection between the ram cylinders and the water cylinder e
so that water may be introduced from time to time under the ram to com-
pensate for any slow leakage which may take place.
Figure 2 shews a modification of the arrangement above described; it
differs in that the cylinders cand e are placed near the steam boiler in place
of in the vicinity of the rudder, and a second water cylinder is connected
with the rudder as is shewn; 1. 1, are pipes connecting the two water cylinders
e and i; and m is a regulating cock on one of the pipes, and working in
unison with the steam valve; the small cylinders and spring plungers are by
preference fitted to the cylinder i, or such a cylinder may be fitted to the
cylinder e, as is shewn. Similar means may be adopted for steering traction
carriages, the connection then being in place of with
a rudder of a ship with the locking wheels of a carriage.
engines and other steam
This application is sufficiently illustrated by the Figure 1, a then repre-
senting the locking pin of the fore carriage, and 2 an arm upon the fore
carriage. In this case, however, it is not necessary to provide for movement
through so large an are as the Drawing indicates the small cylinders and

page_text: Again, the
weighted rams may be dispensed with, and a cup with two stop-cock, such as
is used for supplying oil to a steam cylinder, may be substituted.
starting, stopping, and reversing gear of heavy engines requires great power
to move it with rapidity, and may very advantageously be moved by steam
applied in the manner above described, and controlled as already explained,
by arranging that every motion of the steam piston or ram shall cause water
or liquid to flow through a small passage capable of being regulated by a valve.
This adaptation is represented at Figure 3, as will be seen: the piston rod is
connected by a link with the reversing sweep of the large engines. In these
arrangements air under pressure may be substituted for steam; and although
in the Drawings I have in each case represented pistons receiving the pressure
alternately on either side it is evident that rams acted in opposite ways may be
substituted for the pistons.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to
the exact details described; but what I claim is, the actuating ships' rudders
by connecting them with pistons or rams in such manner as to cause them to
move simultaneously and in unison therewith, such pistons or rams working
in cylinders being driven by the pressure of steam or aeriform fluid, and
controlled by other pistons or rams working in cylinders containing liquid.
I also claim the steering traction engines or steam carriages by a similar
combination of mechanism.
I also claim the working the starting, stopping, and reversing gear of heavy
engines by a similar combination of mechanism.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Betts Brown, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
ANDREW BETTS BROWN. (L.S.)