Improvements in Devices for use in Shipping Boats' Rudders.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Jan., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 1st Oct., 1891-Accepted, 12th Dec., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Devices for use in Shipping Boats' Rudders.
I, JOHN DAMPIER HICKMAN, of Portsmouth Road, Thames Ditton, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
In the
My invention relates to improvements in devices for use in shipping boat
rudders, and has more particular reference to improvements in the method and
means described in the Specification of my former Patent, No. 128141887.
latter, there is a guide pivotted upon the top of the stern-post, and which can either
coincide with the rudder-groove, or be turned up so as to present its own groove
horizontally, into which the rudder is engaged, before it is attempted to engage it
with the groove on the stern-post.
According to my present invention, I provide for the rudder being locked in the
guide at a certain point, so that as it is being swung up into a vertical position, it
cannot drop therefrom too far to engage with the fitting on the stern-post.
In carrying my invention into effect, I make use of a guide pivotted upon the
top of the stern-post, and make it of a suitable section to receive a circular rod and
the rudder-straps, which latter hold the said rod parallel with, but at a short
distance behind, the rudder. The sides of the guide appear as horns when it is in
a vertical position, and when the rudder has been pushed nearly half way through,
it is swung down through a quarter of a circle into the horizontal plane, so that the
middle, or some other of the straps, will be engaged by the adjacent horn and
stopped. The rudder and guide are then swung outwards until the rudder rod or
pintle bears against the groove on the stern-post. The rudder is then turned back
through the quarter circle above mentioned, and dropped into working position.
The horns or sides of the groove are preferably cut away excepting at the
bottom where a socket is formed, near the middle below the middle strap
where they embrace the pintle, and at the top where sufficient is left to provide
a rest or stay.
Dated this 1st day of January 1891.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Devices for use in Shipping Boats' Rudders.
I, JOHN DAMPIER HICKMAN, of Portsmouth Road, Thames Ditton, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in devices for use in shipping boats
rudders, and has more especial reference to preventing the rudder slipping too far
through a guide for it to properly engage in the groove on the stern post. It
consists in providing for the rudder being locked in a hinged guide at the proper
point by its being turned over into the horizontal plane after the bar or rod (which
is for the purpose of this present invention a round rod held at a short distance
clear of the back of the rudder) on the back of it has been entered into the guide
and pushed outwards, when the middle strap of the rudder, or an equivalent
extension of the rod on the back thereof, will be stopped by one of the horns of the

page_text: guide. The rudder is then to be swung up into the vertical position, until the nose
of the rudder rod bears against the groove on the rudder post. It is next turned
back into the vertical plane of the keel, and dropped, when the said nose will
engage properly in the said groove.
Referring to the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is, as to the full lines, a side elevation of a boat's stern and rudder post
with the rudder shipped and hanging in the plane of the keel.
Fig. 2 is, as to the full lines. an elevation of the rudder post and the rudder, when
the latter is stopped by the guide.
Fig. 3 is, as to its full lines, a plan corresponding with Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is an elevation illustrating a modification of my invention.
Fig. 5 is a detail transverse section taken on the line a-x of Fig. 4.
Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3,
A is the rudder; and a, a rod of circular cross section. The latter is held at a
short distance from the back of the rudder, but parallel with it, by double
straps b, c, d, respectively made fast on to the rod a by junction pieces b¹c¹ d'.
The straps are made fast to the rudder in the well known way.
The distance between the rod a and the rudder A is not less than the thickness
of one of the converging horn-like extensions described further on.
E is plate, preferably of metal. It is fixed vertically and centrally upon, or to,
the face of the rudder post, or stern, according to the shape of the boat. Fig. 1
shews it as fixed by means of straps e, e and screws el to the rudder post F. The
top of the plate E is lower than the top of the rudder post, which latter is made
higher than usual for a reason to be explained further on.
ff are a pair of converging horn-like extensions of the face of the plate E. The
distance separating their converging edges is not less than the diameter of the
rod a, and, in respect of their length, these horns extend from the top of
the plate E, preferably, not more than half way down it. Fig. 1 shows their
length as about one sixth that of the plate.
9, 9 are a second pair of converging horn-like extensions of the plate E. The
inner edges of both extensions are arcs of one and the same circle. The distance
separating their converging edges is less than the diameter of the rod a.
The top of this second pair of extensions is, preferably, just beneath the level of
the middle strap, and they, i.e., the extensions, may extend nearly to the bottom of
the plate or as far as the level of the top of the junction-piece d'
his a ring or socket at the foot of the plate E. This socket is beneath the level
of the bottom strap d, and in any case the lengths of the two pairs of horn like
extensions above mentioned are adjusted to allow of the rudder being put hard-
about to either port or starboard.
I is the guide. It consists of a pair of converging horn-like extensions, the
counterparts of those g, g, already described. These are joined at their bases,
thereby making this part of the guide identical in plan with a transverse section of
the plate E and the pair of extensions g, y. It is to be understood that the space
embraced by either pair of horn like extensions g, g, on the plate E, or those of the
guide I, is circular and large enough to receive the rod a. It is hinged or pivotted
upon the top of the rudder post, or upon an equivalent vertical extension of the
boats stern, by means of any suitable device. The figure shews this device_as
consisting of a bolt passing through the cheeks, , and the top of the rudder
post F. The cheeks,, are of the proper length for allowing the guide to lie
vertically coincident with the said extensions when it is in the position illustrated
in Fig. 1. The said cheeks are made in one piece with the guide.
Fig. 1 shows the rod a as held to the rudder at a short distance therefrom by
three duplex straps; one, b, at the top of the rod; one, d, a little above the bottom
of the iod; and a third, c, half way between. The junction piece,, of the top
strap,, with the rod, u, acts as a stop, and also supports the weight of the rudder
upon the guide 1. When there are three straps as shewn in the figures, there are

page_text: three vacant spaces between the rudder and its rod. The lowest, j, provides room
for the socket. The middle one, j', permits either of the horn-like extensions
or sides of the guide I to enter between the rod and the rudder in front of the
junction piece c, and also to embrace the said rod when the rudder is turned over
into the horizontal plane, as mentioned above and described more particularly
further on.
The junction piece c' also serves as the locking piece. In respect of
thickness this locking piece is thin enough to pass between the converging edges of
the horn-like extensions of the guide I described hereafter. The top space, j² is
only to receive one horn-like extension of the guide, when the rudder is turned
either to port or starboard, and may be as long as shewn in Fig. 1 or as short as
illustrated in Fig. 4, provided it is long enough to receive the said extension when
the rudder is put about.
I do not confine myself to three duplex straps-the number shewn-and if there
be no middle strap to provide a junction piece c¹ to act as the locking piece, then a
special locking piece must be provided in the relative position shown in Figs. 1
and 4.
K is a line and an anti-friction pulley provided for unshipping the rudder.
My invention constructed as above described is used and operates as follows:-
The guide I is swung back towards the inside of the boat, and the boatman, holding
the rudder in his hands, pushes the nose of the rod a into the guide, turns the
rudder over to either hand through a quarter of a circle, and pushes it forwards
until the junction piece e¹ bears against the guide. This position is shown by the
dotted lines 1 in Fig. 1.
The rudder is next raised into the horizontal position illustrated by the dotted
lines 2 of Fig. 1, the full lines of Figs. 2 and 3, and the dotted lines 3 of the last
mentioned figures, according as to which hand it had been swung over to-the
right or the left-after the rod had been entered into the guide.
The rudder is now locked, i.e., it is prevented from dropping, when it is thrown
up into a vertical position, by the engagement of the locking piece c' with the
guide 1.
It is next swung up into the vertical plane until the rod a rests against the
plate E between the extensions ff. This position is illustrated by the dotted
lines 4 of Fig. 2, from which it will appear that the relative positions of the
locking piece e¹ and the extensions y, g, hold the nose of the rod a just above the
latter.
The arc 5 of Fig. 1 shews the are described by the said nose during the motion
last described.
The rudder is next turned into the plane of the keel, care being taken to keep
the rod a in close contact the while with the plate E. This motion disengages the
locking piece e from the guide, and the weight of the rudder takes the rod down
between the said extensions y, g and into the socket, thereby completing the
shipping of it. The line K may be used to steady its descent.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is,
The combination of a guide consisting of a pair of converging horn-like
extensions whose inner edges are ares of one and the same circle and whose
converging edges are separated by a distance less than the diameter of the rod on
the back of the rudder, said guide adapted to be pivotted upon the top of the
rudder-post or of the boat's stern; a rod fixed to the back of the rudder and
separated from it by a distance not less than the maximum thickness of one of the
said horn-like extensions, said rod being circular in cross section and of a size
adapted to fit and move within the said guide; a locking piece between the rudder
and the said rod adapted to engage the horn-like extensions of the guide as the said
rod is being pushed through the guide, (the rudder being then held in the horizontal

page_text: plane) and thin enough to pass between the said extensions; and a pair of horn-
Like extensions adapted to be fixed on the rudder-post or on the boat's stern, of the
same size and contour as those of the guide, as set forth.
Dated this 1st day of October 1891.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.