US548289A - Steering apparatus - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 12 sheets-sheen 1.

-vJ. BONN'BR. STEERING APPARATUS.

No; 548,289. 4PadzntetlOotl 22,1895.

ZUz'ZnesSes/ Inve'z-Z-Zor (Nq Model.) 2 .sheets-sheen 2 J. BONNER.

STEERING APPARATUS.

Patented oct.- 22, 1895.-n

UNITED STATES lPATENT OFFICE,

JOHN BONNER, OF TIBIIRON, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLES vW.

MOTT, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

STEERING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 548,289, dated October 22, 1895.

Application filed November 5 J 1894. Serial No. 527,957- (N o model-l.

To all .whom it mag/ concern- Be it known that I, JOHN BONNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tiburon, in the county of Marin and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steering Apparatus; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in vessel-steering apparatus, and more especially to that class of steering 'apparatus in which fluid pressure actuated mechanism is employed in conjunction with a hand-wheel; and its novelty will be fully understood from the following description and claim when taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, in which- Figure lis a diagrammatical view, illustrating my improved apparatus, with some of the parts in section, somein perspective, and others in elevation. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the hand-wheel. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the piston cylinder and valve, and Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken in the plane indicated by the line x :c of Fig. 3.

In the said drawings similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the several views, referring to which- A indicates a rudder, which may be of the usual construction, having a post or stack d and a tiller b.

B indicates a piston-cylinder.

C indicates a piston which is arranged in the cylinder and has its rod D extended through the heads at opposite ends of the same, and E indicates the casing of my improved valve. This casing E has a head d at one end provided with a Huid-induction port e, and at its opposite end it has a head f, provided with a stuffing-box and with a passage g for the valve-stem h. Said casing E is furthermore provided in its inner side at its middle with an annular groove fr', which communicates with the exhaust j, and on opposite sides of said groove i it is provided with the annular grooves k @which communicate with the ports m n, which in turn communicate with the pipes 19 q, leading to opposite ends of the piston-cylinder. The annular grooves 1l k Z- in the casing E are covered ,enlargements o "w, having suitable packingrings, and between said enlargements has the reduced portion m, forming a space adapted to effect communication between the bushingports r and t and between the ports s and t, according to the position of the valve.V

One end of` the piston-rod D is connected with the rudder A by a cable or chain y, and the opposite end is connected with the rudder by a cable or chaine', which takes around a drum H, arranged between'thepiston-rod and the rudder, and consequently it will be seen that whenthe piston is moved in the direction indicated by arrow (see Fig. l) the rudder will be swung to starboard, and when the piston is moved in a direction opposite to that indicated by arrow the rudder will be caused to swing toward the port or larboard side of the vessel. v

The movements ofthe piston are controlled by the valve G, and when said valve is in the position shown in Fig. 3 the fluid will pass from the induction-port e, throughl the ports s, in the bushing F, and through the pipe q to the piston-cylinder'on the left-hand side of the piston and move the said piston in the direction indicated by arrow, while the fluid in the cylinder on the right-hand side of the piston will pass through the pipe p, the casingport m, the bushing-ports r, the space formed by the reduced portion of the valve, the bushing-port t, and the exhaust-port j to the open air. When the piston is moved the full extent toward the left, the fluid will pass from the cylinder on the lefthand sidelof the piston through the pipe q, the casing-port n, the bushing-ports s, thelspace formed Iby the reduced portion of the valve and the bushingport t, and exhaust-portjto the open air, and simultaneously with the exit of liuid from the piston-cylinder on one side of the piston fluid will pass from the induction-port e, through the valve, .the bushing-ports r, the casing-port IOO ` verse the direction of movement of the piston C the ports fr and s will be simultaneously uncovered, and consequently no fluid can escape from the cylinder on one side of the piston until fluid is admitted on the opposite side of the piston, whereby it Will be seen that at the end of every stroke of the piston there will be a cushion of Huid which, in the event of the rudder-cable breaking, will prevent the piston from knocking out the head of the cylinder.

When the valve is moved to the position shown in Fig. 1, both sets of ports r s Will be covered and uid and air will be locked in the piston-cylinder on opposite sides of the piston, and consequently the piston and the rudder connected therewith will be held in the position they occupy when the valve is moved against movement in either direction.

The drum H, which is journaled in suitable bearings and has hand-wheels I at its ends, is gradually increased in dialneter from its middle to its opposite ends, and is grooved, as shown, to seat the coils of the cable, which :is preferably connected to the drum at the middle thereof, as illustrated. Thecoils of cable are wound upon the drum from the middle toward opposite ends thereof, and consequently when the drum is rotated the length of cable paid out at each rotation will be gradually diminished, while the length of cable taken up at each rotation will be gradually increased, which will result in the cable being kept perfectly taut at all times, which is an important desideratum in this class of apparatus, as is obvious. My improved drum is furthermore advantageous, for the reason that there is no liability ofthe cable slipping o the ends of the drum.

The drum H and the hand-Wheels I at op posite ends of the same may be and preferably are placed in the pilot-house of the vessel, asis also the leverJfor manipulating the valve G. This lever J is of bell-crank form andvis connected by a link K with another bell-crank lever L, which in turn is connected to the valve-stem h, whereby it will be seen that when the lever J is moved motion will be transmitted to the valve. A lever, such as J, is preferable for moving the valve, but, as is obvious, any suitable device connected in any suitable manner with the valve may be employed.

"When it is desirable for any reason to move the rudder by hand, independent of the fluidpressure mechanism, it is simply necessary to move the valve to the position shown in Fig. 3 and shut o the supply of tiuid, when the vessel may be steered in the ordinary manner through the medium of the hand-Wheels I and drum H.

Steam, compressed air, Water, or other fluid under pressure may be employed in my improved apparatus to move the piston C, but I generally prefer to employ steam for obvious reasons.

I have in some respects specifically described the construction and relative arrangement of the parts of my improved apparatus in order to impart a full, clear, and exact understanding of the same; but I do not desire to be understood as confining myself to such construction and arrangement, as such changes or modifications may be made in practice as fairly fall Within the scope of my invention.

' Having described my invention, what I claim is- The herein described steering apparatus, consisting essentially of the following elements in combination, viz: the rudder, the steering Wheel, the drum connected with the steering wheel and graduallyincreased in diameter from its middle to its opposite ends so as to enable it to take up slack of a cable, the cable or chain fy, connected at one end to the rudder, the cable or chain z, also connected at one end to the rudder and connected at an intermediate point in its length to the middle of the drum and Wound around the-drum,

the piston cylinder arranged between the contiguous ends of the two cables y, z, and extending in the same direction as said cables, the piston arranged in said cylinder and having its rod extended through the opposite ends thereof and disposed in the same direction as the cables and also having the opposite ends of said rod connected to the contiguous ends of said cables y, z, a source of Iiuid pressure supply, a valve connected with the source of supply and piston cylinder and adapted to eiect communication between the source of supply and the opposite ends of the piston cylinder and communication between opposite ends of the piston cylinder and an exhaust and also adapted to lock uid in the piston cylinder on opposite sides of the piston, a handle J, connected with the valve and arranged adjacent to the steering wheel, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

' JOHN BONNER.

Writnesses:

JAMES L. KING, C. H. RAEDER.

IOO

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