USRE11380E - Automatic recording-compass - Google Patents

Description

- V 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. J. TOWNSEND. I AUTOMATIC RECORDING COMPASS! Reissued Nov. 7 18 93.

I JOHN .trowusnun SEND MARINE INVENTION OE PORTSMOUTH,

PATENT OFFICE.

VIRGINIA, Assienon TO Tun Town- COMPANY, OF BALTIMORE, liIARYLAND.

AUTODMATIC: RECORDING-COMPASS.

SPEGIFVIGATIOJT forming part of Reissued Original No. 477.283, data! June 21, 1892.

To all whom itv Be it known citizen of the'Un may concern:

ited States, residing at Portsmouth, 1n the county of Norfolkand State of V1rg1n 1a,'have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Recording- Compasses;

be a fu-ll, clear, and exact description of the invent1on,such as will enable others skilled in [O the art to which it appertains to make and use .the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings,and totheletters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification. y Invention relates to mariners compasses, and especially to those which record the movements of the compass-needle relative to the line of the vessels" keel, or, in other words, the courses sailed.

In carrying out in self of the art able mechani y invention I avail myof photography, arranging suitsm to cause a strip of sensitized paper to travel slowly under a" narrow slot which 1s screened from the light at all but 2 5 one spottby a moving disk or plate, itself con- TaIHIHg HFITlZHIOW slot arranged to cross the aforesaid slot and adapted to change the pointof intersection at every movement, however slight, of the compass-needle. The result ofthis contrivance is that a continuous irregular line is photographed on the paper agreeing exactly with the movements of the that 1, JOHN J. ToWNsENma' and I-do declare the following to Letters Patent No. 11,380, dated November 7, 1393. Application for reissue filed July 29, 1893. Serial No. 482.476.

steadied by an upper bearing, 0', preferably an adjustable screw passing through the end of the bracket, D. The needle is made of; I considerable length in order to give it a powerful leverage on the spindle and cause it to come to rest quicker when the course changes.

' The casing A, is divided into three compartments by a horizontal diaphragm, a, a little below the bracket, D, and a vertical 6o partition, a, about midway of the casing, extending from the'diaphragm, Ct, to the bottom of the casing. The lower edge of the partition may be cut away topermit the needle B,

to swing freely, the spindle, G,beingarranged near the partition, as shown. In the same compartment with the spindle is a motor, E, preferably a train of clockwork driven by a spring, as usual. The clock maybe provided with a dial and hands, if desired, though this is not essential. An arbor of the clockwork extends through the partition, a, and carries on its end a pinion, e, which meshes with a gear, 1, forming part of a train 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, suitalnly jourualed in aframe, F. 011 the shaft to which the gears 56 are socured is mounted a large drum, G, by means of a sleeve, g, which turns freely on the shaft independently of the motion of the gears. Adjacent to thelower part of the drum, on either side, are pairs of guide-rollers, of which only onell' is shown. Below the guide-rollers are the spools or reels, as K, the latter vessel and forming when developed and fixed a permanent record of the courses she has run.

3 5 In another application, Serial No. 4 3,068, I have described at length what- Iconsidcr the best mode of reducing to practice this part of my invention, The present application is restricted to a tin1e-recording device, in 0 combination with this course-recorder. By means of suitable auxiliary devices the strip is marked at regular intervals of time, so that the record gives not only the directions run, but the time spent on each course/ Figure l,is a plan view and Fig. 2 is an end view, artly in section,of a recording-compass embo ying my time-recorder.

In a suitable light-proof casing A, supported on gimbals, (not shown,) a magnetic needle, 5o 13, is mounted on a vertical spindleyC,, which having the gear 4 secured to its shaft. The delivery-spool is adapted to hold a roll of sensitized paper, L, of suitable width, which is led between the guide-rollers to the receivingspool, K, upon which; it is wound by the clockwork, E, acting through the train of gears, e, 1, 2, and 3 upon. the gear-wheel, 4, on 0 the shaft of the receiving-spool. The guiderollers hold the. paper close to the face-of the drum, which, together with the said rollers and the delivery-spool, is arranged to revolve easilyandsmoothly. Conical hearings may 5 be used wherever they maybe necessary, providcd with means for taking up wear and lost motion. By means of the adjustable bearings, k, the spools are adapted to be read- The above-described arrangement of the 'is stepped in'f'a conical bearing,cj,,and is gears is simplyillustrati ily removed from the fra me,'when necessary, moo

ve, since it is evident be used.

, ing the paper at the same. speed at alltimes.

In this case the receiving-spool, K, will have to be arranged to lessen its speed as the roll of paper increases in size. In thearrange-N ment illustrated the spool revolves at aregu- .lar speedand the speed of the paper increases slightly by regular increments in proportion the spindle,

. be free to move without coming. in contact shutter controlled by adapted to admit the light at a different point to the increasing diameterot the roll of paper. This, however, does not atfect the accuracy of the record, as will appearherein after.

The top of the drum, G,- lies near the diai phragm, it, its cylindrical face running par-'l allel with said diaphragm. vAt the point of approximate tangency a narrow slot is cutin the diaphragm, a, said slot running parallel with the axis of the drum. It may extend from one edge of the drum to the other,.but

is preferably broken into two portions, M and M, thelatter being quite short and arranged near an edge of the drum,preferably the forward edge. It is evident that the light pass- .ing through these two slots, M, M, will act upon the sensitized paper traveling beneath them and if uncontrolled would develop two bands, one wide and the other narrow. It is also evident that if the light is so controlled as to pass through one of the slots-say the short one-at regular intervals only, the paper will be marked by lines indicating predetermined periods of time, whileif the longer slot can be screened by a movable apertured the compass-needle and along the slot for every point onthe compasscard, the paper will record in a broken line the movements of the shutter, and consequently of the compass-needle. .In order to accomplish the latter result, I secure upon G, above the diaphragm, a, a disk, N, preferably circular, its plane being perpendicular to the axis of the spindle. The disk is of such a diameter as to extend over and beyond the slot, M, and is adjusted close to the diaphragm, though not touching it, so as to exclude all light from the slot and yet with the diaphragm. It may be made of any suitable light yet stiff material, such as sheetbrass. Small easilyrunning anti -friction wheel, 0, may be mounted in the diaphragm below the disk to'keep it frorn dragging'in case it should warp or sag. The disk is preferably graduated like a compass-card, either by lines engraved on its surface or by means of a printed sheet of paper cemented to it, or in any suitable manner.

A. spiral slot, at, is out in the disk, beginning and ending nearly on the same radial line, preferably corresponding with the north point of the card, or, as described in the application above referred to this slot, 7', and the l slots, M, M, may be simply diaphanous lines.

The radial distance of the slpt from the center of the disk is of course different for every point on the compass, and the sum of these differences, represented by the space between the inner and the outer ends of the slot, 13 substantially the same as the length of the slot, M. The slot, at, will therefore constantly intersect the vertical plane of the slot, M, but at a different place for every point on the compass-card. At the point of intersection a small aperture is formed, through which a pencil of light can penetrate to the sensltized paper. The continuous movement of the paper causes the pencil of light to trace a line at, on the sensitized surface, the position of the line shifting laterally across the paper as the disk swiugsto and fro with the compassn eedle.

' Various devices may be employed to record upon the strip the intervals of time during which the strip is running-such, for instance, as a printing or puncturing wheel geared to the clock-work. I prefer to arrange a horizontal wheel, I, near the edge of the disk, N, and mount it upon a vertical shaft, Q, supported in hearings in the standard, F, and steadied by an upper adjustable bearing,

The shaft is provided witha bevel-gear 7, meshing with the gear 6. over the short slot, M, in the diaphragmiand is timed to revolve once in a predetermined number of minutes. In the wheel are formed one or more short radial slots, p, adapted to register with the slot, M. At the instant the I two slots coincide, the light will pass through evident that the speed of the paper is immav terial and may vary or not without impairing the value of the record. one wheel,P, or by varying the shape of the openings, 19, the time-record can be divided into hours, if desired. In the drawings the record is shown as marked at five-minute in tervals.

By using more than Then the record is to beinspected,the roll of marked paper is removed from the frame and fixed by suitable treatment.

In case the ordinary blue-print or ferroprussiate paper is used, the record will be developed by a blue line on a white ground.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Iatent, is-

l. A recording-compass comprisingi a magnetic needle,a spirally-slotted disk revolved thereby, a sensitized sheet, a motor arranged to move said sheet under the disk, and a timerccording device adapted to mark upon the sensitized sheet regular intervals of time, sub-' stantially as'described.

, In a recording-compass, the combination, with the magnetic needle, of a spirallyslottcd disk revolved thereby, a strip of sensitized material adapted to be moved under the disk,

a motor for causing the strip'to move and a wheel revolved by the motor at an even rate d of speed and adapted to mark the record-strip at predetermined intervals of time, substantially as described. A I

3. In arecording-compass, the combination, withthe casing A, having the diaphragm, a, slotted at M,-M', and the partition, a, of the slotted disk, N, controlled 'by the magnetic needle, and the slotted wheel, P, revolved by clockwork at a regular speed, substantially as described. r Y

. l4. Ina recording-compass, the combination", with the spindle, O, and the needle, B, of the spirally-slotted disk, N, the clockwork, E, the

drum, G, guide-rollers, the spools, the wheel,

P, and the gears, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, substantially as, described.

5. In a recording compass, the combination "with a magnetic needle, of a fixed diaphragm hitting a straight diaphanous line provided thereon, a sensitized sheet and means formoving the same under the diaphanous line .of such fixeddiaphra gm, an opaque diskseand havinga contin nous spirally disposed diaphanous line provided in said disk forming a single turn with its respective ends in aline, substantially radial to the axis of the disk, terminating on, the same side of said axis, said ends separated from each other, at a distance approximately cured to said magnetic needle equal to the required length of the diaphanous j line in the fixed diaphragm, said spirally disposed diaphanous line intersecting the plane of the straight diaphanons line'in saidfixed diaphragm continuously at difierent points as the course sailed by the vessel changes and a time recording device adapted to mark upon the sensitized sheet at regular intervals,-sub- Istantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I a ffix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' JOHN-1!."TOWNSEND. Witnesses:

' N. S. Bows,

T. T. HARRIS.

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