SELF-STEERING SHIPS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4766, 20 October 1924, Page 3

SELF-STEERING SHIPS.

• PASSING OF THE STEERSMAN. PRECISE AUTOMATIC DEVICE. Ever since primitive man guided his floating log or hollowed-out canoe down stream, man has continued to steer his craft across the oceans of the world. The tiller gave place to the wheel and the handsteering geai was superseded by jsteam and then by -hydraulic gear, but always the steering of a ship was done by the hand and the eye of man, working in conjunction. The quartermaster, the man at the wheel, is an age-old institution, but there are signs that even he is passing away. The ingenuity of man has now conceived and executed an automatic steering device which renders the man at the wheel unnecessary, and which steers the ship to a degree of precision unattainable by the 'human machine. Rk This new device, the invention of Mr Elmer Sperry of gyroscope fame, is an auxiliary of the gyroscopic compass, which is rapidly ousting the old magnetic compass. Briefly, the electrical transmission of the master gyro-compass indications can be utilised for steering a vessel automatically. As soon as the vessel’s bow moves off her proper course the movement is transmitted by the gyro-compass to a repeater motor which, acting through a contact mechanism, sets the drive .motor in motion ijn such a direction that the steering wheel is turned so as to % apply the helm. As the vessel begins to swing back to her course the repeater motor, obeying the gyro-compass indication, causes the drive motor to rotate in the opposite direction and to apply the necessary “steading helm.” The | ship is thus automatically “met” with ' rudder proportions to the yaw as it returns to the course, thus reducing to practically nothing the movement of the ship’s head. This principle is applied to a ship steering on a prescribed counse, and is particularly suitable for vessels ’ on ocean runs where the same course is steered from day to day. It should be useful, for example, on the run from Colombo to Fremantle, or vice versa. When an alteration of course is required a small adjustment is made and the ship fe then left to steer herself. When entering or leaving port, where numerous bends and corners have to be negotiated, the automatic gear is disengaged and the quartermaster steers the ship. The automatic system has several One is that it does away with the necessity of employing the human element in a task where that element seldom attains any degree of t efficiency. Essential as concentra'tlon is to efficient steering, few men

can rivet and maintain their attention for two consecutive hours on what is a tedious and irksome fulfilment of a mechanical act. The actual course of a ship represents not so much a straight line as a wriggle, and the length of the “wriggle” is approximately 25 per cent, more than that of the straight line. Consequently a vessel whose bow wavers from side to side as she steams along traverses a far greater distance, consumes far more fuel, and takes far more time than a ship which is held to a nearly-perfect straight line. It is in these respects that the selfsteering ship has a great advantage over the man-steered vessel, for very much better courses are steered than is possible by the best quartermaster. The automatic helmsman knows no fatigue, stands all watches, and steers consistently.

More than 50 ships are now equipped With the new invention, and the number is increasing daily.