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Centralize Control on Bri ec The Control Station of a Modern Ship Is on the Bridge—For Re- ceiving and Sending Information to Co-ordinate All Functions HE “control station” of the ; modern ship is on the bridge. The reasons which are bringing about this centralized control on ship- board are the same as those which have made necessary a similar con- trol of large power plants ashore. An efficient and smoothly operated business of any kind involving the co-ordination of sub-units requires a station for the receipt and dissemi- nation of information to keep all sub- units working harmoniously and effi- ciently. The op- e eration of a ship is one of the fin- est and most concrete exam- ples of such co- ordination. The ship is at the dock ready ‘to sail: all lines are ordered “Jet go,” the en- gine telegraph on the bridge is put to “slow astern;” the whistle Is sounded from the bridge; or- ders are given to assisting tugs from the bridge, —in short the bridge is head- quarters or the “control station” of a mass of unified action. The alert cap- tain knows or wants to know whatevery one of the various units comprising his command are doing. On _ the old sailing vessel everything was under his thumb, but when mechanical power displaced Aeolus as the propelling agent, an important part of the captain’s com- mand became specialized under an- other -head. But it did not relieve the captain of the responsibility of The author, a member of the staff of the Sperry Gyroscope Co., Brooklyn, N. Y., has had considerable sea experience as an officer in the United States navy. BY O. B. WHITAKER maneuvering and navigating his ship, consequently he must have complete control of the engines, steering ma- chinery, ballasting, etc., in addition to loading and discharging the cargo, entering and clearing his ship and endless other duties. Facilities for giving orders to vari- ous parts of the ship from the bridge were provided when steam displaced sail. This alone, however, leaves many things to be desired as it is of advantage for the captain to know BRIDGE OF THE M. S. EAST INDIAN—THE GYRO-PILOT IN THE CENTER FOREGROUND —TO THE RIGHT THE RECORDING ENGINE TELEGRAPH—OVER CENTER WINDOW, ENGINE COMPARATOR AND ENGINE SPEED INDICATOR WITH HELM INDICATOR AT TOP RIGHT his speed through the water, the speed of his engines, the position of his helm rudder, the draft of the ship and many other _ things. Early attempts at providing an indication of the ship’s speed in the wheel house were an _ indicator which operated electrically from the taffrail log, and the helm angle indicator to show 63 the position of helm or rudder. Only a measure of success was reached in those efforts, however, due largely to the lack of interest which this field held for the large industrial, electrical equipment manufacturers, because of its limited application. The introduction of the Sperry gyro-compass into the merchant serv- ice seven years ago brought with it the general interest of a responsible and highly skilled organization, in- cluding engineers who have had a 2 ‘vyreat deal of sea experience in the United States navy and in many foreign navies. Their first interest was, of course, the de- velopment of the Zyro-compass to adapt it to the requirements of the merchant service. The study and re- search required for this work pointed out many desirable things in addition to the gyro - compass which would as- sist in the safe and efficient han- dling of ships. Following close- ly behind the in- troduction of the gyro - compass came the Sperry gyro-pilot, popu- larly known as “metal mike.” This places in the hands of the captain and his deck officers a machine for au- tomatically steering the ship, and it utilizes either the ship’s steering system or attaches directly to the steering ma- chinery aft; but in either case, it is controlled from the bridge. It was soon found that to obtain the best results from the gyro-pilot, definite knowledge of the rudder _ action (Continued on Page 78)