Three Rudder Steering Device, Patent Model

Rees, James · 1882

Pittsburgh steamboat owner and builder James Rees developed a way to reduce the amount of force needed to steer riverboats, an idea he patented in 1882. In place of the usual practice-attaching a tiller directly to the top of the boat's rudder-he moved the tiller's pivot point forward and its connecting point to the rudder aft, which improved the tiller's leverage and eased steering. This model demonstrates his invention applied to a three-rudder system.