Ship Steering and Deck Machinery

Ship Steering and Deck Machinery groups the mechanical systems a crew uses to steer, anchor, moor, and handle a vessel from its open deck. The class covers direct steering gear, the rudder and the ship's wheel that transmits a helm order to it and the engine order telegraph that relays that order to the engine room; ground tackle and its handling machinery, the anchor itself, the anchor windlass that raises and lowers it, and the sea anchor used to hold a drifting vessel's head into the weather; and auxiliary deck equipment, the capstan and davit used to haul lines and lower boats, the paravane used to sweep moored mines clear of a ship's path, and the bilge pump that clears water from the hull. Wikipedia's Deck (ship) article states that a deck is reinforced around deck fittings such as the capstan, cleats, or bollards, the same class of mechanized deck fittings this invention class gathers under one heading.