Marine autopilot system including mode engagement features

Claim 1

A marine autopilot system for a ship for operating in a fixed course holding mode and a turn to a new course mode comprising: a servo motor connected to the rudder of said ship to control it; a course setting knob; means for producing an error signal corresponding to the deviation between a set course and the ship''s heading and set course setting knob connected thereto; an operational means connected between said servo motor and said means for producing an error signal anD including a weather adjustment device; an integrator, a differentiator and a rudder angle limit means; a first switch mounted adjacent said course setting knob and actuated thereby when said course setting knob is operated to set a new course; a memory device connected to said first switch and producing an output each time said first switch is actuated for a time period until said memory is reset; a variable timer receiving an input from said memory and supplying a delayed output to said memory to reset it, said means for producing an error signal supplying an input to said variable timer to control the delay between the timer''s input and output; a second switch connected in parallel with said weather adjusting device; a third switch connected to said integrator for disconnecting it; a fourth switch connected to said differentiator for changing the response; and switch actuating means receiving an input from said memory and connected to actuate said second through fourth switches such that during a turn to new course mode said weather adjusting device and integrator are disconnected, and said differentiator has a different response than during said course holding mode.