proposed bronze tillerhead improvement
Capt skylark,
Great photos. Great photos to work from.
We can assume that your s.s. strap plate tiller holder isn't going to find itself broken, because it can't get bent like the much softer bronze.
If some of us salts are going to insist that a bronze tillerhead is appropriate for a bronze rudder shaft then the tiller holder part has to be improved in such a way that the ears do not break off.
Imagine that the channel (which probably was thought of as an improvement over meer straps) was meant to stabilize the tiller But to stabilize the ears all that is needed is to connect them over the top. Just like the straps. In other words you just continue the channel to the back over the hinge bolt. It would go over the top of the shaft part.
Then, instead of making the straps even narrower as we see in these photos when they leave the tiller wood and become 'ears,' why not make them wider so that the ears bear against the flat sides of the part that is connected around the top of the shaft when the liller is raised. It might be seen as a modest triangular quadrant shape matching the raising of the tiller with the hinge bolt the apex.
And in the case of the original Ariel tillerhead, let's make the channel a little wider and a little deeper, and put the carriage bolt attachment holes thru the top of the channel. Of course.
At the same time the casting could be lightened up, so that the increased metal would not necessaryly mean extra weight.