The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-12-19 00:00:00

the thanks of the meeting were ♦oted tc

NT (J. Grantham, Esq., C. I
to deliver his annual address, and was received with mucl
applause. He commenced by saying that, in presenting
himself now for the third time, to address them in hi:
capacity as president, at the close of the sixth session o
the society, he should adopt a course differ'
measure from that which he had pursued on
casions. Finding that he had but f
make on the state and prospects of the society—so ever

The PRESI

) then ro

observations tc

scenes of the times—be should introduce to their notii
a topic of public interest, suited to the character of the

meetings; the subject he alluded to was the p esent state
of steam navigation. After some introductory observa•

Itions, as to 'the failure of the science as a profitabl
mercantile speculation, he called their attention to th

Iscrew propeller, as a substitute for paddle-wheels,—at
improvement which he had great hopes would do muct

to place steam navigation on a firmer foundation.
Several short notices of the screw-propeller bad ap
peared in scientific publications, but they we
perfee

. .
however, been referred to more satisfactorily in a mot
written by Mr. El:jab Galloway, the potentt - • "

3f piddl

wheels, in an appendix to Tredgold's work on the steam-
engine. But the author had not formed a decided opinion
on the question, and did not establish its superiority. The
French claimed to be the original inventors of the screw-
propeller, and few would di.pute with them the honour

as due to the English

V11A1,1: •
The lecturer here referred to a French paper detailing
the performances of the French war-steamer Napoleon,
which were certainly satisfactory. He next noticed a
number of instances in which the screw had been em-
ployed, even from the year 1699. It was also tried by
different partie. in 1713 and 1763. In 1802 the Doncaster
transport, which had been becalmed, was worked into
harbour at Malta at the rate of 1 mile an hour, by eight
Pell. She weht 7 leagues with a screw, and the
ed to have contemplated every kind of pro-

men at

parties se

peller since patented by others. In 1825 the screw was
applied to a vessel in the Thames. In 1828 a patent was
taken out for a screw by Mr. Charles Cummerow. in
1832 M. Sauvage also applied it. In the same year Mr.
Wooderoft of Manchester took out his patent, in 1836
Mr. Smith his, and in 1838 Ericssort also obtained one.
Cummerow's and Smith's were much arke.
He then explained the principle of the screw (or in-
clined plane), and its advantages over the paddle-wheel,
assuming for argument's sake that, simply as a propeller,
there was no preference to be given to either. lie re-
ferred to cross sections of two vessels of the same dimen-
sions, one with the paddles and the other with the screw;
also to longitudinal sections of the same. By pointing to
these, he clearly showed the several advantages of screw
vessels.
There were several kinds of screw propellers, but the
principle was the same in all—an inclined plane turned
round a spindle or cylinder. (This he showed by wrap-
ping a piece of paper•, in the form of a right-angled tri-
angle, round a roller; and the hypothenuse, or slanting
edge of the paper, described the worm of the screw,
which might be made of any pitch.) And if a screw were
made to revolve in a solid, by giving it one revolution it
would move forward or backward a distance equal to the
pitch. There might be several threads in the same screw,
but although this constituted a difference in form, the
principle remained smattered.
Mr. Smith's filst experiments were made with a single
thread, or incline wound round an axis, making an entire
revolution, and presenting. to the eye, when looking in the
direction of the axis, the form of a complete disc. Erics-
son's, and others consisted of a short portion of the screw,
with many threads or inclines, in some cases appearing to
the eve when placed in the direction of the axis, as a
complete disc. but not necessarily so. (He here described
the number of blades on the screw, and how they were
formed.) Wooderoft (who obtained his patent in 1832)
adopted a slightly different system. Instead of the thread
being uniform, and the incline the same at all points, he
proposed an increasing pitch at the after end. His object
would be understood by considering a fish's tail, more
particularly that of the eel (to a drawing of which, as if it
were in motion, he pointed.) In the evolutions made by
its body and tail they each continued to increase ; and,
consequently, the rapidity with which it struck the water
increased also, and compensated for the loss of effect oc-
casioned to the tail by the motion given to the water by
the body. In like manner, by giving this constantly in-
creasing angle to the screw, the same result would follow.
This he (Mr. G ) conceived to he a very beautiful modi-
fication of the original screw propeller. The principle did
not escape the attention of others ; and it was to be re-
gretted that it had not been tried earlier and made known.
He had alluded to the plans of Messrs. Smith, Erick-
son, and Woodcroft, to the first two as being best known,
and because he believed the award of superiority, was by
almost common consent given to it. Mr. Smith was the
originator of a company that built the Archimedes—a
vesserthat circumnavagated England, and performed other
long voyages. This first drew public at tention to the sub-
ject. Great credit was due to that spirited company, and
to Mr. Smith for these experiments, which were con-
ducted on a liberal scale; hut this was not the first vessel
that had been propelled by a screw. Ericsson had pre-
viously dime much, and displayed great originality of
thought. The form of his propeller, although not the
subject• of his patent. bad never yet been surpassed, and
it required only the elongated pitch to make it the most
efficient yet constructed. He(the lecturer) was influenced
by this opinion when recently called upon to construct the
small vessel called the " Liverpool Screw," which had
been at work on the Mersey. He had taken care not to
infringe any patent in the screw he adopted, and was sm.-
prised'to find, on looking over the list, that these valuable
plans'had been overlooked.
Several experiments had been made by Messrs. Brun-
nel, Claxton, and Guppy, at Bristol, under the superin-
tendence of the latter, upon various forms of screw in the
Archimedes. In these some curious facts were observed,
and it was then suggested that it was possible to propel
vesserfaster by the screw, than the screw itself would have
gone had it worked in a solid medium. He at first con-
ceived that there was an error in the calculations, but sub-
sequent observation induced him to believe it possible to
obtain such a result, and that all vessels having the screw

s to expect—

if this tendencv weie increased it would at a loss of
C... 4 1-‘,. flip mnnner in which

the eddy formed by the pier of a bridge, in which, case the
• • - -• •

Was stationary anc

latite positions were the same in both. The conclusion,
therefore, was, that though the relative effect between the
screw and the vessel appeared to be favourable, yet that
being obtained at a great sacrifice of power, such a result'
might arise from defects in the form of the vessel, and was

thf7refore no good indication, and that the utmost 9 a
effi-
circumstances, to, be as follows :—Decernu.. 0
ciency would be obtained' when the speed of the screw
53 m. mean time, right ascension, 5 h. 15,m''
was from 1-15th to 1-20th part greater than that of the nation, north, 3 (leg. 44 min. 46 sec "
vessel

The Lecturer then noticed some of the most remark-
able screw vessels that yet appeared, and the forms of the
the 9410

that some of the objections to it were groundless.
He showed by diagrams of two vessels of equal' size,
that where paddle-wheel vessels could not easily have
any beams over the engine-room, on the plane of the
lower der' 's the engine, &c., rose to the deck above

Potatoes

„,
beams might be introduced in screw vessels at that g"'.
point, not only greatly strengthening the vessel' where Shgrst..to.p.s.
she most wanted it, but admitting of a clear range of Cattle
saloons or cabins fore and aft, with little or no inter- Turnips,
ruptt'n. Carrots
A short interesting discussion took place, in• the course
of which the chairman ably and convincingly replied to
the questions propounded, on the supposed. lateral pres-
sure of the screw. He then addressed some well-digested
Mn. N
remarks to the society on its progress and prospects, ea-
,pressing a hope that the present mayor, as his two prede- Tuesday 19 9 9
cessors had done, would favour them with his company Wednes. 20 10 5
and countenance. (cheers.) He complimented the Thurs... 21 1 59
committee on their attendance and great attention to the Friday.. 22 11 46
interests of the society, and concluded by saying ” May rturaday2.43 0
5?.3
we strive to preserve our present unanimity, to continue Monday 25 135
our steady onward career ; and may these meetings,
which have been the source of so much interest and pro-
fit to ur all, long maintain that agreeable and instructive
character for which they are now so generally distin-
guished." (Loud applause.)
A vote of thanks was then passed to the chairman for
his able address, and his conduct as president, and the
meeting

EVERY

___, ____
10.
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LIVERPOOL CATTLE MARKET,. "'",,ed wit,l,l-to
it Cattle market to-day has been well suPt.iroll-
--rvios „00.
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LLVERPOOL HAY AND POTATO$ a 0 1„°1
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