CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN VESSELS TO BE PROPELLED BY STEAM OR OTHER POWER, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
SMITH, of the Navy Club House, Bond Street, in the County of Middlesex,
à Captain in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of November, in the second year of Her
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
eight, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Smith, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said George Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said George Smith, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN VESSELS TO BE PROPELLED
BY STEAM OR OTHER POWER, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE
MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said George Smith, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calen-
dar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hercunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say)—
My Invention of certain improvements in vessels to be propelled by steam
or other power, and in the construction and arrangement of the machinery for
propelling, consists of two distinct parts or heads, the object of the first part
or section being to render available for a better purpose certain parts of steam
vessels which are now but of little use, without doing away with their present
employment, and consists in the application of boats to or for the covering of
the ordinary paddle wheel, and also to the forming the roofs or additional
coverings over such cabins as are situated on each side of the ordinary paddle
boxes, which boats are to be properly fitted and applied to such situations, so
that they shall form the roof or covering of the paddle boxes, or an additional
covering for the cabins, and at the same time be readily made available for use
as life or other boats in case of danger or other occasions; and the object of
the second head or section of my improvements is to apply or adapt certain
descriptions of propellers in a better and more effectual manner than has been
heretofore proposed, and consists in the peculiar arrangement, construction,
and application of certain rotatory paddles or propellers or propelling blades to
vessels for the purpose of effecting their locomotion, by which improvements
the propellers are rendered capable of being worked, either by steam power or
by manual labour of the ship's crew, should the mechanical agent be out of
order, or where thought desirable, the propellers being also so arranged and
constructed that they may be removed from out of the water when sails are
used to propel the vessel, and also that they shall be under water and out of
the range of shots when in action. And I will now refer to the accompanying
Drawings the better to illustrate my improvements.
Fig. 1 is a partial transverse section of a paddle box, shewing the ordinary
paddle wheel adapted to a vessel, and the first head of my Invention applied
thereto, which will be sufficient to explain how the same may be carried into
effect when adapted to the roofs of the side cabins. Fig. 2 is a partial plan view
of the same. a, a, represents the side of the vessel; b, the ordinary gangway; c,
the shaft of the paddle wheel d; e is the outer side casing of the paddle; f,f, is
the boat placed over the paddle wheel, and secured thereon by proper fittings,
or lashed with cords or chains, or fastened in any convenient manner, the
upper part of the stationary or fixed casing being constructed to receive and

page_text: retain the edges of the boat. And in order that the boat may be launched or
lowered into the water with facility when required, levers g, g, are attached to
the outer casing of the paddle box by joints at h, h, which levers, while the boats
form the covering of the paddle wheels or the cabins, remain in the horizontal
position shewn in the Figures; but when the boats are required for use in the
water, ropes or chains i, i, fitted with proper tackle, are to be attached to the
inner ends of the levers g, g, and passed over the staunchions or cranes k, k.
By these means the boats may be raised up edgewise until their edges are in
a perpendicular position, when they may be let fall over the side until they
arrive in the situation shewn by dots in Figures 1 and 2, where the levers g
may be retained by the chains i, and the boats lowered into the water by other
chains or ropes 1, 1; and by the same means they may be hauled up into their
positions to form the coverings of the paddle boxes or cabins. It will of course
be understood that the boat, when applied to a paddle wheel, should be con-
structed without thwarts or cross pieces in the middle part, as these would
come in the way of the paddle wheel; but thwarts may be constructed to be
applied and adapted after the boat has been raised from off the paddle box,
and when the boats are applied and adapted over the side cabins, the thwarts
be attached to them in the same manner.
may
Fig. 3 is a vertical section of part of the stern of a vessel, shewing one of
my improved modes of constructing, adapting, and applying rotatory blades or
propellers thereto. The section is taken through the dead wood of the stern
in a line with the keel. Fig. 4 is a partial plan or horizontal view of the
same. a, a, is the dead wood of the stern of the vessel; b, b, is the propelling
shaft leading from the steam engine. Upon this shaft is securely placed one
set c of the rotatory propellers or blades, which revolve with it as their axle.
The other set d are also mounted upon this shaft, but revolve freely upon it.
The shafts and bosses of the wheels are to be fitted and adapted to revolve in
proper bearings in the framework of the stern at 1, 1. Upon the boss of the
blade d is attached the bevil wheel f, which takes into another toothed wheel 9
revolving upon a pin or stud, receiving its motion from another bevil wheel h
on the axis of the rotatory shaft b. By these means the two sets of propellers
or blades are made to revolve in different directions and propel the vessel, their
inclined sides forcing the vessel forward as they move round after the manner
of a portion of a screw propeller or the sculling movement of an oar. In order
that these propellers may be removed from out of the water when not required
to move the vessel the bearings at e, e, are furnished with cover or top pieces
i, i, moving in angular or other shaped grooves k, k, and secured by keys or

page_text: cottars,., passed through part of the framework. When the propellers are
required to be unshipped, these keys are to be taken out, and the pieces i
removed, and the shaft or axle b drawn back out of the bosses of the propellers,
when the blades, with their bosses, may be taken out, and by the same means
again applied when wanted. The axis is passed through a stuffing box at m
to prevent water leaking into the ship; and in case the machinery or engine
should get out of order, the shaft 6 is to be so constructed and connected.
thereto that it may be readily disunited, and the propellers set in motion by
bands, ropes, or chains passed around. the grooves 0, 0, in the wheels f and h,
and worked by means of the windlass belonging to the vessel, turned by the
manual labour of the ship's crew. The modes of fitting and using such ropes
or chains being easily understood, it is not necessary for me to describe them.
Fig. 5 is a representation of the stern of a vessel, shewing my improved
manner of applying and adapting two sets of rotatory propellers or blades
thereto, one on each side of the rudder. Fig. 6 is a side view of the same.
a, a, are the propellers; b, b, the shaft leading from the steam engine or other
first mover; c is a stay or bar which may be used to carry an outer bearing
to steady the shafts b, if thought necessary. It will be seen that in this, as
well as the former application and arrangement of propellers, that in conse-
quence of there being two sets, and they revolving in opposite directions, the
action of the rudder of the vessel will not be affected by the water coming
from the propellers, as is the case when only one set of such rotatory blades
are used.
And I would here remark, that the well-known screw propellers
.
may be used in place of the blades if thought desirable.
Fig. 7 is a partial sketch of one side of a steam vessel, shewing the situation
of three boats applied as described under the first head of my improvements.
a is a boat placed as a covering under the ordinary paddle wheel b, and c, c,
are two other boats placed over the side cabins at d, d; c, e, represents the
situation of two sets of rotatory propellers, which may be thus applied and
worked by shafts f,f, and may be used in case of the paddle wheel being
damaged, or the engine getting out of order, or being stopped from want
of fuel.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of May. One thousand eight hundred and
GEORGE (L.B.) SMITH.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of May, in the
second year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said George
Smith came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-nine.