AN IMPROVED PROPELLER
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Williams, of the City of Dublin, Master
Mariner, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROPELLER."
Sealed the 12th September 1854, and dated the 10th May 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Williams at the
-Office of the Commissioners of Patents; with his Petition, on the 10th
May 1854.
I, WILLIAM WILLIAMS, of the City of Dublin, Master Mariner, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PROPELLER"
be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the combination of a conical tube with fans or
blades of the form herein-after described, such tube being fixed in any con-
venient manner to a shaft or axis similar to the ordinary shaft or axis of a
screw propeller. The conical tube and the fans or blades may be made in one
piece, or they may be united by means of bolts, rivets; or other suitable mode
of connection.
The fans or blades are not truly spiral in form, the hinder part thereof
making a larger angle with the shaft or axis than their fore part, such angle
gradually increasing towards their hinder part, their fore part also being formed
so as to approach the outer line of the conical tube, and lead from it to their
hinder part

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Williams in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILLIAMS, of the City of Dublin, Master Mariner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Williams, Her special license that I, the said William Williams, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others, as I, the said William
Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term 'therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED PROPELLER,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Williams,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Williams, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and-ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention of "An Improved Propeller" is intended to increase the
effective action of that class of propellers known by the name of screw pro-
pellers, by combining a particular form of blade or fan with a conical axis, in
which is formed an opening or channel for the passage of the water after it has
been acted upon by the propeller.
And this effect is accomplished by the combination of a conical tube or axis,
of the form and construction herein-after described, with fans or blades (the
propeller to have two or more blades) of the form hercin-after described, such
tube being fixed in any convenient manner to a shaft similar to the ordinary
shaft or axis of a screw propeller.
The conical tube and the fans or blades may be made in one piece of casting

page_text: (iron or brass), or they may be united by means of bolts, rivets, or other suit-
able mode of connection. The fans or blades are not truly spiral in form, the
hinder part thereof making a larger angle with the shaft or axis than their
fore part, such angle gradually increasing towards their hinder part, their fore
part also being formed so as to approach the outer line of the conical tube, and
lead from it to their hinder part.
This propeller, in common with others of this class of propellers, may be
varied in its pitch, so as to adapt it to vessels of different constructions, and
worked by engines of different powers.
In order, however, that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the accompanying Drawing,
which represents the propeller in certain views calculated to exhibit the forms
and arrangements of its parts.
Fig. 1 is an end view of the propeller detached, as seen from the front;
Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, shewing an edge view of the fans or blades;
Fig. 3 is an end view of the propeller applied to a vessel, and as seen from
behind; Fig. 4 is a side view of the same, shewing the openings in the conical
tube more plainly than in Fig. 2. In all these Figures the same letters of refe-
rence indicate corresponding parts. A is the ordinary horizontal shaft; B is a
boss fixed upon this shaft, and filling the space between it and the inside of
the conical tube C. This boss has grooves or channels B* formed upon it, to
facilitate the passage of the water from the centre of motion of the propeller;
the conical tube C has also openings or channels C* cut or formed in it for the
same purpose. These openings or channels, it will be seen from Fig. 4, are of
considerable size, so as to admit of a clear passage of the water away from the
propeller after it has been acted upon by the latter. D, D, are the fans or
blades which are to be fixed to the conical tube C by means of angle iron and
rivets, as shewn, or they may be united thereto in any convenient manner.
The form of these fans or blades, it will be seen, is not truly spiral, the fore part,
as at D', leading from the outer line of the conical tube C to the hinder part
D2, in such a manner as to increase gradually the angle made by the inner
side of the fan or blade with the shaft A.
This propeller may be constructed in various ways, but I prefer that both
the conical tube and the fans or blades should be formed and constructed of
malleable iron, and united together and to the boss by means of angle iron and
bolts or rivets, or in any manner that will admit of fixing the fans or blades
while at sea.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not mean or

page_text: intend to confine myself to the precise forms of the parts shewn and described,
so long as the peculiar character of my Invention be preserved; neither do I
claim as of my Invention any particular mode of constructing the propeller
herein-before described; but what I do claim-as, of-my Invention is the pro-
peller, consisting of a conical tube or axis, with openings or channels formed in
it, as represented and described, combined with fans or blades of the form
represented and described, such conical tube and fans or blades being suitably
fixed to the ordinary horizontal shaft.
-
In witness whereof, I, the said William Williams, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four..
WILLIAM WILLIAMS. (L.S.).
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named William Williams, in presence of
JOHN N. TUBBS,
WILLIAM WILLIAMS. (L.S.).
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within--
named William Williams, in presence of
JOHN N. TUBBS,
No. 28, Westland Row,..
Dublin