CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS AND MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING BOATS AND VESSELS ON WATER
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Baptiste Falguière, Engineer, of the Town of
Marseille, in the French Empire, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS AND MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING BOATS AND VESSELS
ON WATER."
Sealed the 29th May 1855, and dated the 19th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Baptiste Falguière at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th December 1854.
I, JEAN BAPTISTE FALGUIÈRE, Engineer, of the Town of Marseille, in the
French Empire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING BOATS
AND VESSELS ON WATER" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, first, in a new arrangement of direct-acting horizontal
engines for working propellers of the class herein-after mentioned; and, second,
in the construction of propellers which oppose a large surface to the water
when communicating motion to the vessel, while on performing the return
stroke they offer the least resistance their surface is capable of.
Each engine consists of two cylinders, the piston rods of which are connected
to a common cross head. A rod passes from this cross head between the two
cylinders to a crank on a shaft, which connects together two engines similarly
constructed and arranged. To the opposite side of the cross head a shaft or

page_text: rod is attached, which works through stuffing boxes fixed in the after part of
the vessel, and moves the propeller to and fro. The propeller is either
mounted directly on the end of this shaft, or is connected to it through a lever,
as hereafter described. Each vessel is to be provided with two engines, and
each engine works one propeller.
The propellers are of a rectangular or other suitable form, and consist of a
frame divided into sections or compartments, containing paddles, which are
mounted excentrically upon their axes, and connected by a rack in such
manner that the pressure of the water upon them causes them to feather
in performing the return stroke, whether going ahead or astern. When
the propellers are connected to the shafts attached to the cross heads of the
engines through a lever, I mount the upper end of the lever in a suitable
bearing at some point above that at which the shaft projects, and connect
the propeller to the other end of the lever. The propeller is immersed more
or less deeply, and the stroke of the engine shaft is regulated, according to the
speed at which the propeller is to work.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Baptiste Falguiere in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
BAPTISTE FALGUIERE, Engineer, of the Town of Marseille, in the French
Empire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand cight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Jean Baptiste Falguiere, Her special licence that I, the said Jean
Baptiste Falguiere, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Jean Baptiste Falguiere, 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 Inven-
tion for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING
BOATS AND VESSELS ON WATER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the

page_text: said Jean Baptiste Falguiere, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Jean Baptiste Falguiere, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists, first, in a new arrangement of direct-acting horizontal
engines for working propellers of the class to be herein-after mentioned; and,
second, in the construction of propellers which oppose a large surface to the
water when communicating motion to the vessel, while on performing the
return stroke they offer the least resistance that their surface is capable of.
My engine consists of a pair of cylinders, the piston rods of which are con-
nected to a common cross head. A rod passes from this cross head between
the two cylinders to a crank on a shaft, which connects together two engines
similarly constructed and arranged. To the opposite side of the cross head a
shaft or rod is attached, which works through stuffing boxes fixed in the after
part of the vessel, and moves the propeller to and fro. The propeller is either
mounted directly on the end of the shaft, or is connected therewith by means
of a lever, as herein-after described. Each vessel is to be provided with two
engines, and each engine works one propeller.
The propellers are of rectangular or other suitable form, and consist of a
frame divided into sections or compartments, containing paddles or floats,
mounted excentrically on their axes, and acted upon by a rack in such manner
that the pressure of the water on them causes them to feather in performing
the return stroke, whether the vessel is going ahead or astern. When the
propellers are connected to the shafts attached to the cross heads of the engines
by means of a lever, I mount the upper end of the lever in a suitable bearing
at some point above that at which the shaft projects, and the other end of the
lever is connected to the propeller. The propeller is immersed more or less
deeply, and the stroke of the engine shaft is regulated, according to the speed
at which the propeller is to work. The propeller is so contrived as to allow
of its being readily removed from the water for purposes of examination and
repair, and of its being feathered when there is sufficient wind to work the
ship without its assistance. By means of the levers a greater speed may be
imparted to the propellers than that of the pistons, such speed being regulated

page_text: by the difference between the length of the parts of the lever above and below
the points at which they are connected to the pistons. The floats are only
free to move into a horizontal position by describing a quarter of a revolution
forward or backward, according to the position of the rack, before referred to,
which forms a shifting stop, and may be acted on at pleasure, according to the
direction in which the vessel is to be propelled.
Figure 1 is a plan of my improved engine; Figure 2 is a sectional view,
with the lever connected to the engine; and Figure 3, a view of the propeller
and lever detached. A, A, are the steam cylinders; B, B, connecting rods;
C, C, the piston rods; D, D, cross heads, which connect the rods B, B, and E, E,
to the piston rods; E, E, rods for transmitting the motion of the pistons to
the levers and propellers; F, F, cranks on the horizontal shaft H, which
connects the two engines; G, G, are excentrics, fixed on the shaft H for
working the steam valves; I, I, rods for transmitting motion to the valves;
L, L, levers worked by hand for stopping and starting the engines; M, M,
the framework; P, P, are grooved rollers, resting in bearings N, N, for guiding
and supporting the rods E; Q, Q, are T pieces connected with the piston rods
for working the feed and bilge pumps R, R; T, T, are the levers on which
the propellers are mounted; S, S, are the bearings in which the upper end
of the levers is supported; U, U, are the propellers. a, a, the steam slide valve
boxes; b, b, stuffing boxes; d, d, rods for connecting the valves in each engine;
e, e, cross frames connecting the frames of the two engines together; g, g,
stays for connecting the sides of the levers at top. By the arrangement shewn
in Figure 1, while one of the engines is employed in driving its propeller, the
second engine, acting in a reverse direction, imparts a reverse action to its
propeller. By my arrangement of engines and propellers I avoid the loss of
power resulting from the employment of gear for converting a rectilinear
alternating motion of a piston into the rotary motion of a paddle wheel. By
means of two propellers, one working backward and the other forward, the
ship may be turned round without stopping the engine. Figure 5 is a
horizontal section of the propeller. m, m, is the rack; t, t, the teeth of the
rack; n, rod for changing the position of the rack, so as to impart a forward
or backward movement to the ship; 1, 1, are the propeller floats or paddles.
Figure 4 shews the position of the rack, while the forward motion of the
vessel is being effected; o, o, are the axes on which the floats turn, which,
not being placed in the centres of the floats, when the propeller moves in
the direction of the arrow R, the pressure of the water turns the floats in the
direction of the arrow P, until they bear against the teeth of the rack which
hold them in the horizontal position 1 for the ship's forward motion; then,

page_text: when the propeller commences to move in the reverse direction to that indicated
by the arrow R, the floats turn in a direction opposite to that indicated by the
arrow P, and assume the position &, in which they offer hardly any resistance.
Figure 6 is a view of the rack, shewn in a position the reverse of that repre-
sented in Figure 4.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of double-cylinder engines,
herein-before described and represented in the Drawings annexed, for driving
propellers, whether of the precise description of those herein-before described,
or of propellers acting in a similar manner thereto.
Second, I claim the particular construction of propeller herein-before
described and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
And, third, I claim the propelling of boats and vessels on water by means of
the double-cylinder engines and propelling machinery, herein-before described,
and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Baptiste Falguiere, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
)
Witness,
CHARLES ARMENGAUD, Ing* Civil,
6, Rue Fils du Calvaire, à Paris.
J. B. FALGUIERE. (L.S.)