IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR APPLYING WATER POWER TO THE WORKING OP SHIPS' PUMPS AND WINCHES, AND SO ARHED NORDHI PU
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Formby, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Ship Owner, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
APPLYING WATER POWER TO THE WORKING OP SHIPS' PUMPS AND WINCHES,
AND SO ARHED NORDHI PU"
Sealed the 7th December 1860, and dated the 27th June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Formby at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
June 1860.
I, ROBERT FORMBY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Ship Owner,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR APPLYING WATER POWER TO THE WORKING OF SHIPS' PUMPS AND WINCHES, AND
TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES," to be as follows (that is to say):-
purposes,
This Invention has for its object an improved arrangement of machinery for
working ships' pumps and winches, and for a variety of other useful
to be actuated by a stream of water, or by a ship or other navigable vessel to
which it may be applied, passing through the water.
To apply this Invention to (say) a ship, I take a chain constructed on the
same principle as a watch chain, or I use a number of metal rods jointed
together in such a way that they will yield laterally and vertically, but like
the watch chain, will not admit of being twisted like a rope or ordinary chain.
This chain or series of jointed rods I prefer should be about two-thirds of the

page_text: length of the ship. To one end of the chain I attach a fan or screw, like any
of the ordinary submerged ships' propellers, but in some cases I prefer to form
the propeller of two semi-discs, placed on a bos at about an angle of about
45° to the line of axis. The other end of the chain or series of jointed rods I
attach to a revolving shaft or axle working in fixed bearings fitted in (say) the
counter of the ship. It will be now seen that if the propeller on the end of
the chain is cast into a stream or drawn forward through the water, it will
revolve by the action of the water against the blades of the propeller, which,
through the chain or series of jointed rods, gives rotation to the shaft on the
inner end of the chain, from which I take off the power in any convenient
way, and apply it to working the ship's pumps or winch, or to any other
purpose to which it is desirable to apply it. When I apply it to working the
ship's pumps, I prefer to attach to the inner end of the revolving shaft a series
of short chains (constructed like a watch chain) and revolving shafts, which
rotate in fixed bearings placed on the bulwarks of the vessel. And on the last
of the series of revolving shafts I stake a crank, to which is attached a con-
necting rod jointed to the lower limb of a bell crank, the head of which is
coupled by a connecting rod to a vertical rocking shaft springing from the
cross head of a pair of pumps. The power may be applied to working a winch
either through a crank, toothed gear, or bands and friction pullies. The pro-
peller may be rigidly attached to the chain, but I prefer to connect it thereto
by an axle, upon which it is free to revolve when not locked. The locking
may be performed by a short screwed rod mounted on the axle in front of the
propeller, which can be advanced into a slot or hole in the boss by means of
a second chain (also constructed like a watch chain), or other suitable
mechanical equivalent attached to the inner end of the screwed bolt, and
carried to the vessel through guide eyes on the main driving chain, so that by
turning round the chain the bolt may be advanced or withdrawn from on
board the vessel at pleasure; to enable this to be done I fix a break to act
upon the revolving axis in the stern of the vessel to which the driving chain is
attached; or if preferred the blades of the propeller may be constructed in
such a way that they can be turned edgeways to the stream when the is
power
not wanted. If required a series of propellers may be applied to one driving
chain.
When this Invention is applied to land purposes the fixed bearings in which
the revolving axis on the inner end of the propeller chain works may be
mounted on a beam thrown across a stream, or in any other convenient way.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Formby in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
FORMBY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Ship Owner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Formby, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Formby, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Formby, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR APPLYING
WATER POWER TO THE WORKING OF SHIPS' PUMPS AND WINCHES, AND TO OTHER
USEFUL PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Formby, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Patcut
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Formby, 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
(that is to say):
This my said Invention has for its object an improved arrangement of
machinery for working ships' pumps and winches, and for a variety of other
useful purposes, to be actuated by a stream of water, or by a ship or other
navigable vessel to which it may be applied, passing through the water.
To apply my said Invention to (say) a ship, I take a chain constructed on
the same principle as a watch chain, or I use a number of metal rods jointed
together in such a way that they will yield laterally and vertically, but like
the watch chain will not admit of being twisted like a rope or ordinary chain.
This chain, or series of jointed rods, I prefer should be about two-thirds of the

page_text: length of the ship. To one end of the chain or series of jointed rods I attach
a fan or screw, like any of the ordinary submerged ships' propellers, but in
some cases I prefer to form the propeller of two semi-discs placed on a boss,
at about an angle of 45° to the line of axis. The other end of the chain or
series of jointed rods, I attach to a revolving shaft or axle, working in fixed
bearings, fitted in (say) the counter of the ship. It will be now seen that if
the propeller on the end of the chain is cast into a stream or drawn forward
through the water, it will revolve by the action of the water against the blades
of the propeller, which, through the chain or series of jointed rods, gives
rotation to the shaft on the inner end of the chain, from which I take off the
power in any convenient way, and apply it to working the ships' pumps or
winch, or to any other purpose to which it is desirable to apply it. When I
apply it to working the ships' pumps I prefer to attach to the inner end of the
revolving shaft a series of short chains (constructed like a watch chain) and
revolving shafts, or a number of rods jointed together, as herein before
described, which rotate in fixed bearings placed on the bulwarks of the vessels.
And on the last of the series of revolving shafts I stake a crank, to which is
attached a connecting rod jointed to the lower limb of a bell crank, which has
its axis, say, four or five feet above the rotating shaft, the head or upper arm
of which bell crank is coupled by a connecting rod to a vertical rocking shaft
springing from the cross head of a pair of pumps. The power may be applied
to working a winch, either through a crank, toothed gear, or bands and
friction pulleys. The propeller may be rigidly attached to the chain, but I
prefer in some few cases to connect it thereto by an axle, upon which it is free
to revolve when not locked. The locking may be performed by a short
screwed rod mounted on the axle in front of the propeller, which can bo
advanced into a slot or hole in the boss by means of a second chain (also
constructed like a watch chain), or other suitable mechanical equivalent
attached to the inner end of the screwed bolt, and carried to the vessel through
guide eyes on the main driving chain, so that by turning round the chain the
bolt may be advanced or withdrawn from on board the vessel at pleasure; to
enable this to be done I fix a break to act upon the revolving axis in the
stern of the vessel to which the driving chain is attached, or, if preferred, the
blades of the propeller may be constructed in such a way that they can be
turned edgeways to the stream when the power is not wanted. But I much
prefer, in almost all cases, to fix the blades of the propeller rigidly to the
centre boss, and construct the propeller that it has not a rotating motion
independent of the chain, or series of jointed rods, to which it is attached. In
this case the locking bolt and the chain, or series of jointed rods, by which it

page_text: is actuated are dispensed with, and in place of which I use a simple apparatus
for stopping the action of the propeller, which may be called the " power
extinguisher," which I prefer to form of sheet iron bent into a broad conical
form, and having a tubular hole extending through the apex to the centre of
the base. The lower end of the tubular opening I form of a trumpet mouth
shape. A tube which is also formed with a trumpet mouth at the lower end
is fitted into the inside of this tubular opening. The cone and the trumpet
mouthed opening and the tube fitted therein are formed with a slit in one side
to allow of the apparatus being placed on the revolving chain of the propeller,
where it is held by the inner vertically slit tube being turned round, so as to
close the slit by which the chain was introduced. The inner tube I construct
with a bayonet joint to lock the apparatus on the chain. When I desire to
stop the propeller preparatory to taking it inboard, or for any other purpose, I
take the "power extinguisher" and place it on the propeller chain, and secure
it thereon by turning round the inner tube, and locking it by means of the
bayonet joint, herein-before described; I then let it travel down the chain to the
propeller by its own gravity, which it readily does, as the trumpet mouth
shape of the lower end of the tube which encompasses the chain or series of
jointed rods, enables it to slide over the joints of the chain, and on arriving at
the propeller it completely shields it from the propelling action of the water,
and may be said to extinguish the power for the time being.
When this my said Invention is applied to land purposes, the fixed bearings
in which the revolving axis on the inner end of the propeller chain works
may be mounted on a beam thrown across a stream, or in any other con-
venient way.
That this my said Invention may be the more readily seen and understood,
I have hereunto annexed Drawings in illustration of its practicable application
to a ship of, say, 500 tons burthen, like letters and figures marked thereon
having reference to similar parts.
Figure 1 is a partial sectional elevation of the after part of a ship of 500
tons burthen, drawn to a scale of of an inch to the foot, showing my improved
water-power apparatus fitted thereto, and applied to the working of a pair of
pumps of six inches bore; Figure 2 is a transverse elevation of the front of
the apparatus looking towards the stern of the vessel, and shows the mode of
connecting it with the pumps, drawn on a scale of one and a half inches to one
foot; Figure 3 is a side elevation of the toothed-wheel gear on the counter of
the vessel, also drawn on a scale of one and a half inches to the foot;
Figure 4 is an edge view of a propeller of twenty-six inches in diameter, and
formed of two semi-discs placed at right angles to each other, and at an angle

page_text: of 45° to the axis upon which the propeller rotates; and Figure 5 is a view of
the same, showing the semicircular form of the fan blades. These propeller
blades are constructed each from two thin plates of iron or other sheet metal
attached together at their outer circular edge by rivets or other convenient
way, and I secure them to short radial arms which project from the centre
boss, by inserting the arms between the plates, and attaching them by bolts
and nuts, so that they can at any time be removed for repair, or to be replaced
by new ones. The space between the two thin plates forming the propeller
blades I make good or fill up with wood. By this arrangement I obtain a
light, simple and serviceable propeller. Figure 6 is a view or plan of the
inner end of the "power extinguisher," which is twenty-six inches in diameter
at the base, and Figure 7 is a side view of the same shown closed upon the
propeller chain; Figures 8 and 9 show two lengths of the jointed iron rods to
which the propeller is attached, drawn the full size required for a ship of
500 tons burthen, and which are connected together by the common hinge
joint.
A, the deck of the vessel; B, the bulwark stanchions; C, the propeller, to
which is attached D, a series of jointed rods, which are at the inner end
connected by E, an universal joint on the end of the revolving axle of F, a
bevel pinion wheel of four inches in diameter which gears into G, a bevel
toothed wheel of twelve inches in diameter staked on to the end of H, a series
of horizontal driving shafts, which are jointed together end to end, and revolve
in I, fixed bearings which are secured to the upright stanchions of the bulwarks;
J, clutch motion for throwing the part of the apparatus on board the vessel in
and out of gear; K (shown in dotted lines at Figure 2), crank on the inner
end of the rotating driving shafts, which is coupled by L, a connecting rod, to
the lower horizontal limb of M, a bell crank, baving its fulcrum at m;
N, an horizontal connecting rod, communicating motion from the upper
vertical arm of the bell crank to O, a lever arm which projects upwards at right
angles from the centre of P, a cross-bead lever beam, to the ends of which are
attached Q, the pump rods; R, the pump barrels; S, a standard which
supports the cross-head lever beam; T, the conical "power extinguisher;" U,
slit in the side of the "power extinguisher " for admitting the propelling chain
or series of jointed rods to be introduced into W, a split tube, which is fitted
so that it can be turned half round on its longitudinal axis and locked by an
internal bayonet joint.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my said
Invention, and how I believe the same may be best carried into effect, I wish
it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details,

page_text: dimensions, or relative proportions herein-before described and set forth, as it
will be readily seen that they may be considerably varied without departing
from the Invention; but what I do claim is,-
First, the use of a submerged propeller in combination with a chain or series
of jointed rods, as herein-before described and set forth, or any mere modifi-
cation of the same, applied as a water-power engine.
And, lastly, the general arrangement and combination of the various parts of
the apparatus herein-before described, or any mere modification of the same,
for the purpose of applying water power to the working of ships' pumps and
other useful purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Formby, have hereunto set
my hand and affixed my seal, this Twentieth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
WILLIAM WALKER,
of 44, Castle Street, Liverpool.
ROBERT (L.s.) FORMBY.