IMPROVED LIACHINERY APPLICABLE FOR INLAND NAVIGATION
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVED LIACHINERY APPLICABLE FOR INLAND
NAVIGATION." A communication from abroad by Murray Jackson,
of Pesth, in the Empire of Austria.
Scaled the 24th September 1870, and dated the 9th April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th April 1870.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY APPLICABLE FOR
INLAND NAVIGATION," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to propel vessels on rivers or canals by
steam power without the use of paddle wheels, screws, or propellers,
which by their action in the water produce a wash and disturbance of
the water, which is very apt to damage the banks. To this end I lay a
rope made of any suitable material along the bottom of the canal or

page_text: river, and by means of suitable machinery in the vessel itself I haul on
this rope, and so draw the vessel along at a fair speed and with but a
very moderate expenditure of power.
In carrying out the Invention I mount in bearings arranged in a
framing in the vessel a series of grooved pullies over which the rope is
passed, having been lifted from the bottom of the water and placed over
a guide pulley at the stern of the vessel, and after passing over the series
of grooved pullies the rope is conducted over another guide pulley at
the bow of the vessel, and is again dropped into the water, where it lics
quiescent until lifted by the advance of the vessel.
In order to secure a proper grip upon the rope without injuring it by
undue pressure it is found convenient to employ four or more grooved
pullies arranged one behind the other, and also a similar number of
upper pullies, which by means of springs or otherwise will be made
to bear down upon the rope and nip it between the pairs of pullies,
so as to give them a firm hold and prevent them from slipping round on
and chafing the rope.
It will now be understood that if rotary motion is imparted to the
grooved pullies they will haul on the stationary rope and will pull
forward the vessel. To this end a small engine is made to drive a
toothed pinion, which gears into and drives a toothed wheel on the
axle of one of the grooved pullies. All the pullies in the series are
provided with cranks, which are connected together by rods so that they
will all rotate together and at the same speed. The upper series of
grooved pullies are also similarly provided, and therefore act in unison.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the 3
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty.
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, 3

page_text: "
give and graut unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, admiuis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward Newton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
5 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 MACHINERY APPLICABLE FOR INLAND NAVIGATION," being a com-
munication to me from abroad by Murray Jackson, of Pesth, in the
Empire of Austria, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Edward Newton, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and scals, 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 Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to propel vessels on rivers or canals by
steam power without the use of paddle wheels, screws, or propellors,
which by their action in the water produce a wash and disturbance of
the water which is very apt to damage the banks. To this end I lay
a rope made of any suitable material along the bottom of the canal or
river, and by means of suitable machinery in the vessel itself I haul on
this rope, and so draw the vessel along at a fair speed and with but a
very moderate expenditure of power.
In carrying out the Invention I mount in bearings arranged in a
framing in the vessel a series of grooved pullies over and between which
the rope is passed after having been lifted from the bottom of the water
and placed over a guide pulley at the bows of the vessel. When the
rope has been passed over the series of grooved pullies it is conducted
over another guide pulley at the stern of the vessel and is again dropped

page_text: into the water, where it lies quiescent at the bottom until lifted again by
the advance of another vessel.
"
In order to secure a proper grip upon the rope without injuring it by
undue pressure it is found convenient to employ four or more grooved
pullies arranged one behind the other, and also a similar number of
upper pullics, which by means of springs, weights, or otherwise will be
made to bear down upon the rope and nip it between the pairs of pullies,
so as to give them a firm hold and prevent them from slipping round on
and chafing the rope. Two or more sets of these pullies may be employed
if desired to give greater adhesion.
It will now be understood that if rotary motion is imparted to the
grooved pullies they will haul on the stationary rope and will pull
forward the vessel. To this end a small engine is made to actuate
suitable gearing connected or communicating with the axle of one of
the grooved pullies. All the pullies in each series are provided with 1
cranks, which are connected together by rods so that they will all rotato
together and at the same speed. The upper sets of grooved pullies are
also similarly provided, and therefore act in unison.
1
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2
a ground plan, of the hauling apparatus as it is arranged in the boat or 2
vessel to be propelled; Fig. 3 represents a cross section of the vessel
shewing the engine by which the hauling apparatus is driven and also a
pair of paddle wheels, the use of which will be hereafter explained. The
hauling apparatus consists of a series of grooved friction wheels a, a, a,
turned out hollow at their circumference, as shewn at Figures 2 and 3, 2
so as to embrace the hauling rope b. In the Drawings these wheels are
divided into sets of three pairs cach. The wheels of cach pair are placed
vertically one over the other, their axles being connected by equal sized
spur wheels a', a', so as to cause them to move in opposite directions.
The first pair of each set of friction wheels a, a, is driven by bevil 3
gearing F, F, F, the remaining pairs being connected by cranks at right
angles and connecting rods c, c, c, in the same manner as the coupled
wheels of a locomotive engine. As shewn in the side elevation, Fig. 1,
the bearings of the lower axles are capable of being moved vertically up
and down by means of screws connected by small bevil wheels d, d, d, 3
thus keeping the axles perfectly parallel while the corresponding friction
wheels are being pressed firmly down against the top side of the rope.
By lowering the lower axles sufficiently by means of the bevil gear d, d,

page_text: the rope can be easily disengaged, and the vessel containing the appa-
ratus may be detached from the rope. The wire rope b which is laid
at the bottom of the river upon being raised and placed between the
series of grooved wheels a, a, passes in a straight line between each
corresponding pair of the same, and is gripped between the upper and
lower ones in proportion as the latter are raised by the screws and bevil
gear d, d, above described. On being raised from the water the rope
before entering the apparatus passes over suitable guide pulleys provided
for that purpose, and after having passed through the apparatus the
rope is passed over other suitable guide pulleys before it again falls into
the water, as already explained. The pressure against opposite sides of
the rope or cable, and which gives the necessary adhesion required for
overcoming the resistance due to the passage through the water of the
vessel containing the apparatus as well as of the vessels in tow, is effected
either in the manner described and shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3, or by
means of springs or by weighted levers, as shewn at Figures 4 and 5, or
by any other suitable contrivance. It is sometimes preferable to have
the lower axle not adjustable and for the upper one to be made so.
Such an arrangement is shewn in Figures 4 and 5, where the upper
wheels are pressed against the lower by means of weighted levers e, e.
In this arrangement the load put upon cach axle H, H³, can be easily
calculated and adjusted, and as it is of great importance that the wire
rope should not suffer from too great pressure it is desirable to have
so many sets of friction wheels that the pressure on the cable caused by
cach pair shall not exceed twenty to twenty-five hundredweights. In
this arrangement when the levers e are lifted by hand the hauling rope
can be very quickly disengaged from the apparatus. When the engine
is stopped the friction on the rope holds the whole of the vessels in tow
just as if they were at anchor. If while towing against a current it be
desired to go astern it will not be necessary to reverse the engine, as by
simply pushing back the weights on the levers the vessels will go astern
at once.
In rivers with rapid currents it will not be necessary to make use of

page_text: where much sand is carried by the rope into the friction wheels the rope
after passing over the guide pulleys before mentioned should pass
through or between revolving brushes working in water so that the sand
may be removed before the rope enters the apparatus. In Fig. 3 A, A,
are the cylinders, and B, B, the cranks of the engines. On the crank
shaft is a spur wheel C, shewn by blue lines, which works into a larger
one D on the shaft E so as to reduce the speed. On the shaft E are
likewise three bevil wheels F which gear into three larger ones on the
axles H for again reducing the speed. The frames I, I, are suitably
formed to receive the requisite number of friction wheels or pullies a.
In the Drawing at Fig. 1 nino pairs are shewn; on the axles H are spur
wheels a, a, working into others of equal size, thereby causing the
corresponding friction wheels a, a, to revolve in opposite directions. On
the further end of the crank shaft B a bevil wheel is provided, which
works into one of equal size on the cross shaft L, on the outer ends of
which the paddle wheels shewn in Fig. 3 are mounted. During the time
that the apparatus is at work the bevil wheels for driving the cross
shaft L are out of gear, and the paddle wheels are allowed to revolve by
the pressure of the water as the vessel moves forward.
Having now described the Invention which has been communicated
to me as aforesaid, and having explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I would remark that what I claim as new in the above-
described Invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, trans-
mitting power for the purposes of inland navigation by hauling ropes of
wire or other material, and of round or flat section, by causing the rope to
pass in a straight line through and between several pairs of properly
formed friction wheels a, a, which press the rope between them so as to
secure sufficient adhesion, and are actuated by any suitable motive power.
engine, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here- a
unto set my hand and seal, the Seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.