IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Osborne Reynolds, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS."
Sealed the 31st December 1870, and dated the 2nd July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Osborne Reynolds at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd July 1870.
I, OSBORNE REYNOLDS, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
5 Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in an arrangement of propelling machinery)
whereby vanes or floats are caused to travel athwart the ship, so as to
surround or partly surround its cross section and to perform their office
by oblique action.
As an illustration of the principle of my Invention I propose to use
an endless chain provided with angular vanes or floats, and travelling
transversely at some situation between the stem and the stern.. This
}

page_text: chain may pass over suitable rollers for support and guide according to
the shape of the vessel, and may be driven by any ordinary means, or it
may be carried in an annular direction. Instead of the chain other other
travelling surfaces may be employed, as, for instance, a rigid frame or
wheel provided with the aforesaid angular vanes or floats. Instead of
passing entirely around the ship or vessel the propelling apparatus may
partially encircle it, and there may be one or more of such arrangements.
Water-tight chambers may be used if required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Osborne Reynolds in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OSBORNE
REYNOLDS, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, and in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Osborne Reynolds, Her special license that
I, the said Osborne Reynolds, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Osborne Reynolds, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING
SHIPS OR VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Osborne Reynolds, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my 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.

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is
to say :-
My Invention consists in an arrangement of propelling machinery
whereby vanes or floats are caused to travel athwart the ship or vessel,
so as to surround or partly surround its cross section, and to perform
their office by oblique action.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 represents a side view of a
ship or vessel fitted with my improvements, and Fig. 2 is an end view
thereof; Fig. 3 is a partial longitudinal section upon a larger scale; and
Fig. 4 a cross section, one-half thereof being taken in the line A, B, of
Fig. 3, and the other half in the line C, D. The skin of the vessel is
shewn by the thick black line a, and the form thereof on the right-hand
side of Fig. 4 is similar to the section of any ordinary vessel, but at the
left of Fig. 4 the said skin is formed with recesses, as seen at a', a², a³, a¹,
and similar recesses would be seen at the right-hand side if the section
were they taken in the same line. Extending across the vessel are two
plates or frames b, which carry axles c, c', and d, d¹, upon the former of
which are mounted drums e, e¹, and f, f. Around these drums there
passes an endless chain g, which is also supported or guided by
rollers h, . Upon the chain g are mounted angular floats or vanes i,
and the propelling apparatus thus constituted extends therefore athwart
the vessel and surrounds its cross section. The motive power is con-
nected to the shaft of one of the drums in any suitable manner by
means of a crank, for instance, as shewn at j, and the chain g being
thus caused to travel will convey the floats or vanes i through the water,
and cause them to propel the vessel by their oblique action.
The axes
of the drums and rollers above mentioned pass through stuffing boxes k
carried by the plates or frame b, and the upper portion of the endless
chain travels beneath a deck and the said frame and skin a of the
vessel.
Figs. 5 and 6 shew the description of travelling surface I prefer for
carrying the floats or vanes. It consists of a series of flat links « formed
as hinges, and jointed together by means of centre pins of wood or metal,
and to these the floats or vanes i are attached by rivets or other suitable
means. In some cases it may be desired to mount the floats or vanes
so that they may feather as they pass around the drums, a method of
effecting which is shewn at Figs. 7, 8, 9, which represent respectively

page_text: an elevation, a plan view, and a section of a portion of the chain with a
float or vane mounted thereon. In this instance the float or vane i is
connected to the chain 7 by a screw g', upon which it can turn as a
centre; and upon an adjoining link is a pin o, which projects into a
slot p formed in the float or vane. As the chain passes over the drums
(Fig. 4), and is consequently bent from a straight line, the pin o acts
against the side of the slot p, and turns the float or vane upon its centre
of motion, so as to diminish the inclination which it makes to the line of
motion in the inverse ratio of the radius of the drum. I have not in the
above description mentioned a driving connexion between the drum and
the chain, but it may be effected by teeth according to any of the methods
adopted when what are called pitched chains are used; or the said
drum or drums may be covered with rings of india-rubber, and the
links of the chain formed with flat surfaces; or instead of a chain other
suitable endless travelling surfaces may be adopted. When "pitched
chains are employed the teeth which drive them may be mounted on
springs so as always to keep in contact with the driven parts of the
chain, and thus provide for lengthening thereof by wear.
It will be seen by the above description that the floats or vanes travel
athwart the ship, and that the endless surface which carries them
surrounds the cross section thereof, but the said travelling surface may
surround a portion only of the entire section by passing down a central
well, or there may be two separate propelling apparatus, one for each
portion of cross section.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I claim, as secured to me under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, the use of floats or vanes mounted upon a flexible endless
travelling surface or surfaces, and traversing the cross section of the ship
or vessel or a portion thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Osborne Reynolds, have hereunto set
my band and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
OSBORNE REYNOLDS. (L.S.)