IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING AND WORKING PROPELLERS IN BOATS OR VESSELS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Smith, of No. 19, Salisbury Street, Adelphi,
Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING AND
WORKING PROPELLERS IN BOATS OR VESSELS."-A communication from
abroad from M. Eugene Lacroix, fils, of Rouen, Engineer.
Sealed the 11th May 1860, and dated the 25th November 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th November 1859.
1, WILLIAM SMITH, of No. 19, Salisbury Street, Adelphi, Civil Engineer,do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING
AND WORKING PROPELLERS IN BOATS OR VESSELS," (a communication from M.
Eugene Lacroix, fils, of Rouen, Engineer,) to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of fitting or applying propellers,and
in the mode of working or driving them so that the full or effective power of
the propelling engine may be transmitted or exerted, whatever the variations
may be in the immersion or load liue of the boat or other vessel,and-by which
novel mode of applying the propelling apparatus, the wash of the receding
waves produced by the action of the propeller is rendered harmless to the
banks of canals. Instead of fitting the propeller or propellers (whether screw
paddle, or other form,) in the ordinary manner of applying and working them,
I mount the propelling instruments or apparatus in a frame which is capable
Price di

page_text: of being raised or lowered at pleasure by means of worm and wheels and rack
gearing, to an extent between the limits of the lightest and the heaviest load
lines, or lines of immersion. The sliding frame just described is fitted in a
suitable recess or trough-like chamber, the sides whereof confine the agitated
water between them, and it is discharged at the end of the chamber or trough-
like box, limited in width and rendered harmless to the banks, and thus, whilst
the vessel only produces such waves in advance as are due to the speed at
which the vessel is propelled, the washing away of the banks produced by the
agitation of the propeller is avoided. Motion is communicated from the
driving shaft of the engine to the propeller through or by means of wheel
gearing, a wheel being fitted upon a vertical shaft provided with a feather
to allow of the sliding propeller frame, and the vertical shaft having the
feather traversing freely up and down, whilst the feathered shaft slides
through the eye of the driven wheel, which is caused to rotate by the driving
wheel of the propelling shaft or intermediate shaft. One or more feathered
shafts may be used for giving motion to the propeller, and they may be
driven or rotated by mitre, bevel, or spur gearing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th May 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SMITH, of 19, Salisbury Street, Adelphi, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me
the said William Smith, Her special licence that I, the said William
Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Smith, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING AND WORKING PROPELLERS IN BOATS OR VESSELS,"
(a communication from abroad by Monsieur Eugène Lacroix, fils, of Rouen,
Engineer, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Smith,

page_text: 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 William Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manuer the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawing:-
pro-
This Invention, as communicated to me, relates to a novel mode of fitting
or applying propellers and in the mode of working or driving them, so that
the full or effective power of the propelling engine may be transmitted or
exerted whatever the variation may be in the immersion or load line of the
boat or other vessel, and by which novel mode of applying the propelling
apparatus the wash of the receding waves produced by the action of the
peller is rendered harmless to the banks of canals. Instead of fitting the
propeller or propellers (whether screw, paddle, or other form) in the ordinary
manner of applying and working them, I mount the propelling instrument or
apparatus in a frame which is capable of being raised or lowered at pleasure
by means of worm and wheels and rack gearing to an extent between the
limits of the lightest and the heaviest load lines or lines of immersion. The
sliding frame just described is fitted in a suitable recess or trough-like chamber,
the sides whereof confine the agitated water within, and is discharged at the
end of the chamber or trough-like box, limited in width and rendered harmless
to the banks; and thus whilst the vessel only produces such waves in advance
as are due to the speed at which the vessel is propelled, the washing away of
the banks produced by the agitation of the propeller is avoided. Motion is
communicated from the driving shaft of the engine to the propeller through
or by means of wheel gearing, a sliding wheel being fitted upon a vertical
shaft provided with a feather to allow of the sliding propeller frame and
the driving wheel traversing freely up and down, whilst the eye of the
driving wheel slides along the shaft, which is caused to rotate by the
driving wheel of the propelling shaft or the intermediate shaft.
One or
more feathered shafts may be used for giving motion to the propeller, and
they may be driven or rotated by mitre, bevil, or spur gearing.
The plans hereunto annexed shew the arrangement to which preference
has been given by the Inventor in order to render the position of pro-
pellers variable. The Invention is shewn as applied to the screw propeller,
but it may also be applied to other descriptions of propellers.

page_text: One of the distinguishing features of this Invention also consists in the form
given to the after part of the vessel. It will be observed in the Drawings
hereunto annexed that a recess or opening is formed at this part of the
vessel, which is thus divided as it were into two hulls; this opening or
recess presents the double advantage of enabling the machinery giving
motion to the propeller to be enclosed, and so placed as to be protected
from all chance of accident, and also to confine the currents of water so that
the canal banks are preserved from destruction.
Instead, however, of forming the opening at the after part of the vessel as
shewn, there may be two partition or division pieces, either of wood or metal,
fixed there, one on each side, between which the propellor would work.
In the accompanying Drawing is shewn, by way of illustration, an arrange-
ment of machinery and apparatus adapted to rotating and working a screw
propellor according to this Invention, Figure 1 being a plan of the after part
of the vessel fitted with a propeller and machinery, Figure 2 a longitudinal
section, and Figure 3 an end view of the same. In these several views the
same letters of reference are employed to represent corresponding parts. A is
the steam engine, B a spur wheel fixed upon engine shaft, C pinion worked by
the wheel B, D a shaft carrying the pinion C, and also having at its extremity a
bevil wheel E fixed at the extremity of the shaft D,F a bevil wheel gearing into
the wheel E and fixed at the top of the vertical shaft G working in a bearing
bracket H and at the foot in a step I; Ja bevil wheel made to slide up and
down the shaft G upon a feather; K, bevil wheel taking into and driven by
the wheel J, and employed for working the propeller shaft L, carrying at its
extremity the screw propeller M; N, the bracket frame; 0, 0¹, cast-iron
grooves fixed to each side of the opening formed at the stern of the vessel, in
which grooves the bracket frame N slides; P, P₁, racks fixed on either side of
the upper part of the bracket frame; Q, Q', pinions gearing into such racks ;
R, shaft carrying the pinions Q, Q¹; S, worm wheel at the extremity of
shaft R; T a worm gearing into the worm wheel S ; U, vertical spindle
carrying the worm, upon which is fitted a handle V.
When it is desired to vary the position of the propeller so as to place it with
regard to the draught of the vessel, the screw worm T is put in motion by
means of the handle V, and through the wheel S the motion is transmitted to
the pinions Q, Q', gearing into the racks P, P', and thus the bracket frame N
is caused to work up or down in the grooves O, O'. As it is indispensible
that while the bracket frame N is being caused to rise or fall that the teeth of
the wheels J and K remain always in gear, the eye of the wheel J is provided
with a feather-way; the boss of the wheel J also has a groove turned in it for

page_text: the purpose of receiving a forked or clutch bracket Z projecting from the
back of the bracket frame N, so that when the bracket frame N works up
or down in the groove O, O¹, through the action of the forked piece Z, the
bracket frame carries the propeller, and the mitre wheel J which thus
remains constantly in gear with the mitre wheel K, communicating the
motion to the propeller shaft.
To prevent damage to the teeth of the wheels from any floating obstacles,
the wheels J and K should be enclosed in a suitable casing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM SMITH, C.E. (L.S.)