IMPROVED MECHANISM APPLICABLE TO PROPELLINO SHIPS AND VESSELS, APPLICABLE ALSO AS POWER MACHINERY FOR SHIPS' PURPOSES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Dyer, of the City of Bristol, Shipowner,
for the Invention of "IMPROVED MECHANISM APPLICABLE TO PROPELLINO
SHIPS AND VESSELS, APPLICABLE ALSO AS POWER MACHINERY FOR SHIPS'
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 15th May 1857, and dated the 18th November 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Dyer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th November 1856.
I, SAMUEL DYER, of the City of Bristol, Shipowner, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MECHANISM APPLICABLE TO PRO-
PELLING SHIPS AND VESSELS, APPLICABLE ALSO AS POWER MACHINERY FOR SHIPS'
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
I purpose to place upon or near the deck of a ship or vessel a suitable
framework, containing or securing wheelwork which is to be set in motion by
applying manual force to a winch handle in connection therewith; or by the
application of horse power, steam, or other prime mover, in the place of the
manual force exerted on the winch handle. One of the wheels in the said
wheelwork is to be connected with a corresponding wheel on a spindle or
axis, which descends to the shaft of the screw or other propeller placed at the
stern, or in other convenient position, and by wheel work communicates rotation
thereto.

page_text: The framework containing the wheelwork can be thrown out of gear with
the propeller, and then, as the propeller shaft (which is a short one) is fixed in
a frame that can move up and down, it can be drawn up out of its usual
place, and offer no impediment to the progress of the vessel when not
in uso.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Dyer in the Great Soal Patent Offico on the 16th
May 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
DEER, of the City of Bristol, Shipowner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing dato the Eighteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord Ono thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Samuel Dyer, Her special licenco that I, the said Samuel Dyer,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel
Dyer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to timo and at all times thereafter during tho 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 Main, an Invention for "IMPROVED MECHANISM APPLICABLE
TO PROPELLING SHIPS AND VESSELS, APPLICABLE ALSO AS POWER MACHINERY FOR
SHIPS PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Dyer, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under or their, or ono of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of tho said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the samo to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of tho said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Dyer, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo per-
formed, to bo particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
(I.) The nature of the said Invention consists in that I have upon or near
the duck of a shin or vessel or in other similante suitable an

page_text: position, a framing securing wheelwork, which wheelwork is to be set in
motion by applying manual force to a winch handle or to winch handles, or by
connecting the said wheelwork by suitable axle or axles with horse power,
steam engine, or other prime mover, to be used in place of the manual force
on the winch handle or winch handles. One of the wheels of this train of
wheelwork is to be connected with a corresponding wheel on a spindle or axis,
which descends to the shaft of the screw or other propeller or propellers placed
in the stern, or in other convenient position, and by suitable gearing communi-
cating rotation thereto. This framing (containing the said wheelwork) may
and is preferred to be so constructed that it may be thrown out of gear with
the propeller or propellers, and be shifted or slided bodily from one part of the
deck to the other, and placed in gear with a toothed wheel on the capstan, and
used for raising the anchor, &c; or it may be so placed as to be used as a
power machinery for other ships purposes.
The propeller or propellers may likewise be so arranged, as hereafter set
forth, as to be drawn up out of the water and offer no impediment to the
progress of the vessel when not in use.
(II.) Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, I now
proceed to describe in what manner the same is to be performed, wherein I
shall resort to the aid of the Drawings accompanying this Specification by the
words, figures, and letters following, which will also be found marked on the
said Drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1, a side view (with a partial longitudinal section of a ship or vessel),
shewing the motive mechanism and propeller so arranged as to be applied at
the after part of a ship or vessel; Figs. 1 and 1b, detail views, hereafter
described; Fig. 2, a side view (with partial longitudinal section of a ship or
vessel), shewing how the motive mechanism and propeller is applied to the fore
part of the vessel; that is, simply by arranging the shafting for the propeller
in the fore part, and bringing the motive mechanism into the same relative
position with regard to the propeller shafting, as in Fig. 1. Fig. 3, top plan
view of the motive mechanism; Fig. 4, horizontal section of the motive
mechanism, taken at the line X, X, Fig. 1; Fig. 5, side view of the propeller,
and shafting for transmitting motion thereto, so arranged that the motive
mechanism need not be placed so far aft, and the propeller may be raised out
of its working place by different arrangements to those represented at Fig. 1.
Fig. 6, side view (with partial longitudinal section of the after part of a vessel),
shewing the arrangement to be adopted for applying the motive mechanism.to

page_text: work two propellers; Fig. 7, similar view, shewing another arrangement,
having the same objects as the arrangement shown at Fig. 6, also shewing a
modified form of construction for the motive mechanism; Fig. 8, top plan
(in outline) of the motive mechanism adopted in the arrangement shewn by
Fig. 7; Fig. 9 detail view, showing the arrangement for raising the propellers
adopted in Figs. 7 and 8.
The said Drawings exhibit at A the motive mechanism, being a framing con-
taining the wheelwork, such framing consisting of a top plato A' and bottom or
sole plate A2, secured together by standards A³. In the top plato is an orifice
through which the top of the upright spindle B protrudes, having at top the hori-
zontal mitre wheel C, which gears with the vertical mitre wheels D, D, keyed
upon the driving shaft E; the spindle B passes down to the sole plate A", whero
it terminates in a pivot, which turns in a suitable footstep or socket provided in
such sole plate. F is a spur wheel, keyed on the said spindle (B), and driving
the pinion G, keyed upon the upright spindle H, which works in a suitablo
bearing in the top plate A¹, turning on its lower or pivot end in the footstep
or socket in the bottom plate A2, in similar manner to the spindle B aforesaid.
Above this pinion G (upon the same spindle) is keyed another spur wheel I,
having oblique teeth, so that they may gear with the pinion K. which likewise
has oblique teeth. The pinion K with the oblique teeth is keyod upon the
upper part of the upright shaft L, which works the propeller; this shaft,
which is kept in place at top by the knee plate of iron L* (which forms part
of the sliding framing (N*, of the propeller), has at its lower end a horizontal
mitre wheel M, and being supported on a projecting piece N, which is fixed at
the lower end of the sliding frame N*. O is the propeller shaft, on which is
keyed the vertical mitre wheel P and the propeller; it turns on its pivot ends
in the sockets attached to the projecting piece N and socket piece Q; tho
socket attached to N being formed on the top or end of a screwed rod *.
which passes into the piece N (sco lotted lines), there being a screw
collar to set the screwed rod firm at the desired point of projection from
the piece N, by which arrangements the bearings of the propeller shaft may
be tightened or loosened. Similar arrangements it will be seen are adopted
with regard to the top bearing for the upright shaft L. In said Fig. 1 the
projecting pieces N and Q (between which the propeller shaft is thus secured)
are attached to the lower ends of the sides of the sliding frame N* (dotted
lines), and by this means the sliding frame together with the propeller can,
when the pinion K is thrown out of gear with the wheel I, be drawn up by
means of a chain or rope attached to the eye N**; for which purpose this
sliding frame N* (dotted lines) is fitted into and slides in a corresponding,

page_text: framing, shewn by the full lines at N*, and by the horizontal section of the
frame, delineated at Fig. 1 R (see said Fig. 1) is the capstan, which has a
horizontal toothed wheel R*, which will gear with the wheel C, so that the
mechanism can thus be made to work the capstan. S, E, E, D, D, G, (see
Figs. 1 and 3,) are placed, where dotted lines are shewn, to indicate a second
set of mitre wheels, &c. belonging to the spindle H, whereby a second
working shaft (E, E,) may be obtained.
In Fig. 5 it will be seen that the arrangements as regards the propeller
shafting and securing the propeller differ from those exhibited at Figs. 1 and 2.
In this case the propeller has a square hole a through its centre, to receive
the propeller shaft a', which passes through the dead wood of the ship. This
propeller is made with an elongated boss 6, each end of which slides up and
down between the stern posts in a slide of wood and iron, or of either of them,
or of other metal than iron; the slide guides to be made similar to an ordinary
window slide, and brought to rest on descending by two projecting pieces d, d,
placed at the semi-diameter of the boss b, below the hole through which the
shaft makes its appearance when launched aft, for the purpose of receiving
the propeller. This shaft is made to rest in several places on gudgeons, and
may be extended so as to have the machinery on the forecastle. When the
shaft is made so long as to need the machinery on the forecastle the driving
shaft will be found to be very heavy in its bearings; to meet this I purpose using
patent cogs at each bearing, the same as are used in sheeves for ships'
purposes in the present day, otherwise termed "Dobbin's Patent;" or the
shaft may be shortened, so as to have it on the quarter deck. The sliding
chock C at the fore end of tho propeller shaft rests on the kelson, and is
intended to slide fore and aft, so as to withdraw the shaft (the after end of
which is made to taper, and fits very exactly) out of the propeller boss (6);
the propeller boss then rests upon the bearing pieces d, d, underneath it,
and upon the two clip hooks, which are attached to a moveable rod e, being
sent down through a hole made in the vessel for that purpose immediately
above the propeller, the propeller may be raised out of the water. The key
f for securing the sliding chock c is intended to fix the propeller when once
launched out so firmly that it cannot possibly move until removed for the
purpose of throwing the shafting out of gear. The end of the upright shaft
(marked L being the same as in Fig. 1) rests on the top of the bearing piece
9, which is solid and firmly fixed to the kelson and other dead wood of the
ship. This does away with the necessity for lifting the upright shaft, as is
done in the case of the arrangement shewn at Fig. 1). The upper end of the
upright shaft is secured by a knee plate of iron, similar to L* in Fig. 1, and

page_text: the said upright shaft is worked by a pinion at top by the motive mechanism,
as in Fig. 1. The propeller is preferred to be made of sheet iron, hollow,
with the view to lessen the weight thereof; but this is not essential, as the
cast-iron propeller now in use can be applied.
For the more efficient utilisation of the motive mechanism, it will be
desirable to screw or secure to the deck rails or plates for the mechanism
to slide upon when it is desired to move the same from one point to another,
and when the mechanism is to be set to work it will be held firmly in position
by binding screws or bolts. This arrangement is shewn at S, Figs. 1, 3, 4.
In Fig. 6 is shown an arrangement of propeller shafting differing from
that shewn at Fig. 5, in that in this case two propellers are adopted, and
the motive mechanism is to be applied by the pinions K, K, and K, K, K,
so as to work the two propellers at one and the same time, one propeller
turning in a different direction to the other. It will be seen that the pinion
K, K, on the top of the upright shaft L has a horizontal mitre wheel i at
the bottom, gearing with two vertical mitre wheels k, k, on the ends of the
clongated bosses b, b, of the two propellers, the said propellers turning on
suitable spindles, that furthest from the rudder being the spindle a* (similar
to that marked a', in Fig. 5), and the propeller nearest the rudder having a
short spindle of its own. The spindle a bas its bearing at one end in the
sliding chock c (which is the same as that shewn at Fig. 5), aud at the other
end having its bearing in the supporting piece m, which also has a bearing
for one end of the other propeller spindle, the other bearing being in the
guido frame n, n.
In Fig. 7 (side view) and Fig. 8 (top plan) another arrangement for working
two propellers at one and the same time, but in reverse directions, is shewn,
together with another arrangement for raising the propellers out of the water
when not in use, as also a modified form of the motive mechanism, particularly
suitable for this purpose, but also applicable to other purposes. In regard
to the motive mechanism, the only difference between that hero shewn and
that exhibited by Figs. 1, 3, and 4 is, that the wheel I is placed much higher
on the spindle, and has vertical, not oblique teeth; also that the driving shaft
E is provided with only one vertical mitro wheel (D) and one horizontal
mitre wheel (C), these letters of reference which denoto parts corresponding
with those exhibited at Figs. 1 and 2 being the same as appear thereat);
also that the shaft E is provided with a rigger O*, over which is a strap or
band, that passes also over another rigger P*, provided with a winch handle
or axis, by which rotation may be communicated to it.
As regards the propeller shafting, &c., there is, as in other cases, a guide

page_text: frame Q, Q, which has a groove at each side; there is also an upright
shaft L, with a pinion K* at top thereof, gearing with the wheel I* of the
motive mechanism; it is also provided with a horizontal mitre wheel M*,
gearing with the two mitre wheels k*, k*, which are keyed on spindles R³,
secured to the sliding collar R³, and at right angles to the shaft L'. This
sliding collar (R) may be moved up and down upon the said shaft L² by
means of the upright rods S*, S*, secured to the said collar (R³), which
upright rods pass up to the deck of the ship, or through an opening or openings
provided for the purpose, such rods being secured together at top by the cross
head T, passing through orifices in the cross-head guide T%, attached to the
top of the upright shaft L². To the top of the cross head T an eye or ring
bolt may be attached, to enable the whole system of rods, collar, and the
attached spindles and propellers to be drawn up out of the water when not
in use.
The propellers are fixed to elongated bosses 6, like those represented
at Figs. 5 and 6, through which elongated bosses these spindles R³, R³, pass
(as shewn by the dotted lines).
Fig. 1 exhibits several views of an improved bearing block for supporting
from the deck the upright shaft which works the propeller shaft.
It will be obvious to the mechanical practitioner that in the construction
of this motive mechanism, applicable to propelling ships and vessels & other
uses, I have in view the construction of a handy appliance for such purposes,
especially adapted for ships and vessels that principally depend upon the
impelling power of the wind exerted upon sails, and therefore this motive
mechanism is nothing but a train of multiplying wheels arranged in an
improved manner specially adapted to the exigencies of the case, with corre-
sponding arrangements as regards the propeller shafting, and the mode of
working the propeller or propellers. And it will be unnecessary, after what
has been already stated, and what will appear upon inspection of the accom-
panying Drawings, to make any further statement as to how the mechanism
is set and kept in motion, &c.
With regard to the best arrangement as to the relative sizes of the spur
wheels and pinions, I have to state that I have in the arrangement exhibited
in Figs. 1, 3, and 4 adopted the relative proportions attained by the said
Figures being drawn to a scale of half an inch to the foot of 12 inches, and
in the arrangement shewn in Figs. 7 and 8 I have adopted the] relative
proportions attained by the said Figures being drawn to a scale of half an
inch to the foot, but these proportions may be enlarged or diminished according
to the size and weight of the object to be propelled. And I would here
remark, that although I have shewn only the application of the motive

page_text: mechanism to one and two propellers, yet it may be, adapted to work moro
than two. And I would also remark, that any relative sizes, whereby slowly
turning the winch handle or driving axle will give the necessary speed to the
propeller or propellers, will answor the purpose. And I would further remark,
that various modifications of form and position might be adopted, differing in
appearance from those shewn and described, and yet be equally efficient in
action. And I would likewise remark, that I should prefer to make the
different parts of the mechanism and its described accessories of iron or other
suitable metal; or I would make the wheels of metal, with cog teeth of wood
or horn; or muffle the teeth of the spur wheels and pinions, &c. with gutta
percha or other similar material, so as to avoid noise.
(III.) Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the Invention
the nature whereof is described in the outset (marked I.) of this my Speci-
fication thereof.
In witness whereof, I, tho said Samuel Dyer, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.