Improvements in Ship-propelling Apparatus.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 29th July, 1896-Accepted, 27th Feb., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Ship-propelling Apparatus.
I, JOHN BRIERLEY HOWARD, of Penny Bank Chambers, Halifax, in the
County of York, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
which has been communicated to me by the Firm of J. Eckhardt and Son, of
Ulm-on-Danube, in the Kingdom of Wurtemberg, in the Empire of Germany,
Engineers, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for propelling ships and
vessels of shallow draught, wherein propeller screws are not of use, and such
apparatus when applied to flat bottoned ships, renders same available for shipping
in low waters.
Such being the nature and object of my said invention, the following is a
complete description of same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,
in which :-
Fig. 1 shows a longitudinal section of the stern of the ship with the propelling
mechanism.
Fig. 2 is an end view, and
Fig. 3 a perspective view of the stern with the horizontal paddle-wheel.
Fig. 4 is a section shewing the propeller blades, the paddle-wheel, and the cog-
wheel.
Fig. 5 shows a blade of the paddle-wheel in vertical position
Fig. 6 the blade has turned for 45 degrees, and in
Fig. 7 it has taken the horizontal position.
The essential feature of the present invention is the utilization of the well-known
oars in combining several of them in form of a paddle wheel: two of which a and b
are placed in such a manner that the lower of them 6 is fixed on a vertical revolving
shaft c, while the upper one a is arranged with its upper lengthened hub on the
shaft so as to revolve separately in an opposite direction to that of the wheel b.
The blades e of the oars forming the paddle-wheels are mounted and free to rotate
on pins d and are fitted at their inner ends with cog-wheels h. The cogs i of these
wheels cause the revolution of the blades e around the main shafts cand a at the
rotation of the paddle wheels a and b. This is effected by guiding those cog-
wheels in grooves k of the discs f which are fixed at the bottom of the ships or
to the frame of the driving mechanism.
When the main shafts cand a are driven in opposite directions, the blades e will
execute an axial rotation of 90 degrees in opposite directions, and shortly before
the paddle wheels have turned to 180 degrees, and while at the second revolution of
the blades about the main shafts a and b, for 180 degrees they will come back into
their vertical position before that revolution is finished.
The working of the blades e is illustrated in Figs 5, 6, and 7, the cogs i of the
blades e work between the flanges f and n. Fig. 5 shows the blade in a vertical
position. In revolving about the main shaft in the direction of the arrow in
Fig. 5 as aforesaid, the blade e is guided in order to prevent it from axial rotating
or feathering before meeting with the cog on the disc, which makes it rotate for
90 degrees. So the blade makes its first revolution of 180 degrees from its
vertical position, while the second 180 degrees revolution is made from the

page_text: horizontal position (Fig. 7.) whereupon the cog i is again in position between the
flanges f and g of the upper or lower horizontal disc.
There is a gap or space m in the lower flange n extending on both sides of the
cog of the discs, which turns the blade e on its shaft d for 90 degrees every
time that the blades have executed a revolution of 180 degrees about the main
shafts c or a.
As seen from the prow of the ship, the blades make the working part of the
revolution in a vertical, and the feathering part in a horizontal position. The
propelling apparatus may be used for going ahead or astern. The arrangement of
oppositely revolving paddle wheels is employed for the purpose of getting a pair
of blades in action at the same time, one on each side of the central axis.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
(1.). In ships propelling apparatus the combination of two wheels arranged one
above the other with shafts axially fixed in them in such a manner that blades e
journalled on the shafts and fitted with cog wheels h, are guided with these cog
wheels in grooves, so as to move half the down way in a vertical, and half the up
way in a horizontal direction, substantially as set forth.
(2.) In ships propelling apparatus as described in Claim 1, the arrangement of.
horizontally fixed discs f having in their outward circumference a groove k formed
by two ledges f, n, the upper of which is fitted with cogs 1, while the lower has
blanks or recesses opposite these cogs, as and for the purpose herein described.
Dated this 28th day of Jul 1896
J. B. HOWARD,:
Applicant.