IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS."
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lazare Prosper Lambert-Alexandre and Louis Pierre
Felix Mallet, both of Paris, in the French Empire, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lazare Prosper Lambert-
Alexandre and Louis Pierre Felix Mallet at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 1st June 1857.
We, LAZARE PROSPER LAMBERT-ALEXANDRE and LOUIS PIERRE FELIX
MALLET, both of Paris, in the French Empire, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING
VESSELS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to that class of propellers in which paddles or blades
are forced or driven against the water in a rectilinear and horizontal or
slightly inclined direction, and are then feathered or turned edgeways, and
brought back through the water, and then again restored to their first
position to repeat the stroke. This description of propeller is adapted for
applying the force of steam in the most direct manner to the water, but the
various attempts to apply it have met with little or no success, owing to
imperfections in the arrangements or mechanical combinations adopted.
By our Invention each paddle is provided with trunnions or gudgeons
turning in blocks or bearings, which slide in horizontal fixed guides. The
end of a rod, which may be the piston rod of a steam engine, is jointed to the
centre of the paddle, and this rod carries an arm or stop, which prevents the
paddle from turning beyond the vertical position in one direction, although it

page_text: is capable of being turned into a horizontal position in the other direction.
The paddle comes in contact with a fixed stop at one end of its stroke, by
which it is turned down into a horizontal position. It carries a stud or a small
roller, which comes in contact with a fixed incline or cam at the other end
of the stroke, by which the paddle is turned up into a vertical_position. It is
necessary, however, that the paddle should not only be turned into the proper
positions, but that it should be securely retained in those positions while
making its stroke in either direction. We effect this in the following
manner: A recess in the side of the paddle carries a sliding or moveable
stud, which is pressed outwards by a spring of vulcanized caoutchouc or other
suitable material. This stud slides upon one of the guides, for example, on
the upper guide bar when the paddle is vertical, and it slides under the same
bar or between the guides when the paddle is horizontal. The paddle is thus
locked, and kept in the proper position. At or near each end of the course,
where it is required to reverse the position of the paddle, this moveable stud
is pressed into its recess by coming in contact with fixed cams or inclines,
and as soon as the paddle has been turned into its proper position, the stud is
forced ont by the spring, and the paddle is again locked, as before. The
apparatus for changing the position of the paddle is so arranged that it can
be readily reversed when it is required to reverse the motion of the vessel.
We apply one, or two, or more of these propellers on each side of the keel at
the stern of the vessel. They may, however, be placed in other parts of the
vessel, if preferred. The length of stroke is regulated by cranks with or
without a fly wheel, or by a crank or lever oscillating in a semicircle or
segment of a circle, or otherwise. We prefer to employ two or more of these
propellers on each side of the of the keel, so that there may always be one in
action on each side of the keel. The engines may be arranged to work
independently of each other, so that by working one set of propellers in the
opposite direction to the others, or at a different velocity in the same direction,
the vessel may be steered or turned round.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the 'conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Lazare Prosper Lambert-Alexandre and Louis Pierre Felix
Mallet in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, LAZARE
PROSPER LAMBERT-ALEXANDRE and LOUIS PIERRE FELIX MALLET, both of
Paris, in the French Empire, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Lazare Prosper Lambert-Alexandre and Louis Pierre Felix Mallet, Her
special licence that we, the said Lazare Prosper Lambert-Alexandre and
Louis Pierre Felix Mallet, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Lazare Prosper Lambert-Alexandre and Louis Pierre
Felix Mallet, our 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
MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Lazare Prosper Lambert-Alexandre and Louis Pierre Felix
Mallet, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or
them, 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 we, the said Lazare Prosper Lambert-Alexandre
and Louis Pierre Felix Mallet, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
The object of our Invention is the construction of an apparatus which
performs the duty of propelling or pushing a vessel forward in the direction
of its length, while avoiding the defects and imperfections hitherto experienced,
from the use of paddle wheels, or screws, or other known devices for that
purpose.
An
For this purpose we employ a system of submerged paddles placed under
the vessel, and made to slide longitudinally between frames or guides.
alternate reciprocating motion is imparted to the paddles by means of a direct
acting steam engine or engines. Each paddle is capable of making one
quarter of a revolution upon its own axis or trunnions, so as alternately to
assume a vertical position when acting upon the water in pushing the vessel
forwards, and to assume a horizontal position, so as to present the edge of the

page_text: paddle when returning through the water, the object being to combine the
greatest propelling surface in one direction with the least possible resistance
in the other direction, and to produce the changes in the position of the
paddles regularly and automatically by the action of the machine itself.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a side view, partly in section,
shewing the propeller fixed under the stern of a vessel; Figure 2 is an end
view, partly in section; and Figure 3 is a plan, partly in section, of the same;
Figure 4 is a side view of one of the paddles in its vertical or propelling
position; Figure 5 is a side view of the paddle in its horizontal or returning
position; Figure 6 is a plan of the under side of the paddle in its hori-
zontal position. The same letters refer to similar parts in cach Figure.
In the machinery shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3, four paddles are shewn,
two on each side of the keel, so that one paddle on each side of the keel is
driving the vessel forward while the other two are returning. In Figure 2
the paddle on the right-hand side is propelling while the second or next
paddle is returning. The third paddle is omitted in order to show the
framing, partly in section. The fourth paddle on the extreme left is pro-
pelling, and its framing is shewn, partly in section.
A, A', are the end frames carrying the guides B, B; C, C, are bushes or
tubes fixed in the stern of the vessel, and attached to cross frames D, D, in
the end frames A. These tubes C are provided with stuffing boxes at R, S,
through which pass the rods E, E, from the pistons of the steam engines P, P,
to the ends of which rods are jointed the paddles F, F. The paddles F are
provided with trunnions G, which turn in blocks sliding in the guides B, B.
The end of the rod E is of the form shewn in Figures 4 and 5, so as to allow
of the paddle making one quarter of a revolution, and moving from the
vertical to the horizontal position, and vice versa. A projection or tappet I is
fixed to the face of the paddle F; another projection or tappet J is fixed on
the back of the paddle F. K is a bolt, which is inclosed in the thickness of
the paddle, or in a case or guide on the paddle.
sliding in and out in a direction transverse to the
out by springs of vulcanized caoutchouc or other suitable material. The ends
of these bolts slide upon or under the guides B, B, and thus lock or secure
the paddles in the required positions. H, H, are inclined planes or cams
placed near one end of the frame; and M, M, are rollers placed near the
other end of the frame. The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The
paddle F being in the vertical position shewn in Figure 1, is driven along in
the frame by the pressure of the steam in the cylinder P, and presses against
the water and drives the vessel forward. When the paddle approaches the
These bolts are capable of
paddle, and they are forced

page_text: end of its course, it comes in contact. with the roller M, which causes the
paddle to turn down into a horizontal position as it completes its course..
The valve of the steam engine being reversed, the. paddle is drawn back in
the horizontal position, presenting its edge to the water. As it approaches
the other end of its course, the tappet I comes in contact with the inclined
plane or cam H, and the paddle is thus raised again to the vertical position
as it completes its course; it then makes another stroke, and so on. When
moving outwards in its vertical position, the end of the bolt K is under the
lower bar of the guide B; and when the paddle is returning in its horizontal.
position the end of the bolt K is over the upper bar of the guide. The paddle
is thus secured in the required positions. It is necessary, however, that it
should be released while the paddle is changing its position at each end of its
course. This is effected by means of inclined projections or cams L, fixed on
the guide bars at the required places. When the bolt K comes in contact
with one of these inclines, the bolt is pushed back, and the paddle is then free
to turn. The bolt may be made wide enough to pass over the space between
the guide bars without entering it, or inclined notches may be cut in the
guide bars to allow the bolt to pass or to push it back into its case on the
paddle in the same manner as it is pushed back by the inclines L.
Four
paddles are employed, and they are so arranged that while two are propelling
the vessel the other two are returning edgeways through the water.
When
it is wished to reverse the action, so as to drive the vessel astern, the inclined
planes or cams H and the rollers M are removed, so as to throw them out of
action, and another set of inclined planes or cams H2 and rollers M' are
brought into action; this is effected at once by moving a beam T. The
inclined planes H are at the ends of levers jointed to the frame A, which are
raised by rods U connected to one arm of the beam T. At the same time
the rollers M, which are carried by levers turning on the frame A', are raised
by the descent of the rods V connected to the opposite arm of the beam T.
Other rods U from the beam give motion to the levers which carry the
inclined planes or cams H', which are thus raised and brought into action.
Other rods V¹ from the beam carry the rollers M', which are thus raised and
brought into action. The paddle F now passes outwards in its horizontal
position until the projection or tappet J comes in contact with the inclined
plane or cam H³, which raises the paddle to the vertical position. The
paddle then returns in the vertical position, and draws the vessel astern. As
the paddle approaches the end of its course, it comes in contact with the roller
M', which brings it back to the horizontal position, when it again moves

page_text: outward, as before. The motion of the vessel may thus be reversed at
pleasure by merely moving the beam T.
One paddle on each side of the keel may be worked by the same steam
cylinder, and the other two paddles may be worked by another steam cylinder;
or, a separate steam cylinder may be used for each paddle, or the motion may
be.communicated indirectly to the paddles by cranks or otherwise.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that what we claim is,
constructing machinery for propelling vessels with submerged reciprocating
paddles in combination with the apparatus,. herein-before described, for
alternately bringing the paddles into and securing them in the vertical and
horizontal positions..
In witness whereof, we, the said Lazare Prosper Lambert-Alexandre
and Louis Pierre Felix Mallet, have hereunto set our hands and seals,
this Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
LAMBERT ALEXANDRE. (L.S.)
LOUIS P. F. MALLET.
(L.S.)
LAMBERT ALEXANDRE. (L.S.)
LOUIS P. F. MALLET.
(L.S.)