CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING WATER CRAFT
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
Park, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of " CERTAIN
NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING WATER
CRAFT." A communication from abroad by Edward Sabine Renwick,
residing at 335, Broadway, New York, in the United States of
America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 4th January 1862, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT KNOWN,
that I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, am in possession of an Invention for "CERTAIN NEW AND
USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY POR PROPELLING WATER CRAFT," that the
same has been communicated to me from abroad by Edward Sabine Renwick, a
person resident at 335, Broadway, New York, in the United States of America,
and I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, in which

page_text: Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of a vessel with propelling machinery
constructed according to the principles of the Invention; Figure 2 represents
a fragmentary side view of the same with the propeller removed; Figure 3
represents a half vertical transverse section of the vessel at the longitudinal
centre of the propeller shaft upon an enlarged scale; Figure 4 represents a
corresponding fragmentary half section of the vessel near the end of one of
the propeller shafts; and Figure 5 represents a corresponding fragmentary
horizontal half section at the centre of one of the propeller shafts. Figures 4
and 5ª represent sections (corresponding with those of Figures 4 and 5)
of a vessel with annular steam cylinders and hollow cast-iron propeller
shafts.
The object of the Invention is to enable screw propellers to be located at
or near the longitudinal centre of a vessel, and at the same time to be
wholly or partially submerged. To this end the first part of the Invention
consists in combining a screw propeller with a recess in the side of the body
of the vessel in such manner that a portion of the propeller revolves in the
recess, and a portion thereof revolves outside of the recess.
The object of the second part of the Invention is to enable a gudgeon of
the shaft of a screw propeller to be sustained in a bearing under the surface
of the water and outside of the vessel's side; this part of the Invention
consists in combining a screw propeller with a chamber projecting from the
vessel's side, the chamber being located in such a position that it contains
within it the pillow block of the propeller shaft.
The third part of the Invention consists in the combination of the first and
second parts thereof. I believe that the best results will be obtained when
the first two parts of the Invention are used in combination, and the vessel
represented in the accompanying Drawings embodies such a combination.
This vessel, as represented at Figure 1, has two screw propellers located at
its opposite sides. Each propeller has in this instance two screw-formed blades
A, A, which are secured to a tubular cylindrical shaft B; the heads of this
shaft are fitted with gudgeons that are sustained in pillow blocks located out-
side of the vessel's side, and firmly secured thereto. The pillow blocks are
covered by metal plates, which form water-tight D-shaped chambers C upon
the vessel's side, and as in this instance the propeller shaft is parallel with
the central longitudinal line of the vessel, there are two of these chambers, the
one extending from the front end of the propeller shaft towards the bow of
the vessel, and the other extending from the hinder end of the propeller shaft
towards the stern of the vessel..
Suitable openings e, e, are made through the vessel's side into these

page_text: chambers to permit access to be had to the gudgeons f and to the pillow
blocks. I prefer to drive each propeller by means of a pair of engines,
the one located (as represented at Figures 4 and 5) at the front end of
the propeller shaft, and the other at the hinder end thereof, the con-
necting rod of each engine working through one of the openings in the
vessel's side upon a crank 9, secured to the adjacent gudgeon of the screw
propeller shaft. The screw propeller thus described revolves partly outside of
the vessel and partly in a recess H, formed in the vessel's side; this recess is
sufficiently deep at its centre to permit the free revolution of the screw pro-
peller, and I prefer to make it of progressively less depth towards the bow
and the stern of the vessel until it vanishes into the vessel's side, the lines
being curved to permit the water to flow easily into and out of the recess.
The heads of the water-tight chambers C, C, are furnished with stuffing
boxes through which the gudgeons of the screw propeller pass; the kind of
stuffing boxes usually.employed for packing the shafts of ordinary stern screw
propellers may be used for this purpose. The water-tight chambers C, C,
should diminish in cross section as they extend further from the head of the
propeller shaft until they vanish into the vessel's side. In order to facilitate
the passage of water into and out of the recess in the vessel's side, I prefer to
use two wedge-formed water-tight chambers J, J, each of which extends from
one of the flat heads of the chambers C towards the centre of the recess.
The outer side of each of these supplementary chambers is curved concentrically
with the propeller shaft, and is sufficiently far therefrom to ensure the free
turning of that shaft.
The first part of the Invention may be used without the second, by making
the recess so deep that the pillow blocks of the propeller shaft may be located
on the inside of the vessel, or by locating the propeller shaft at an angle with
the vessel's keel and overhanging the propeller. On the other hand, the
second part of the Invention may be used without the first, by making the
chambers project so far from the side of the vessel that the propeller blades
will revolve outside of the curve of the vessel's side.
The propellers represented in the accompanying Drawings are entirely
submerged, but if deemed expedient a portion of one or both propellers may
be arranged to project above the surface of the water. The propellers repre-
sented in the accompanying Drawings have two screw-formed blades or palms,
the peculiar form of these blades may be varied as deemed expedient by
constructors who make use of the Invention; the number of blades may also
be varied as deemed expedient. The two propellers at the opposite sides of a
vessel, may be driven by the same engine by fitting the engine with duplicate

page_text: sets of piston rods and connecting rods extending in opposite directions from
the steam piston, one connecting rod being arranged to act upon the crank of
one propeller and the other connecting rod upon the crank of the other pro-
peller. The chambers may be constructed at the same time with the vessel,
so as to form integral parts of the hull, instead. of being applied to the sides of
the hull.
If the size of the propeller shaft at the blades is deemed too large it may
be made smaller there, and may increase in diameter as it approaches its ends.
If a chamber is employed at each end of the propeller shaft, and the propelling
force is applied to but one end of the shaft, then the chamber at the other
end may be made merely large enough to contain the pillar block, and the
propeller shaft may be tapering. In order to get rid of the water that may
leak into the tubular shaft, each gudgeon may have a hole bored longitudinally
through it at its centre, and a spiral pipe may be fitted to the inner end of
this hole so as to avoid the water at each revolution of the propeller.
The propeller shaft may be driven from an engine shaft extending at an
angle with the propeller shaft by means of cog wheels, instead of applying the
engine directly to the propeller shaft, but this I do not deem as good a mode
of applying the power as the direct mode represented in the Drawings.
It is believed that the following useful results are attained by this Invention,
when compared with the usual stern propeller now generally used. The
power may be applied at or near the longitudinal centre of a vessel instead of
at the stern thereof. The use of a long shaft to extend from the propeller to
the engine is dispensed with, as the engine may be applied directly to the
propeller shaft; the space occupied by a tunnel around such shaft is saved.
The power is applied at the shell of the vessel instead of at the axis thereof,
and the weight and cost of the framing generally used to propagate the
thrust of the propeller to the shell are saved. The propeller may have two
bearings, one in advance and the other behind it, both of which being located
in chambers can be easily got at by the engineer. The tubular shaft of the
propeller may be of such dimensions that its buoyancy will counterbalance the
weight of the propeller, thus relieving the pillar blocks of this weight.
The vessel need not be constructed so strong and heavy at the stern; the
straining of the stern of the vessel is avoided. The vibration of the stern
incident to the location of a propeller thereat is avoided; the employment of
an outside rudder post is rendered unnecessary. The propellers being amid-
ships or thereabouts are not materially affected by the pitching of the vessel,
and the vessel will be in turn at all times as the weight of the propellers and
machinery is at or near her longitudinal centre. The vessel can be turned

page_text: with great ease by turning one propeller backwards while the other is turned
forwards, and the vessel can be manoeuvred by her propellers in case the
rudder is shot away or injured. All these advantages may be attained with
as complete an immersion of the propeller as is attained when the propeller is
located at the stern of the vessel.
What I claim as the Invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is
the combination of a screw propeller with a recess in the side of the body of
the vessel to which the screw propeller is applied, the propeller revolving
partially in said recess, substantially as set forth.
I also claim the combination of a screw repeller with a chamber projecting
from the vessel's side to contain the pillow block of the propeller shaft, sub-
stantially as set forth.
I also claim the combination of a screw propeller with both a recess in the
side of the body of the vessel (to receive a portion of the propeller), and a
chamber projecting from the vessel's side (to contain a pillow block of the
propeller shaft), substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)