IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Slate, of Woodside Ironworks,
near Dudley, in the County of Worcester, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Archibald Slate
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th December 1852.
1, ARCHIBALD SLATE, of Woodside Iron Works, near Dudley, in
the County of Worcester, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of my said "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS" to be as
follows:-
I place on each side of a vessel, instead of in the dead wood, one
or more pairs of screws so adapted and arranged as that they may
be shipped and unshipped and worked at pleasure. I place then
on each side opposite the inast, affixed to jointed knife-edged frames
under the shrouding, so that they may be conveniently shipped

page_text: and unshipped by tackle from the yard. Opposite the screws in
the interior of the vessel I form a water-tight chamber about three
feet wide, and of such size that the driving wheel of the engines may
work in it. This chamber is open at the top, and is carried up to
the main deck; it is provided with two stuffing boxes through which
the engine shaft passes. I then cut a hole in the outside of the
vessel into the water-tight chamber, so that the periphery of the
driving wheel may be in contact with a knife-edged wheel or rim on
the periphery of the screw. I then press the screw on the driving
wheel, so as to make the edges bite if plain, or drive if toothed, by
means of two chains which lay hold of the end of the screw shaft,
and pass into the water-tight chamber over pullies at the bottom to
a crab on the deck. To unship the screw, I unwind these chains
from the crabs, and haul the screw up by tackle on the yard. The
screws, arranged as just described, may also be driven by passing a
steel band or chain of iron or band of gutta percha round the
periphery of the screw and periphery of the driving wheel, after the
manner of an ordinary driving band; and I place the stuffing boxes
of the water-tight chamber on slides, and also connect them to the
frame of the engine, so that, by a screw attached to the engine bed,
motion can be given to it, so that the band may be taken off and
put on, and tightened or loosened at pleasure; and in case of employ-
ing this way or method of driving, I place on the top of the water-
tight chamber an air-tight door, so that I can force air into the
chamber, and expel the water through the hole in the side of the
vessel, to enable a person to go down and examine the driving band
as if in a diving belt. The screws may also be driven as follows: -
I make the jointed knife-edged frame hollow, and force air or water
or other fluid down the frame to a hollow spindle, on which the screw
revolves; I also make the arms of the screw hollow, and I allow the
air, &c. to pass from the hollow tube or spindle into the hollow arms
by a hole cut in the lower part of the spindle, so that there is a
connection between the spindle and each arm of the screw, while
each arm makes such proportion of its revolution as shall be found
most advantageous. The air issuing from the arms through orifices

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Archibald Slate in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ARCHIBALD SLATE, of Woodside Ironworks, near Dudley, in the
County of Worcester, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,
by Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster the Sixteenth day of
December, in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Archibald
Slate, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said Archibald
Slate, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Archibald Slate, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the
Isle of Man, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS,"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Archibald Slate, shall cause a particular description of my said In-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in
Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Archibald Slate, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly

page_text: described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
Figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say):.
: -
I place on each side of a vessel, instead of in the dead wood, one
or more pairs of screws or propellers, as shewn in section and side
views in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, so adapted and arranged as that
they may be shipped and unshipped and worked at pleasure. I
place screws or propellers, as shewn in section and side views in the
Drawings, on opposite sides of the vessel, affixed to jointed knife-
edged frames of wrought iron under the shrouding, so that they may
be conveniently shipped and unshipped by tackle from the yard, or
other means. Opposite the screws or propellers, in the interior of the
vessel, I form a water-tight chamber, of such width and size that a
driving wheel connected with an engine may work in. it. This
chamber is open at the top, and is carried up to the main deck, and
is provided with two stuffing boxes, through which the engine
shaft passes. I then cut a hole in the outside of the vessel into the
water-tight chamber, so that the periphery of the driving wheel may
be in contact with a knife-edged wheel or rim on the periphery
of the screw or propeller; I then press the screw on the driving
wheel, so as to make the edges bite if plain, or drive if toothed, by
means of two chains which lay hold of the ends of the screw shaft,
and pass into the water-tight chamber over pullies at the bottom to a
crab on the deck, as shewn in Figure 1; and in case of employing
this mode of driving, I place on the top of the water-tight chamber
an air-tight door, so that I can force air into the chamber, and expel
the water through the hole in the side of the vessel, so as to enable
a person to go down and examine the machinery. To unship the
screw I unwind these chains from the crabs, and haul the screw
up by tackle on the yard, or other means. The screws or pro-
pellers so arranged may also be driven by passing a steel band,
or chain of iron or band of gutta percha round the periphery of the
screw and periphery of the driving wheel or pulley, on the screw
shaft as shewn in Figure 3, after the manner of an ordinary driving
band. And I claim, as my improvement in propelling vessels, the

page_text: placing the screws or propellers in wrought iron frames in the
sides of the vessels, and driving them as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Slate, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
ARCHIBALD (L.S.) SLATE.
Taken and acknowledged by the said
Archibald Slate at No. 30, Waterloo
Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, the Eleventh day of June,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
ARCHIBALD (L.S.) SLATE.
Taken and acknowledged by the said
Archibald Slate at No. 30, Waterloo
Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, the Eleventh day of June,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
Before me,
W. JNO. BEALE,
A Master Extraordinary in Chancery.