IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND PROPELLING OF SHIPS FOR RAILWAY FERRIES AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Evan Leigh, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Mechanical Engincer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND PROPELLING OF SHIPS FOR
RAILWAY FERRIES AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 7th June 1872, and dated the 23rd January 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Evan Leigh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd January 1872.
I, EVAN LEIGH, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND PROPELLING
OF SHIPS FOR RAILWAY FERRIES AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
I make the railway ferry or other boats by preference of Bessemer
steel or other castings, or of an alloy of metals that will be tough and
resist the action of sea water. The principle is to have square or oblong
plates flanged all round to a sufficient depth to rivet together, the hull
being so set out as to form segments of a circle.

page_text: These plates may be forged from wrought iron or cast of any suitable
metal, however made they must be bored, punched, or have the holes
cast in and be fitted to a gauge or template so as to be for certain parts
of the ship all alike, and have the flanges slightly turned in to a proper
angle, so that when rivetted together they will form a bend to the curve
of the ship's sides, and for the bottom a slighter bend or no bend at all,
as the case may be.
•
The flanges of the plates form the ribs of the vessel, and are turned up
in proportion to the size of the plates or strength of ribs required.
When a vessel is intended to have a double bottom or double sides I
place the flange outside of the plates for the inner shell of the hull, and
tie them together with midfeathers. I attach the outer hull of the
vessel to the inner hull, commencing at two or more feet from the
bottom, and run it all round in a = shaped section, and on the top of
this I place vertical sides or bulwarks which also go round the ship.
What I prefer however is to place one vessel within the other in such a
way that the inner vessel, which has a flat or nearly flat bottom, projects
two or three feet lower in the water than the outer rudder. This two or
three feet is divided into longitudinal compartments by strong girders.
These lower compartments can be used for water ballast when necessary.
This inner vessel has a double girder bottom and rudder placed at each
end. These rudders, together with their shafts, are each made by prefer-
ence of one piece of cast iron hollowed out so as to buoy up their own
weight. In the bottom I fix a steel gudgeon or foot spindle, and on the
top I fix a large double lever or arm terminating in the segment of a
circle at each end. I connect the two rudders together by steel bands
and chains round the arm segments or otherwise, so that when one is
moved the other moves also in the opposite direction. Each rudder is
provided with a valve to diminish its area when required, or with a
means of shortening its length or width, the object being to balance the
two more perfectly by lessening the power of the fore rudder. These
rudders may be acted upon separately or connected together by any.
convenient machinery.
My next improvement relates to the paddle wheels of ferry boats and.
other steam ships. I construct each wheel of a cast-iron cylinder about
half the diameter of the intended paddle wheel. This cylinder is cast
in two parts, bolted together in the middle and keyed to bosses on

page_text: the paddle shaft, and has an outer flange at each end to which wrought-
iron plates are rivetted that extend to another outer cylinder of the full
diameter of the paddle without floats, and to which the latter are fixed.
The cavity formed betwixt the two cylinders is water-tight, and is
suitably strengthened by stays. I drive these paddles which are detached
from each other by a pair of engines to each, one being high and the
other low pressure, the low-pressure cylinder using the exhaust steam
from the high pressure, as is well understood; but the novelty I claim
about the arrangements, whether they be of the oscillating or any other
type, is, that the high-pressure cylinder of each paddle engine shall
have its expansion valve acted upon by a steering wheel or other arrange-
ment on deck. The plan I prefer is to have two steering wheels so
arranged that they can be connected together at pleasure or worked
separately; when connected together one turns the reverse way of the
other, shutting off the steam of one engine or pair of engines, and
giving more to the other; but when disconnected each pair of engines
can be acted upon separately, and the steam may be shut off entirely
from the deck of the vessel, and thus stop the engines.
The mechanism to effect this cutting off the steam by the action of
the steering gear upon the deck will necessarily vary according to the
situation or distance of the engine room from the wheelhouse and the
kind of engines employed in different vessels; but the main principle is
to transmit each wheel motion by band or gearing to a worm shaft in
the engine house. Each worm takes into a wheel upon a cam shaft, and
the cam acts upon the expansion valve, thus giving more or less steam
to each engine, or cutting it off altogether.
Another way is to have the worm shaft on deck, attach the steering
wheels to them, and gear the worm wheel shafts direct to the cam shaft
in the engine room.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Evan Leigh, Her special
license that I, the said Evan Leigh, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Evan Leigh, my 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
THE CONSTRUCTION AND PROPELLING OF SHIPS FOR RAILWAY FERRIES AND OTHER
PURPOSES," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said
Evan Leigh, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 I, tho said Evan Leigh, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Figures on the accom-
panying two Sheets of Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked
thereon, the letters referring to each Figure separately (that is to
say) :-
.I make railway ferry or other boats by preference of Bessemer steel or
other castings, or of an alloy of metals that will be tough and resist the
action of sea water, so far as the bottom part of the vessel is concerned.
The principle is to have square or oblong plates flanged all round, if cast,
stamped, pressed, or moulded of hot metal, the flanges being of a sufficient
depth to rivet together as in Fig. 1, the hull being so set out as to form
segments of a circle, as in Figs. 2 and 3, which show vertical section of a
ship's side constructed of flanged plates, Fig. 2 representing the flanges
in horizontal, and Fig. 3 in a vertical direction.
Fig. 1 is a plan of a plate when cast, stamped, pressed, or moulded
from hot metal; and Figs. 4 and 5 represent plan and section of a rolled

page_text: plate with side flanges only. These plates may be forged or rolled from
wrought iron or cast of any suitable metal; however made, they must be
bored, punched, or have their holes cast in and be fitted to a gauge or
template, so as to be for certain parts of the ship all alike, and have the
flanges slightly turned in to a proper angle, so that when rivetted
together they will form a bend to the curve of the ship's sides, and for
the bottom a slighter bend or no bend at all, as the case may be. The
flanges of the plates form the ribs of the vessel, and are turned up in
proportion to the size of the plates or strength of ribs required.
When a vessel is intended to have a double bottom or double sides I
place the flanges outside of the plates for the inner shell of the hull, and
tic them together with occasional midfeathers, as shown in Fig. 6, in
which a, a, are the flanged plates of the outer shell; a', a¹, the same for
the inner shell, and b, b, the midfeathers; but in cases where the inner
and outer shells are too close together to rivet conveniently I use the
same kind of plate for the inner as for the outer shell, which brings the
flanges outside of the cavity, but inside the vessel as shown at a³, a³,
Fig. 7.
My principle of constructing ships generally is to have an inner and
an outer hull. I make the inner hull by preference in the form shown
in Figs. 8, 9, and 10, in which Fig. 8 is a plan, Fig. 9 a side elevation,
and Fig. 10 a midship section. The inner vessel has by preference an
iron deck, and forms a strong girder to the whole ship. It has a double
bottom of longitudinal cells or channels, as shown at c, Fig. 10. I attach
the outer hull of the vessel to the inner hull, commencing at two or
more feet from the bottom, and run it round as shown at d, d, Fig. 11,
and on the top of this place the vertical sides or bulwarks e, e, which
also go round the ship, the sectional appearance being as though one
vessel were placed within the other in such a way that the inner vessel
projects two, three, or more feet lower in the water than the outer hull,
as may be seen in Fig. 11, both hulls having a flat or nearly flat bottom
throughout their entire length; and a side view of the vessel formed with
plates in a horizontal position is shewn in Fig. 11*.
For larger vessels to carry railway trains and other purposes I carry
the sides e, e, higher, so as to admit of cabins and refreshment rooms
with an upper promenade deck, as seen in section Fig. 12, in
which f, f, f, f, are four lines of two rails cach to accommodate four
trains of luggage or passenger carriages at once; g, g, are the cabins

page_text: and refreshment rooms, and h, h, the upper promenade decks, the whole
being fitted up similar to a first-class railway station. In laying down
or setting out this vessel I first draw a linc, a to b, Fig. 13, which is the
length added to the breadth of the intended ship; I then draw a trans-
verse linc, c to d, which represents the extreme width. After fixing
upon the width of the inner vessel I mark the line c, d, at the spot to
represent it, say at e,f; I next strike the circular lines from a to b,
and g to h. I then mark the length of my intended vessel on the
line a, b, which is represented by the letters i, j. Then from a radius of
the width of the ship I strike the smaller circular lines k, k¹, l, l', which
cut off the finer portion of the bows and allow the doors m, m, to slide
back over the latter curve for admitting the trains on board. These
doors are hung upon pullies which run on a rail above and close against
india-rubber cushions. When the trains are on board I close these doors
and put the brakes on the carriages to keep them steady in their places.
Vessels of this form may be constructed without the flanged plates by
rivetting T iron over the joints to form the ribs; but I prefer the flanged
plates, as nearly all the rivets then come inside and they make a much

page_text: I make the rudders together with their shafts, by preference, of one
piece of cast iron, steel, or other metal hollowed out so as to buoy up
their own weight. In the bottom I fix a steel gudgeon or foot spindle a³,
Fig. 14, and another 6 at the top. I cast the barrel or shaft c³ of the
rudder of ample strength to resist at least double the torsion likely to
come upon it, and key upon it a large double lever or arm ď², Figs. 14, 15,
and 16, terminating in the segment of a circle at each end. I connect
the two rudders together by steel bands and chains passing round the
arm segments, and also by the worm shaft f³, which has a right-hand
worm h³ at one end, and a left-hand worm k' at the other end chased
upon the shaft. These worms take in the arm segments d', so that when
the worm shaft f" is moved round by any suitable mechanism from the
steering house it moves the rudders in opposite directions. Each rudder
is provided with a valve m³ to diminish its arca when required, and these
valves are connected together by the worm shaft n³ and worms o³ taking
into the sector wheels p³ on the upright shafts q³ gearing with the bevil
wheels ³, so arranged that when one rudder valve is open the other is
shut. The worm shaft f" is likewise arranged to be worked from the
stecring house by a chain and chain wheels, or any other simple
mechanism. By opening the fore rudder valve and closing the hind
one the rudders can be balanced to a nicety.
My next improvement relates to the paddle wheels of steam ships,
which I construct by preference as follows, namely, if for wheels of large
diameter I cast an iron cylinder in two parts about half the diameter of
the intended paddle wheel, and bolt them together in the middle. This
cylinder is keyed to bosses on the paddle shaft, and has an outer flange
at each end to which wrought-iron plates are rivetted that extend to
another outer cylinder of the full diameter of the paddle without floats,
and to which the latter are fixed. The cavity formed betwixt the two
cylinders is water-tight, and is suitably strengthened by stays.
For smaller paddles I prefer to make the two cylinder castings of the
whole diameter of the wheel, as in Figs. 17 and 18, and fill up the spaces
between the arms at the ends with wrought-iron plates rivetted to the
arms so as to be water-tight, leaving only a man-hole with a lid screwed
on from the outside; the snugs &³ to which the float boards are bolted
may either be cast on or rivetted to the periphery of the cylinder. I
drive these paddles when detached from each other by a pair of engines
to cach, one being by preference high and the other low pressure, the

page_text: low-pressure cylinder using the exhaust steam from the high pressure, as
is well understood; but the novelty I claim about the arrangements,
whether they be of the oscillating or any other type, is that the high-
pressure cylinder of each paddle engine shall have its expansion
valve acted upon by a steering wheel or other arrangement on deck.
The plan I prefer is to have two steering wheels so arranged that they
can be connected together at pleasure or worked separately. When
connected together one turns the reverse way of the other, shutting off
the steam of one engine or pair of engines, and giving more to the
other; but when disconnected each pair of engines can be acted upon
separately, and the steam may be shut off entirely from the deck of the
vessel and thus stop the engines.
The mechanism to effect this cutting off the steam by the action of the
steering gear upon the deck will necessarily vary according to the
situation or distance of the engine room from the wheel house, and the
kind of engines employed in different vessels; but the main principle is
to transmit each wheel motion by band or gearing to a worm shaft in
the engine house. Each worm takes into a wheel upon a cam shaft, and
the cam acts upon the expansion valve, thus giving more or less steam
to each engine, or cutting it off altogether.
Another way is to have the worm shafts on deck, attach the steering
wheels to them, and gear the worm wheel shafts direct to the cam shafts
in the engine room, the worm shafts extending from one steering house
to the other, the worm working in a worm wheel fixed to an upright
shaft v³, Figs. 19 and 20, which goes down into the steam box and rests
on a disc. This disc has two thoroughfares w² which correspond with
two similar thoroughfares at the bottom of the steam box on which it
rests. A steam pipe admits steam from the boilers which passes
freely through both thoroughfares when set opposite each other; but
when the disc is turned by the action of the steersman the steam is cut
off either partially or entirely. By continuing to turn the disc after
the steam is cut off the engines are reversed before the disc has made
half a revolution, when the steam comes on again. This reversing of
the engines is accomplished either by a cam on the disc shaft, or by a
separate cam shaft put in motion by the vertical disc shaft with bevel
wheels or other mechanism as may best suit the situation or kind of

page_text: engines employed, and in some cases the ordinary "link motion" may
be employed for reversing.
In order to take the pressure from the disc valve I fix a piston y³ upon
the disc rod which fits into a short cylinder cast on the steam box open
to the atmosphere above the piston. I have a similar apparatus to each
pair of engines, and near cach steering wheel I fix a brass plate wheel
with a pointer to indicate "full steam," "shut off," and "reverse." The
pointers are each actuated by small worms on the steering shafts, and
indicate exactly the position of the vertical disc shafts which go down
into the engine house and regulate the engines.
For short vessels I place the steering house in the centre of the ship
over the engine house, and carry the disc shafts up into the steering
house and operate them by a worm handle to cach; and to work the
rudders I put a chain wheel on the worm shaft which connects the
rudders, and a smaller one on the steering wheel; I likewise make a
similar communication with the worm shaft which connects the rudder
balance valves.

page_text: And, fourthly. The method shown of placing a balance valve within
each rudder, and connecting the same together for the purpose of
effecting a greater equilibrium between the two.
In witness whereof, I, the said Evan Leigh, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of July, in the year of our 5
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
before-named Evan Leigh, in the
presence of
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
EVAN LEIGH. (L.S.)