Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 6th June, 1883
Complete Specification Left, 6th June, 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 21st Sept, 1888
I ROGER, baron of MAUNI of Statte-lez-Huy, Belgium, proprietor, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
-
My invention consists in a spring fastened to the rowlock or to the oar of a rowing
boat, and by which the movement given to the oar by the arm of the rower is
intei verted, so as to enable the said rower to sit with his face looking ahead, thu-
seeing his way before him
The oar has proved, from ancient times to our days, to be the best of all tools for
applying human strength to the propulsion of small crafts; for the way in which the
man is able to show his utmost muscular power is by litting or drawing with both
hands a weight placed between his legs from a floor or from a wall or partition on
or against which his feet are standing or pressing The contrary movement uz the
pulling by stretching out the arm and bending forward chest and shoulders, proves at
least three times less effective. For that reason, the pulling forward with oars has
never been used except for a short time and under peculiar circumstances, and tne
sitting with his face towards the after part of the boat has always been a necessity
for the professional as well as for the amateur boatman So it is necessary either to
have a man at the rudder, or const intly to look backwards in order to keep on the
proper track, which causes great annoyance and dificulty
Many experiments have been made by others and by myself to obviate that
inconvenience and to allow the rower to see his way; but all these attempts seem
to have failed, because they all (at least to the best of our knowledge) went to chang
77

page_text: the tool, uz the oar, or to alter substantially its form, or to change the position of the
body and hmbs of the lower Thus paddle-wheels and screws, and other contrivances
moved by hand, proved expensive, encumbrant, and likely to get damaged, and
entailed a most important diminution of the headway made. Now the present
invention realizes the old desideratum, uz the rower's looking ahead, not only
without changing but whilst improving the old tool, and whilst leaving the position
of the rower the same as beforehand. As to the force of the stroke it is not diminished,
on the contrary, each stroke becomes more effective, and more headway is made with
the same expense of strength,-first because the lower sees how he puts his paddle
into the water, and secondly because the impulse given by the spring is constantly
proportioned to the resistance of the water, whilst the arin of the ablest of rowers
cannot always follow with corresponding swiftness the water when it yields or runs
away
It is because the new machine enables the rower to make his way directly towards
the point of the horizon that he wishes to attam, that I have named it the "direct
propelling oar or rowlock"
Now the best way I have found for fitting the spring is to fasten it to a rowlock
But it is easy to conceive that a similar result may be obtained by fastening the spring
to that part of the oa which is supported by the covering board and acts like a
pivot; and for that reason I have called my invention "the direct propelling oar
or rowlock"
The spring is a spiral one Other sort of springs could probably be used,
mol cover india rubber and other substances could also, I think, be employed, and
under various shapes procure the same result, but after many experiments the steel
spring, similar to the main spring of a watch or clock, seemed to me the best of all
elastic receivers for the purpose I had in view, and my object in mentioning that is
not to set forth and discuss the multifarious forms or materials which could perhaps
be used, but to state that it is the pinciple itself, with one, the best after my
belief, of the forms of realizing it as hereinafter described and shown in the
subjoined drawing, which is the object of my invention; and that principle consists
essentially in the use of steel springs of any kind as reverting movers for the oars of
10wing boats.
I shall proceed now to give a particular description of the machine as I have
executed it myself to the best of my skill and knowledge
After the actual fashion the rowlock, when one is used, may either be fastened to
the oar by an iron bolt passing through the said oar and through the two branches
of the rowlock, as is the custom in some countries, and then the rowlock is part of
the oar, or the said rowlock may be independent, the rower being then used to put
-it into the corresponding hole in the covering board when about to get under way,
and simply to place the oar in the rowlock without any fastening. Both of these
processes will do equally well with our new spring-rowlock, but for facilitating the
intelligence of our explanation we will now suppose the rowlock to be separated from
the oa and suspended in the air some inches above the covering board, the tail or
toot of the rowlock facing perpendicularly the hole O in which it has to drop, as is
shown by the drawing Said drawing shows the whole machine and every part of
it in half size The rowlock has been fitted with a bolt B passing through the two
branches, our mode of suspending the oar being to place it on that bolt, but there
is nothing material in that."
The 10wlock is made out of half-round iron of one inch and a quarter of an inch
breadth I make it wholly of wrought iron. I don't think cast iron or brass would do
well because the strain which that rowlock has to resist at each slipping of the spring is
much greater than the ordinary strain put upon ordinary rowlocks
The rowlock can be made of one piece, or of several pieces fastened with bolts
The making it out of one piece entails a greater amount of work and consequently
of expense, but affords greater security
For making the said piece of smithing cut two pieces of said half-round iron, about
ten inches in length each, and weld them together at candent heat on a length of about

page_text: two inches, with a bit of flat iron between the two to make up for the loss of metal, so as to
have a round solid bir at one end, divided on almost her whole length and on the other
end in two long half-round branches Then weld again a ring of flat iron about the
round part, so as to consolidate that part and make it bigger Then with the
set-hammer stretch out of that big part a round bit about four fifths of an inch
thick, and weld it with another bit of inch round iron, so as to get a foot or tail of
about six inches in length This being done, take the rowlock by the tail and warm
the two branches As is shown in the drawing these two branches ought to be
separated first below, close to the strengthened part, by a narrow straight interval
in which the spring is to be inserted, and then above by a broader opening, where
the our will be supported The righting, bending and curving of the two branches
being
a matter of well known ordinary workmanship, we shall only notice that the
straight narrow opening below must be at least half an inch longer than the breadth
of the flat steel out of which the spring is made, in order to allow the putting in and
tightening of the screwbolt B' B₁ after insertion of the spring, so as to get the interio
end of the said spring exactly jammed and immovable between the two branches of
the rowlock
The rowlock thus forged ought to be centred on the lathe and the branches finsbed
with the file, and holes pierced in said bianches if and where convenient
Now the spiral spring itself is made of steel The bai of flat steel to he employed
should be about four yards long, one inch and a quarter of an inch broad, and
one fifth or one quarter of an inch thick These dimensions are the best for rowing
with ordinary strength. As for the quality of the steel the finest is not necessary, but
the very cheapest German steel may prove insufficient at trials
The process of rolling the springs need not be detailed, being also a piece of well
known workmanship The whole har ought first to be warmed to dark-red heat and
slowly cooled Then the one ond has to be warmed again and bent at right angle, the
edge to be not too round but not too sharp, so as to prevent auv danger of breaking.
The bent extremity will form the diameter of the first interior spire of the spring, and
that extremity will have to be inserted in the row lock which shows that the smallest
spire ought still to be wide enough to allow the passage of the two branches of the
rowlock on each side of the diameter, this being the only way for the spiral to get into
his place
The length of the bent part has to be calculated after that datum
This being done and the bent end cooled slowly, warm the other end and forge it
in form of a socket of about four fifths of an inch of interior width
Then roll up the spring, leaving an interval of about a quarter of an inch between
the spires, warm it equally to dark-red and temper it with oil, pass the edges on the
grindstone to clear them so as to show the annealing colour on both sides; have
the spring softened in a proper oven to the dark-blue colour, and finally cooled in
the air.
The
The pin or bolt S is simply a piece of inch round iron, screw-tapered at one end,
and pierced with a small hole at the other end. That piece of iron must slide without
too much difficulty, from one end to the other, in the socket of the spring
screw-end has to he strongly screwed in the hole O₁ of the covering-board, so as to
remain absolutely immovable and vertical The little bolt b b, which is to be put
only when the rowlock is intended to remain habitually on the boat, is not necessary
but useful to prevent any leaping off of the machine, or even, when duly clamped, any
tampering of boys or beggars
The hole O ought to be fitted, as customary, with an iron plate, and kept clean and
oiled, so as to allow an easy sliding and rolling of the heel and foot of the rowlock
Having thus described all the parts of the machine, and shown how and out of what
materials each of them has to be manufactured, I will show in a few words how it is
to be used
Supposing the boat to be one with two oars, handled by a single rower, the
boatman will have first to take, away the rudder, which is useless in all cases. He
will next bore the proper holes in the proper places on the covering board, after
having repeatedly tried his new seat, which ought to be opposite to and astern of

page_text: the former one, as he is now to look ahead whilst rowing. The distance between
the two holes on each side ought to be such as that in placing the 10wlock you
should be obliged to clap the sping together with both hands to allow the socket
to cap the standing bolt S; or, in other words, the said interval ought to be too narrow
by half an inch or so, for want of that precaution, some spires of the spring would
be likely to touch and rub against each other, whilst being drawn by the act
of rowing
This being done, the next thing is to screw in the standing bolts S on each side,
and then the rowlocks may be dropped in their respective holes, the standing bolts
meantime passing through the sockets, after which the little bolts bb may be fitted,
which will prevent the springs from jumping off by the jerk, the best plan, as I
think, being to have the spring-rowlocks well coated with paint and fitted on the
boat once for all
Attention must be paid, at least when you begin to use these machines, not to
mistake the starboard for the port rowlock This needs no peculiar explanation but
only a little consideration. If, as may happen, you want to make a starboard out of
a port rowlock or a port out of a starboard one, you need only undo the spring and
refit it upside down
easy
The rowlocks being thus fitted, the process for getting under way will be very
The 1ower ought to board the oars and to give them first half a turn or more
in the way of tension, so as to buing the paddles to run astern when let go and to press
with moderate force against the sides of the boat When the boatman may take his
seat and look ahead and row as usual. with only that slight change, that the end of
the stroke for his arm will be the beginning for the oar to strike the water. Thus,
the paddle must be lifted when the arm is stretched out, and let down when the
wrists of the rowing man are brought close to his chest In other words, it is the
same lengthened elliptic movement, as heretofore, which the hand of the rower has to
run over at each fore-and-aft stroke, but it is in the opposite direction, just as if he
were required to unspool a bobbin of yarn first spooled by rowing after the old
fashion. The motion of the arms being thus substantially, and the position of the
body exactly the same as when rowing after the old manner, the same muscular power
can be displayed
The full force of the stroke, with the spring oar, being at the beginning, and the
comparative slackness at the end, the ower will do well to let go the handle of
the oar as soon as the paddle is in the water, so as to prevent any loss of force, and
simply to lay his hand upon it a short instant afterwards, and to follow it to the end
of its course He may also, if an extraordinary effort is required, increase in some
proportion, by the impulse of bis arm, the final force of the stroke, and this gives
the most powerful rowing that can be had an idea of But that very exhaustive way,
which we may call double stroke rowing, should be used only for a short while, in
case of a danger, or in the dead heat of a 1 ace Under all ordinary circumstances,
and especially for the beginner, the simple stroke rowing will be quite enough, for the
repeated tending of a spring is the most ti ying of exercises for non-accustomed aims.
Now, as is well known, it is the best of all practices for increasing the strength of
human limbs The training of athletic performers with springs, instead of weights
has proved its superior efficiency, and a few weeks's practice with the spring oar will
procure to the professional rower as much improvement of his strength as many
months could afford with the old fashioned oars; and of course, in aces and any
public contests, the strongest and ablest and best trained will have the same and still
greater advantages over his adversaries as he had before.
Sliding seats and outriggers will do very well with the spring oar or rowlock.
If the boat is rowed by two or more men, the rudder will have to be fitted as
customary.
For going astern, if so going is required for more than some yards, and if turning
round is not practicable under circuinstances, the oars should be either turned so as
to relax the springs, or lifted out of the rowlocks and laid on the covering board for a
short while, and then fitted again as before; but this will seldom be necessary.

page_text: As for the oar itself, none of the various forms actually in use ought to be either
prescribed or exclusively adopted, although, of course, certain forms may prove more
suitable to the new way of 1owing. I will state here the observations I have made
on that special point, without claiming anything in respect of that, and only with the
view of facilitating the adoption and use of my invention Thus, as the rowing with
the spring rowlock or our requires lifting the paddle when the arm is stretched out, it
occurs that some additional weight on the handle of the oar should prove beneficial
It is obvious that if the spring oar and rowlock have proved beneficial on a pleasure
boat and on smooth water, they will show still much greater advantages on life- or
marine-boats making their way through heavy seas and gales of wind. Whoever
has owed a boat on the sea even by ordinary weather is acquainted with the difficulty
and hindrance caused by the unevenness of the surface, when the rower is obliged to
look behind himself at each stroke, not only to keep on his way, which can be done
by the man at the rudder if there is one, but to see how deep the paddle of the oar is
to be inclined or how high it ought to be litted to avoid the striking in a gap or
plunging in a heavy sea The saving of many lives very often depends on a few good
strokes to be given by the exhausted crew of a lifeboat
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim 18:
The use of steel springs of any kind, generally, as reverting movers for the oars of
rowing boats, barges or vessels, and then especially, that form of a spring rowlock
which I have described in the present complete specification and represented in the
subjoined drawing, so that any new or improved form of spring rowlocks or oars may
be the matter of further invention and further privilege, but subject to the licence to
be obtained from me as true and first inventor of the principle and of one mode of
applying it
Dated in the city of Huy in the Kingdom of Belgium, this First day of June