IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING AND GUIDING VESSELS ON LAND, AND THROUGH AIR AND WATER
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert John Haddan, of the Firm of Herbert and Company,
Patent Agents, of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING AND
GUIDING VESSELS ON LAND, AND THROUGH AIR AND WATER." A commu-
nication from abroad by Louis Brennan, of Fitzroy, in the Colony of Victoria,
Engineer, and William Calvert, of Melbourne, in the said Colony, Printer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herbert John Haddan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th September 1877.
HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of the Firm of Herbert and Company, Patent Agents,
of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING AND GUIDING VESSELS ON LAND, AND THROUGH AIR
AND WATER.” A communication from abroad by Louis Brennan, of Fitzroy, in
the Colony of Victoria, Engineer, and William Calvert, of Melbourne, in the said
Colony, Printer.
This Invention consists of certain improvements in machinery for propelling and
guiding vessels on land, and through air and water, principally applicable to
torpedoes.
In the case of a torpedo we make the outer case in any suitable form, of any
suitable material, and in any convenient part of the interior we place the mechanism
for imparting motion to the propeller.
This mechanism consist essentially of a spindle, reel, pulley, or cylinder, upon
which we wind a given amount of rope, wire, cord, or other hauling material. By
the unwinding of this hauling material, a certain motion is imparted to said spindle,
reel, pulley, or drum, determined by the speed at which the unwinding proceeds.
This motion we utilize by transmitting it through any convenient contrivance to
the spindle of the propeller.
The machinery for unwinding must be worked from a stationary or nearly
stationary position, such as the deck of a vessel at anchor, or "lying to," or from
the land. This machinery consists simply of a large reel, spindle, pulley, or
drum.

page_text: We guide our torpedoes as follows:-The spindle of one of the drums on which
the hauling material is wound is connected by bevel gearing with a solid shaft
working inside a hollow shaft, which latter is connected to the spindle of the other
drum. These spindles are connected together by bevel gearing for driving the
propeller shaft. At a convenient point in said solid shaft we make a screw thread,
and at the same point in the hollow shaft we cut a slot quite through it, so as to
admit of a grooved collar fitting on to said screw.
In the groove on said collar there is a forked clutch, which is connected by levers
to the rudder, and the operation is this, that if the hauling material on either drum
be removed at a greater velocity than the other it imparts a certain motion to said
grooved collar, and through it to the rudder.
This principle of varying the speed at which the wires are unwound from the
reels, etc., in torpedoes may be applied in other than the precise way herein described,
the principle being the unwinding of the hauling material from the several drums at
different velocities.
We provide valves for admitting water to the interior as the missile proceeds
through the water, so that the weight, which it loses by the unwinding of the wire
may be counterbalanced by an inflow of water in order that it may keep submerged
to a like extent from the time it commences until it finishes its voyage.
Instead of the hauling material being wound upon the reels, etc., in the torpedo
it may be arranged behind them in coils like the ropes of a ship or a submarine
telegraph cable, and operate said reels as it passes over them to the unwinding
apparatus.
By the unwinding of the hauling material in a similar way to that above described
vessels may be propelled along the surface of the earth, or into the air.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Herbert John Haddan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st
March 1878.
HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of the Firm of Herbert and Company, Patent Agents,
of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING AND GUIDING VESSELS ON LAND, AND THROUGH AIR
AND WATER." A. communication from abroad by Louis Brennan, of Fitzroy, in the
Colony of Victoria, Engineer, and William Calvert, of Melbourne, in the said Colony,
Printer.
This Invention consists of certain improvements in machinery for propelling and
guiding vessels through water, principally applicable to torpedos.
In the case of a torpedo the outer case is made in any suitable form, of any
suitable material, and in any convenient part of the interior I place the mechanism
for imparting motion to the propeller.
This mechanism consists essentially of a spindle, reel, pulley, or cylinder, upon
which I wind a given amount of rope, wire, or cord, or other hauling material. By
the unwinding of this hauling material a certain motion is imparted to said spindle,
reel, pulley, or drum, determined by the speed at which the unwinding proceeds.
This motion is utilised by transmitting it through any convenient contrivance to
the spindle of the propeller.
The machinery for unwinding must be from a stationary or nearly stationary
position, such as the deck of a vessel at anchor, or "lying to," or from the land.
This machinery consists simply of a large revolving reel, spindle, pulley, or drum,
such as that of a crab winch, on which a large barrel is placed.
In order to obtain a controlling power over the course which the torpedo is to
travel, I provide two spindles, reels, pulleys, or drums, each carrying an independent
wire or other hauling material, and each such wire having an independent revolving
stationary reel, spindle, pulley, or drum. By varying the velocities at which these
stationary reels, etc., revolve, a certain motion is imparted to the rudder one way or
the other, as may be required.
The spindle of one of the drums in the torpedo on which the hauling material is
wound is connected by bevel gearing with a solid shaft working inside a hollow
shaft, which latter is connected to the spindle of the other drum. These shafts are
connected together by bevel gearing for driving the propeller shaft. From these
shafts is obtained the differential motion required for guiding the torpedo; thus,
at a convenient point on said solid shaft a screw thread is made, and at the saine
point in the hollow shaft is cut a slot quite through it, so as to admit of a collar
grooved on the outside, and having a projecting screw thread on the inside, which
fits on to said screw.
In the groove on said collar there gears a catch at the end of a radiating lever
hinged to the side of the vessel, which works the rudder through certain inter-
mediate connections, and the operation is this, that if the hauling material on either
drum be unwound at a greater velocity than the other it imparts a certain motion
to said grooved collar, and through it and the other intermediate connections to the
rudder.
This principle of varying the speed at which the wires are unwound from the
reels, etc., in the torpedoes may be applied in other than the precise way herein
described, the principle being the unwinding of the hauling material from the several
drums at different velocities.
Instead of the hauling material being wound upon the reels, etc., in the torpedo,
it may be arranged behind them in coils like the ropes of a ship or submarine
telegraph cable, and operate said reels as it passes over them to the unwinding
apparatus,

page_text: Referring to the Drawings hereunto annexed, where the nature of the several
Figures is distinctly marked, A and B are the drums on which the wires A¹ and B¹
or other hauling material is wound. This wire passes between the lips A³, the con-
struction of which is clearly shown in detail sketch at the lower right-hand corner
of the sheet, and also through guides A³, A³, at the stern, so as to prevent said
wire from fouling either the rudder or the propeller. Said drums are attached to
mitre wheels A5, B5, respectively, which run loosely on their respective shafts
A and B. Said mitre wheel A³ gears into and drives another mitre wheel Aº,
fitted near the end of solid shaft A7. This solid shaft has a screw thread cut on its
periphery at A³, and carries another mitre wheel A³, and a casting consisting of
boss and spindles A10 and A", carrying mitre wheels A18 and A¹º. This solid shaft
is connected at A12 to the propeller shaft A¹3 by stem of fork A¹. A18 are collars
fitting in recesses in the thrust bearing A10; A1 is the propeller; B' carries a mitre
wheel B³, which gears into and drives another mitre wheel B, forming the end of
hollow shaft B. This hollow shaft has two slots cut in it, one opposite the other,
and both in opposition to the screw thread A³, which slots are covered by a nut or
collar B8, made in two halves, and having a projecting screw thread cut on its inner
face, as shown in detail sketch between the plan and the horizontal section, one being
a face view and the other a side view of said collar. Said hollow shaft terminates
in a mitre wheel B, which gears into wheels A18 and A¹. The groove on the outer
periphery of nut or collar B8 receives a stud C on the end of lever arm C', hinged to
the side of the vessel at C. This lever arm carries a pin C, which works in a slot
in lever arm C, connected to the top of vertical spindle C5, at the bottom of which
is a cross piece Co. Each end of this cross piece is connected to opposite sides of the
rudder C by means of wires Cs passing through tubes C. D, D, are fins consisting
of strong metal plate, each fin supported by a spindle, the outer end of which is
carried in bent arm D¹, and the inner end turned, tapered, and ground to fit a
conical seat in the casting D. The inner end of these spindles is squared to fit into
square holes in the rocking piece D³; D', D', are wire rods connecting said rocking
piece to cross piece Ds, operated by levers De, which is attached to vertical spindle
D; D is a coiled spring, and D is a leather contrivance like a dry meter, exposed
to the pressure of the water outside through hole D¹º. E is a must, consisting of a
steel blade carrying a disc or flag to indicate its position. This blade, carrying a
disc, is supported on a horizontal pin E' projecting from the side of the torpedo,
which pin is held by one end of a coiled spring E, the other end being fastened to
the containing box E³. This spring is to allow the mast to give to the pressure of
any obstruction, and to compel it to return to its upright position as soon as such
obstruction is passed. H is a lid, which is screwed down with suitable water-tight
packing.
A21 is a
Referring to the Drawings which represent the apparatus for unwinding the
hauling material from the drums in the torpedo, and in which the nature of the
Beveral Figures is distinctly marked. A 20 is the drum on which the wire from drum
A on the torpedo is wound, and B10 the drum on which the wire from drum B is
wound. These drums A and B10 run loosely on the driving shaft F.
bevel wheel, and A a mitre wheel, both being cast with the drum A20.
A gears
into a bevel pinion A cast on the end of a hollow spindle A2, at the opposite end
of which is mitre wheel A gearing into two mitre wheels A% and A, carried on
spindle A28.
A gears into and receives its motion from two mitre wheels A and
A30, carried on cross spindle A³, keyed on driving shaft F. F' is driving pulley;
A32 is a metal shield; B" is a bevel wheel, and B12 is a mitre wheel, both cast with
the drum B10; B" gears into bevel wheel B¹³, keyed to end of solid spindle B14,
which passes loosely through hollow spindle A24. At the end of this solid
spindle is keyed another mitre wheel B¹, which also gears into mitre wheels
A 20 and A27.
The method of operation is as follows:-First, so far as regards the propulsion
only. On each of the drums A and B a quantity of wire is wound, four times the

page_text: length of the distance to which the torpedo is to be propelled; thus, if it is
contemplated to propel it a quarter of a mile, a mile of wire is wound on each
drum.
I have found charcoal iron wire a thirty-second part of an inch in diameter
sufficient to propel a torpedo nine feet long, weighing about three hundredweight,
for a distance of 300 yards at a speed of about six or seven miles an hour, but steel
wire of a smaller size is preferable, the relative strengths of the several kinds of wire
being well understood in the trade.
The wires are passed between the lips A³, and through the guides A³ and B³, and
fasten the ends to the respective stationary drums. The torpedo is launched, and
the engine started which is to work the unwinding reels or drums A20 and B¹º, as
near simultaneously as possible, with this result, that the vessel is propelled by the
revolution of the propeller produced by the motion of the drums A and B.
If the torpedo requires to travel more to the right it can be compelled to do so
by increasing the velocity of the drum B10, which is unwinding the wire from the
drum B, or decreasing the velocity of the other, or by increasing one end and
decreasing the other at one and the same time. This increase in the velocity of the
drum B10 is accomplished by turning the handle on spindle A28 in the same direction
as the hands of a watch, that is to say, towards the right hand.
If the screw thread A8 and its embracing nut B8 be made of an opposite pitch to
that shewn in the Drawings it would be necessary to reverse the directions as to
guiding the vessel.
The way in which the guiding is effected is thus:-When the increased velocity
is given to the drum B it imparts a quicker motion to the hollow shaft B' than that
which is given to the solid shaft A7, the result of which is that the nut or collar B³
travels on the screw thread A8 towards the drum B. As it travels it carries with
it the stud C (which catches in the groove in its outer periphery) and so operates
the hinged lever arm C', which in its turn moves the radiating lever arm C by
means of pin C³, and so moves the cross piece C at the bottom of the vertical
spindle C. This cross piece in its turn moves the rudder through connecting
wires C8.
In order to give either an upward or downward direction to the torpedo, as may
be required, I raise or depress the nose of the fins D, D, by means of the leather
contrivance D, which is pressed upwards whenever the pressure of the water is
greater than that of the coiled spring D³, that is to say, whenever the vessel sinks
too deep the contrivance D° is pressed upward, with this result, that it depresses
the nose of the fins D, D, through the intermediate gearing shewn in longitudinal
and horizontal sections, and causes the bow of the torpedo to rise and travel
upwards until the equilibrium between the pressure of the water and that of the
coiled spring D³ is restored. An opposite effect is necessarily produced if the
torpedo rises too high. This contrivance of fins and the apparatus for working them
is not new.
Disclaiming from this my Specification the application of the said improvements
in machinery for propelling and guiding vessels on land and through air, I
claim,―
1st. The propulsion of vessels through water by the unwinding of wire or other
hauling material from a drum or its equivalent fixed on the vessel to be
propelled.
2nd. The guidance of vessels through water by the unwinding of such wire or
hauling materials from said drums at varying velocities.
3rd. The peculiar mechanical arrangement for carrying out these governing prin-
ciples of propelling and guiding vessels through water, substantially as herein
described, and illustrated in the Drawings.
4th. The combination and arrangement of mechanical parts illustrated for

page_text: unwinding the hauling material from the drums in the torpedo at the same or at
varying velocities, substantially as herein described and explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Herbert John Haddan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord
1878
H. J. HADDAN. (L.S.)