IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Millward, of Curzon Chambers, Paradise
Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS OR
MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS."-A communication from
abroad by Andrew Jackson Reynolds, of Sturgis, State of Michigan,
United States of America.
Sealed the 14th July 1868, and dated the 18th January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Millward at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th January 1868.
1+
I, JOHN MILLWARD, of Curzon Chambers, Paradise Street, Birming
ham, in the County of Warwick, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND
APPARATUS OB MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS," to be as
follows
This Invention consists in the construction and application to vessels
of propelling machinery in which the paddle wheels, screws, or other
propellers are worked or set in motion by water power. For this
purpose the necessary "head" or pressure of water is raised or produced

page_text: artificially by steam, animal, or other power, and being stored either in
"accumulators" such as are used for hydraulic cranes or in raised
tanks is applied either to an intermediate water power wheel or motor
of any suitable known construction by which the propeller or propellers
are driven, or the propelling wheels may themselves be made to combine
the characteristics of paddle wheels and water power wheels of any
suitable known construction, and be driven by the weight or pressure of
water applied direct.
This Invention further consists in constructing such water power
wheels or combined propelling and water power wheels with hinged
or reversible buckets or floats, or other equvalent expedients, so that
they can be made to turn either backward or forward, or stopped at will
while the engine for maintaining the head or pressure of water may be
in continuous operation. By this Invention the superiority of water
power in producing continuous and uniform rotary motion, and in
acting in a simple and rapid manner for reversing or stopping water
power wheels is rendered available for propelling vessels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Millward in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MILLWARD, of Curzon Chambers, Paradise Street, Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heir and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Millward, Her special licence that
I, the said John Millward, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Millward, 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 MEANS AND

page_text: APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS,' a com-
munication to me from abroad by Andrew Jackson Reynolds, of Sturgis,
State of Michigan, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Millward, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing, under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, 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 Letter Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Millward, 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
Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the construction and application to vessels
of propelling machinery in which the paddle wheels, screws, or other
propellers are worked or set in motion by water power. For this
purpose the necessary "head
or pressure of water may be raised or
produced artificially by steam, animal, or other power, or by the con-
densation of steam in an elevated receiver fitted with suitable ports
and valves, and being stored either in "accumulators" such as are used
for hydraulic cranes or in raised tanks is applied to a water power
wheel or motor of any suitable known construction by which the
propeller or propellers are driven, or the propelling wheels may them-
selves be made to combine the characteristics of paddle wheels and
water power wheels of any suitable known construction, and be driven
by the weight or pressure of water applied direct.
This Invention further consists in constructing such water power
wheels or combined propelling and water power wheels with hinged or
reversible buckets or floats, or other equivalent expedients, so that they,
can be made to turn either backward or forward, or stopped at will,
while the apparatus by which the head or pressure of the water, is
maintained may be in continuous operation. By this Invention the
superiority of water power in producing continuous and uniform rotary:
motion, and in acting in a simple and rapid manner for reversing or
stopping water power wheels, is rendered available for propelling vessels.

page_text: On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figure 1 shows a side
elevation of a paddle wheel and its accessories, illustrating one mode of
applying the Invention; Figure 2 represents a vertical section of the
same in the plane of the axis.
A, A, may represent different parts of the framing or hull of a vessel;
C, C, represent the rims and arms, and C', the blades of a paddle wheel
fitted loosely upon the shaft B, but connected thereto by a clutch F; D
represents the frame of a water wheel fixed on the shaft B and enclosed
concentrically within the paddle wheel C, C', and provided with buckets
D' mounted upon pivots d having their bearings in the rim of the water
wheel D, and further provided with pins d¹ which occupy slots c¹ in the
paddle wheel C. It will be seen that the pins d' have sufficient play in
the slots C to permit the buckets D' to vibrate on their pivots d to the
extent of about one-fourth of a revolution; hence supposing the buckets
to have their mouths properly presented to receive water at the left side
of the wheel, as shown at Figure 1, the buckets must be vibrated as above
described so as to present their mouths in the reverse direction when it is
desired to adapt them to receive water at the right-hand side of the wheel
in order to reverse the motion. The reversal of the buckets is effected
by withdrawing the clutch F, thereby disconnecting the water wheel
from the paddle wheel, for when the wheels have been thus unclutched
the weight of the water in the buckets at the receiving side of the wheel
added to the momentum thereof due to the rotary motion of the wheel
will cause these buckets to turn on the pins d', and in thus effecting a
backward motion of the frame D relative to the paddle wheel (the extent
of such relative motion being determined by the play of the pins d'
within the slots c¹) the whole of the buckets will be reversed in position
and thereby adapted to receive water at the right-hand side of the wheel
so as to impart rotation to the paddle wheel and water wheel in a
contrary direction to that in which they previously turned. As soon as
the buckets are fairly reversed the water and paddle wheels are locked
together by the clutch F. The elevated reservoir G has sliding gates G',
one for the propelling apparatus at each side of the vessel, whereby the
water may be shut off at one of the outlets G and allowed to flow
through the other according to the direction of the wheel's rotation, or
be prevented from flowing through either outlet when the propelling
mechanism is to remain at rest. The gate G may be shifted from one
position to another by hand through the medium of the rack H, cogged
segment H', connecting rods H and H, and lever H³, or any other suitable

page_text: connections. The reservoir G is constructed and supported in any
suitable manner, and the effective power of the water upon the wheels
may be determined by the height of the reservoir or the size of the
discharge outlets.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and one of the
various means for carrying the same into practice as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, what I claim is,--
First. The construction and application to vessels of propelling
machinery worked or set in motion by water power.
Second. A propelling apparatus for vessels driven by a water wheel
of any suitable construction.
Third. A combined water wheel and paddle wheel for moving vessels
by water power, substantially as set forth.
Fourth. The combination of the pivotted buckets D¹ with the wheels C
and D, substantially as and for the purposes stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Millward, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN MILLWARD. (L.S.)