IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING STEAM VESSELS
Year: 1853

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Cowan at the
Office of the Commissioners: of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th February 1853.
(Void by reason of notice to proceed not having been given within the
time prescribed by the Act.)
I, JOSEPH COWAN, of Liverpool, in the County Palatine of Lancaster,
Cabinet Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING STEAM VESSELS" to be as follows: -
A peculiar arrangement of propellers capable of being worked by
the direct action of a steam engine, and with or without cranks,
the several parts of which are fully explained in the following de-
scription, reference being made to the Drawings hereunto annexed,.
in which the same letters apply to the same parts respectively in
each view of my improved apparatus.
Fig. 1, a side sectional view of the after part of a vessel. The
propelling shaft A, is connected directly or otherwise with the
piston rod of the steam engine, and works the propeller B, by means
of the frame work C, D, E, F. At: a is placed a stop when the
vessel is going forward, and at b is another similar stop, but. on

page_text: the under side, and, therefore, then out of use. When the propeller
B is employed to back the vessel, a rod at F, being turned half
round by a proper arrangement for that purpose, the stop a, is
carried round to the under side, and the stop b, brought uppermost
on the opposite side of B, both of which motions can be managed
by connecting rods worked from the deck. Now the propeller B,
being square or nearly so, is suspended and moves freely from G,
by a hinged joint formed of a bolt and rings; consequently, when
the stop is on the inside, that is, at a, the effect of protruding the
propeller is to push the vessel forward; and, on the contrary, when
the stop a is turned off, and 6 rises to the outside lower edge of B,
then the propeller B, when pushed outward, meets with scarcely
any resistance; but at the return stroke B being retained in a
vertical position by the stop b, it causes the vessel to move back-
ward. From G to H is supposed to be equal to the full stroke of
the piston, and consequently of the propeller, both lying horizontally
parallel with the vessel's keel. I propose that there shall be two
of these propellers, one on each side of the rudder, worked alter-
nately by two engines, or otherwise connected with the piston rod
of one engine by a suitable cross head, in which latter case both
propellers would work simultaneously.
Fig. 2, a view of a vessel's stern, showing two propellers B, B,
and G, G, the hinged portion of each.
I recommend buffers or springs to relieve the action of the flap
B on the stops a, b. The flap B may be variously constructed
as to size and material, and may either present a resisting flat or
concave surface.
I have thus explained the construction of my improved propeller,
and its action in working backward and forward when placed at
right angles to the vessel's keel. But if the propellers be now
simultaneously turned on their hinged centres G, G, it is manifest
that the vessel, instead of going either ahead or back, will take a
circuitous course similar to the action of the rudder, but with
attendant velocity, and also with the difference that the vessel can

page_text: be propelled round backward by using the stop b, or forward by
substituting the other stop a, as before described.
What I claim as my Invention is, the peculiar arrangement of a
propeller or propellers constructed as herein described.