IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION, STEERING, AND PROPELLING OF SHIPS AND OTHER FLOATING BODIES, AND APPLIANCES ADAPTED THERETO
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Moore, of Cannon Street, in the City of
London, Naval Architect, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION, STEERING, AND PROPELLING OF SHIPS AND OTHER FLOATING
BODIES, AND APPLIANCES ADAPTED THERETO."
Sealed the 17th December 1861, and dated the 24th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Moore at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th June
1861.
1, ROBERT MOORE, of Cannon Street, in the City of London, Naval
Architect, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION, STEERING, AND PROPELLING OF SHIPS AND OTHER FLOATING
BODIES, AND APPLIANCES ADAPTED THERETO," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention is for constructing ships and other vessels, for
which wholly or in part I employ voluted plates, sheets, or strips of iron and
other suitable metal, or admixture of metal, with other material of a plain or
uniform surface attached alone or in combination with other voluted or flatted
sheets or strips, or with bar or angle iron, with or without filling or lining pieces,
or in combination with cast iron, or with timber, and also with or without other
material, simple or compound, to maintain or increase the cohesion, coin-

page_text: pactness, or solidity of the metallic substances, or of all the component parts,
or to prevent or diminish the result of fracture in case of damage natural to
any or several of the substances if employed alone, which adaptation is partly
applicable to other purposes.
The second part of the Invention, relating to the means of steering, applied
either as auxiliary to or in substitution and independent of a rudder, consist
of the employment of two or more helical vanes placed in the forward or after-
cant body of the ship or other vessel, or in both. The plane of rotation of such
vanes should be parallel or oblique to or upon the line of midship section of
the vessel, and entirely independent of the action of the propeller, so far as
propulsion is concerned. These vanes act laterally or sideways on the water
at both sides of the ship, in a frame or transverse passage or opening (made
water-tight when necessary to prevent leakage in the ship), and driven by any
mechanical contrivance or motive power available for such purpose. I do not
claim as any portion of this arrangement the application of any contrivance
for steering the ship by the propeller, nor by a single steering or auxiliary
screw, both of which have been unsuccessfully attempted, and generally
discarded, but the practical character of my Invention is the adaptation of two
or more vanes or series or combinations of vanes, so adjusted as to steer with
equal effect to port or starboard, or if necessary unequally to compensate for
the unequal action of screw propellers in the direct movement of the ship
where such defect arises.
The third part of the Invention consists in the adaptation of one or more
adjusting frames, moveable in a vertical direction at the stern of ships pro-
pelled by helical paddles or screws of any kind whatever, for the purpose of
permitting the propeller to be driven by direct shafting, or by gearing with
variable immersion irrespective of the ship's load line.
For this purpose I
use a stern post, having a slotted opening cut for the vertical movement of the
screw shaft, or rolled, or forged, or fashioned partially or otherwise with the parts
rivetted, bolted, or otherwise fastened together, so as to admit of the desired
movement; otherwise I employ a stern post formed of one or more pieces,
with two or more suitable openings for independent shafting, but in the latter
case the adjusting frame is somewhat different in form and action from the
preceding. However, any competent mechanic can understand the the essential
details of construction for such frames without special description from this
indication, that the lift in the former arrangement must act with equal effect
on the moveable portion of the shaft, on the screw and bearings, and also on
the rudder astern, all if desired, when the latter is moveable, whereas in the
latter the lift is principally on the screw and rudder astern, if any, and

page_text: moveable. In regard to this I disclaim the right to any modification of the
screws or other helical propellers, or to any mechanism for shipping or
unshipping the same, which have been already used or patented, or to any
special utilization or regulation of any motive power, my claim being confined
to the adjusting frame or frames in combination with the stern post or posts,
and independent shafting, as herein-before described.
The fourth part of the Invention consists of an improvement in pumps,
applicable to other purposes. In a cylindrical chamber with lateral openings
communicating with a shaft, tube, or conduit, and rotating horizontally, a
central cone acts on the water admitted, and transmits to any level or in any
direction, operating either as a lift or force pump for any purpose for which it
may be required.