CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WAKEFIELD
PIM, of the Borough of Kingston-upon-Hull, in the County of the Town or
Borough of Kingston-upon-Hull, Engine and Boiler Maker, and Builder of
Iron Steam Ships, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth
year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Wakefield Pim, my
exors, admňors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Wakefield Pim, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Wakefield Pim, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and also in all the Colonics and Plantations abroad of Her said Majesty,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS;" in
which said Letters Patent there is, amongst others, contained a proviso that
if I, the said Wakefield Pim, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as by the said
Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said recited proviso, I, the
said Wakefield Pim, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawing therein referred to.
Submarine or submerged propellers for vessels have been described in the
Specifications of several Patents, and their application is well understood; but
such propellers have hitherto been placed at or near the stern of the vessel in
front of the rudder, and in or near the part of the vessel which has been called
the dead wood. Now I have discovered that a propeller so placed at the stern
of a vessel may advantageously and conveniently be combined with a similar
instrument placed at or near the bow of the vessel in such manner as by the
simultaneous action of the two instruments to propel the vessel through the
water. The two instruments may be affixed to a shaft parellel, or nearly so,
with the keel of the vessel, as shewn in the accompanying Drawing, or the
instruments may be on different shafts, but connected together by intermediate
geering or machinery, so as to admit of being driven simultaneously. These
instruments are to be placed in apertures cut in the vessel, or left during the
building at the stem and stern, as shewn in the Drawing, working through
water-tight stuffing boxes in the usual manner, the action of the blades at or
near the stern being to move the vessel by propelling or impelling it forward
through the water, while the action of the blades at or near the bow or stem
is to move the vessel by pulling or drawing it through the water. The instru-
ments must have the planes of their blades, and the direction in which they
are driven, arranged so as to ensure a propelling action to the vessel in
the same direction. The increased velocity which may thus be attained
through the water by adding to the action on the rudder of the water as
thrown by the propeller on to the rudder will facilitate the steering of the
vessel. The area and peculiar form or character of the blades, and the pitch
of the screw of which they are a portion, when curved blades are used, may
vary according to the nature of the vessel and the circumstances of the case.
These particulars form no part of Invention, and are well understood by persons
conversant with the construction and application of propelling instruments at
the stern of the vessel. The shaft or shafts of the propelling instrument may

page_text: be driven by geering or other means, as is well understood. The arrange-
ments or peculiar combinations of the driving apparatus in connection with the
shaft or shafts of the propelling instruments may be varied according to the
circumstances of each case.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I lay no claim to the
exclusive use of propelling instruments, except when arranged and combined as
herein-before mentioned. And I hereby declare the Invention, whereof the
exclusive use is claimed by the said in part recited Letters Patent, to consist in
a combination of two or more instruments having blades adapted for moving a
vessel through the water by simultaneous action at the stem and stern, as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Wakefield Pim, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight bundred and forty-nine
Enrolled the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.