IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLERS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Lanphier Anderson, of Clarendon
House, Caterham, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Lanphier
Anderson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th July 1870.
I, WILLIAM LANPHIER ANDERSON, of Clarendon House, Caterham,
in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLERS," to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention consists in propelling ships, boats, and other vessels
by means of floats or paddles arranged and worked so as to present a
flat surface to the water during the forward stroke, and to pass edgeways
during the back stroke, feathering as they change from one stroke to
the other.
In the accompanying Drawings Figure 1 represents a section of a
ship's stern; at the two extremities of the transverse shaft A, which

page_text: works through stuffing boxes on either side of the vessel, and is driven
by the engine acting upon the central crank, are crank arms B, B,
working in opposite directions and giving motion to the guide rods C, C,
to which they are attached by sockets D, D, through which the crank
pins pass horizontally and the guide rods vertically; the propelling
paddles E, E, are attached to the guide rods and follow their movements.
The guide rods, as the crank arms revolve, pass through slots in the
swivels F, F, which are either pivotted on brackets projecting from the
exterior of the vessel, as in the figure, or may be placed within the
vessel, the guide rods entering through apertures on either side. These
guide rods are flatened where they pass through the swivels, and for a
portion of this flat part are twisted one-quarter of a full turn, the twist
being rather prolonged to give ease of movement.
―The
The action of the propeller when in motion is as follows: —
paddle making the forward stroke commences the stroke when the
twisted portion of the guide rod to which it is attached has passed
through the slot in the swivel above, and the straight part of it has come
into bearing; the paddle then travels with its flat side at right angles
to the vessel until the twisted part of its guide rod is again brought to
the swivel, in passing through which it feathers, and the back stroke is
made with the paddle edgeways to the water. A similar movement
takes place with the other paddle, the forward motion of the one and the
back stroke of the other being made simultaneously during one revolution
of the crank.
The guide rods may, in lieu of the flat-sided Figure before described,
be made circular with projecting flanges curved to the requisite spiral
for feathering, the slots in the swivels being formed to correspond there-
with, or any other figure of guide rod and swivel may be adopted for
effecting that purpose.
The propeller may be arranged so that the paddles may act indepen-
dently of each other on either side of the vessel by dividing the
crank shaft into two portions to be driven separately by the engine or
engines.
A mode of adapting the propeller to a vessel already fitted with a
screw without altering the action of the engine is shewn at Fig. 2,
which represents a section of a ship's stern at that part where the
screw is attached to the screw shaft; the screw aperture is filled in with
dead wood, a small portion being cut away to admit of the cross shaft A, A,

page_text: passing through it. Attached to either side of the dead wood by bolts
or otherwise are frames B, B, supporting the transverse shaft A, on
which is keyed a mitre wheel C geared to a similar wheel D fitted on
the extremity of the main shaft; the feathering swivels E, E, are also
attached to the dead wood (or to the vessel itself) by brackets or a cross
head F, F, and the guide rods and paddles are attached to the crank
arms, as before described. The propeller may in this case be so arranged
as to be capable of being raised out of the water and lowered again
when required, for which purpose a vertical groove or slót should be
cut through the dead wood before mentioned, from the intersection of the
cross shaft upwards, and the two portions of the supporting frames B. B,
bolted together through blocks made to slide in the grooves thus formed.
An aperture should also be made in the vessel in continuation of the
groove or slot in the dead wood sufficiently large to admit of the pro-
peller being raised into it by tackles or otherwise.
The paddles may be set edgeways to the water when not required for
steaming by constructing the feathering swivels so that they may be
turned in their bearings horizontally, and be secured in that position
when required, or one only may be so constructed.
The propeller may also be used in lieu of oars for rowing by
attaching to either side of the boat or other vessel a hand crank with a
paddle and guide rod working through a swivel pivotted from a davit
above.
The arrangements described in the foregoing may be varied to suit
different descriptions of vessels or circumstances, but in any case the
guiding and feathering movements must be effected by means of guide
rods acted upon by swivels as specified in this description.
0
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters, Patent,
filed by the said William Lanphier Anderson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 25th January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LANPHIER ANDERSON, of Clarendon House, Caterham, in the County of
Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign; did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Lanphier Anderson, Her special
licence that I, the said William Lanphier Anderson, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Lanphier
Anderson, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLERS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Lanphier Anderson, 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 Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Lanphier Anderson, 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 thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say. :-
This Invention relates to improved construction of propellers and to
the mode of actuating them, so that they act with their flat sides to
the water for the forward stroke, and edgeways for the back stroke. The
guide rods to which the blades are attached are twisted in some part of
their length, and as they rise and fall in sockets or guides fitted in or on
the ship they partake of a partial rotation, and thus cause the blades to
act in a similar manner to that known as feathering.
There are several ways of carrying my Invention into effect, there-
fore I do not limit myself to the exact plan shown in the 'Drawings
which accompany this Specfication.
The Drawings represent the stern portion of a vessel, one of them,
Figure 1, being a section somewhat in advance of the stern post, and

page_text: Figure 2 a side view of the same. It will be seen that the motion is
derived from a double crank shaft A which can be operated direct from
the engine, or in any other convenient manner.
This shaft passes
through glands or stuffing boxes a, a, on or in the skin of the vessel,
and carry on their outer ends crank arms B, B, these arms are pinned
to ring collars b, b, which are held between shoulders on vertical guide
rods C, C, carrying the blades on their lower ends. The guide rods
C, C, are flat for a portion of their length and are twisted at or about
the middle, bringing one part at right angles to the other, and forming
a portion of a prolonged screw thread. They are held in position at
their upper parts by swivel guides or sockets F, F, fitted in or upon the
vessel, the openings in the sockets corresponding with the thickness of
the rods at the flat part, so that they work freely up and down in them.
At or about the middle of each up-and-down stroke of the rods C, C,
the twisted or spiral portions are acted upon by the sockets F, F, which
cause them to turn a quarter round, and thus alter the position of the
blades from flat to edgways and vice versa.
In the Drawings I have shown the blades as arranged in opposite
directions through the positions of the crank arms B, B, on the shaft A,
so that the blades act alternately and maintain a continuous progressive
movement. The sockets F, F, may be plain, as shown, or they may be
provided with rollers to reduce the friction upon the guide rods C, C ;
they may likewise be enclosed by tubes or trunks to prevent the entrance
of water into them.
The action of the propeller when in motion is as follows:-The
paddle making the forward stroke commences the stroke when the spiral
portion of the guide rod to which it is attached has passed through the
guide or swivel above, and the flat part of it has come into bearing. The
paddle then travels with its flat side at right angles to the vessel until
the spiral part of its guide rod is again brought to the guide or swivel,
in passing through which it feathers, and the back stroke is made with
the paddle edgways to the water; a similar movement takes place with
the other paddle, the forward movement of the one and the back stroke
of the other being made simultaneously during one revolution of the
crank.
In Figure 2 an exterior view of a propeller is given placed in a position
under the quarter of the vessel, but it may be in any other position if
desired. The paddle is about to commence the feather which will bé

page_text: completed when the crank arm has reached the horizontal or there-
abouts, and it will then be in the proper position to make the forward
stroke, and will continue in that position until the crank arm has again
reached the horizontal, when it will feather again for the back stroke.
The guide rods may be made either with a projecting flange or sunken
channel curved to the requisite spiral, or of any other form that will
allow of their receiving the requisite guidance in their passage through
the guides or swivels, the latter being in all cases made in proper con-
formity with the form adopted for the guide rods. The guides or swivels
and guide rods may, if preferred, be carried wholly on the exterior of
the vessel, the former being in that case fixed or pivotted on brackets
attached to the outside. The paddles may be set edgways to the water
when not required for steaming by any simple arrangement of the guides
or swivels, so that when one of the paddles is in the required position
the guide rod of the other may be also turned edgways and secured in
that position, or both of the paddles may be wholly removed from the
crank, and taken inboard when required.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my
Invention,―
Firstly. The improved means or apparatus for propelling ships or
vessels as herein-before described and shown.
Secondly. I claim arranging propelling blades upon guide rods which
have a twist or spiral upon them for changing the positions of the
blades, substantially as described and represented.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Lanphier Anderson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of
January One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
W L
ANDERSON