AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS BY MEANS OF SUPER- HEATED STEAM
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS BY MEANS OF SUPER-
HEATED STEAM."-A communication from abroad by Eugene Coulon, of
Rouen, France.
Sealed the 17th January 1862, and dated the 19th July 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman:
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th July 1861.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS BY MEANS
OF SUPERHEATED STEAM," (communicated to me from abroad by Eugene Coulon,
of Rouen, France,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in propelling ships and other vessels by the discharge
of dry or superheated steam directly against the water. The dry or super-
heated steam is conveyed through pipes provided with cocks and with adjust-
able nozzles, so that by turning the nozzles, and by allowing the steam to issue.
from the pipes at any particular part of the vessel at or below the water line
the vessel may be propelled in any required direction.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS BY
MEANS OF SUPERHEATED STEAM," (a communication from abroad by Eugene
Coulon, of Rouen, France,) upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in propelling ships and other vessels by the discharge
of dry or superheated steam directly against the water. The dry or super-
heated steam is conveyed through pipes provided with cocks and with adjust-
able nozzles, so that by turning the nozzles, and by allowing the steam to
issue from the pipes at any particular part of the vessel at or below the water.
line, the vessel may be propelled in any required direction.

page_text: Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings illustrate the manner, in
which the Invention may be carried into effect. a is the boiler, which may be
placed in any desired position in the vessel; b is a steam pipe leading from the
boiler into the furnace for drying or superheating the steam; from this pipe
the steam is led through branch pipes c, c', c¹¹, provided with cocks d, d, in
different directions to the sides of the vessel, or to the bow or stern. Thus,
for example, two pipes c, c, may lead to the sides, as shown in the plan,
Figure 2, when the dry steam coming in contact with the water propels the
vessel in the direction indicated by the arrow. The pipes for conveying the
dry steam, instead of leading to the sides of the vessel, may be led towards
the stern, as shewn by c¹, c', or towards the bow, as shown by c¹¹, c. In
fact, pipes may be laid for conveying the dry steam to any part of the vessel
according to where it is considered to act on the water with the greatest pro-
pelling force in the direction 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 the employment
of dry or superheated steam for propelling ships and other vessels by dis-
charging it against the water through pipes, substantially in manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of January, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)