IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS OR SHIPS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederick Wilkins at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 31st May 1876.
FREDERICK WILKINS, of Euston Road, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS OR
SHIPS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER MOTIVE POWER."
The objects of this Invention are to utilize the motion or force of the waves so as
to produce a motive power available for the purpose of propelling ships, boats, life
boats, tugs, pontoons, barges, buoys, life preservers, and other bodies, animate or
inanimate, floating on or near the surface of the water in substitution for steam,
wind, or other motive power, or in conjunction therewith as an auxiliary power;
these propellers being ntirely self-acting may be used alone or in connection with
other incans.
The principle is also available for driving machinery on shore (or on floating
bodies) with which it may be connected by driving bands or any other suitable
gear.
To effect these objects I use small floats, fins, vanes, paddles, or propellers, applied
in large numbers to various parts of ships at or under the water or loadline (by
preference), and at other parts under the water.
These fin propellers may be square, round, oval, or of the form of fishes' fins, or
any other suitable shape, and are to oscillate or turn to a certain degree upwards
and downwards on horizontal pins or axes on the ship or vessel so that they may
incline upwards to the required degree (about 45 more or less) thus presenting an
inclined plane for the rising wave power to act on and to present a like plane down-
wards to receive the power of each falling wave, cach float adjusting itself separately
and alternately to each rising or falling wave, the aggregate amount of power
obtained by the large number of small fins being sufficient to propel any floating
body at a high rate of speed. These fins or floats may have flat surfaces or be
slightly concave on either or both the upper and under sides. Each fin may be a
single plate or be composed of two or more parts in one frame working on the same
pinion, and each part may have a pinion or be fixed in the frames. Being moveable
on horizontal axes they can flap up and down like the wings of a bird being moved
to the required angle by the force of the waves or by being connected with any
motive
power engine.
Some or all of these floats may be connected with steam, manual, or other power
within the ship, so as to be worked by it in calm or smooth water, as in harbours,
Price 2

page_text: where the power of the waves may not be sufficient for the required purpose, their
power depending solely on the motion of the waves upwards or downwards. I use
stops or pins to prevent these fins from assuming a greater degree of inclination than
is required to produce the desired effect. I also employ gear for reversing the posi-
tion or action of these self-acting propellers so that vessels may be propelled back-
wards as well as forwards, and for throwing them out of action when necessary for
the purpose of stopping. I also arrange for stopping or reversing those on one side
of vessels (or some of them) so as to cause such vessels to turn in any direction or
even to rotate on their centres. These fin floats may be of wood, metal, or other
suitable material, and may be either rigid or flexible, or may have hinges or springs
annexed so as to moderate the percussion of the waves on them.
Vessels are thus propelled by these fins being acted on by the water even as a fish
is propelled by acting on the water by its fins, but by the reverse power, the relative
power between the fins and the water being mutual and equal to that of the water
on the fins. By this system ships may be propelled round the world without sails,
steam, or sailors, except such as inay be necessary to steer.
For the purpose of applying this Invention to driving machinery on shore, as one
of the means I employ, I apply similar fins, floats, vanes, or propellers to the frame,
or to the periphery or other parts of a wheel or other body capable of rotation placed
horizontally in the water and at the surface thereof so that it can rotate on its centre
or on a bearing fixed in the water as a pile, or supported by a pier or by a floating
body capable of sustaining it. The pivots on which the fin propellers are placed
are also to be fixed horizontally to these frames so that cach may flap up and down
like the wings of a bird to a certain angle, as previously described, and their pinions
or axes must be at right angles or nearly so to the line of motion or rotation of the
wheel or frame or body to which they are attached, and the axes or hinges of theso
propellers must be in their front part so that the propellers will follow or travel be-
hind their axes as the wheel rotates, the rising and falling waves acting alternatively
on the inclined surfaces so presented and thus causing the wheel to rotate. I connect
this revolving wheel or frame by a driving band and drums or by tooth gear or by
shafting joined by universal joints with any required machinery on shore or on
board any vessel where a motive power may be required.