IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EMPLOYING. THE MOTIVE POWER OF JETS OF FLUID
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Matthew Piers Watts Boulton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,. on the
26th September 1866..
I, MATTHEW PIERS WATT BOULTON, of Tew Park, Oxfordshire, Esquire, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR EMPLOYING. THE MOTIVE POWER OF JETS OF FLUID," to be as-
follows:-
This Invention relates to the employment of jets of fluid for the purpose of
propelling vessels or vehicles, such, for instance, as ships moving on water, or
aerial vessels moving. through the air, and it also relates to the employment of
jets of fluid for the purpose of producing rotary motion in order to drive-
machinery or perform work.
When this Invention is used for the purpose of propelling ships or vessels:
moving through water, the apparatus and method employed are as follows:-
The ship or vessel to be propelled carries within it a vessel in which aeriform
fluid is generated or contained under pressure, and a jet of fluid issues from a
nozzle or orifice communicating with this vessel; this jet issues into the
water at the hinder part of the vessel in the direction in which it is desired to
impel the vessel, or nearly in that direction, and produces a current of water
also moving in like direction. The current thus produced impinges on a
curved surface, or flows through a curved channel attached to the ship or
vessel which it is desired to propel. It may be deflected by this surface
through various angles, but it is best. that it should be so deflected as to be

page_text: turned backward, so as to quit the surface in a direction contrary to that
which it had before impinging on the surface. The pressure exerted by the
current on the surface or body on which it impinges and by which it is
deflected propels the ship or vessel, urging it to move in the direction in which
the pressure acts. The current before impinging on the deflecting surface
may pass through a passage or passages in which its velocity is reduced and a
portion of its vis viva converted into pressure or potential energy, so that it
may act on the surface partly by pressure and partly by vis viva, as takes place
in a turbine.
The jet employed may be steam, or it may be other aeriform matter.
Several jets may be employed to produce the action above described on one
deflecting surface, and several jets acting on several deflecting surfaces may
be employed. The direction of the ship's motion can be controlled by changing
the direction and action of the jets and the position of the deflecting surfaces,
I prefer that the jets should act in the water at the hinder part of the ship or
vessel, as previously described, but they might act in other positions.
If this Invention is applied to the purpose of propelling vessels moving
through the air, then the jet or jets of fluid should issue into air and set air in
motion, the action of the current produced being similar to that previously
described. The fluid issuing from the jet or jets might be supplied from
substances which disengage gas rapidly when heated. The motive power of
the jets being employed to produce rapid forward motion, the necessary
elevating force might be obtained by the use of inclined planes, surfaces,
or vanes.
When this Invention is applied to the production of rotary motion the
apparatus and method employed are as follows:-The jet of fluid issues from
a nozzle attached to a rotating arm. Having issued from this it sets in
motion water or other fluid, and the current of fluid thus produced impinges
on a deflecting surface or body attached to an arm rotating along with that
which carries the nozzle through which the jet issues. The pressure exerted
by the impinging current on the surface or body on which it impinges and by
which it is deflected urges the arm to which that body is attached to revolve
and produces the rotary motion. Several arms and jets and several deflecting
bodies may be employed.