CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HANNIS TAYLOR, of the West Strand, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Second day of January, in the eighth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, IIer heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Hannis Taylor, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Hannis Taylor, my exors,
adiiors, or assigns, or such others as I, the said William Hannis Taylor,
my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, Iler Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING;" in which
said Letters there is contained a proviso that I, the said William
Hannis Taylor, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, under my hand
and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hannis Taylor, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
consists in the propelling of vessels by means of paddle wheels placed entirely
under the water line, and having currents of water flowing through them, and
that the manner in which the same is to be performed is fully described and
set forth in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the illustrative Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed is a plan of my propelling
apparatus, and Figure..2. an external elevation of the same, being shewn in
both these Figures detached from the vessel to which it is to be applied.
Figure 3 is a plan, Figure 4 a side elevation, and Figure 5 a transverse
section of a vessel, with the propelling apparatus, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2,
applied to it. A (Figure 3) represents a room in the centre of the vessel to be
appropriated to the engines by which the paddle wheels are to be propelled.
B, B, are two recesses for the paddle wheels, formed in the sides of the vessel
under the water line, which are parted off from the rest of the vessel by water-
tight partitions a, a, and have openings to the external water at the points b, c,
and d. Each recess is horizontally divided by partitions e, e, into three
separate compartments, namely, a central compartment marked C¹, within
which the wheel revolves in a horizontal position, and two others, one above
and one below, marked C, C³, through which the water flows into or from
the wheel. D, D, are the vertical axes of the wheels, which are stepped in
suitable bearings in the floor of the vessel, and are carried upwards through
hollow trunks or cases E, E, which reach above the water line. Each axis is
stepped at such a point within the recess, that when the wheels revolve the
floats f, f, shall successively project a little way beyond the outsides of the
vessel. Where the shafts pass through the partitions e, e, which separate the
upper and under compartments C², Cs, there are open spaces all round them,
to allow of the water flowing into and from the centre of the wheels. The
length of the side openings d should not be less than about one sixth or more
than about one third of the circumference of the wheel. The necessary rotary
motion is communicated to the shafts from the engine, by means of wheel
gearing, which, being of the same description as that commonly used for such
purpose, is not represented in the Drawings. On motion being given
to the wheels, the floats are successively protruded into the water one at a
time, and each at that point of its circle of revolution where it is capable of
exerting its greatest useful effect. The water at the same time keeps con-
tinually rushing through the top and bottom openings b, c, and the open spaces
round the shafts D, D, into the centre of the wheels, whence it is expelled

page_text: sternwards through the side openings d. The floats may be of the form and
fixed in the manner shewn in Fig. 5, or of the form and fixed in the manner
shewn in Fig 5º, or of any other suitable form, and fixed in any other suitable
way.
1 ...
Another arrangement, on the same principle as the preceding, is represented
in plan, Figure 6 of the Drawings hereunto annexed. .M is a water trunk
made in the bottom of the vessel, extending from side to side, and parted.off
from the rest of the vessel by water-tight partitions w, w, the floor of the vessel
serving as the floor for this trunk: N, N, are two circular cases, appropriated
to the paddle wheels, which are raised on the bottom of M, and project
through openings m, m, the ends next the water (fitting tightly into these
openings) to such an extent, that the length of the openings shall. (as before)
be not less than about one sixth nor more than about one third of the circum-
ference of the cases. Where these cases project from the vessel, they are open
at the sides (only) to the water; but on the inside, all round from " to,s, they,
are closed, and shut off from any communication with the water' trunk M,
except through orifices P, P, made in the tops of the cases round the paddle
wheel shafts. The water trunk M is perforated in those parts of the bottom.
of it not covered by the paddle wheel cases with holes for the admission of
water from the outside of the vessel, and being by this means kept constantly
full, the water flows over through the orifices P, P, into the centres of the
wheels, whence it is expelled through the open side of the paddle wheel cases.
Instead of the floor of the water trunk M serving for the floor of the paddle
wheel cases, the latter may have separate floors of their own, and be raised a
little above the floor of the water trunk, as represented in the sectional eleva-
tion, Figure 7, which will allow of a number of additional holes for the
admission of water being made in the bottom of the trunk.
A third arrangement, much on the same principle as the last, is shewn in Fig. 8.
Each paddle wheel case has a separate water trunk M, which is quite open at
bottom to the water, and it is also itself open at bottom (as well as at top) to
the water. Should the supply of water to the interior of the paddle wheel cases
provided for by any of the preceding arrangements not prove sufficient, pipes
may be laid from the outside of the vessel to the openings in the tops of the
paddle wheel cases, as indicated by the dotted lines t, t, in Figure 6, which
would furnish any additional supply that might be required.
Instead of the paddle wheels being fixed horizontally under the water line,
as in the arrangements before described, I sometimes fix them vertically as
represented in the plan, Figure 9, and in the transverse section, Figure 10,
and worked by crank connections as usual; but I do not consider this plan of

page_text: equal efficiency with either of the two first described. H and G are channels
which would, in this modification of the Invention, be necessary to admit water
into the centre of the wheel for the purpose before explained; or the paddle
wheels, when worked vertically, may be enclosed in chambers open at top
to the atmosphere, and rising above the level of the water on the outside of
the vessel, in which case the water may be left to flow freely into the wheels,
through any number of tubes found requisite to supply the quantity ejected by
them when in motion.
In all cases where the paddle cases are not worked in chambers having an
open communication with the atmosphere, it will be necessary to have air
tubes communicating between the paddle wheel cases C, C, and the external
atmosphere.
The Drawings represent the paddle wheels as fixed nearly in the middle of
the length of the vessel, but I do not limit myself to their application at that
part, as they would work equally well if fixed at other parts of the vessel, as
nearer the bows or further astern.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is, the propelling of vessels by means of paddle wheels placed wholly
under the water line, and having currents of water flowing through them as
before described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this First
day of July, One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
W. H. (L.B.) TAYLOR.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the First day of July, in the year
of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid William Hanuis Taylor came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-five.