IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF FASTENING ON AND REEFING PADDLE-WHEEL FLOAT BOARDS OR PADDLES
Year: 1844

page_text: HAMOND'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Vice-.
Admiral Sir GRAHAM EDEN HAMOND, Baronet, K.C.B., of Norton Lodge,
Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourteenth day of October, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Sir Graham Eden Hamond, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Sir Graham Eden IIamond, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Sir Graham Eden Hamond, my
exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF FASTENING ON AND REEFING PADDLE-WHEEL
FLOAT BOARDS OR PADDLES," communicated from my son, Commander Andrew
Snape Hamond, R.N., now commanding Her Majesty's steam sloop of war
"Salamander," stationed in the Pacific; in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Sir Graham Eden Hamond, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Iler said 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
Sir Graham Eden Hamond, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures
and letters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
Various modes have been adopted for fixing on paddle boards or paddles,
and most of them very efficient,, so, far as the mere fixing them on goes, being
generally effected by iron hooks embracing the paddle arm, which, passing
through the paddle boards, are secured by nuts and screws upon plates on the
side of the boards furthest removed from the paddle arm. In process of
time, however, coupled with the action of salt water upon the iron, the nuts
and screws become so rusted together, that if occasion occur for wishing them
to be shifted, removed, or reefed, it is scarcely possible to be done without
breaking off the end of the hook bolts, or, if not. broken, the rust will be found
to have so far corroded the screw part of it as to reduce it, in size, and the
inside of the nut will (subject to the same cause) become so enlarged
as to render their further use impraticable, and recourse must be had to new
bolts and nuts. Some very ingenious plans have been patented for quickly
reefing and letting out paddle boards so as to keep them at a proper degree of
immersion. They are, however, subject to strong objections in consequence
of being composed of a complication of machinery constructed within the
paddle wheel, which, although beautiful in its original plan and construction
in effecting the purpose intended (while new), yet, from the action of the salt
water upon it (being constantly immersed therein), becomes oxydized, and soon
altogether useless. From the experience that Captain Hamond has obtained
during his command of Her Majesty's steam sloop of war "Salamander," in
the Pacific, he turned his thoughts to endeavour to rectify the objections
above raised against the present mode of fixing on and reefing of paddle
boards or paddles, and he now ventures to offer an improved mode, which he
considers of the greatest importance to steam navigation:-
First, from its great economy in the first construction, it being fitted at half
the cost of hook bolts, nuts, and plates.
Secondly, its great simplicity, and the easiness of its construction, as the
whole of the iron work can be made by any common blacksmith, with no other
tools than hammer and anvil.
He states also some of the advantages of his improved plan, more particu-
larly for the information of those who are not practically acquainted with the
difficulty and great loss of time in reefing, removing, or tightening up any one

page_text: or all of the paddle boards when occasion requires, as they are at present
applied, and when the nuts have become so corroded on the bolts that it
renders it next to impossible to remove them without great labour.
First, the great facility with which the paddle boards can be reefed from
there being no nuts to corrode upon the bolts, and the great desideratum
which is thereby acquired of keeping, reefing, or letting out the paddle boards
at the most advantageous immersion, according as the vessel varies in her
draft of water at the various periods of her voyage, and the consequent
increased speed obtained by the boards not being suffered to go deeper in the
water than is necessary for that purpose, and which it is next to impossible to
effect in the present mode of fitting them.
Secondly, the diminution in the loss of paddle boards from the nuts (when
newly fixed) working off the bolts, a well known fact to those who have com-
mand of steam vessels, particularly when the vessel first comes from the dock
yard,-the
"Salamander" having lost nine paddle boards between Plymouth
and Madeira; the improved mode of fitting only requiring to be made fully
effective by the blow of a hammer. It frequently happens in putting on float
boards that the workman imagines the board to be fast from the nut merely
working stiff upon the bolt, when, in fact, the board is quite loose upon the arm
of the wheel, which also occasions great loss of boards, bolts, nuts, and plates,
especially in severe weather at sea, when it is impossible to work a screw
wrench or spanner in the paddle casing.
Thirdly, the great saving in expense in the improved mode of construction
in comparison with that of the present, as well as of the saving of the annual
loss of boards, bolts, nuts, and plates.
Fourthly, the ease and facility with which the improved mode of con-
struction can be applied to the wheels of all steam vessels now in use, and
also the facility of putting on or taking off or reefing the paddle boards at sea,
or otherwise, and which, according to the improved plan as proposed by
Captain Hamond, might be effected in the course of half an hour; whereas,
in the old plan, and under favorable circumstances, it cannot be done under
half a day.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
An iron link or strap is first placed upon each paddle arm before the peri-
phery or outer circle is fixed thereon. This link passes through a hole cut
through the paddle board, and it projects through it so far as to admit a wedge
of wood, and of nearly the breadth of the paddle board, to be inserted through
such projection, and which, being tightened up by a few blows of a hammer,

page_text: securely binds and fixes the paddle board to the paddle wheel arm. By way,
however, of additional security, a metal pin may be driven in above the iron
strap to prevent the wedge slipping out, but which it will seldom or never do
after it has become wet. When wishing to reef the boards or paddles, the
wedge has only to be. slackened, and the paddle board being placed at the
required degree of immersion, the wedge is again driven up. In order to
admit of this Invention being applicable to the paddle arms of steam vessels
now in use, and without removing the periphery or outer ring from the wheel,
an open iron link can be substituted for the close one, as shewn in the plan
at h. This open link can also of course be use in cases where the close link has
been broken or lost. A second link might also be added on each paddle arm in
very large steamers, if considered to be more advisable than a single one, and
which would admit, of course, of shorter wedges, the paddle boards having
additional holes cut through to admit of the second link; also, in constructing
new paddle arms, notches or scores might be made in their outer extremities,
as shewn in the plan, so as to admit of the link taking firmer hold of the arm,
and when wishing to reef the boards or paddles the exact distances of all the
links might at once be given by naming the number of the notch from the
periphery without using a rule to measure. a, paddle shaft; b, boss; c, paddle
arms; d, periphery or outer circle of the paddle wheel; c, inner or strengthening
circle; f, paddle boards; g, a square or rather oblong iron strap, which is placed
upon each paddle arm before the periphery is fixed on, and which, passing
through the paddle board, is firmly fixed thereto by a wedge or key (k);
h, open iron strap with forelock, to be used in case the solid iron strap (g) be
broken or lost; i, the forelock. This strap may be applied (with the paddle
boards) to all wheels now in use, without removing the periphery or outer ring.
k, wedge of wood, in length nearly the breadth of the paddle board, which, being
inserted in the iron straps, are tightened up by the hammer, and bind the
paddle board to the paddle arm; shews the lower part of a paddle arm
having notches on it to admit the iron strap, if considered to be more
advisable that it should be inserted therein, in order to give it greater firmness
of hold. Altho' I have mentioned iron and wood as the materials used for
fixing the float boards, I do not confine myself thereto, as other suitable
materials may be used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir Graham Eden Hamond, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
GRAHAM E. HAMOND, B'. (L..),
02

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid Sir Graham Eden Hamond came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and everything 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.