CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING SHIPS, BOATS, OR OTHER VESSELS OR FLOATING BODIES
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BUSK, of Broad Street, in the City of London, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of November, in the fifth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Busk, Hia especial licence, that I, the said William Busk, my
exors, admiors, 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, uso, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His said Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING
SHIPS, BOATS, OR OTHER VESSELS OR FLOATING BODIES;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Busk, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Busk, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to con-
sist in the application of elastic metal or other plates and springs, in manner

page_text: herein-after shewn, to the purposes of propelling ships, boats, or other vessels
and floating bodies. And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said William Busk, do hereby also describe the manner in which I perform
my said improvements by the following description thereof, reference being
Iad to the Drawings annexed, and the figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In the Drawing marked A, Fig. 1 represents the side view of a common
barge, and shews two applications of my said Invention, namely, one at the
stern of the barge, and one at the sides. R is a thin clastic steel plate, and O is
an upright shaft to which it is firmly fixed by the bracket stays e, e, which stays
are furnished with pintles like those to an ordinary rudder, and these pintles
turn in ordinary gudgeons at 7, 1. The upright shaft O is furnished with a rod
or arm T, which arm it is proposed should be connected with a lateral vibrating
motion given by a steam engine or other sufficient power; but in ferry boats
and other the like small crafts, it is proposed to work this arm T backward and
forward by hand like an ordinary tiller; and this motion, if continued, will
propel the boat forwards; for it will be seen by reference to the Diagram,
Fig. 2, that when the rod or arm T is forced over to the side a, the elastic
plate will bend in the position shewn by the line r, and when it is forced over
to the other side e it will bend in the position of the line c; and it is evident
that the action of the water, by its resistance on either of these curves, will
urge the vessel forward. The plates at the side of the vessel act in the same
manner as that at the stern, and may be connected to the first moving power
by the two arms S, S, shown in Fig. 3, which is a plan of Figure 1.
In the Drawing marked B, Fig. 1 shews another application of my said Inven-
tion, being a thin clastic plate placed flatways instead of edgeways as in the Figures
herein-before described, and working up and down by means of the crank X
and shafts V and W; for it should bo observed that this crank moves two
shafts, one at each side of the boat; each shaft having an elastic plate attached
to it, the crank will of course be turned by the power giving the first motion,
and which may be steam or any other sufficient power. This observation is
applicable to all the applications of my said Invention herein-before or
herein-after to be described.
Figure 2, in Drawing B, represents another application of my said Invention.
In this case the elastic plates A, B, are fixed to a revolving shaft C, which shaft
is turned by a band D; these plates act on the same principle as those described
in Drawing A, but form of course a different curve from that shewn in the
Diagram annexed, which it is not necessary more particularly to describe,

page_text: having shewn the particular motion to be given to the plates, and which
motion I hereby declare will propel the vessel forwards.
Fig. 3 represents a similar application of elastic plates on a revolving axis
used at the sides of a vessel, the parts marked E being supports or bearings
projecting from the side of the vessel for the revolving shaft to turn on.
The Drawing marked C represents another application of my said Invention
for the purpose of a lee board. In Fig. 1, A is a flat-bottomed boat or vessel;
B is a thin elastic steel plate, thickest at the end where it joins the perpendicular
shaft F; this shaft is moved up and down at pleasure by the rack C and the
pinion D, which is held by the pall or catch E; the dotted lines shew the
position of the plate when not in use. When this plate is used as a lee board
the lateral resistance opposed to it by the water will cause it to bend to such a
curve as will assist in propelling the vessel forwards on the principles herein-
before stated, as those on which the said elastic plates act in other situations
herein-before described.
And whereas in the declaration of the nature of my said Invention I have
stated the same to consist in part of springs: Now, therefore, I do hereby
describe the manner in which I apply the said springs, that is to say, in all
cases where I have herein-before described the use of an elastic plate, a non-
elastic plate may be used, provided the same be fixed to elastic arms or springs,
as shewn in the Drawing C by Figure 2, which shews the non-elastic plate
and elastic arms, which may be substituted for the elastic plate shown at
Fig. 1. S, S, are two springs or elastic arms fixed to the shaft F; and X is
a non-elastic plate fixed to the ends of these arms. Now it will be seen when
the same vibrating motion is given to these arms and plate that has been
herein-before described to be given to the elastic plate, a similar advance of the
vessel will be produced, for the curve of the elastic arms will produce an angle
of the non-elastic plate, against which the water will act by its resistance to
force the vessel forward.
And whereas the application of elastic plates, or non-elastic plates affixed
to elastic arms or springs in manner herein-before described, for the purposes
of propelling ships, boats, and other floating bodies, is to the best of my know-
ledge and belief entirely new, and has never before been practised in that part
of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in
any of His said Majesty's Colonies or Plantations abroad; and I do hereby
declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do very believe this
my said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve or
disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters

page_text: Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Busk, have hercunto set my hand
and scal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eleventh day of May, in the
year of our Lord 1825, the aforesaid William Busk came before our said Lord
the King in His 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.
Inrolled the Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-five.