AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR PEOPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nicholas Demetrius Spartali, of Liverpool, in
the County of Lancaster, Steam Ship Agent, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR PEOPELLING VESSELS."
Sealed the 9th July 1869, and dated the 19th January 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nicholas Demetrius
Spartali at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 10th January 1869.
I, NICHOLAS DEMETRIUS SPARTALI, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Steam Ship Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "As IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING
VESSELS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to drive vessels by hydraulic power
obtained by the weight of water upon water assisted by auxiliary steam
power, which I consider will be a great saving of power upon the
ordinary forco pump. The way in which I propose to effect this is by
fitting the vessel at the after part close to the stern with a taper tube

page_text: ending in a trumpet mouth which opens to the external water, the
diameter being proportioned to the tonnage and width of the ship. This
taper tube is connected with inlets at the bottom and sides of the ship
for the purpose of being fed with water; it may also be connected to
pipes leading through the bows of the ship. I propose to renew the
supply to make up for the quantity discharged at the stern by means of
force valves at the head and on each side of the tube. A plunger may
be fitted at the top of the tube actuated by a steam engine of sufficient
power to assist the discharge of the water admitted as above stated to
the interior of the tube.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Nicholas Demetrius Spartali in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 19th July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NICHOLAS
DEMETRIUS SPARTALI, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Steam
Ship Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Nicholas Demetrius Spartali,
Her special licence that I, the said Nicholas Demetrius Spartali, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Nicholas Demetrius Spartali, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR
PROPELLING VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Nicholas Demetrius Spartali, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same was to DC periormed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patont.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Nicholas Demetrius Spartali, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):-
-
This Invention relates to the propelling of vessels upon the water by
the discharge at or near the stern of the vessel of a stream or streams
of water below the line of flotation.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 shews a partial
longitudinal section of a vessel fitted with the improved apparatus by
which I propose to obtain a stream or streams of water and set the same
in motion, the apparatus being also in vertical section.
A is a vertical cylinder fitted with a piston B, the rod of which carries
a cross head O; this cross head works iu fixed guides, and pendent
from its ends are rods D, D, which connect with the beams E of a
steam engine F of the ordinary construction. The cylinder A is fitted
at bottom or at its sides below the external water line with valves
which serve to admit water thereto. The water will enter by its own
gravity through pipes a, a, leading either from below or through the
sides of the vessel; these alternate plans are both shewn in the Drawing.
At its rear side this cylinder connects with a taper tube G which extends
beyond the stern of the vessel and some distance below the water level.
This tube, which I term the propelling tube, I profer, after expanding
somewhat like a trumpet tube, as it does from 1 to 2, should suddenly
contract slightly at its mouth from 2 to 3, in order to ensure that the
stream of water issuing from the tube shall escape with a proper degree of
rush or impetuosity. The cylinder AI propose so to arrange that its
piston shall not descend below the water level outside the vessel, and to
prevent the piston as it rises lifting the water as in a pump I fit it
with a valvo or valves opening inwards, so that as the piston rises it will
let in air below the piston, and thus when the piston descends to force

page_text: out the water that has flowed into the cylinder it will act through a
compressed column of air upon the water, the presence of which between
the piston and the water will effectually prevent the latter from rising
with the piston, and thereby putting a useless duty upon the engine.
Instead of making the cylinder A of the same diameter throughout I
propose in some cases to contract its diameter at the lower part, as
shewn at Fig. 2.
In Sheet II., at Fig. 1, I have shewn a modification in which instead
of admitting the water to the cylinder A to be driven out therefrom by
compressed air as described, I provide a separate vessel H (in direct
connection with the tube G) for receiving the water. This vessel H
is closed at top, and connected by a pipe I with the cylinder A, and it
may receive water from 'inlet pipes, like the cylinder A, in Sheet I., or
the water may be wholly admitted on the rise of the piston in the
cylinder through the propelling tube G. By making the cylinder A
supply two propelling tubes, situated one on each side of the vessel, and
providing valves for shutting off the supply to either tube at pleasure, I
shall be enabled to stcer the vessel in great part or wholly without the aid
of a rudder. Fig. 2, Sheet II., shews this arrangement; it also serves to
illustrate an arrangement, whereby the direction of the vessel's pro-
pulsion may be reversed. In this latter case the cylinder A is connected
with two taper tubes G, G', which are set in line with the keel, and open
out respectively at the head and stern of the vessel. Cut-off valves (K)
are provided in the branch passage (L) leading from the cylinder A to
the tubes G, G, so that by lifting one of these and lowering the other
the discharge of water may be directed ahead or sternwards at pleasure.
Or in place of setting the tubes in the line of the keel they may be set
at the sides of the vessel, and fitted with reversible nozzles for directing
the propelling current to the head or the stern as required. To keep up
a rapid discharge of water through the propelling pipe two forcing a
cylinders may be connected therewith if thought desirable, the action of
their pistons being alternated as in double-action force pumps.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved
Mode of and Apparatus for Propelling Vessels," and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that 8
under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, propelling vessels

page_text: by a stream or streams of water flowing into the vessel, and impelled
outwards by the means above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nicholas Demetrius Spartali, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.