IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1854

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Davies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
June 1854.
I, JOSEPH DAVIES, of Bristol, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of improvements in machinery for propelling vessels,
when employing a series of float boards or paddles, connected and worked in
an endless series by chains or other means of connection; the object of the
Invention being so to arrange an endless series of paddles or floats, that each
float, when in action to propel, shall be caused to assume a vertical position,
or nearly so, and as it goes out of action to assume a horizontal position, or
nearly so, and thus only to present its edge to the water in moving back;
this is done in order that such an endless series of float boards or paddles may
be used below the water line of a vessel. For this purpose, when a ship or
vessel is to be propelled according to my Invention, it is constructed with a
suitable channel or channels below the water line, to receive one or more
endless series of float boards, arranged as above explained, so that the propelling
machinery may be below the water line of the vessel.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
DAVIES, of Bristol, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Davies, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Davies, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Joseph Davies, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PROPELLING VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Davies, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner-the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immie-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Davies, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be.particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :—
This Invention consists of improvements in machinery for propelling vessels,
when employing a series of float boards or paddles, connected and worked in
an endless series by chains or other means of connection; the object of the
Invention being so to arrange an endless series of paddles or floats, that each
float, when in action to propel, shall be caused to assume a vertical position, or
nearly so, and as it goes out of action to assume a horizontal position, or nearly
so, and thus only to present its edge to the water in moving back; this is done
in order that such an endless series of float boards or paddles may be used
below the water line of a vessel. For this purpose, when a ship or vessel is
to he propelled according to my Invention, it is constructed, with a suitable
channel or channels below the water line, to receive one or more endless series

page_text: may be below the water line of the vessel.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will now proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a section, and Figure 2 a plan, of apparatus constructed
according to my Invention applied to a ship or vessel. The other Figures show
details of the various parts, the nature of which being written thercon, it will
not be necessary to repeat the same here. The apparatus is worked in a
channel or recess, a, formed under the bottom of the vessel, and it is preferred
that such channel should be closed at its fore and open at its stern end. b, b,
are the floats, boards, or paddles, and it is preferred that, these floats when in
action should be so far within or above the bottom of the channel a, that they
may be entirely, or as nearly so as possible, out of the way of injury. The
floats 6, 6, move on axes c, c, these axes being connected together by the
links d, d, so as to form a continuous chain. The floats, boards, or paddles b, b,
are guided or conducted from one end of their motion in a horizontal direction
to the other by the fixed guides or rails e, e, on which the running wheels f, f,
moving on the axes c, c, of the floats rest.
Motion is communicated to the endless chain of floats by the cylinders i, i,
the axes of which pass through stuffing boxes i, ; the cylinders i, i, have
screw surfaces formed thereon, which by their revolution act on the friction
rollers h, k, fixed on the axes c, c, of the floats, so as to cause the floats and
the apparatus connected therewith to move in a horizontal direction, motion
being communicated to the cylinders i, i, from the main shaft 7, of a steam
engine or other motive power, by means of the crank frame m.
The floats b, b, are caused to assume and retain a vertical position when in
action by means of the arms b', 6', formed or fixed on the floats, and carrying
the friction rollers 6, ; these rollers rest on the rails or guides n, n, and by
that means retain the floats when in action in a vertical position, and when
they arrive at the end of their action, and it becomes requisite to convert their
vertical into a horizontal position, the fixed guiding surfaces o so act as to
conduct the floats into a horizontal position, as shown in the Drawing, where
they will be retained by the fixed guides q, q, between which the floats will be
conducted, there being friction rollers &, b, on the floats for that purpose.
The floats are guided from the horizontal to the vertical position by the fixed
guides o, which are similar in their action and construction to the guides o,
previously described; and it will be readily understood, that by reversing the

page_text: motion of the apparatus, stern way may be made. When it is desirable to
throw the floats out of action, the motion of the apparatus must be stopped
and the guides n, n, must be lowered below the floats b, b, by the screw r, when
the floats b, b, by reason of one of the rollers b², 62, being heavier than the other,
will assume an inclined position; a partial rotation must then be communicated
to the rods 5, 3, carrying the guides n, n, so as to move the guides n, n, under
the floats b, b, by reason of the cranks t, t; and upon raising the rods 8, s,
and guides n, n, while under the floats b, b, the floats will be caused to
assume a horizontal position, and by that means be thrown out of action.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not make any
claim to the parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the details herein
described, as the details may be varied, and yet obtain the peculiar action of
the several float boards herein described; but what I claim is, the mode
herein explained of combining the parts and actuating float boards.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Davies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
W. TONGUE.
JOSEPH DAVIES.