IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING BOATS AND BARGES."
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Ford, of Islington, in the County of Middle-
sex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING BOATS
AND BARGES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Ford at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th Novem-
ber 1868.
I, DAVID FORD, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRO-
PELLING BOATS AND BARGES," to be as follows (that is to say):-
My Invention has reference to the construction and employment of
machinery or apparatus for facilitating the propulsion of boats and barges
upon rivers and canals by enabling the same to be contained and worked in
less space and more conveniently than by the present system of tug boats, and
consists of a short buoy and vessel suitable for being employed in connection
with the stern of the said boats or barges in place of the rudder pro-
vided with screw propellers worked by direct-action high-pressure steam
engines, through the medium of which the said boats or barges are propelled
and enabled to pass through the locks without necessitating the removal of
the prop lling apparatus as at present, drop link couplings formed of radial
bars moving upon joints in connection with the stern post and apparatus
being employed for attaching or detaching the same.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Ford in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
FORD, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Iler most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said David Ford, Her special licence that I, the said David Ford, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David
Ford, 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 BOATS
AND BARGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said David Ford,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said David Ford, 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 state-
ment (that is to say): :-
My Invention has reference to the construction and employment of apparatus
for propelling boats and barges upon rivers and canals, whereby the same is
contained and worked in less space more conveniently and expeditiously than
by the present system, and consists in employing for the said purpose short
buoyant propelling vessels to be connected or disconnected to or from barges,
boats, and other vessels at pleasure, fitted with screws, engines, and steering
apparatus, which said apparatus admits of being folded close to the stern of
the said short propelling vessel when required, so as to occupy less room in
the locks or cisterns when passing through the same, by which said arrangements
the propelling vessel may be caused to pass through the locks in connection
with the boats or barges with one still or cistern of water, whereby considerable

page_text: saving of time in the passage of the said boats or barges through the locks, as
also in the waste or loss of water and cost of working the same, is effected.
Having now described the nature of this my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed and carried into effect, I would have it
clearly understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein-
before set forth and described, as the same might be varied without departing
from the general principle of these my said improvements; nor do I claim as of
my said Invention the exclusive use of the several parts and combinations
herein-before mentioned and described, except when the same are employed in
and for the purposes of my said Invention, which I hereby declare to consist
in the construction and employment of short propelling buoyant vessels or
apparatus coupled to the stern of boats or barges, and to be connected or dis-
connected from the said boats or barges at pleasure, for entering and propelling
the same through the locks at one still or flow of water in the manner and
for the purposes herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Ford, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
o Witness,
C. L. D. ASHE,
Clerk to Messrs. Weatherdon & Co.,
77, Chancery Lane.
DAVID FORD. (L.8.)