A METHOD OP CONSTRUCTING SHIPS AND VESSELS, AND OF MOVING AND CONDUCTING THEM WITH GREAT VELOCITY WITHOUT THE HELP OF SAILS, AND ALSO MOVING AND CONDUCTING THEM AGAINST WIND, WAVES, CURRENT, OR TIDE, OR AGAINST THE POWER OF THEM ALL UNITED
Year: 1790

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
Earl STANHOPE, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirteenth day of March, in the thirtieth year of His
reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Charles Earl Stanhope, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles Earl Stanhope, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and every of them, during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of the Kingdom of Great Britain called England, the Dominion
of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A METHOD OP
CONSTRUCTING SHIPS AND VESSELS, AND OF MOVING AND CONDUCTING THEM WITH
GREAT VELOCITY WITHOUT THE HELP OF SAILS, AND ALSO MOVING AND CONDUCTING
THEM AGAINST WIND, WAVES, CURRENT, OR TIDE, OR AGAINST THE POWER OF THEM
ALL UNITED;" in which said Letters Patent it is provided that if I, the said
Charles Earl Stanhope, should not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that
then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by
the said Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Earl Stanhope, do hereby declare that the following description and
Drawings hereunto annexed contain a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed (that
is to say):
My said Invention consists:-first, in the shape of the ship or vessel; secondly,
in the manner of guiding it; and thirdly, in the mechanism for moving the ship or
vessel:And the objects that I have in view in the shape which I have adopted
for the ship or vessel, are these: namely, to make the ship or vessel so as to move
through the water with as little resistance, with as little disturbance of the
water, and with as great velocity as possible, and so as that it shall swim in
shallow water, and so as that it shall keep a steady course, and so as that it
shall not be liable to be overset, sunk, or wrecked in stormy weather, and so as
that the ship or vessel may be built with facility, and so as that the respective
mechanisms the most proper for moving and for guiding the ship or vessel
may be applied to it conveniently and with advantage. And the means by which
I obtain these different objects are as follow, viz.: by making my ship or
vessel of the shape and dimensions represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and of the
Drawings hereunto annexed. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, A, in Figure 1, repre-
sents the shape of the deck or upper floor of the ship or vessel. a, m, b, c, d,
e, f, g, h, n, a, in Figure 2, represents the shape of the bottom of the ship or
vessel. A, L, L, E, e, l, l, n, a, A, in Figure 3, represents the side of the ship
or vessel, supposing the whole of the ship or vessel to be out of the water;
A, L, L, E, representing the upper edge of the side, and a, n, l, l, e, represent-
ing the lower edge of the same side; E, e, representing the head, and A, a,
representing the stern. The bottom of the ship or vessel (instead of being
made of the shape represented by the above-mentioned line a, n, 1, 1, e,) may
be made quite flat, as represented by the line P, n, l, l, e, in Figure 3, in
which last case the line A, a, P, in Figure 3, (instead of the line A, a.)
will represent the stern of the ship or vessel. Figure 4 represents the
shape of the ship or vessel viewed in front, supposing the whole of the ship or
vessel to be out of the water. Figure 5 represents the shape of the ship or
vessel viewed from behind, supposing the whole of the ship or vessel to be out
of the water. The letters in Figures 4 and 5 represent the corresponding
parts of the ship or vessel that are represented by the same letters in Figures

page_text: 1, 2, and 3, respectively, so (for instance) the triangle a, m, n, in Figure 5,
represents that part of the bottom of the ship or vessel which is represented by
the triangle a, m, n, in Figure 2, and which is represented by the line a, n, in
Figure 3. Q, B, C, D, R, and R, F, G, H, Q, in Figure 1, represent segments
of two equal circles, to which segments the right lines A, B, E, D, A, H, and
E, F, respectively are tangents. The said segments shew the degree of curva-
ture of the belly of the ship or vessel at the deck or upper floor of the ship or
vessel. q, b, c, d, r, and r, f, g, h, q, in Figure 2, represent segments of two
equal circles, to which last-mentioned segments the right lines m, b, e, d, n, h,
and e, f, respectively are tangents. The said segments shew the degree of curva-
ture of the belly of the ship or vessel at its bottom. I should make my ship
or vessel of greater length in proportion to its breadth than is represented in
the Figures 1 and 2, but by an Act of Parliament made and passed in the
twenty-fourth year of the reign of His present Majesty King George the Third,
intituled "An Act for the more effectual Prevention of Smuggling in this
Kingdom," it is. (amongst other things) enacted that all vessels belonging in
the whole, or in any part, to any of His Majesty's subjects, the length of which
shall be greater than in the proportion of three feet and an half to one foot in.
breadth, which shall, after the first day of October, one thousand seven
hundred and eighty-four, be found within the limits or distance in the said Act
described, shall be forfeited. The length of the ship or vessel above described
is theretofore made less than in the proportion of three feet and an half to one
foot in breadth. And whereas there is a proviso in the said Act of Parliament
that nothing in the said Act shall extend or be construed to extend to any ship
or vessel in the service of His Majesty's navy, victualling, ordnance, customs,
excise, or post office, for or on account of her built, nor to any vessel
whatsoever the owner of which shall have a licence (as in the said Act is
described) for navigating the same from the Lord High Admiral of Great
Britain, or the Commissioners of the Admiralty for the time being, or any
person authorized by them to grant the same for or on account of her built,
nor to any lighters or barges used solely in rivers or inland navigations, such
ships or vessels therefore as by law may be constructed as herein-after mentioned,
might be built either of the shape and dimensions above described and represented
in the said Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, or (which will cause the ships or vessels
to move the swifter), they might be built of the shape and dimensions repre-
sented in Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
The description above given of the ship or vessel represented in the Figures
1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, will serve equally to describe the ship or vessel represented in
Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, the very same letters being put to the corresponding

page_text: parts of the ships or vessels represented in the said two sets of Figures respectively.
Ships or vessels built as above described, may, if occasion shall require, be made
to navigate either head foremost or stern foremost, which circumstance may be
convenient in narrow creeks or rivers where there is not sufficient room for a
long ship or vessel to turn. A ship or vessel built in any manner herein
described (on account of its form, and also on account of its property of being
capable of being impelled, not only in the same direction as the wind blows,
but also directly against the wind) I distinguish by the appellation of an
ambi-navigator. Ships or vessels of the shape herein specified may be built with
ribs and planks in any of the known methods, or may be built in any other
method well calculated to keep out water; but great attention should be paid
to the making of such ships or vessels smooth on the outside. Of the various
possible ways of building such a ship or vessel, one method is shewn in
Figure 11, which represents a section of the ship or vessel across its middle or
broadest part. Another very good method of building such a ship or vessel
would be to dovetail the ends of the timbers of the bottom, and of those of the
sides, and also of those of the deck or upper floor of the ship or vessel. There
are other particulars respecting the shape of the ship or vessel which will
afterwards be mentioned herein.
The objects that I have in view in making the mechanism for guiding
the ship or vessel are these, namely To make the rudder so as to
keep the ship or vessel in a straight steady course, or to turn it speedily
when required, and so as that the rudder may (in proportion to its
power to guide the ship or vessel) be easily managed by the pilot; and the
means by which I obtain these different objects are as follows, viz* :-Instead
of making the rudder in the common way, I make it of any of the forms
respectively represented by S, O, T, U, V, W, X, T, in Figures 12, 13,
and 14, of the Drawings hereunto annexed. S, O, T, in each of those
Figures represents the stem or axis of the rudder, and T, U, V, W, X, T,
represents that part of the rudder that acts against the water to turn
the ship or vessel. The shape of the said part of the rudder, as seen from
above, is represented in Figure 15. The helm, tiller, or steering wheel or
wheels or other mechanism for moving the rudder, may be fastened to the
stem or axis of the rudder at its upper end, as at S in Figures 12, 13, and 14.
The stern of the ship or vessel is represented by A, a, in those Figures; or I
can place a rudder of any of the said forms at the head of the ship or vessel,
though this would be less advantageous than placing the rudder at the stern.
I can vary the size and shape of the rudder at pleasure, without in the least
departing from the principle upon which it is made, and which is that it should

page_text: have an equal or nearly an equal pressure from the water on both sides of its
stem or axis, by which contrivance the pilot may move the rudder or hold it in
any required position, with much the greater ease. I therefore distinguish
every rudder of this sort by the appellation of an equipollent rudder. The
rudder may, by means of iron or other strong holders, be hung to the ship or
vessel various ways, one of which ways is represented at O, A, and T, a, in
Figures 12, 13, and 14, which holders should be very strong and must be
firmly fastened to the ship or vessel by bolts or otherwise; when the ship or
vessel shall happen to be in any place where there is not water sufficient
to prevent the rudder from touching the ground, the rudder may, for greater
safety, be slipped off from the iron holders. If the ship or vessel shall, by
means of the mechanism herein-after described for moving it, have acquired a
very great velocity, and that it be required suddenly to diminish that velocity,
this may be effected merely by turning the rudder till it be brought into a
position directly across the course of the ship or vessel; this is, in my opinion,
an excellent property that this kind of rudder possesses, and the objects that I
have in view in making the mechanism for moving the ship or vessel are these:
namely, to make the mechanism so as to move the ship or vessel with great
velocity without the help of sails, not only with a favourable wind, tide, or
current, but also in calm weather, and even so as to move the ship or vessel
against wind, waves, current, or tide, or against the power of them all united,
and so as not to be broken, torn, or injured by high winds or storms, which is
not the case with masts, sails, and rigging; and the means by which I obtain
these objects are as follow:-The mechanism for moving the ship or vessel
must work under the bottom of it, and there are two methods of communi-
cating the force of the moving power to the said mechanism, vizt, either through
the ship or vessel, or on the outside of it, and each of these methods will admit
of sundry variations. If the force of the moving power is to be communicated
through the ship or vessel, there must be a slit or opening made quite through
the ship or vessel from top to bottom, which slit should be formed by frames of
timber, covered over on the water side (or on both sides) with boards, or with
boards and sheathing, in like manner as the outside of the ship or vessel is
covered, or else in any other manner that will effectually prevent water from
getting through from the said slit into the ship or vessel. The said slit should
run lengthways of the said ship or vessel, and it may be made of different forms
and sizes; but a section of the said slit (if seen sideways) is represented by
L, 2, 1, 1, L, in Figure 16 of a proper form; and a section of the said slit (if
scen endways) is represented by L, z, 1, 1, 2, L, in Figures 17 and 19 of a
proper form. That end of the slit which is next to the stern of the ship

page_text: or vessel, is represented in Figure 16, by L, z,.l, and that end of the slit
should be different in shape from the other end of the slit represented by L, 1,
in Figure 16, in order to prevent the water from rising in the slit so high as to
impede the motion of the ship or vessel; and in Figure 16; L, L, represents
the edge of that part of the deck or upper floor of the ship or vessel where the
slit is; and l, l, in Figure 16, represents the edge of that part of the bottom of
the ship or vessel where the slit is. The said slit should be at equal distances
from the two sides of the ship or: vessel: It may in all cases be placed in the
middle between the head and the stern, as represented by L, L, L, L, in
Figure 1, and by L, 2, 1, 1, 2, L, L, 1, 1, L, in Figure 2, and by L,z, 1, 1, L, in Figure
3; or the said slit may be placed nearer to the head or somewhat nearer to
the stern; and one proper place for it, especially in a ship or vessel intended
to carry a light cargo, is between the head and the middle of the ship or vessel,
but furthest from the head in the proportion of two to one, as represented by
L, L, L, L, in Figure 6, and by L, 2, 1, 1, 2, L; L, 1, 1, L, in Figure 7, and by
L, 2, 1, 1, L, in Figure 8. The shape of the said slit is again represented by
L, 2, 1, 1, L, in Figure 18; in which Figure one way of strongly supporting
or trussing up the sides of the said slit is represented by the timbers
O, P, R, O, M, P, M, R, M, and W, W. The said timbers ought to be fastened
together by means of plates of iron and iron bolts, or otherwise. Each side of
the said slit ought to be similarly supported. At the top I of the upright
timber P, M, I, in Figure 18, there is a pivot hole formed in bell-metal or
brass, and there is a similar pivot hole at the top of the similar upright timber
on the other side of the said slit. These pivot holes are made to receive the two
strong iron pivots represented by I andi in Figure 17, which'pivots should be well
case-hardened. The aforesaid two upright timbers are represented by I, M, P,
and i, m, p, in Figure 19, as they would appear if they could be seen either from
the head or from the stern of the ship or vessel. I and i in the said Figure 19
represent the places of the two pivot holes last mentioned. The 'said two upright
timbers are kept steady by a strong iron that encompasses them represented
by f,f, in Figure 19. The said strong iron is also represented by f, f, in
Figure 18, or instead of the said two upright timbers the two above-men-
tioned strong iron pivots might be carried by stout iron bars strongly braced.
In the above-mentioned slit I place an instrument represented by Q, H, K,
in Figure 16, which I distinguish by the appellation of a vibrator. In Figure 16
the said vibrator is represented as it would be seen if it could be viewed from
the side of the ship or vessel. In Figure 17, Q, I, H, K, k, h, i, Q, represents the
aforesaid vibrator as it would be seen if it could be viewed from the head of the
ship or vessel. To the lower extremity of the said vibrator I suspend a machine,

page_text: which I call a free operator; the form of the said free operator and its peculiar
manner of acting will be afterwards particularly described herein. V, T, S, s, t, v,
in Figure 17, represents the aforesaid free operator as it would be seen if viewed
from the head of the ship or vessel. The said vibrator may be made of iron as
represented in Figures 16 and 17, or of any other strong metal, or the upper part
of the said vibrator may be made of wood, supported by iron. The said vibrator
is suspended upon two strong iron pivots, represented by I and i in Figure 17,
upon which pivots the said vibrator moves to and fro, that is to say, it moves
from the position represented by Q, H, K, in Figure 16, to the position:
represented by g, h, k, in the said Figure 16, and then back again, and so
alternately carrying along with it in its vibrations the aforesaid free operator.
The bars of the vibrator should be made with narrow edges, very tapering
both ways, in order that those parts of the said bars which shall be in the
water may move through it with but little resistance. The lower extremity of
the said vibrator is formed in the shape of a fork, the form of which fork is
represented by A, B, C, D, E, F, G, g, f, e, d, c, b, a, in Figure 30, as the same
would be seen if it could be viewed from the head of the ship or vessel.
H, H, A, a, h, h, in Figure 30, represents that part of the vibrator which is
immediately above the fork; and the said fork is represented by a, b, c, d, e, f, g,
G, F, E, D, C, B, A, in Figures 20 and 21, as the same would be seen if viewed
from the stern of the ship or vessel. K, K, K, K, K, in Figure 32, represents
the outside of the fork as it would be seen if it could be viewed from the
starboard side of the ship or vessel; and L, L, L, L, in Figure 32, represents
that part of the vibrator which is immediately above the fork. The fork
consists of two parts as represented in Figure 30; in which Figure A, J, G,
represents the line where the said two parts of the fork join. M,M, M, M, M,
in Figure 31, represents the inside of one of the parts of the said fork when the
other part of it is taken off, as the said inside of the said part of the said fork
would appear if it could be viewed from the starboard side of the ship or
vessel. The said two parts of the said fork are kept together by means of two
bolts and two strong steady pins. The two holes for the said two bolts are
represented by B and C in Figure 31; and the two holes for the said two
strong steady pins are represented by i and i, in the said Figure 31. The said
two bolts are represented by B, b, and C, c, in Figure 33. The form of the
nut for each of the said bolts is represented in Figure 36. It is material to
prevent the nut from unscrewing, which may be done by means of a small slit
in each bolt, as represented at b and c in Figure 33; and a linch pin, represented
in Figures 34 and 35, should be put into the said small slit. The linch pin is
split at one of its ends, as is represented in Figure 35, in order to be bent back

page_text: both ways after it is put into the said small slit, in order to prevent it from
starting out. The above-mentioned free operator, which is drawn in Figure 17,
is represented upon a larger scale by V, T, S, s, t, v, in Figure 22, and as it
would be seen if viewed from the head of the ship or vessel; in which last-
mentioned Figure, A, B, V, v, b, a, represents the upper part of the fork of the
vibrator; and the aforesaid free operator is represented by v, t, s, S, T, V, in
Figure 20, as it would be seen if viewed from the stern of the ship or vessel.
In Figures 20 and 22 the free operator is represented in the position it
is in whilst the vibrator is moving in the direction from head to stern of the
ship or vessel. But the free operator has at intervals a motion upon pivots
which work in the fork of the vibrator, as will afterwards be fully explained
herein; and the said free operator is so particularly contrived as to assume
different positions, (not by means of any mechanism that turns it but) by
the sole resistance of the water in which the said free operator (by its
being carried to and fro with the vibrator) oscillates or vibrates. The said
free operator during the act of turning upon the said pivots that work in
the fork of the vibrator is unconfined by any mechanism whatever, save only
and except by the pivot holes in the fork of the vibrator, and the said
pivots of the said free operator (as will afterwards be explained herein) are so
situated as to permit the said free operator to turn with freedom and briskly
upon the said pivots, and it is for these reasons that I have distinguished this
machine by the appellation of a free operator. When the vibrator is moving
in the direction from stern to head of the ship or vessel, the said free operator
assumes the position represented by s, s, S, S, in Figure 21, in which Figure
it is drawn as it would be seen if viewed from the stern of the ship or
vessel, and the free operator is represented in its said last-mentioned position
by T, T, t, t, in Figure 23, in which Figure it is
if viewed from the head of the ship or vessel.
the said last-mentioned position, its end will be
in Figure 42, in which Figure the said end is drawn as it would be seen
if viewed from the starboard side of the ship or vessel.
a piece of iron, the ends N, N, and N, N, of which are the pivots that work
in the fork of the vibrator, which pivots should be well case-hardened. Figure
26 represents the said piece of iron seen endways. The said piece of iron
having the pivots is fixed between two plates of iron, as represented in Figures
27 and 28, which plates are rivetted together. Figure 28 represents the said
pivot and the edges of the said plates as they would be seen if they could be
viewed from the head of the said ship or vessel. Figure 27 represents
the said pivots and the edges of the said plates as they would be seen if viewed
drawn as it would be seen
When the free operator is in
represented by S, T, W, T, S,
Figure 24 represents

page_text: from the stern of the ship or vessel. Figure 29 represents the side of the
starboard plate as it would be seen if it could be viewed from the starboard
side of the ship or vessel, and the pivot is represented by N, N, N, N. The
larboard plate is the same as the starboard plate, only reversed. p, p, p, p, p,
and P, P, P, P, P, in Figure 20, represent the said two plates as fixed in the
middle of the great plate v, t, s, S, T, V, of the free operator. The said great
plate consists of a thin plate of iron, each end of which is turned up square,
and the said great plate is supported by bars of iron, by which it is fastened to
the above-mentioned plates, in which the aforesaid pivots are fixed. The bars
for this purpose may be made of various forms and applied in various ways;
but one example of the manner of doing it is given in Figure 20, where
U, U, U, U, U, U, u, u, u, u, represents a broad bar of iron that runs the whole
length of the free operator, and is turned up at each end, and has two ears or
flaps turned up in the middle, which ears or flaps are rivetted to the aforesaid
two plates in which the pivots are fixed. The said bar is again represented
2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, in
by u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, in Figure 23.
Figure 20, represents another broad bar of iron turned up at each end, and
which has also two ears or flaps turned up in the middle, which ears or flaps are
likewise rivetted to the aforesaid two plates in which the pivots are fixed. The
said last-mentioned bar is again represented by z, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, in Figure
21, and in order to prevent the said free operator from bending, it is moreover
supported by braces and bars, which are represented by r, y, y, r, Y, Y, 1', Y, Y,
R, Y, Y, R, Y, Y, R, Y, Y, x, x, x, x, x, and X, X, X, X, X, in Figure 20,
and which braces and bars are again represented by R, Y, Y, X, X, X, X, R,
r, y, y, x, x, x, x, r, in Figure 43, as the same would be seen if they could be
viewed from the head of the ship or vessel when the large plate of the free
operator is in an horizontal position. The said braces are also represented
by r, y, y, R, Y, Y, in Figures 21 and 23. The dotted lines u, u, u, u, U, U,
and r, r, R, R, and z, z, z, z, z, z, in Figures 27 and 28, represent the shape
of the ears or flaps of the braces and bars aforesaid respectively, and u, u,
U, U, and R, R, R, R, and z, z, Z, Z, in Figure 29, represent the form of
each of the said ears or flaps as they would be seen if they could be viewed
from the starboard side of the ship or vessel. All the edges of the said bars
and braces that meet the water when the free operator moves in the direction
from the stern to the head of the ship or vessel must be made with narrow
edges, very tapering, as (for example) is represented by q, U, U, and Q, Z, Z,
in Figure 29. N, N, and N, N, in Figures 20, 21, 23, 27, 28, and 83, repre-
sent the above-mentioned pivots of the free operator. The dotted lines N, N,
and N, N, in Figure 30, represent the holes where the said pivots work, and

page_text: N, N, N, N, in Figure 31, represents one of the said pivot holes. The said
pivot holes may be lined with bell-metal in the form represented in Figure 44,
or otherwise. In order to give a still more perfect idea of the motion and
different positions of the free operator, I have given Figures 33, 39, 40, and
41. Figure 33 is Figures 28 and 30 combined, in order to shew how those
parts of the machine which are represented in those Figures are placed with
respect to each other. Figure 39 is a section of the fork of the vibrator
through its middle, and also represents that part of the free operator that is
represented in Figure 29, when the free operator is in its upright position.
Figure 41 represents the same parts as Figure 39, when the free operator is
in an horizontal position, and Figure 40 again represents the same parts as
Figure 39 when the free operator is in an intermediate or oblique position.
In order to cause the vibrator to move to and fro as aforesaid, the strength of
men or of animals, or a steam engine, or any forcible power whatever, may be
used and variously applied, as for instance: in a boat or small vessel the
power of men will be sufficient, and it may be applied to the vibrator by means
of a metal or wooden bar placed horizontally and fastened by means of an hinge
to the vibrator above the deck and below the pivots upon which the vibrator
is suspended. Cross pieces may be fixed into each side of this bar for the men
to take hold of and work the vibrator. In a ship or other vessel of a large
size a steam engine or other forcible power may be used, and it may be
applied to the vibrator between the deck and the pivots, upon which the
vibrator is suspended, or it may be applied to an horizontal beam strongly
fastened to the vibrator at or near its point of suspension, which horizontal
beam may be worked as the beams of steam engines have heretofore been
worked, or the power may in all cases whatever (though less conveniently) be
applied above the point of suspension. But whatever power be used, or what-
ever be the manner in which it be applied to the vibrator, the principle of the
mechanism acting against the water will be the same, namely, that of a free
operator, and the free operator which I have above described has the following
several important properties or circumstances belonging to or attending it, and
it is made upon the following principles (that is to say) :-
First, when the free operator is made to move in the direction from the
head to the stern of the ship or vessel, the said free operator acts with its whole
surface against the water; but when the free operator is made to move in the
contrary direction, the water causes it to assume a different position, by which
means it cuts through the water with a sharp edge, and with but little
resistance.
Secondly, my free operator has no pivot, hinge, or point of suspension at or

page_text: near its top, but the pivots are nearer to the center of the great plate of the
free operator than to its upper edge. By this means the powerful jar or
stroke of the free operator against the fork of the vibrator is considerably
diminished. This is a very useful property, particularly in free operators of a
considerable size.
Thirdly, my free operator has no pivot hinge or point of suspension at or near
the plane of its great plate, but the pivots project, as is above particularly shewn,
from the plane of the great plate of the free operator towards the stern of the
ship or vessel when the free operator is in an upright position. By this means
the free operator turns. from an horizontal to an upright position briskly,
whereby much time and much power is saved. This is a property of particular
importance.
Fourthly, my free operator has its edges turned up, in order to increase its
power.
Fifthly, it is powerfully braced, for the purpose of strengthening its great
plate.
Sixthly, that part of the free operator which is represented by S, S, in
Figure 39, and which stops against the fork of the vibrator, falls into an hollow
at the time of stopping, which hollow is represented by Y, Y, in Figure 30.
In free operators of a small size, this hollow need not be made, but the fork of
the vibrator may be made of the form represented in Figures 37 and 38. But
in a free operator of a very considerable size, this hollow is of use to diminish
its jar or stroke against the fork of the vibrator, which effect is produced by
the water contained in the said hollow.
My free operator has all the properties above enumerated, but a free operator
may be made upon my principles above explained, without its having all those
properties. Great variations may be made in the form of the vibrator and of
the free operator, as, for instance, the vibrator may (particularly in any vessel
of a very small size) be made of a single broad bar of iron (or of iron and steel
mixed), made feather edge both ways, and with a fork, as above described, at
its lower extremity. But a vibrator of great length would be much more to be
depended on, if it were made in the manner represented in Figure 17. The
parts of the free operator that are represented in Figure 27 may be forged in
two pieces instead of three. The free operator may be made without bars
5 across it, by making its great plate of greater thickness than that represented
in Figure 21 and 23. The free operator might have only two strong braces, or
even only one strong brace on each side of its middle, instead of having three
braces on each side of its middle, particularly if the free operator were of a
small or even of a moderate size. In a boat, for instance, one strong broad

page_text: brace from one end to the other of the free operator will always be sufficient.
Every brace should have a broad strong foot or feet, by means of which it is to
be fastened by strong rivets to the great plate of the free operator. The braces
represented by RY, RY, RY, and ry, ry, and ry, in Figure 20, are repre-
sented of a proper size, if it be intended to move a ship or vessel with a very
moderate velocity, such (for instance) as eight miles per hour; but if it be
intended to move a ship or vessel with a much superior velocity, or to navigate
the ship or vessel against wind, waves, current, and tide, then those braces, for
greater safety, had best be made of double width, and also of double thickness.
The free operator being suspended in the fork of the vibrator, is to be let down
into the water through the above-mentioned slit or opening in the ship or vessel,
for which purpose an iron bar, represented in Figure 25, is to be let down into
an hole or funnell made in the fork of the vibrator, as represented by T, T, T, T,
in Figure 39, which bar, by falling before the catch W of the free operator,
will keep the free operator in an upright position during the time it is let down
into the slit of the ship or vessel. The bar is then to be taken out, which will
leave the free operator at liberty; and whenever the free operator is wanted,
either to be taken upon deck or to be drawn up into the slit of the ship or
vessel, the said iron bar must be let down to a proper depth into the aforesaid
funnel, and in order to make the catch of the free operator, represented by W
in Figure 39, catch behind the said iron bar, it will be sufficient to cause the
vibrator to move a little way towards the stern of the ship or vessel. When the
ship or vessel shall happen to be in any place where there is not water suffi-
cient to prevent the free operator from touching the ground, the free operator
should for safety be drawn up into the slit by means of tackle fastened to an
iron ring, represented at Q in Figure 17, or by any other means.
The moving
power may be communicated to the free operator without any slit being made
in the ship or vessel, viz', by means of strong iron bars suspended upon strong
pivots above deck, which iron bars may go down on the outsides of the ship or
vessel, and to the lower ends of which bars the free operator may be suspended
upon pivots, but a slit in the ship or vessel, as above described, is a prefer-
able construction. There are a variety of ways by which the aforesaid
vibrator that carries the free operator may be made to move; of which ways
the following are instances:-To the free operator, represented by Q, H, K, in
Figure 16, may be fixed a very strong iron arm H, M; to the end of this arm
may be fastened a strong iron bar or chain, which should be connected with the
piston of the cylinder N, N, of a steam engine, as represented in Figure 16,
or the piston of the cylinder n, n, of a steam engine may be connected by a
strong iron bar or chain to a crank R, R, R, R, which crank may be con-

page_text: nected by another strong iron bar or chain to the vibrator at m. If a
cylinder should be used at the place n, n, in which cylinder the piston is driven
upwards, (instead of being driven downwards as is here supposed to be the case
in the two former cylinders,) then the crank R, R, R, R, may be reversed, and
the piston of the cylinder n, n, may be reversedly connected to the said crank.
Whatever kind of steam engine be used, the power of the vibrator and free
operator may be diminished at pleasure in any proportion, merely by throwing
a smaller quantity of steam into the cylinder, or the vibrator and free operator
may be made to stop at pleasure, merely by stopping off the steam from the
cylinder; and in order to bring the vibrator and free operator back in the
direction from the stern towards the head of the ship or vessel, a weight W may
be fixed to the vibrator by means of a very strong iron arm W, h, or a weight
P may be connected by a strong iron bar or chain to a crank r, r, r, r, or a
weight p may be connected by a strong iron arm to the said crank r, r, r, r,
either of which weights P or p will bring the vibrator back as required if the
said crank r, r, r, r, be connected by a strong iron bar or chain to the vibrator
at m, as represented in Figure 16, or the vibrator may be brought back by
means of the steam engine itself. The two ends of the ship or vessel being
quite sharp, they should for greater safety be covered with iron or other metal.
It may be proper to stow the cargo so as that the head of the ship or vessel
may not sink so deep in the water as it would do were the ship or vessel to lay
quite level. The well and the pump to keep the ship or vessel dry may be
properly placed near that part of the ship or vessel which is represented
by m, n, in Figures 2 and 7. The Figures from 1 to 10, both inclusive, and
the Figures from 12 to 15, both inclusive, of the Drawings hereunto annexed,
are drawn by a scale of one tenth of an inch to every foot of the real size.
Figure 11 is drawn by a scale of one fifth of an inch to every six inches of the
real size. The Figures from 16 to 19, both inclusive, are drawn by a scale of
one fifth of an inch to every foot of the real size; and all the remaining
Figures from 20 to 44, both inclusive, are drawn by a scale of one inch to every
five inches of the real size. If the ship or vessel were built upon any other
scale than that above mentioned, the size of the rudder and of the mechaism
for moving the ship or vessel should be proportionably altered. Divers varia-
tions may be made in the shape of the ship or vessel without departing from
the principle of my ambi-navigator. For instance, the proportion between the
length of the curve line of the belly of the ship or vessel and the length of the
lines above mentioned, which are tangents thereto, and which are represented
in Figures 1 and 2, and also in Figures 6 and 7, may be varied. Or the said belly
may be made somewhat nearer to the head of the ship or vessel, or somewhat

page_text: nearer to the stern. The lines A, B, D, E, E, F, and A, H, in Figures
1 and 6, and the lines m, b, d, e, e, f, and n, h, in Figures 2 and 7 may be
made a little convex instead of being quite streight, or they may even be made
a little concave. The slopes G, g, and C, c, in Figures 4 and 5, and also in
Figures 9 and 10 may be varied, and particularly they may without much
inconvenience be somewhat increased by increasing the width G, C, of the
deck or upper floor of the ship or vessel in proportion to the width g, c, of the
bottom of the ship or vessel. The slopes A, a, and E, e, in Figures 3 and 8,
may also be somewhat altered, though it would be more advantageous to increase
those slopes than to diminish them. The proportion between the width and the
height of the ship or vessel may likewise be varied, but it would be much safer to
increase that proportion than to diminish it. An ambi-navigator might be
built of an intermediate proportion between the ship or vessel represented in
Figures 1, 2, and 3, and the ship or vessel represented in Figures 6, 7, and 8;
or it might be built of a still greater length in proportion to its height and
width than the ship or vessel represented in Figures 6, 7, and 8; or an ambi-
navigator might be built of greater height, so as to admit of an additional
deck, but the causing of the ship or vessel to sink deep in the water
will tend exceedingly to prevent swift navigation, and it is also liable to other
considerable ojections. The parts B, C, C, D, F, G, and G, H, in Figure 6,
and the parts b, c, c, d, f, g, and g, h, in Figure 7, I shall distinguish by the
appellation of half bellies of the ship or vessel. The said half bellies join at
the lines C, G, and c, g, in the said Figures 6 and 7 respectively. Instead of
the above-mentioned construction, the said half bellies might have a streight
part between them of the same height that the ship or vessel is of in its widest
part, the width of which streight part might be equal to the line C, G, in
Figure 6, at the deck or upper floor of the ship or vessel, and equal to the line
c, g, in Figure 7, at the bottom of the ship or vessel. Although I have in
Figures 1, 3, 4, and 5, and also in Figures 6, 8, 9, and 10, represented the deck
or upper floor of the ship or vessel as flat, I can make alterations in its shape,
or make erections on it without departing from the principles of my Invention
herein mentioned, such alterations or additions being above the surface of the
water. The mechanism above described for moving the ship or vessel, and
also that above described for guiding it, may be applied to ships or vessels of
other forms than that above specified. The free operator may be made to work
deeper in the water than is represented in Figure 17, and the vibrator and free
operator may be made of various materials and of various forms as well as of
various sizes, according to the size and shape of the ship or vessel to be
impelled, and also according to the use or service for which the ship or vessel

page_text: shall be intended, and likewise according to the velocity with which the ship
or vessel shall be required to be moved; the size or power of the steam
engine or other moving force may be regulated according to the aforesaid
circumstances. The length of the slit in the ship or vessel and the angle of
vibration of the vibrator may likewise be varied, and it would be more advan-
tageous to encrease than to diminish them, most especially in boats and vessels
of a small size. By the means above described a ship or vessel may be moved
and conducted without the help of sails, but the said means may be also used
in conjunction with sails.
Be it remembered that I do not mean that the aforesaid expression of
a free operator should be understood to extend to any valve that opens into
box or tube placed either at the bottom or at either side or at the head
or at the stern of any ship or vessel, or to any valve that opens outwards from
any such box or tube.
any
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Earl Stanhope, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year One
thousand seven hundred and ninety.
STANHOPE. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being first
duly stamped) in the presence of
GEO. WILSON,
Of Symond's Inn, Gent.
JNO. GRUBB,
Inrolled the Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and ninety.