IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1850

page_text: LILLIE'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Sir JOHN
SCOTT LILLIE, Companion of the Bath, of Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty, in the fourteenth year
of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her
especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Sir
John Scott Lillie, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said
Sir John Scott Lillie, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said Sir
John Scott Lillie, shall 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
enrolled in Her 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, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void,.
anything therein-before contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwith-
standing, as, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Sir
John Scott Lillie, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following instrument in writing.
My Invention consists,-Firstly, in directing rapid currents of air, steam, or
other elastic fluids into inverted troughs or channels placed under water for the
purpose of propelling boats, barges, or other contrivances for the conveyance of
goods or passengers, such troughs or channels being open at the bottom, so as
to enable the currents to act on the water until they escape into the open air
at or near the stem of the vessel. One of these channels may be placed at
each side or underneath the barge or boat, or between two boats with one deck
connecting both, and these currents are to be introduced into such channels
by means of a vertical shaft or tube passing through the centre of the deck
When two of these channels are used branch pipes should proceed at right
angles or diagonally from this vertical tube, so as to communicate with each.
These inverted troughs are intended to form three sides of a square or paralel-
logram, and to run from stem to stern, so as to enable these currents, by being
reversed, to stop the boat or move it in a contrary direction, for which purposes
a valve should be placed at each side of these vertical or diagonal tubes at the
point where they enter the horizontal channel, so as to direct the current of
air in the required direction by opening one of these valves and closing the
other, which may be done from the deck by a winch, in a manner similar
to that by which the sluice gates of canal locks are now opened and closed.
When the vessel is thus put in motion both valves may be clevated to diminish
the resistance that would be otherwise offered to its progress through the water.
The depth of these air channels beneath the surface of the water may be one
or more fect, according to the amount of power applied in the propulsion of
the air, and these currents may be produced by air pumps, blowing machines,
or mechanical contrivances heretofore in use for putting air or other elastic
fluids in motion.
Secondly, another of my improvements consists in suspending paddle wheels
at or near the stem of the vessel, so as to enable these currents to strike their
float boards previous to their escape into the open air, whereby increased power
may be obtained, or by dashing these currents of air on the float boards of
paddle wheels through tubes or cylinders from or near the stem of the vessel,
without the intervention of the longitudinal troughs or channels.
Thirdly, another of my improvements consists in applying the power thus
acquired through tubes or cylinders on vanes or float boards of wheels suspended
in the air in such a manner as to propel carriages on common roads or on

page_text: railways. If a wheel, for instance, is thus suspended between the driving
wheels of a locomotive or other carriage, the power thus communicated to
this wheel may be conveyed therefrom to such driving wheels by means of
cranks, toothed wheel gear, or other well-known methods of transmitting
power from a wheel in motion, the vanes, armis, or paddles of such wheels,
having as nearly as possible the same size and form as the tubes through which
these currents of air or other clastic fluids are propelled, in order that the
concentrated force of such currents may be employed with the greatest effect.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim,-.
First, the propelling of boats, barges, or other contrivances for the convey-
ance of goods and passengers by means of currents of air or other elastic fluids
acting on the water through inverted troughs or channels, as above described.
Secondly, I claim the propelling of such boats, barges, or other contrivances
by paddle wheels, acted on by such currents when driven through tubes; but I
disclaim as any part of my Invention the propelling vessels by currents of air
through cylinders or tubes, except in combination with paddle wheels.
Thirdly, I claim the communicating power to driving wheels of locomotives
or other carriages by means of currents of air or other clastic fluids acting on
immediate wheels, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, have hereunto set
my hand. this Fifth day of March. in the year of our Lord One thousand