Improved Ship's Propeller, to be Worked on Deck and Driven by a Self Acting Engine
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Aug., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 27th Apr., 1896-Accepted, 8th Aug., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Ship's Propeller, to be Worked on Deck and Driven by a
Self Acting Engine.
JAMES DAVIES No. 9 Belle Vue Street Swansea County Glamorgan Ship-
master. 1 JAMES DAVIES do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
A machine for propelling sailing ships or any other without screw, paddles,
hydraulic pipes. steam, electricity, magnetism, or gas of any nature whatsoever, or
in any way will interfere with the hull of the ship, the whole of the machinery is
to be placed on the deck of a ship amidships, driven by self acting engine, and
protected by a house in the usual way on board of a ship. Two accumulators are
placed side by side perpendicularly, substantially supported by supports for the
purpose, air or water may be used or both combined in the accumulators, the pressure
being exerted by two heavy rams and springs; in this case only perpendicular
accumulators are used therefore greater pressure is required than when an
horizontal accumulator is also used, the apexes of the accumulators are connected
with pipes to two working cylinders, the action of their piston rods will be towards
the after end of the ship, the two return cylinders will be placed between them.
The propeller consists of two short tubes, about 8 feet long, fitted in the after end
of the house and about 4 or 5 feet from the deck, inside of these tubes two moveable
pistons are fitted, and to work backwards and forward in the same manner as an
ordinary steam cylinder, only the one end of the tubes are left open, that will be
the after ends, while the fore ends are made perfectly air tight, the piston rods.
that are connected with the engine works through its centre, these pistons that
actually propel the ship and their propelling power is obtained in this manner,
when the both pistons are close up to the fore ends of the tubes, that is the closed
ends which is perfectly air tight, there is no air between them, as soon as the
engine drives these pistons outwards, that is towards the after end of the ship, it
has to overcome the pressure of air, which is about 15 lbs. on the square inch,
because as soon as the piston moves a vacuum is produced between the air tight
end of the tubbs and the piston therefore there is no pressure whatsoever between
the piston and the air tight ends, the full pressure of air falls on the piston and
rod which is connected to the engine: we will say for instance that the engine is
not screwed down to the deck and mounted on wheels, now set the engine in motion
and it will move itself bodily before it can overcome the pressure of air that is on
the pistons in the tubes, again fastened it down to the deck, the ship must move
along with it in reaction, therefore the overcoming of the pressure of air is that
which propels the ship, when we are pressing or pushing against the air when
we have a vacuum on the one side we are doing so to a great extent against an
independent substance, we will say again for instance a man in a boat puts his
boat hook against the quay and gives his boat a push, consequently the boat moves
in reaction this invention is based on the same principle.
I quote the following numbers as an example to make my invention more clearly
understood we will say for instance the diameter of the propelling tubes to be
16 in. the area of the piston will be about 200 inches, we will have to overcome the
pressure of 20 in. × 15 lbs. 3000 lbs., thus we will have the constant pressure of
3000 lbs. on the ship, and this acting direct, not the same as a screw,
this pressure

page_text: is sufficient to propel a heavy ship, the speed will depend on the rapidness of the
action of the machinery, the dimensions of the propelling tubes may be made to
any size as required, greater the area heavier the propelling power; to reverse the
machinery I have suitable arrangements to open the fore cuds of the propelling
tubes, and close the after ends, the motion of the engine remains the same.
ships where its not convenient to have an engine on deck, this invention, will work
equally as well below, and use water instead of air.
Dated this 10th day of August 1895
In
Improved Ship's Propeller, to be Worked on Deck and Driven by a
Self Acting Engine.
JAMES DAVIES Skyvog Solva St. Davids County Pembroke Shipmaster
late of 9 Belle Vue Street Swansea Glamorgan do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an improvement in propelling ships, using air as a resisting
power or a resisting matter instead of water; in the propellers at present in use water
is their resisting agent, as for instance with the screw or the fan propeller, the fans or
blades of the screw in their revolutions strike against the water in an inclined manner,
the water acts as a resistance and the ship moves,-the same may be said about the
paddle wheel, the blades of the paddle wheel strike against the water, the water
again is the resisting matter; therefore at present power exerted against water is
the principle on which ships are propelled, the same may be said about the
hydraulic propeller, it works on the same principle a body of water is its resistance,
a man in a boat pulling with an oar is another instance, power is exerted on
the blade of the oar and the water resists it, consequently the boat moves ahead in
reaction; in this invention air takes the place of water only at each stroke of the
propeller, in a manner of speaking a vacuum is produced thereby overcoming
the pressure of air, the reaction of the machinery in so doing is what drives the
ship ahead; and is performed in the following manner. Two short tubes are
made we will say about 8 ft. long, longer or shorter as may be required, the
diameter to be according to the size of the ship more the area heavier the
propelling power, I shall only describe here one of these tubes, they are both
made exactly the same shape, and work on the same principle, the tube which will
be termed propeller hereinafter throughout the work, is made in the shape of an
ordinary steam cylinder with a moveable piston working inside of it, and is worked
backwards and forwards by the engine, this piston is what actually propells the
ship, the tube mentioned above and the piston shall be called propeller, as we
can not do with one without the other, the main cylinder is worked by a self
acting engine which will be refered to further on, the main piston rod of the main
cylinder, is connected to the piston in the propeller, so the same motion, length of
stroke is given to both at the same time, one end of the propeller is always closed,
and perfectly air tight, for instance the piston in the main cylinder, and the piston
in the propeller are close up to their fore ends, or at the commencement of their
strokes as soon as the pressure enters the main cylinder and forces out the piston,
the piston in the propeller is also forced out exactly the same distance, now we
have a vacuum between the last mentioned piston and the air tight end of the
propeller, consequently there is 15 lbs. of pressure or resistance on every square
inch of the outer surface of the piston, whatever will be the amount of this
resistance, the piston in the main cylinder will have to over come, the working, the
resisting and the reacting, or driving power of the ship is the main cylinder as

page_text: I have before mentioned, the man in a boat, when pushing his boat from the
quay, in this case the quay is the resisting power or matter, the man is the machine
that exerts the power against the resistance, and what he stands upon is what
moves in reaction, therefore the engine in this invention can be compared to the
man, and whatever he uses to push his boat from the wall, say an oar, therefore
the oar is the instrument which is used to propell the boat from the quay, the
propeller which I have allready described is based on the same principle; after
the propeller is forced out to the termination of its stroke, we have a vacuum on
the fore side, which has no resistance to the piston, now we will have the full
power of the main piston on its return stroke pulling forwards on the piston in the
propeller, and also we will have 15 lbs. pressure on every square inch of its area
pressing the same way, and in addition to the power exerted on it by the main
piston, this air pressure again, I turn into account, by using springs on the main
piston rod; the main piston rod is fitted to the piston in the propeller to work one
way only, the rod passes through the piston in its centre, a shoulder is securely
fixed on the rod, and presses against the piston, so the pressure that the air exerts
on the piston falls on the springs which are fitted to a cross head fastened to the
main piston rod, strong supports are fitted on to the deck, the spiral springs are
placed between these supports and the crosshead on the piston rod, on the inward
stroke of the propeller these springs are contracted against the supports, a part of
the power that contracts the springs also drives the ship ahead, that is the amount
of air pressure on the piston in the propeller. Both ends of the propeller are
made conical and each end into two parts for the purpose of propelling the ship
ahead or astern as may be required, this can be done without stopping the engine,
or even reducing its speed, the conical ends of the propeller are made in two
different parts, cone as it were cut lengthways into two different parts, the main
piston rods works lengthways through its centre, the upper parts of the conical
ends works upon an hinge fastened to the body of the propeller, and they are
worked by a lever, fastened to the centre on the out side of the propeller this lever
is connected by rods to the opening part of the conical end, by giving the lever
a forward movement, the after end will be opened and the ship will go ahead, and
an after movement the reverse, the engine is in no ways interfered with. The
accumulators are suspended on pivots in the same manner as a mariner's compass,
to counteract the rolling of the ship, and also to keep the accumulators in a
perpendicular position.
In the accompanying drawings
Sheet 1, Fig. 1, illustrates a perspective view of the whole engine and propellers,
this figure shows two seperate machines, and to be one entirely independent of the
other; for this purpose, to work alternately so there will be a constant pressure
ahead on the ship when necessary; in heavy weather when the ship is in a very
heavy sea in a storm, being too dangerous to drive the ship ahead with any speed,
one propeller can be stopped alltogether if required, or if one happens to get out of
order the other is still in reserve, both machines are exactly the same dimensions,
similarly constructed and managed, so there is no necessity of explaining both,
here; only one engine that has been marked with reference figures, also the return
cylinder in the inside machine has been put out side for convenience, by so doing a
clearer view of the machinery may be obtained, it does not in any way interfere
with the working of the engine, also the spiral springs are omitted in the inside
engine to save confusion in the drawing. Parts marked 1, 2, are the accumulator,
3, the ram, 4, platform, 5, slab for pressing the springs 7, 6, heavy screws for
pressing both springs 7, 7, and ram 3, 8, a cross beam fastened to support 9, 9,
when screw 6, is pressing downwards on the springs and ram, the action is upwards
on this beam, 10, a strong aim fastened to the body of the accumulator part 2,
the object of it being fastened to this particular place is to allow the accumulator
to swing freely on its pivots with the rolling of the ship, 11, is a strong framing
fastened to the accumulator, pivot 14, is fastened to this, it can be understood that
the accumulator can swing on this pivot with the pitching of the ship, 12, is another

page_text: framing and is suspended on pivot 15, the accumulator will swing on this with the
rolling of the ship, the pivot 15, is fastened on the outside framing 13, which
supports the accumulator and its appendages. 16, is a slide over an opening in the
accumulator and to act as safety valve, 17, 171, where the substance used is
returned to the accumulator after doing its work, 181, 18, the return pipes, 19, a
strong flexible pipe that conveys the fluid used from the accumulator to the
machinery, the object of it being flexible is to allow the accumulator to swing with
the rolling of the ship 20, a lever for turning on the pressure, 21, the main cylinder
22, the valve chest, 23, the return cylinder, 24, its valve chest 25, 25', its conical
ends, 26, is the pipe that conveys the substance used after doing its work to the
return cylinder, 27, a strong support fastened to the deck, for spring 39, to press
against in reaction, 28, a support fastened to valve chest 22, the object of this is
to work the eccentric gear, 29; another upright arm fastened to eccentric 33, which
works the slide valve in 22, 30, a horizontal arm for the same purpose do. 31,
and 32, which will be better explained in the next figure, 34, a cross piece con-
necting the eccentric rod 33, and the eccentric rod 35, which works the slide valve
in 24, of the return cylinder, the one gear works the both slide valves,
36, 37, 38, stuffing boxes, 39, the reacting spiral spring, 40, a cross piece fastened
on the main piston rod, and contracts 39, 39, on its inward stroke thereby pressing
against support 27, 41, a strong cross piece fastened on the main piston rod, and to
cross head 43, which is connected to the piston rod, 42, 42, of the return cylinder,
cross piece 41, works the piston in the conical ended return cylinder, it can be seen
that all the appendages connected to the return cylinder and eccentrics are worked
by the main piston rod 44, and what power there is in excess, is what keeps the
machinery in perpetual motion, 45, is the propeller, 46', 46, 463, 46, its conical
ends, 47, support, 48, 48', 48% 48%, slabs which fasten the engine to the deck,
49, connection of the lever to the propeller, 50, hinge for one half of the conical
end to work, that is to open and close for the purpose of reversing the propelling
action of the propeller, 51, 51', where the rods are connected to the lever 55,
52, 52, small valves for allowing air to escape or enter the propeller when
reversing is necessary, 53, rod for working the valve, 54', 54, rods for opening and
closing the propeller, 55, lever, 56, a cross piece made with a slot for the end of
rod 54, 54, to work in, 57, the handle of the lever, to drive the ship ahead or
astern, and is performed in the following manner, the position that the conical
ends of the propeller is in at present is for going ahead, part 46, is now open and
also the small valve 52, to drive the ship astern we have to press on part
marked 57, of lever 55, in the direction indicated by the arrow by so doing,
463, will be closed, and also valve 52, will be pressed close down, these valves are
made loose a little one way, if there is any air left inside after this end of the
propeller is closed it will be forced outwards through this valve, by pressing on 57,
in the direction indicated by the arrow valve 52', will first open, when the pin in
the slot at 56, will catch at the end of the cross head power will be put ou
part, 46, of the propeller and it will open upwards, and the pressure of air will
fall on the fore part of the piston instead of the after part, consequently the ship
will go astern instead of ahead the motion of the machinery will not be in any way
interfered with, 58, 59, a part of the house on deck, Fig. 2, a rough scale.
Sheet 2, Fig. 3, a side elevation of one engine, parts marked 1, 2, 3, 4, are the
accumulator and ram, 5, slab for pressing the spring, 6, the screw, 7, springs,
8, cross beam, 9, support, 10, the strong arm fastened to part 2, 11, inside framing,
12, the second framing, 13, the outside framing 14, the pivot, 15, do., 16, slide
acting as a safety valve, 171, 17, where the substance used enters the accumulator,
18, the return pipe, F, F, pieces of flexible piping, to allow the accumulator to
swing freely on its pivots with the rolling of the ship 19, pipe connecting the
accumulator to the main cylinder, 21, 23, the return cylinder, 25, 251, its conical
ends, 26, the pipe that conveys the substance used from the main to the return
cylinder, 27 the upright for spring 39, to press against; spring 39, upright 27, and
cross piece 10, are shown below their proper position, the position of 40, is at 40',

page_text: on the main piston rod, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32, which are the eccentric gear, will
be fully explained at Fig. 4, 42, 42, are the piston rods of the return cylinder,
43, the cross head connecting the both, 44, the main piston rod that works the
whole machinery, 45, the propeller which has been fully explained in Fig. 1, it is
similarly figured here.
Fig. 4, a sectional view of the main cylinder 21, and the valve chest 22, which
is placed above here instead of at the side as shown in Fig. 1, the object of this
figure is to show how the action of the eccentric and slide valves are performed, as
follows, 19, is the pipe that conveys the fluid from the accumulator and corresponds
with 19, in Fig. 3, the substance used enters valve chest 22, through 19, then
through the port marked S, and into the body of the main cylinder 21, and forces
the piston O, towards position marked Q, thus piston rod 44, is pressed outwards
and carries arm 32, with it, when piston O, is about position marked P, the
plug 31, on arm 32, slides through slot marked B, in the horizontal arm 30, and
catches at H, by piston O, travelling from P, to Q, rod 44, carries 32, and 32,
carries 30, with it to the termination of the stroke of the main piston O, now we
can see that arm 30, which is jointed to 29, at Z, and works on pivot Z¹, in 28, so
a forward movement is given to Z, and a backward movement to Z, and eccentric
rod 33, when 33 is pressed backwards, valve V, closes port S, and opens valve V¹
and port S', now the substance used enters the port S, and into 21, for the next
stroke, F, F³, are two moveable plugs that can be adjusted by the screws shown,
for the purpose of cutting off the communication with the main cylinder, through
ports S, S', at an earlier part of the stroke if necessary, Fig. 5, rough scale.
Sheet 3, Fig. 6, is a view of the two cylinders on a large scale showing how they
are connected by pipe 26, which conveys the motive power, or fluid used from one
to the other, and also shows how the main piston rod 44, works the whole of the
gear connected with the return cylinder, as follows; the substance used enters
pipe 19, which corresponds with 19, in Fig. 7, and in to cylinder 21, now the
position of both pistons is at the termination of their outer strokes, their next
movement will be inwards, the cross piece 41, is fastened to the cross head 43, and
also to main piston rod 44, 43, is connected to the piston rods 42, 42, of the return
cylinder 23, when piston rod 44, inoves inwards, it carries the cross piece 41, and
cross head 43, with it, and presses inwards, piston rods 42, 42, as shown in Fig. 9,
K, the piston, so the substance in 23, will be forced through 25, in to 18, enters
the accumulator at 17, Fig. 7, the cross piece 34, joins together the two eccentric
rods 33, and 35, the arm 32, and the plug 31, which travels in the arm 30, effects
this movement, when the eccentric rod 33, works either in or out, rod 35, does the
same, and regulates the action of slide valve in 24, marked Y, in Fig. 9, 40, is the
cross beam that contracts the springs 39, 39, in its inward motion against
supports 27, 27, 28, support for the eccentric gear to work on.
Fig. 7, a front view of the accumulator which is figured similar to the previous
figures so there is no necessity of describing them here.
Fig. 8, a sectional view of the propeller, 44, the main piston rod, this figure is
also similarly marked as in Fig. 1, Sheet 1, except the reference letters, 1, shall
only describe here the piston which is marked R°, and the vacuum marked V,
the piston R, is now about the middle of its stroke; when the piston leaves A, its
position at the commencement of its stroke, as it moves along, no air can get in to
the space it leaves behind it this is called vacuum and marked V, as above,
before this can be accomplished we have to overcome the pressure of air in 45,
that is about 15 lbs. on the square inch of an area of the piston, it is the reaction
of this pressure that forces the ship ahead, a shoulder is fastened on 44, marked S,
close up to the piston, this and the rod forces the piston outwards, as seen the
piston rod is not fastened to the piston on the out side, so when the piston rod is
returning it does not carry the piston with it, but the pressure of air forces it back
to the termination of its stroke.
Fig. 9, a sectional view of the conical ended return, cylinder, K, the piston that

page_text: forces the substance used from the cylinder through pipes 18, 18; be it understood
that the engine works this cylinder; cylinder 21, works the engine, cylinder 23, or
the conical ended cylinder is a kind of a pump for the purpose of feeding the
accumulator with the substance that has worked the machinery after doing its
work, and the power that which is over and above that which is required to work
this cylinder is what keeps the whole engine in perpetual motion, 26, is the pipe
that feeds it, 24 the valve chest, Y, the slide valve, 23, 25, 25¹, the body of the
cylinder 42, 421, the two piston rods that works the piston, 43, cross head connecting
both, 41, cross piece which is connected to the main piston rod as shown in Fig. 6,
35, eccentric rod that works the slide valve in 24, see Fig. 6, and is connected to
the cross piece 34, 32, the upright arm that is fastened to the main piston rod.
Sheet 4, Fig. 10, is a sectional view of the whole engine, propeller included,
this figure differs slightly from the rest of the machinery in its construction, but
the principle on which it works is exactly the same, I do not claim this as a
seperate invention, my object is to put the invention in a simpler way and more
easily understood the figure is not similarly marked as the previous figures, nor
has there any reference being made to it from any other part of the specification,
I wish this to be treated independently in regards of references: the fluid used is
placed in parts 1, 2, of the accumulator, and is pressed therefrom by the weight of
ram 3, and platform 4, through apex R, in to valve chest 24, through the port
marked a, and in to part 25, of the cylinder, (I shall make use of water in this
figure) and pressing against piston K, forcing it towards apex L, when piston K, is
forced outwards towards apex L, the piston R, in the propeller moves the same
distance, also arm 32, and plug, 31, moves the same distance but before the piston
is exactly at the termination of its stroke, plug 31, catches at 31¹ and carries it
with it for the remainder of the stroke, thereby giving arm 30, an outward move-
ment, also pulling on joint H, of the upper part of arm 29, which is pivoted at F,
now arm 29, is pressing backwards or inwards at pivot g, thereby giving eccentric
rod 35, an inward movement, causing valve marked b, to close port a, and open
apex L, which is connected to arm D, and pivoted at E, apex L1, is now closed,
the movement being given by arm D, pivoted at I to rod 35, also valve 6', will
open port a', ready for the next stroke, the piston K, in this case does double duty,
that is it forces the propeller out, and also it forces the water from it previous
stroke through apex L, in to pipes 18, and back to the accumulator, the propeller 45,
has been allready described in Fig. 8, so there is no necessity of any further
description here W, a figure showing what resistance the inclination of the sides
of the accumulator offers to the substance used, Fig. 11, a view of the stop cock at
apexes L', L, and also at R, Fig. 12, a rough scale.
In a ship where it is not convenient to have this propeller on deck, it can be
placed in the stern of the ship and below the deck, using water as its resisting
power instead of air as previously explained. In the following manner, by
removing parts 463, and 46%, Fig. 1, and allowing part 45 of the propeller to come
in contact with the water through the stern of the ship, the propeller to be securely
fastened, and water tight to the hull near the stern post, the water will now enter
the propeller 45, and the piston Rº, see Fig. 8, will be forcing against it when the
machinery is put in motion, thereby forcing the ship ahead.
Having now particularly described and ascertained, the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :--
Firstly. An apparatus for propelling ships, to be fitted on deck, and to propel
the ship without the aid of the water on which she floats, in any manner what-
soever, driven by a self acting engine or any other if necessary.
Secondly. An apparatus for propelling ships, and can be fitted below the deck,
and water level, using the water on which the ship floats, as a resisting power,
driven by a self acting engine or any other.

page_text: Thirdly. An apparatus made in the form of a cylinder with both ends made
conical and capable of propelling the ship by using air as its resisting power for
propelling, driven by a self-acting engine or any other if necessary.
Fifthly. A propeller made in the form of a cylinder with a moveable piston
working inside, capable of overcoming the pressure of air, thereby causing a
vacuum to be produced on the one side, the overcoming of the pressure of air to
force the ship ahead in reaction.
Sixthly. A propeller for propelling ships made in the form of a cylinder, with
its both ends made conical, each end made in two parts, the upper end to work up
or down upon an hinge to open or close as may be required, by so doing the motion
of the ship can be reversed without stopping the machinery, these ends to be
worked by a lever marked 55, and connected by rods 53, 54, and 53, 54¹,
respectively, also a valve fitted in the upper part of these conical ends to admit air
or let air escape as may be required.
Seventhly. A machine for propelling ships, that can be made in two sets, and to
work as such, or made to work singly if necessary, all made substantial for the
purpose specified.
A__ 1004
JAMES DAVIES.