CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE MACHINERY AND ENGINES EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
MAUDSLAY, of the firm of Messieurs Maudslay, Sons, and Field, of Lambeth,
in the County of Surrey, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighth day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Maudslay, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, solo privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph
Maudslay, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Maudslay, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and, no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in
the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE MACHINERY
AND ENGINES EMPLOYED THEREIN;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said Joseph Maudslay, shall cause a particular description
of 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, to be inrolled
in IIer said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months

page_text: next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Maudslay, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described in and by
the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed (that is to say):
..
Firstly, my Invention has relation to the propelling of vessels by the com-
bined agency of steam power and a stern propeller, and consists in an improved
mode of affixing the blades of the said propeller to the driving shaft, whereby
the propeller assumes of itself (as it were) the proper angle for propulsion the
instant the driving shaft is put in motion, and returns as instantly into a
neutral or inoperative position, when the driving shaft ceases to rotate. The
details of this part of my Invention' are shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 cf
the Drawings hereunto annexed. Figure. 1 represents part of the stern of a
vessel fitted with a propeller on my improved plan; Figure 2 is a front view
of the propeller detached from its place in the vessel; and Figure 3 is a.
sectional plan of the propeller and its connections on the line a, b, of Figure 1.
A¹, A², are the blades of the propeller (which may be of any approved or
suitable form), which are inserted at their inner or narrow ends into sockets
B', B', in the end of the propeller shaft S, in which sockets they are free to
turn to the extent to be presently defined. To the shank of each propeller
blade there are two toothed segments (C', C, C, C³) attached, one at the top
of each socket and the other at the bottom of it, and the two sets of segments
work the one into the other within the limits determined by the stops f, f, so
that the propeller blades must always move in perfect unison, and can only turn
round in their sockets to the extent allowed by the stops. E is a sliding
clutch affixed to the driving shaft inside of the propeller blades, which may be
moved sternwards so as to lay hold of either of two sets of pins d, d, and e, e,
which project from the back of the wheels of the innermost propeller blade A².
F is a vertical rod, by means of which the clutch E may be worked from the
deck of the vessel, this rod terminating at bottom in a screw which takes into
a swivelled nut n, which is attached to one arm of a bell crank G, the other
arm of which is forked so as to embrace the clutch E when brought down
upon it. The mode in which the propeller, as thus fitted, acts, is as follows:
Supposing the clutch to be disengaged, and the driving shaft to be put in
motion, the blades aro immediately thrown out into the angular positions.
proper for propelling, and they will continue in these positions as long as the

page_text: shaft continues to rotate.. Should occasion arise for backing the vessel, the
blades are then secured in their extended positions by interlocking the clutch
with the pins d, d, at the back of the wheels of the innermost blade (A²), as
represented in Figure 3. When the engine is stopped, and the driving shaft
ceases to rotate, and the clutch is withdrawn, the propeller blades will, by the
action of the water upon them, be turned round in their sockets until they
come into a line with the course of the vessel, and present their sharp edges
only to the water, as exemplified in Figure 4; and for greater security they
may be made fast in this position by interlocking the clutch E with the pins
e, e, at the back of the wheels of the innermost blade. From the instanta-
neousness with which this peculiarily fixed propeller can be turned to account
from its never being required to be raised out of the water, and never offer-
ing, when in the water and at rest, any material obstruction to the steering or
progression of the vessel, it seems to possess so far a great superiority over all
the propellers hitherto in use; but it promises to be more especially advan-
tageous in the case of vessels going long voyages with small store of fuel, and
employing steam as an auxiliary power only when the wind is not fair for the
use of sails. With a propeller of this description not a minute need be lost
in changing from sailing to steaming or from steaming to sailing, and con-
sequently not a pound more of fuel need be expended than is absolutely
required.
Secondly, my Invention consists of certain improvements in the construction
and management of steam-boiler furnaces, whereby a considerable saving, both
of fuel and labour, is effected. Figure 5 is a longitudinal section of a furnace
embodying theso improvements; Figure 6, a front view; and Figure 7, a plan
on the line g, h, of Figure 6. H, H, are the fire bars, which, instead of being,
as usual, solid fixtures, consist of a series of tubes which are free to revolvo in
their bearings, are open from end to end, screw threaded on the outside, and
perforated with numerous air holes. On the front end of each bar there is a
broad flange or shoulder f, which projects beyond the general line of the
furnace, and has a worm wheel W formed upon it. An endless screw shaft K,
which passes across the front of the furnace, and is worked from the engine
through the medium of the bevel wheels N, O, takes into the whole series of
worm wheels W, and causes thereby the constant rotation of the fire bars. L
is a throttle valve hopper by which the coals are supplied to the furnace. As
the coals drop from the hopper, they fall upon an inclined shoot M, which
projects them upon the front end of the furnace bars, whence they are carried
gradually forward to the back by the rotation of the bars, and the action of
their screwed surfaces on the mass of fuel. In consequence of the bars being in

page_text: this constant state of rotation, neither clinkers nor ashes can readily accumulate
upon them.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the improvements which
I claim as constituting my said Invention, are as follows:-
First, I claim the peculiar mode of affixing the blades of propellers at the
stern of steam vessels to the driving shaft, before described.
And, second, I claim the employment in steam-boiler furnaces of rotating
tubular screw bars, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Maudslay, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of September, One thousand eight
JEFFERSON.
· JOSEPH (L.B.) MAUDSLAY.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of September, in
the year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid Joseph Maudslay came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.