AN IMPROVED MODE OF EFFECTING THE OPERATION OF CONNECTING AND DISCONNECTING FROM STEAM ENGINES THE PADDLE WHEELS USED FOR STEAM NAVIGATION
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL, I, JOSHUA FIELD,
of Lambeth, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I did by petition humbly represent unto Her present most Excel-
lent Majesty Queen Victoria that after considerable application and expense I
had invented "AN IMPROVED MODE OF EFFECTING THE OPERATION OF CONNECTING
AND DISCONNECTING FROM STEAM ENGINES THE PADDLE WHEELS USED FOR STEAM
NAVIGATION;" and Her said Majesty being willing to give encouragement to
all arts and inventions which may be for the public good was graciously pleased,
by Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster the Twenty-second
day of March One thousand eight hundred and forty-one, in the fourth year of
Her reign, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, to give and grant unto
me, the said Joshua Field, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I or they, by
myself or themselves, or by my or their deputies, servants, or agents, or such
others as I or they should agree with, and no others, during the term of four-
teen years from the date of the said Letters Patent, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend my said Invention within that part of Her said
Majesty's Dominions called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, in
such manner as to me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should seem
meet, and as that I or they shall enjoy the whole profit and advantage arising

page_text: by reason of the said Invention during the said term of fourteen years, and for
that end Her said Majesty requires and strictly commands all Her subjects
whatsoever within England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in the
Colonies and Plantations and Islands aforesaid, that they shall not, neither
directly nor indirectly, make, use, or put in practice my said Invention, or
any part thereof, nor in anywise counterfeit, imitate, or resemble the same,
nor make any addition thereto or..subtraction therefrom whereby to pretend
himself or themselves to be the inventor or inventors thereof. And whereas
the said Letters Patent contain a proviso obliging me, the said Joshua Field,
particularly to 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 to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said 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
Joshua Field,. do hereby declare that my said Invention is described and
ascertained in manner following, and by the aid of the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed (that is, to say):-
•
My improved inode of effecting the operation of connecting and disconnecting
from steam engines the paddle wheels used for steam navigation consists in
giving (when required) an endway horizontal motion to the paddle wheel shaft
or horizontal axis whereon the paddle wheel which to be connected and dis-
connected is mounted, in order that by means of such endway motion the crank,
which may for distinction be called the paddle wheel crank (because it is on the
end of the said axis of the paddle wheel), can at pleasure be either put in connec-
tion with or can be withdrawn from connection with the extremity of the crank
pin by which the aforesaid crank and paddle wheel is usually turned round, for
the crank pin is fastened to and projects out from the other or fellow crank,
which may for distinction be called the engine crank, because it is turned round
byaction of the steam engine transmitted by means of the connecting rod to the
said crank pin, which is so fastened as aforesaid to the said engine crank. The
connecting rod being jointed on the said crank pin, and operating thereon with
upward and downward force alternately, has the effect of urging that crank pin
round in its intended circular orbit, and consequently turning the engine crank
round together with the horizontal axis to which that crank belongs. The
extremity above mentioned of the crank pin protrudes beyond the joint of the
connecting rod, and the protruding extremity is adapted to enter into a hole in
the aforesaid paddle wheel crank whenever the paddle wheel is connected with

page_text: the steam engines, in order that the paddle wheel crank may be carried. round
along with the crank pin and engine crank.. In the most usual mode of con-
structing and applying the steam engines used for steam. navigation the
connection.of each. paddle wheel with the steam engines is effected by the pro-
truding extremity; of the crank,pin, entering. into a hole in .the paddle wheel
crank as above described; but no means are provided for disconnecting. By
my.improved..mode the axis of the. paddle wheel,. together with the paddle
wheel itself, and the. paddle wheel crank being capable of being moved endways
in the direction of the length of the said axis, the paddle wheel. crank can he
approached towards the other fellow crank or engine crank, so that .the aforesaid
protruding extremity of the crank pin will become: properly inserted into the
hole:in the paddle wheel crank in order to effect and secure the usual connec-
tion of the paddle wheel with the steam engines. But, when required, the axis
of.the paddle wheel, with. the paddle. wheel itself and the paddle wheel crank,
can be moved. in the direction of the length of the said axis, so as to remove
the paddle wheel crank farther away.from the engine crank, until the paddle
wheel crank is withdrawn quite out of the reach of the protruding end of the
crank pin; whereby the paddle wheel: will become entirely disconnected from
the engines. And as to the mechanism whereby the axis of each of the paddle
wheels is to be moved endways,.the same may be constructed in different ways,
which will equally well produce the effect required, which is as above stated; and
it is important that the said mechanism should be adapted not only to move the
axis of the paddle wheels. endways, as above described, with facility, but also to
retain the axis securely as it has been placed, whether connected or disconnected,
so that there can be no risk that the axis can change its condition unintention-
ally by any tendency resulting from the working of the engines, or from the
motion of the steam vessel in a troubled sea; but from the construction of the
said mechanism it should be certain that after the paddle wheels have been
once connected with the steam engines, by moving their respective axes end-
ways, so as to connect their paddle wheel cranks effectually and properly with
the extremities-of the crank pins, as already explained, that there can be no
risk of the said axes, or either of them, getting moved endways by any action of
their own, or of the engines, or of the sea, so as to become disconnected or party
disconnected, unless it is required for any reason to disconnect either or both
of the paddle wheels, and then the mechanism which is provided for the purpose
must be capable, with facility, of moving the axis of that paddle wheel endways
so much as is requisite in order to withdraw its paddle wheel crank from all
contact and connection with the said extremity of the crank pin, so as thereby
to effectually disconnect the said paddle wheels from the steam engines; but

page_text: from the construction of the said mechanism it should be certain that the axis:
of the paddle wheel so disconnected cannot get moved endways so as to become
partially or at all connected again by any action of its own, or the engines, or
of the sea; and each paddle wheel is to be provided with such mechanism as
aforesaid, so that either paddle wheel can be connected. or disconnected from
the steam engines or both of the said wheels, as circumstances. may require;
and it will be requisite either that the gudgeons or necks of the axes. of the
paddle wheels should be made longer than the brasses or bearings wherein such
gudgeons or necks are lodged, in order that the said axes may admit of being
moved endways in manner aforesaid within those brasses or bearings, or else
that the said brasses or bearings themselves should be mounted on the sup-
porting framework in the manner of horizontal sliders, so as to be capable of
moving in the direction of the length of the axis in order to carry the same
endways as much as is requisite for connecting or disconnecting in the
manner above described; and also the space within the paddle cases wherein
the paddle wheels are enclosed must be sufficient to admit of the paddle wheels
being moved by the aforesaid endways motion of their axes as much as is
requisite for the purpose of connecting and disconnecting in manner aforesaid,
without risk of the paddle wheels, or any part of them, touching the inside of
the paddle cases or the framing therein. And for the more complete explana-
tion of my said improved mode I have hereunto annexed a Drawing, which
contains representations of those parts of a steam engine to which the improved
mode has particular reference, viz, the axis of the paddle wheel and the paddle-
wheel crank, also the engine crank and its crank pin, and the axis of the latter
crank, also the bearings for those axes, together with certain new mechanism
for moving the axis of the paddle wheel and its said crank endways, as herein-
before described, that mechanism being constructed in one of the various ways
in which the same may be constructed, but in a way which I esteem to be well.
adapted for practical use, and which will fully effect the intended purpose.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section taken across the direction of the axis
of the paddle wheel; and Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section taken in the
direction of the length of the said axis; and Fig. 3 is a horizontal plan. The
same letters of reference are used to denote the same parts in all the three
Figures. A is the axis of the paddle wheel, and B the paddle wheel crank on
the end of that axis; C is the iron framing to sustain the neck of the axes A,
and 6 is the lowermost brass of the bearing whereon the neck a of. that axis
rests and revolves; D is the engine crank; and E the axis thereof; F the iron
framing to sustain it; f is the lowermost brass, and g the uppermost brass of
the bearing, wherein tho ncck of the axis E revolves; and G is the cap or
七

page_text: upper part of that bearing, which keeps the uppermost brass 9 in place over
the said neck of the axes E. H, h is the crank pin, which is fastened firmly
into the engine crank D, and projects out horizontally therefrom, H being the
part whereon the joint of the connecting rod is fitted, and h the protruding
extremity of the pin which enters into a hole in the end of the paddle wheel
crank B, as shewn in Fig. 2, at least that is the case when the paddle wheel is
connected with the steam engine, and is the case in the ordinary construction;
for every thing that has been above described in respect to the Drawing is the
ordinary construction, and formis no part of my improved mode; but the lines
drawn in red ink at X represents the position which, according to my said
improved mode, the paddle wheel crank B assumes when the axis A of the
paddle wheel has been moved endways, as herein-before described, so as to be
withdrawn from the protruding extremity h of the crank pin, whereby the
paddle wheel crank B (and consequently the paddle wheel) becomes wholly
disconnected from the engines. It may be seen in Fig. 2 that the neck a of
the axis A of the paddle wheel crank B is a much longer than the length of
the lowermost brass 6 of the bearing for that neck a as will permit the axes A
to be moved endways in the said bearing as much as will remove the paddle
wheel crank B from the position represented in Fig. 2 to the position repre-
sented by the red lines X in the same Figure, in order to effect the connection
or disconnection according to my said improved mode in the manner already
explained. The whole of the mechanisin for moving the axis endways is repre-
sented in the Drawing to be applied in the cap I of the bearing for the neck
a of the axis of the paddle wheel in the following manner:-The uppermost
brass d of the said bearing is fitted into the cap I so as to be capable of
sliding horizontally therein in the direction of the length of the axis. The said
uppermost brass d, as is shewn in Fig. 2, occupies the whole length of the
neck a of the axis A, so as to fill up between the shoulders of that neck,
although the lowermost brass 6 of the same bearing is, as before mentioned,
shorter than the said neck a, that lowermost brass being fixed in the usual
manner in its bearing C without liberty of moving or sliding therein; and in
order to move or slide the uppermost brass d in its cap I, an excentric circle k
is applied over the said brass, the excentric being interposed in the space
between the top of the brass d and the underside of the cap I. The excentric
is on the lowermost end of an upright axis l, which passes down through a
vertical socket m that is formed on the top of the cap I, and on the upper end
of the axis a toothed wheel i is fixed, in order to turn the axis Z round, and,
consequently the excentric k at the same time with the axis. The excentrick
is included within a recess formed in the upper side of the uppermost brass d

page_text: and the circumference of the excentric touches the two sides of that recess,
which sides are horizontal straight edges parallel oue to the other in a direction
across the length of the axis A. The diameter of the excentric-circle & exactly
fills the space between the said two parallel straight edges, so that the excentric
k being turned round (or half round) will, by acting between the said parallel
edges, move or slide the uppermost brass d endways within the cap I, and thereby
the axis A of the paddle wheels, together with the paddle wheel crank B, will
be moved endways in its lowermost bearing brass b, which, as already stated, is
shorter than the neck a, which rests and revolves in-the brass b, but in conse
quence of the uppermost brass d occupying all the length of the neck ȧ, and filling
up between the two shoulders thereof, the said uppermost brass d, when moved
endways within its cap I, as above described, cannot fail to move the axis 'A
endways along with it, together with the paddle wheel cránk B, as well as the
paddle wheel itself. The excentric circle k is shewn in the section, Fig. 2; and
by dotted lines in the plan, Figure 3, with the excentricity thereof turned
towards the cranks, as is the case when the paddle wlieel, is connected-with
the steam engine; and as is represented in Fig. 2; but when the upright axis
of the excentric has been turned half round, so that the excentricity of the
circle-k becomes turned away from the cranks, then it will have moved or slided
the uppermost brass & endways within the cap-I, and thereby will have moved
the axis A of the paddle wheel so much endways as to place tlie same, with its
paddle wheel crank B, in the position shewn by the red lines X in Fig. 2, anil
in which position the paddle wheel is disconnected from the steam engines," as
already stated. The upright axis of the excentric circle & may be turned
round very conveniently by means of a 'toothed wheel i fastened on the upper
end of that axis, and having its teeth engaged by a worm or endless screw p.
A prolongation n of the axis of that screw may be extended to any accessible
and convenient place for applying a turning handle o, by which the screw
p can be turned round, and consequently the toothed wheel i, together with its
axis and the excentric circle k, will be turned slowly round, but with great
force, in order to move or slide the uppermost brass & within the cap I; and
thereby to move the axis A of the paddle-wlieels; and its crank' B, endivays,
for the purpose of effecting the operation of connecting and disconnecting the
paddle-wheel- from the steam engines, as already explained. The cap I of the
bearing for the axis A.of the paddle wheel is fastened down by four screw bolts;
with nuts on the upper ends of them in the usual manner; and the cap I should
-be fitted into its place in the lower part of the bearing, which is part of the
iron framing C, with projections on the cap to interlock into corresponding
cavities in the said lower part of-the bearing; as is very commonly done, in
'

page_text: order to retain the cap I very securely in place in the direction of the length of
he axis A by such interlocking, as an additional security to the screw bolts, so
s to prevent any risk of the cap being dislodged by force acting in the direc-
ion of the length of the axis A. The socket m for the reception of the vertical
xis of the excentric circle is a short column on the top of the cap-I, and
from the upper end of that column án arin projects out horizontally on the
side towards the paddle wheel in order to support two bearings for 'the screw p,
as is sufficiently 'explained by the Drawing. The screw p'may be a double
spiral thread, in which case it will at every revolution given by its händle o turn
It is not necessary that the toothed
the wheel i, two of the teeth thereof.
wheel i should be a complete circle, for if its teeth extend around somewhat
more than half its circumference they would be sufficient, because the excentric
circle k only requires to be turned half round, and 'then to be turned back
again, in order to effect the intended operation of connecting and disconnecting;
but if the wheel i is toothed all round its circumference, then the excentric
may be turned round' in either direction in order to effect the operation afore-
said, and after having been turned half round, then, instead of turning back
again, it may be turned onwards another half turn in the same direction, and
will thereby effect 'the said operation; but in all cases the excentric circle k
must be placed' so as to liave the'excentricity thereof directed truly towards
the cranks, as shewn in the Drawing, when the paddle wheel is to be connected,
or with the said 'excentricity directed truly towards the paddle wheel when the
paddle wheel is disconnected, and the toothed wheel i should have suitable
marks upon it to shew when the excentric is properly placed for connecting
and disconnecting as aforesaid: And note, the other bearing for the outer or
overboard part of the axis A of the paddle wheel; and the space left for the
päddle wheel within the paddle box or case, must be all suitably adapted' to
permit of the axis A being moved endways as much as is requisite for effecting
the operation of connecting and disconnecting in the manner already described,
without any impediment to such moving endways: "And more effectually to
secure the axis A as it has been placed, whether connected or disconnected,
I propose to apply two pauls or steps mounted on horizontal centre pins t, t,
(see Figures 1 and 3) on each side of the iron framing C, in such a manner
that when the cranks are connected 'the two paùls'r,?, which are fixed on the
same side of the frame C as the crank B, shall fit into two notches in the upper
moveable brass d; as is shewn by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, and also in Fig. 3,
and thereby prevent the possibility of the axis A sliding, or moving outwards,
and becoming disconnected from the engine, the two pauls's, s, on the side of
the framing C-next to the paddle wheel "being at that time out of action, and

page_text: removed from the brass d, as is shewn in Figures 1 and 3.
Before disconnect-
ing the paddle wheel from the engine in the manner herein-before described
the two pauls r, r, must be removed from the notches in the brass d, and after
the operation of disconnecting has been performed, and the brass & moved into
the position shewn by the red lines in Fig. 2, the two pauls 8, 8, on the side
of the frame C next to the paddle wheel arc to be turned up and allowed to
enter into notches in that end of the brass d which is nearest the paddle wheel,
and thereby prevent the possibility of the axis A sliding or moving inwards,
and becoming connected with the engine, the two pauls r, r, being at the same
time out of action. All that is represented in the Drawing relates to one
paddle wheel, and the other paddle wheel will require to have a duplicate of
the mechanism represented and above described. The mechanism for moving
the axis of the paddle wheel endways may be constructed in various ways, for
instance, with lovers in place of the worm and wheel, or with other mechanical
powers combined so as to be different from the above, but so as to produce the
same result. Nevertheless, I consider the above to be as well adapted to the
purpose as any other way. And note, when the paddle wheel is disconnected,
and it is required to connect it again, the paddle wheel must be turned round,
or else the engines, or both the paddle wheel and engines, may be turned
round respectively until the paddle wheel crank B is brought round to stand
exactly opposite to the engine crank D, so that the protruding extremity of
the crank pin will be exactly opposite to the hole in the engine crank B which
is to receive that extremity, and it is whilst the cranks are kept steadily so
placed that the handle o is to be turned in order to move the axis of the paddle
wheel endways and effect the connecting. And for the convenience of turning
the paddle wheel round when it is disconnected, and of keeping the wheel
steady after it has been properly placed, and until it is connected as aforesaid,
one of the circular rims of the paddle wheel may have teeth formed around its
circumference, and a long pinion or pinions may be mounted in a frame, so that
they can be applied to engage with those teeth when required, the said pinions
having winch handles by which they can be turned round by men in order to
turn the paddle wheel round and retain it steadily as required. This con-
trivance is not a new proposal, and is not claimed as. any part of the present
Invention, but it may be advantageously used therewith.
.
Having now described my said improved mode of effecting the operation of
connecting and disconnecting from steam engines the paddle wheels used for
steam navigation, I, the said Joshua Field, do hereby declare that the new
Invention, whereof the exclusive use is granted to me by the aforesaid Letters
Patent, consists in the mode herein-before described of moving the axis of the

page_text: paddle wheel endways in the direction of its length by means of suitable
mechanism, so that the paddle wheel crank may be approached towards or
removed away from the extremity of the crank pin of the engine crank with
as much motion as is requisite in order to effect the operation of connecting
and disconnecting the paddle wheel from the engines.
In witness whoof I s