IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING AND STEERING SHIPS, PARTLY APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE VENTILATION OF MINES AND BUILDINGS, TO THE PUMPING OF WATER, AND TO THE OBTAINMENT OF MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Henry Johnson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd August
1864. A communication from abroad by John Harris, of the City of
Montreal, in the Province of Canada, Brewer.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING AND STEERING
SHIPS, PARTLY APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE VENTILATION OF MINES AND BUILDINGS, TO
THE PUMPING OF WATER, AND TO THE OBTAINMENT OF MOTIVE POWER," a com-
munication to me from abroad by John Harris, of the City of Montreal, in
the Province of Canada, Brewer, to be as follows:—
This Invention relates, firstly, to certain peculiar arrangements of mechanism
for giving a reciprocating horizontal motion or an oscillating motion to a
feathering paddle for propelling or steering ships, such paddle being so con-
structed that the vanes will be closed when the paddle is moving in one
direction and open when moving in the contrary direction, for the purpose of
propelling ships or vessels by offering a great resistance to the water when
the vanes are closed, and a very slight resistance when the vanes are open;
secondly, to certain peculiar constructions of feathering paddles.
According to one mode of carrying out this Invention a vertical frame is
employed, carrying at its lower end vanes fixed on vertical spindles and turning
with them in the frame. The upper part of the frame forms a stem, which is
suspended from and free to swing upon a horizontal axle or shaft, from which
shaft a rod is also suspended. The spindle which carries the centre vane is

page_text: extended upwards, and at its upper extremity carries two tappets or small
arms, which are acted upon by a fork on the lower end of the rod herein-
before referred to, when that rod moves in relation to the frame, and when
consequently it turns the spindle, which is made to impart motion also to the
rest of the spindles of the series of vanes. Motion is communicated to this
propeller by means of two arms carried on two rocking shafts having the same
amount of motion. One of these arms is longer than the other and gives
motion through a connecting rod to the frame of the propeller, whilst the
shorter arms gives motion, also through a connecting rod, to the suspended
rod herein-before mentioned which actuates the feathering vanes. As the
first-mentioned arm is double the length of the second, but acts at twice the
distance from the point of suspension of the frame, and as the two rocking
shafts have an equal amount of motion, so will an equal amount of motion bo
imparted to the oscillating frame and its rod. The two rocking shafts are,
however, so connected to the prime mover means of cranks placed at an
angle to each other that one of them will commence its motion in either
direction before the other; but so soon as both have started they will move
together with an equal velocity and retain the same relative position until the
one in advance has completed the distance, when it will begin to return,
whilst the other continues to move in the former direction until it has reached.
the same point; they will therefore pass each other, in doing which the
suspended rod turns the spindle of the central vane and opens or shuts the
whole of the vanes, as may be arranged. The action is reversed when the
distance is completed in the opposite direction. In lieu of the two rocking
shafts, a crank and eccentric wheel on the same shaft may be employed.
Various means may be adopted for connecting together the spindles carrying
the several feathering vanes, so that on one of them being turned in either
direction the same movement will be imparted to the rest. For example,
each spindle may be provided with a spur wheel, and all these wheels made
to gear into one another; or a series of arms or levers may be fixed to the
several spindles and coupled by connecting rods; or a small bar may be con-
nected by a pin at one end to near the circumference of a wheel fast on the
end of the spindie. The small bar is slotted at its free end, and through this
slot passes a pin which is fixed to the framework between the wheel and the
bar. The bar thus forms a variable lever sliding and turning on the fixed
fulerum pin, and as one extremity of the bar moves through the arc of a
circle having the spindle for its centre, the other extremity will move in a
straight line. It is evident that a segment of a wheel or a second bar may
be used in place of the wheel, one extremity of this second bar being fixed on

page_text: the end of the spindle and the other extremity connected by a pin, with
freedom to turn to the lever bar above it. This arrangement may be used for
the purpose of turning the main spindle by the action of the suspended rod
herein-before mentioned.
Another mode of communicating motion to the entire propeller when
applied to the side of a vessel consists in the employment of a horizontal
steam engine, which actuates a horizontal vibrating beam working on a fixed
centre inside the vessel. The connecting rod or link which transmits the
motion to the propeller is to be connected to the outer extremity of the beam
which passes through a slot formed in the side of the vessel.
According to another mode of applying and working this form of propeller
two horizontal guides are employed attached to. any desirable part of the ship
or vessel, along which guides the main framing of the propeller is made to.
travel in a horizontal rectilinear direction. A separate pair of guides is also
employed, along which a light shaft carrying the suspended rod herein-before
mentioned is made to travel. These guides may be fixed to the cross bars of
the framing and made to travel with it, but so arranged as to allow the rod
sufficient motion through them to act on a lever arm on one of the spindles
and so turn the vanes. The shaft which gives motion to the frame may be
connected directly to the piston rod of a horizontal steam engine when applied
at the stern of a vessel, or by the intervention of a vibrating beam when
applied at the side, or a crank in either case may be employed. The motion
can be given to the rod which turns the vanes by an additional crank or an
eccentric, as herein-before described. In either of these methods of applying
and working the propeller the spindles carrying the vanes may be placed hori-
zontally instead of vertically in the frame, in which case the opening and
closing mechanism will be applied at the side in lieu of at the top of the
frame. Either of the herein-before described forms of feathering mechanism
may be adopted and used for the purpose of putting in motion a body of air
as a ventilator, or of water as a pump, or applied in substitution for water
wheels for the purpose of obtaining motive power from running streams. For
example, if it be desired to use the apparatus as a prime mover, two cranks
fixed in opposite directions on to one shaft are employed, each crank being
accompanied by an eccentric wheel on the same shaft for the purpose of
actuating the feathering mechanism, as herein-before described. The crank
shaft is to be parallel with and at any convenient distance from a second shaft,
which is fixed over the stream from which the power is to be taken. On this
last-mentioned shaft two frames containing paddles are suspended. Each
frame is connected by a link or connecting rod with its corresponding crank,

page_text: the connecting rods being of such a length that when the cranks are vertical
the frames will also be vertical. The eccentrics are connected by rods to the
regulating rods which actuate the feathering mechanism, as herein-before
described. As the vanes in the forward frame are closed and those in the
back frame open, the stream, by acting upon the closed vanes, will tend to
force that frame back and turn the crank shaft, such motion serving to move,
forward the second frame, the vanes of which are open, but these vanes will
be closed by the time they have reached their forward position, whilst the
vanes in the other frame. are opened. In this way a constant to-and-fro
motion of the frames is obtained, which through the cranks is converted into
a rotatory motion of the crank shaft. This motion may be assisted by a fly
wheel on the crank shaft. The same arrangement is applicable as a ven-
tilator, or as a pump for putting in motion air or water, in which case the
power must be applied to the crank shaft.
According to another adaptation for the same purposes it is proposed to
employ an arrangement. somewhat similar to the .horizontal rectilinear reci-
procating arrangement herein-before referred to, but to enclose the vanes in a
square shoot, in the upper side of which a slot is formed, through which the
stem of the main frame works. By applying the propellers herein-before
described to the stern of a vessel in such a manner that they shall reciprocate
at right angles to the keel the steering of the vessel will be accomplished.