IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MODE OF PROPELLING AND STEERING NAVIGAPLE VESSELS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MODE
OF PROPELLING AND STEERING NAVIGAPLE VESSELS."-A communication.
Sealed the 20th November 1857, and dated the 10th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th June 1857.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
AND MODE OF PROPELLING AND STEERING NAVIGABLE VESSELS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, firstly, to the construction of navigable vessels of
timber or iron in the form (in plan) of an isosceles triangle, with vertical sides
and a flat bottom, the base of the figure constituting the stern of the vessel,
and the apex the bow.
The second part of this Invention relates to the propulsion of vessels of this
novel construction.
In the stern of the vessel an air chamber is constructed to receive com-
pressed air, or elastic vapor or gases, and discharge the same therefrom
through an opening or openings extending the entire width of the stern below
the surface of the water; the pressure, therefore, of the air or vapor on the
water effected by means of pumps, or the action of heat, will cause the rapid
propulsion of the vessel..

page_text: In order to back the vessel, provision.is made for expelling air in a forward
direction from the vessel, to act on the same principle, as above stated, and
thus propel the vessel in a backward direction.
In the air chamber, sector-shaped chambers are partitioned off, and fitted
with sliding boxes of the same form, which, when the vessel is propelled ahead,
remain within the chambers, but, when the reverse action is required, are
moved out and present to the water openings in a forward direction for the
escape of the compressed air or vapor from the air chamber, of which these
moveable boxes virtually form a part.
For steering a vessel having the form and employing the system of pro-
pulsion above specified, one or more rudders are mounted within the air
chamber in the stern of the vessel, and by their action they give direction
to the escaping air which is the propelling agent, and thus direct the motion
of the vessel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MODE OF PROPELLING AND STEERING
NAVIGABLE VESSELS," being a communication from abroad; upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was

page_text: to performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to.the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates, firstly, to the construction of navigable vessels, whether built of timber
or iron. Their figure in plan view is that of an isosceles triangle, and they are
made with vertical sides and a flat bottom, the base or that side of the trian-
gular figure, at whose ends are the two equal angles, constituting the stern of
the vessel, and the opposite angle the bow. The advantages of this form are,
that it gives a very light draft of water with great carrying capacity, makes
a vessel of great strength for the weight of material employed, and is con-
structed entirely of straight material, requiring neither keel nor sternpost; and
when a suitable system of propulsion, which constitutes the second part of this
Invention, is adapted to it, is capable of being propelled at a high speed with
comparatively small power, as the resistance to its motion through the water
is only such as is presented to the bows of ordinary vessels.
The improved system of propulsion, above referred to, consists in the expul-
sion of air from a chamber or chambers within the stern of the vessel, through
an opening or openings extending the entire width of the stern below the sur-
face of the water, by pressure, to which the said air is subjected by a com-
pression pump or pumps, or which is developed by its expansion by heat, such
air in its escape acting on an area of water almost equal to that of the greatest
submerged section of the vessel. This system of propulsion also consists
in certain provisions for expelling air in a forward direction from the vessel, to
act on the same principle as above stated, for the purpose of propelling the
vessel in a backward direction.
The third part of the Invention consists in steering a vessel having the form
and employing the system of propulsion above specified, by means of one or
more rudders operating within the air chamber in the stern of the vessel, to
give direction to the escaping air which is the propelling agent, and thus direct
the motion of the vessel.
The Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1
is a plan of a vessel with the deck. partly broken. away, to shew the pro-
pelling and steering apparatus; Fig. 2 is a midship section of the same; and

page_text: Fig. 3 is, a view, looking towards the stern.
Similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A is the bow, and D, D, the stern, whose width is preferred to be generally
not, more than one-third of the extreme length of the vessel; C is the air
chamber in the stern of the vessel, from which the air constituting the pro-
pelling medium is forced out upon the water astern, the bottom of which
chamber is flush with the bottom of the vessel. a, a, is the opening through
which air is expelled from the chamber C to drive the vessel ahead. This
opening extends all across the stern from the bottom to such a height that it
will always be submerged or below the level of the water outside the vessel. The
chamber C must be perfectly air-tight, so that there will be no escape except
at the openings a, a. It is proposed generally to keep this chamber constantly
filled with compressed air for propelling; by forcing the air into it by means of
one or more compressing air pumps, driven by one or more steam engines.
The pressure of this air may be further augmented if the steam engine or
engines employed are of the high-pressure kind, by allowing the exhaust steam
to escape into the air chamber, where it will yield to the air in the chamber a
portion of its heat, which will be the means of expanding and increasing the
pressure of the said air.
When there is no pressure of air in the chamber C,
the chamber contains water up to the same level as the water outside the
vessel; but when air is constantly forced into the said chamber to maintain a
sufficient pressure therein, the water is expelled therefrom either entirely or
down to below the upper portion of the opening a, a, and escaping therefrom
against the body of water astern, it causes the propulsion of the vessel in the
opposite direction or "ahead." R, R, are air pumps for forcing air into the
chamber C; b, b; are the inlet pipes; and c, c, the discharge pipes of the said
pumps; E, E, are two small air chambers of the form of sectors of cylinders,
partitioned off from the sides of the larger air chamber C, and opening out-
wards through the sides of the vessel below the water line. These chambers
are fitted with sliding boxes F, F, of the same form, which in propelling the
vessel ahead are allowed to remain within the chambers E, E, to which they
then form as it were merely linings; but when it is desired to propel the vessel
.backwards, these boxes are slidden out by suitable mechanical means from
their respective chambers, as shown by red outlines in Fig. 1, so that they
constitute continuations of the chambers E, E, to a semicircular form, opening
in a forward direction. The propulsion of the vessel in a backward direction
is then effected by shutting off the communication between the air pumps and
the chamber C by cocks d, d, or their equivalents, in the discharge pipe c, c, and
opening communications between the air pumps and the chambers E, E, by

page_text: means of cocks e, e, or their equivalents, in branch discharge pipes f, ƒ, which,
when the cocks are opened, conduct the compressed air into the chambers
E, E. The air thus conducted to these chambers escapes in a forward direc-
tion against the water, and has the effect of stopping the forward movement of
the vessel or propelling it in a backward direction. When the vessel is
intended to be propelled ahead and the sliding boxes F, F, are drawn into
their respective chambers, the outside openings of the chambers E, E, are
intended to be closed by suitable shutters, so that the whole side of the vessel
may present an unbroken surface. By properly regulating the expulsion of
air at the opening a, a, in the stern and through the side chambers E, E, the
vessel may be held stationary in a stream or current, and the use of anchors
in a measure.dispensed with, or by the expulsion of air through only one of the
chambers E, E, the vessel may be turned. Instead of forcing air into the
chambers C, E, E, by a pump, charges of air and steam may be alternately
admitted and the air expanded by the heat which it takes up from the steam,
and a pressure may be thus produced in the chambers sufficient to cause the
requisite discharge through the apertures a, a, or the boxes F, F. The
chamber C may be divided vertically and parallel, or nearly so, with the centre
of the vessel into two or more compartments, each containing an aperture like
the aperture a, a, or constituting a portion of an aperture extending all across
the stern like a, a, and the air may be compressed in these compartments
alternately, so as to have an intermittent action in each. G is the rudder
for steering the vessel; it is placed entirely within the air chamber C,
extending from the bottom thereof to about the level of the water line, and
of a length nearly equal to the length of the chamber C taken fore and aft, so
that it may work freely within the said chamber. This rudder has its post J.
or the shaft by which it is carried, or other centre of motion arranged near the
middle of its length, so as to have a nearly equal surface exposed to the water
on each side of its centre of motion, that it may be moved in the water with
little power. It is better, however, in practice to have a slightly greater area
in the rear than in front of the centre of motion, so that the motion of the
vessel abead may exert a slight tendency to bring the rudder amidships, as it
enables the steersman to feel his helm better. The rudder, thus arranged, may
be operated by the same steering apparatus, as is applicable to the common
rudder, but it effects its object in a different manner, viz, by causing the air
to escape and act upon the water in a more or less oblique direction towards
either side of the vessel, thus, as is obvious, causing the vessel to deviate in
one direction or the other from a straight course. The advantage of this mode
of applying the rudder is, that, being within the vessel itself, it is not liable to

page_text: be carried away by a sea striking it, or by its being dragged over a shoal. If
two or more chambers C, C, are employed in the stern of the vessel, a rudder
may be used in each chamber.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in the
Construction and Mode of Propelling and Steering Navigable Vessels," as
communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim,
First, constructing vavigable vessels in the form of an isosceles triangle,
with vertical sides and with a flat bottom, the base or that side of the trian-
gular figure, which terminates in the two equal angles, constituting the stern,
and the opposite angle the bow of the vessel, as herein described.
Second, though I do not claim generally the propulsion of vessels by forcing
air through openings in the sterns thereof, I claim the propulsion of vessels of
the form above specified, by forcing air through an opening or openings
extending entirely, or nearly so, across the stern of the said vessel, from an air
chamber occupying the entire stern, so as to obtain a surface of water to act
upon, nearly equal to the greatest submerged section of the vessel; and I also
claim the employment of the sector-shaped air chambers E, E, with their
sliding boxes F, F, in the sides of the vessel, for the purpose of propelling the
vessel backwards, or turning or stopping it when desired, by sliding out the
said boxes from the said chambers and expelling air therefrom in a forward
direction, as herein set forth.
Third, the arrangement of a rudder or rudders to operate within the air
chamber or chambers in the stern of the vessel to steer the vessel, by
directing the escape of the air which is the propelling medium, as herein
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)