CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS ON WATER, AND IN THE MANNER OF CONSTRUCTING BOATS OR VESSELS FOR CARRYING SUCH MACHINERY
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
SMITH, of Princes Street, Leicester Square, in the Parish of Saint Martin in
the Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of January, in the first year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Andrew Smith, His especial licence, solc privilege and authority,
that I, the said Andrew Smith, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Andrew Smith, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS ON WATER, AND IN
THE MANNER OF CONSTRUCTING BOATS OR VESSELS FOR CARRYING SUCH MACHINERY;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Andrew
Smith, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Ilis
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months 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
Andrew Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and in

page_text: :-
what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly described and ascertained
by the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of certain Improvements in Machinery for Propelling Boats
and other Vessels on Water, and in the manner of constructing Boats or Vessels
for carrying such Machinery, consists, in the first place, of a peculiar con-
struction of the paddles for propelling vessels designed to obviate the lifting
of the backwater, which imperfection in the common paddles of the wheel
construction occasions a great loss of power, and consequently retards the
speed of the boat or vessel; and further that they may enter the water in such
a position as to take the greatest possible hold and perform their stroke or
action on it to the best advantage, and without causing the surge or motion
on the surface of the water attendant on paddles of the wheel construction;
secondly, in the construction of boats or vessels for carrying propelling
machinery intended for inland navigation, by which the surge or motion
of the water caused by the action of the paddles is kept or directed in the
middle of the canal, or in a direct line with the way of the boat or vessel,
until it has partly subsided, so as to prevent injury to the banks or sides of the
navigation.
Sheets 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings are representations of my
improved paddles, in which Fig. 1 is a side view, one of the side frames
being removed better to shew the parts; Fig 2 is a plan or horizontal view
of the same; the same letters referring to similar parts in all the Figures
in Sheet 1 and 2. A, B, are two paddles or propellers, each consisting
of two arms or levers a, a, connected together at their lower extremities
by plates of iron or other material b, b, forming the surface of resistance
against the water when in the act of propelling. These arms or levers are
connected by joints c, c, to the crank arms d, d, at about two-thirds their
length from their lower points; from these cranks the paddles receive their
motion. At the upper end of the arms a, a, are mounted the friction rollers e, e,
on the ends of the cross stretcher f, these rollers work in the groves or slots
between the side standards or guides g, g, which groves or slots determine
and command the motion of the paddles through the water. The crank
arms d, d, are connected by their short shafts h, h, to other cranks i, i, which
cranks are connected together so as to move simultaneously by the rods k, k.
It will be obvious that there are many ways of giving motion to these cranks
from the steam engine or first mover, either by attaching the piston rod of
the engine by connecting rods direct to the rods k, k, or to the cranks i, i,
or to the cross stretcher, by the connecting rod m. It will be seen by the

page_text: Drawings that the whole of the paddles and connecting parts are mounted
on side frames n, n, and are capable of adjusting through the screws 0, 0,
by which the depth of the dip of the paddles may be increased or diminished
as required.
In Sheet 2, Figures 3 and 4 are similar representations of the paddles
to Figures 1 and 2, but in those Figures there are no groves or slots to guide
the paddles, but the radius rods p, p, mounted on the side standards q, q,
and connected to the upper ends of the arms of the paddles answer the
same purpose, and determine the action of the paddles, and cause them to
perform the same motion. It will be seen that when one of the paddles
is about leaving the water, having finished its stroke or action, the other
is about entering to perform its operation. And further it is obvious that the
motion of the paddle through the water may be divercified in a by altering
the sweep of the cranks, the length of the paddle, the distance between the
joints c, c, and the friction rollers e, c, the length of the radius rods p, p, or the
position of the guide 9, 9, all of which will materially alter its motion and
make it enter or leave the water more or less perpendicular position. It will
also be seen that the second paddle is longer than the first, which will cause it
to dip deeper and to pass through a larger space in the water at a quicker rate
than its companion, by which it will take hold of the water displaced by the
preceding paddle; and when three, four, or more paddles are placed in a line
to propel the same boat, I make them all increase progressively in length
for the same purpose.
The second part of my improvement is shewn in Sheet 3, in which Fig. 5 is a
side view of a boat, with part of the stern casing removed to shew the interior;
Fig. 6 is a plan view of the same. I find from practical experience that where
paddles are placed and work in a channel made through the center of the boat,
that the water does not flow sufficiently through the channel to supply the paddles
from the head, but upwards from the bottom, and as this construction of boat
possesses many advantages for inland navigation, I propose to place the
paddles at the stern part of the vessel in a short channel or chamber open
to the water at the bottom, as shewn in the sectional part in Figure 5, where
T, T, is the channel or chamber, with the paddles &, s, mounted in the frame-
work, with their machinery placed in it. In order to confine the surge or
motion of the water in a line with the way of the vessel, I attach to the sides
of the stern part of the boat long guides or conductors t, t, which are formed
of sail cloth or other strong flexible material distended by the small rods u, u.
These guides are kept perpendicular by the lower ends of the rods being

page_text: weighted by the small balls of lead or other heavy substance v, v, and the
pieces of cork w, w, floating on the surface of the water.
The guides aro
also connected together by ropes or chains a, a, to prevent their being
expanded by the force of the water coming from the paddles. When the boat
is to be passed through a lock in the canal, it is requisite that the guides
or conductors t, t, should be drawn into or near to the stern of the boat; this
is effected by winding or hauling in the ropes or chains y, y, which are passed
through holes at the top and bottom of the distending rods u, u. When tho
boat has passed through the lock, they may be let out again into their former
position. It will be observed in Fig. 6 that it is necessary in boats of this
construction to have two rudders, one on each side of the chamber, which
may be worked by one tiller, as shewn in the Drawing.
Having particularly described my Invention of certain Improvements in
Machinery for Propelling Boats and other Vessels on Water, and in the manner
of constructing Boats or Vessels for carrying such Machinery, I wish it to bo
understood that I do not intend to confine myself to any particular mode of
working the paddles described under the first head of this my Specification, as
there are various ways of connecting the cranks to the first mover, nor do I
intend to confine myself to the use of two paddles only, as three, four, or more
may be used in a line with each other with advantage, or to the peculiar mode
described of adjusting them. But I do claim as my Invention the arrange-
ment and construction of the paddles, cranks, and guides or radius rods as
above described, by which the desired motion is given to the paddles.
And also I claim as my Invention the progressively increasing the length
of two or more paddles of any description when placed one before the other
in a line in order to make them dip deeper into the water and pass through
it at a quicker rate, and to take hold of the water displaced by the preceding
paddle after it has left it. And further, I do not intend to confine myself to the
making of the guides or conductors described under the second head of sail cloth
or other flexible material only, as they may be formed of long pieces of wood,
which may be extended from or drawn into the boat or up out of the water
by rackwork and pinions, or in any other way. But I do claim as my Inven-
tion the application of such moveable guides in connection with the boat
for the purpose above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.
ANDREW (L.S.) SMITH,

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of July, in
the second year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said Andrew Smith came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-one.