IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROPELLING OF SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THERE- FOR
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Leckie Graham
Wright at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 20th June 1868.
I, WILLIAM LECKIE GRAHAM WRIGHT, Engineer, of the City of
Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROPELLING
OF SHIPS OR VESSELS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THERE-
FOR," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This said Invention, as stated in general terms, consists essentially
in propelling ships or vessels by a new or improved hydraulic propeller,
which is a combination of the screw propeller and a reaction hydraulic
wheel or motor for actuating the same, driven by the pressure and
quantity of water forced through the said screw and wheel for the
purpose by any of the usual means and apparatus heretofore in use
for forcing water through pipes or conduits; and which compound
propeller thus actuated propels the ship or vessel by the combined
action of the screw acting direct on the water to be displaced, as
usual, by preference, at the stern of the ship, and the reactionary force
of the actuating or escaping water of the reaction wheel acting on the

page_text: principle of hydraulic jet propeners; and wien inveцион ще реконс
believes will be more simple, efficient, and economical in various cases
and circumstances than the propellers heretofore in use for the like
purpose.
One modification of this Invention, stated more particularly, consists
of a hollow tubular screw shaft, mounted by preference in a well in
the stern keel frame, having two or more screw blades or arms formed
on or fixed to a central part of the shaft or a boss formed on it with
a transverse close division or disc across the tubular part near the
axial line of the blades, which have each two conduits running out
each side of a central and separating division, opening outward to the
sea water, by preference, in a curved orifice or nozzle at the extremity of
the blade in opposite directions so as to act nearly tangentially to and
on the reacting surface of the hollow blade during its revolution, and
by preference, at right angles or nearly so to the axial line of the
screw shaft. Thus all so that the water when forced in at the
forward end of the hollow shaft would pass up the conduits on that
side of all the blades which would turn the screw so as to propel the
ship or vessel forward, and when forced in at the after or stern end
of the shaft would pass up the conduits on the other side of the
blades, so as to propel the vessel backward or astern, while the forced
and actuating water by its reaction on the radially curved hollow
blades, on its way to the escaping nozzle or orifice would besides
driving the screw if allowed to escape with considerable force be made
to react either at an angle so as to propel the vessel in the same
direction as the screw was acting, or if acting at any angle near a
right angle to the axis of the shaft or line of motion of the vessel,
which would not propel the ship in the same direction as the screw,
by acting on the outer water, then the current so escaping could be
made to act on a fixed angular or conical reacting ring surface round
the propeller so that the force of the said unutilized diverging centri-
fugal current would be forced against this conical ring surface and be
developed into a reactionary force in the direction of the ship's motion
over the said surface so as to propel the ship. The instantaneous
reversing cr stoppage of the propeller is effected by a regulating hand
lever arrangement on deck by the steersman or other person in
command, which actuates a valvo in the chest or conduit leading from
or connecting the main current pipe with the two branches or conduits

page_text: leading to the two ends of the screw or propeller shaft, so as to allow
the water to pass through either end of the shaft, wholly or in any
ratio to suit that of the forward or backward motion of the propeller
desired at the time, or to shut off the current from both or stop the
motion and action of the forcing apparatus. The body of water used
for so propelling the ship may be impelled through the said main
ducts leading to the propeller by any of the water forcing or raising
apparatus heretofore used for giving a constant stream of water through
such conduits, such as reciprocating sets of pumps with an air vessel
or chambers, centrifugal or centripetal pumps, or other water forcers
and lifters, the water by preference flowing or being drawn into such
forcing apparatus from the forward direction or part of the ship below
the level surface of immersion, and when the force is desired to be
developed from a direct head of water, the hollow masts might be
made the cisterns into which the pumps raise or deliver the water to
or at the height required to give the desired pressure; and the pressure
within the main conduit might in some cases be used for stearing,
turning, or "siding," the vessel by having four lateral branch pipes or
nozzles, one at each side of the bow and stern, controlled by valves
and attached to supplementary pipes leading thereto from the main,
which could be used partially along with the propeller, or with full
power when the propeller was stopt, and the current producing
machinery was still kept at work. In some cases the screw blades of
the propeller might be made to turn to different angles on their
hollow bosses at their neck and attachment to the hollow shaft made
round with strong sockets or flanges and shifting mechanism for the
purpose, such as heretofore used on shifting screw blades; and the
orifices at the extremity of the screw blades forming the arms of the
reactionary moving wheel or motor, may be regulated or governed by
machinery according to its velocity in the same manner and by the
same means as such hydraulic motors are governed when used on land
and for other purposes.