IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING RECIPROCATING MOTION, AND IN PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Filmore Kingston, of Carrol County, in
the State of Maryland, United States of America, Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING RECIPROCATING
MOTION, AND IN PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS."
Scaled the 20th May 1853, and dated the 17th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Filmore
Kingston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 17th December 1852.
I, JOHN FILMORE KINGSTON, of Carrol County, in the State of
Maryland, United States of America, Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING
RECIPROCATING MOTION, AND IN PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention consists of combining two bevilled toothed wheels,
and giving motion thereto in opposite directions by a third; each
of the two bevilled toothed wheels having fixed thereto about half
of a cog wheel arranged to come into action in succession with
a cog wheel acting in a rack; by which combination each half
cog wheel will actuate the rack in succession, and will move it in

page_text: opposite directions. This apparatus gives a to and fro motion to
an oar or propelling blade below the water, which is caused to
move partly round on its axis, as well as to and fro; and the bar
or propelling blade is also caused to assume any desired angle, by
means of a wheel together with a guiding apparatus, so that in the
act of performing its to and fro motion it may simply propel, or
propel and guide, according as circumstances may require.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said John Filmore Kingston in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 17th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN FILMORE KINGSTON, of Carrol County, in the State of Mary-
land, United States of America, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in
the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Filmore Kingston,
Her special licence that I, the said John Filmore Kingston, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Filmore Kingston, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING RECI-
PROCATING MOTION, AND IN PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Filmore Kings-
ton, 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 to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Filmore Kingston,
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 thereof (that
is to say):
This Invention consists of combining two bevilled toothed
wheels, and giving motion thereto in opposite directions by a
third; each of the two bevilled toothed wheels, having fixed
thereto about half of a cog wheel arranged to come into action in
succession with a cog wheel acting in a rack; by which combination
cach half cog wheel will actuate the rack in succession, and will
move it in opposite directions. This apparatus gives a to and
fro motion to an oar, or propelling blade below the water, which is
caused to move partly round on its axis, as well as to and fro; and
the ore or propelling blade is also caused to assume any desired
angle, by means of a wheel together with a guiding apparatus, so
that in the act of performing its to and fro motion it may simply
propel, or propel and. guide, according as circumstances may
require. And in order that my Invention may he more fully under-
stood, and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the
means pursued by me.

page_text: rack d, will give a reciprocating motion thereto, and to the machi-
nery with which the rack d, may be connected.
I will now describe the apparatus for propelling and steering
vessels. Figure 3, shows the outline of the stern of a ship or
vessel having my improvements applied thereto; Figure 4, shows
a section of the parts of the machinery which come on the deck,
or into the interior of the ship or vessel; and Figure 5, shows
a plan of the parts shown at Figure 4. a, is an axis or shaft,
which at its lower end carries the propeller blade b, to which
is fixed the pulley c; which pulley and blade are carried by
and capable of moving on the arm d, fixed at right angles
on the shaft or axis a. To the upper part of the shaft or axis a,
is attached, by a pin joint, the lever tiller f; on one end of the pin
or axis f¹, of which is fixed a pulley f, over which, and around the
pulley c, an endless chain passes, so that when the lever or tiller f
is moved over from one side of the frame, or cradle, g, to the other,
the pullies and chain cause the blade b, to be turned over into the
position shown by dotted lines; and thus may the motion of the
vessel be reversed; the end of the lever, or tiller, f, falls into a slot,
formed at each end of the frame or cradle g, and by this means they
are locked or connected together; the frame or cradle g, is connected
to a collar g', which moves freely on the axis a; the collar g', carries
a pin, or axis, on which the barrel and axis h, revolve; the other
end of the axis of the barrel carries a pinion i, which takes into a
rack on the wheel j; so that, when motion is given to the drum or
barrel h, by a band passing around it to any convenient position,
in one direction or the other, the position of the pinion i, the frame
g, the axis a, and propeller blade b, will be changed; and a steering
action may be thus obtained from the propelling blade b; and the
blade b, may be used as a rudder or steering apparatus alone, if
desired. To and fro motion is obtained to the axis a, by giving a
reciprocating motion to the wheel j, by the connecting rods j', which
may receive motion from the crank axis of a steam engine, or other
motive power; or the wheel j, may have a rack d, affixed thereto,
and have a reciprocating motion given to it by the inechanism first

page_text: described for that purpose. Figure 6, shows another arrangement
of a like propeller, but, in place of the propeller moving round its
axis, it slides, by having a slot cut through it at 7; and it is supported
by the bars m, m, which slide on either side of the pulley's n, n,
Figure 6, and Figure 7; and the propeller is caused to slide by
means of a chain o, which is attached to one end at o¹; it then
passes partly round one of the pulleys n, then several turns round
the pulley p, and is then made fast to the fore part of the propeller;
hence when to and fro motion is given to the axis a, by any suitable
arrangement of machinery, it will propel the vessel, if the propeller
is aft the axis a; but if it be forward of the axis a, it will cause
stern way, and the changing of the position of the propeller is
caused by the turning of the pulley p.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
do not confine myself to the exact details herein shewn and de-
scribed; but what I claim is, the arrangement and combination of
apparatus for obtaining a reciprocating motion, herein described,
and also the arrangement and combination of apparatus herein
described for propelling and steering vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Filmore Kingston, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE.
JOHN F. KINGSTON. (L.s.)