IMPROVEMENTS IN JET PROPULSION
Year: 1885

page_text: I, THOMAS GRIFFITHS, of Arvon Villa, St Davids, in the county of Pembroke,
South Wales, Master Mariner do hereby declare the nature of the said invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN JET PROPULSION " to be as follows:
This invention relates to propelling ships and railway and other carriages by
the reaction resulting from a jet or jets of steam from an ordinary steam boiler
combined with the expanded air and gases from the boiler furnace and which air
and gases are now lost through the funnel. The jet or jets of combined steam and
air and gases is or are delivered from a bottle shaped nozzle into the atmosphere
in a direction opposite to that in which the steamer or carriage is to be driven.
In carrying out my invention when an ordinary furnace and boiler are employed
the furnace of the boiler is closed and fed by a mechanical stoker and forced
draught by any of the methods now in use; the funnel is also closed whilst at
work and is used only as a safety valve and waste pipe; when not at work the
funnel is thrown open for the natural draught for the purpose of keeping the
fires alight.
My method of propulsion is specially adapted for the use of liquid fuel.

page_text: I THOMAS GRIFFITHS of Arvon Villa, St Davids, in the county of Pembroke
South Wales do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly, described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
[1
This invention relates to propelling ships and railway and other carriages by
the reaction resulting from a jet or jets of steam from an ordinary steam boiler
combined with the expanded air and gases from the boiler furnace and which air
and gases are now lost through the funnel. The jet or-jets of combined steam and
air and gases is or are delivered from a bottle shaped nozzle into the atmosphere
in a direction opposite to that in which the vessel or carriage is to be driven.
In carrying out my invention when an ordinary furnace and boiler are employed
the furnace of the boiler is closed and fed by an air tight mechanical stoker (the
ash pit must also be air tight) and forced draught by any of the methods now in
use the funnel is also closed whilst at work and is used only as a safety valve
and waste pipe; when not at work the funnel is thrown open for the natural
draught for the purpose of keeping the fires alight.
My method of propulsion is specially adapted for the use of liquid fuel.
In order to enable my invention to be fully understood I will proceed to describe
the same by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1 represents
by way of example a longitudinal view of a vessel provided with' an apparatus
shewn in sectional elevation and suitable for propelling the same by jet propulsion
according to my invention; figure 2.is a sectional plan of figure 1, and figure 3 is
a detached sectional view of the delivery nozzle. Similar letters in all the figures
represent similar parts.
a, represents a boiler and b, the furnace thereof of ordinary construction, the
furnace being closed and fed, by a suitable air tight mechanical stoker (not shewn
in the drawing); c, is a blower of known construction for forcing the air to feed
the furnace by means of a jet of steam coming from the, boiler through a pipe d,
the said air; being introduced underneath the fire bars e, as shewn; a¹, is the ash
pit is the funnel or, chimney which must be steam-tight and can be closed
or opened by a draw plate or damper g, for the purpose herein before described;
h, h, are the bottle shaped propelling nozzles which communicate by means of
pipes, with the flue or smoke box i, at the back of the furnace b, and leading
to the funnel f; the nozzles h, are provided with conical plugs k, which can be
moved backwards or forwards by means of screw threads l, thereon working in
bosses m, on the nozzles so as to regulate or stop the discharge through the latter;
n, n, are haud wheels on the ends of the plugs k, for operating them; the nozzles h,
when used in vessels of small size are connected to the pipes i, in such a manner
that they can be rotated thereon so as to discharge in the opposite direction to that
shewn when required to reverse the direction of motion of the vessel, but in large
vessels additional nozzles would be provided for this purpose; o, is the steam
nozzle for delivering a jet of steam from the boiler a, into the pipe i, the said
nozzle being provided with a valve p, for regulating its delivery.

page_text: By this arrangement, if the funnel f, be closed and the nozzles h, be opened, the
expanded air and gases from the furnace b, and steam from the boiler a, will be
forced through the nozzles h, at a very high degree of temperature and pressure,
and will in this manner propel the vessel; when it is required to stop the vessel
it is only necessary to draw out the plate g, and screw the plugs k, into the nozzles h,
when the steam, air and gases would pass up the funnel f.
By screwing the plugs kc, in or out of. the nozzles h, the speed of the vessel can
be reduced or increased as required or the vessel can be stopped. These nozzles
act as receivers for the recovery of the energy lost by the steam, air and gases in
passing through the pipes; the conical stoppers k, prevent back pressure and loss
by friction.
Although I have shewn my invention as applied to a vessel it will be obvious
that it is equally applicable for propelling railway and other carriages and
balloons.
When using liquid fuel under which term I include gases compressed into the
liquid state for which this method of propulsion is specially adapted and which
fuel I prefer to use in all cases where it can be obtained at a sufficiently low cost;
any known method of supplying the fuel in the form of a spray mixed with the
jet of steam may be used but it will be necessary to provide for a full supply of
air to be driven at the same time into the closed furnace.
The products of combustion and steam in this case also are delivered through
the propelling nozzle as before mentioned; by employing liquid fuel I am enabled
to dispense with the mechanical stoker and ash pit herein before referred to.
By the use of liquid fuel I can make use of the combined gases and steam in an
ordinary steam engine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. The method of propelling ships and railway and other carriages and balloons
by the reaction resulting from a jet or jets of steam from an ordinary steam boiler
combined with the expanded air and gases from the boiler furnace the said
combined steam, air and gases being delivered through a nozzle such as that
herein described into the atmosphere substantially as hereinbefore described and
represented in the accompanying drawing.
2. The improved apparatus for propelling ships and railway and other carriages
and balloons substantially as herein before described and represented in the
accompanying drawing.
3. The herein described modification of the apparatus claimed in claim 2 in
which liquid fuel is employed substantially as herein before described.
DL4th Ja.. of M... 1000
G. F. REDFERN,
Agent for the Applicant.