IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Valentine Miller, of Portsmouth, in the
County of Southampton, Paymaster in Her Majesty's Navy, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Valentine Miller
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd June 1856:
I, WILLIAM VALENTINE MILLER, of Portsmouth, in the County of South-
ampton, Paymaster in Her Majesty's Navy, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS," to be as
follows:-
My said Invention consists in the peculiar construction and mode of apply-
ing cylinders or barrels in the bottom of vessels, and in which pistons work
freely from inboard, by means of a crank shaft, or like means; and act against
the external water.
The fore ends of the cylinders are connected with cisterns that receive any
water passing the pistons, and which is thence exhausted by the engine, but
the after ends of the cylinders are left open, protected by a suitable con-
struction of the ship in midships, thus admitting the full pressure on the pro
pelling pistons at that immersion. Propellers of this nature may be variously

page_text: constructed and arranged, but I prefer laying them fore-and-aft, horizontally
or nearly so, and centrally in the lower part of the vessel, in a series of eight
or any convenient number, connected in pairs by cross-beads, and regulated by
a shaft connecting the steam power, and alternating their action on the water
equally and unremittingly on each side the keel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Valentine Miller, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
VALENTINE MILLER, of Portsmouth, in the County of Southampton, Pay-
master in Her Majesty's Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third-day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Valentine Miller, Her special licence that I, the said William Valen-
tine Miller, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,.
the said William Valentine Miller, 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 PROPELLING VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Valentine Miller, my exécutors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent...
NOW KNOW YE that I, the said William Valentine Miller, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:
My said Invention consists in the peculiar construction and mode of apply-
ing cylinders or barrels in the bottoms of vessels, and in which pistons work
freely from inboard by means of a crank shaft, or like means, and act against

page_text: the external water in the operation of propelling. And for the better under-
standing of my said improvements I will now proceed to give a detailed
description thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation diagram of one of the barrels in which
a propelling piston works freely. And Figure 2, No. 1, is a longitudinal
sectional elevation of a vessel's hull, showing the barrel and piston, Figure 1,
as applied for propelling according to my Invention; and No. 2, a semi-
transverse section through the line H, H. A, is the barrel; B, the propelling
piston; C, the cistern, and D, the steam cylinder connected to a crank E, on
the transverse shaft F.
I would further observe, that the fore ends of the barrels or tubes are con-
nected with cisterns containing cases having valves that receive any water
passing round the peripheries of the pistons, and which is thence exhausted or
pumped out by the steam engine; but the after ends of the barrels are left
open, and are protected by a suitable construction of the ship in midships,
thereby admitting the full pressure on the propelling pistons at that immersion.
Propellers of this nature may be variously constructed and arranged, but I
prefer laying them fore-and-aft horizontally, and solidly secured by suitable
bolts and screws in the lower part of the vessel, in a series of eight, or any
other convenient number of barrels or tubes, connected in pairs by cross
heads and regulated by a shaft operated by steam power; and the pistons
alternating their action on the water equally and unremittingly on each side
of the keel. And I do declare that what I claim as my Invention is,
namely:-
The peculiar construction, arrangement, and application of pistons for the
propelling of vessels, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Valentine Miller, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of December, in the year of
our Lord 1856.
WM V. MILLER. (L.S.)