IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS AND OTHER FLOATING CRAFT
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS AND OTHER
FLOATING CRAFT."-A communication from John Eaton, residing at
Belleville in the Province of Upper Canada, Engineer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th February 1859.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS AND
OTHER FLOATING CRAFT," a communication from John Eaton, residing at
Belleville, in the Province of Upper Canada, Engineer, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the application and use to, and in the propelling
and steering of vessels, and floating craft of all kinds, of a scroll shaped box
or casing, placed in a horizontal position beneath the surface of the water,
and connected to the stern or other convenient portion of the vessel. Within
this box works a rotatory fan or series of vanes attached to a vertical shaft,

page_text: which extends upwards into the vessel or craft, and driven by means of a
steam engine or other power. A discharge mouth is made on one side of
the circumference of the box, and an inlet aperture is made on the upper and
under side of the same, both apertures being covered over by a hood or box,
having a mouth or opening in the contrary direction to the discharge mouth
in the circumference of the fan box or casing, On a rotatory motion being
imparted to the fans or vanes, the water will be drawn in at the side openings,
and expelled with considerable force by the centrifugal action of the vanes at
the discharge mouth, thereby producing a sufficient reaction to propel the
vessel in the opposite direction to that of the issuing stream or jet. In order
to steer or vary the direction or course of the vessel, it is simply necessary to
turn the main box round more or less, so as to alter the direction of the jet,
and this adjustment is effected by a pinion gearing into spur wheel teeth, or
cogs, fitted to or formed upon the box, the pinion being rotated as required by
hand through a vertical shaft leading up into the vessel. Various mechanical
contrivances may, however, be employed for adjusting the position of the
propeller. When the vessel is required to move astern, the discharge mouth
is simply reversed, so as to direct the jet towards the ship, and by directing
the jet at right angles to the keel, the vessel will be found to turn easily in
her own length. This propeller, in fact, enables a vessel to be manoeuvred in
any desired manner, and is therefore, particularly well adapted for men-of-
war vessels and boats.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Heury Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th August 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and
of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
ane, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
.others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or

page_text: 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 APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING AND STEERING
VESSELS AND OTHER FLOATING CRAFT," a communication from John Eaton;
the
residing at Belleville, in the Province of Upper Canada, Engineer, upon
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, 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 six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention consists, in the application and use to and in the pro-
pelling and steering of vessels, and floating craft of all kinds, of a scroll
shaped box or casing, placed in a horizontal position beneath the surface of
the water, and connected to the stern or other convenient portion of the vessel.
Within this box works a rotatory fan, or series of blades attached to a vertical
shaft, which extends upwards into the vessel or craft, and is driven by mean's
of a steam engine or other suitable prime mover. A discharge mouth is made
on one side of the circumference of the box, and an inlet aperture is made on
the upper and under side of the same, both apertures being covered over by a
hood or box, having a mouth or opening in the contrary direction to the
discharge mouth, in the circumference of the fan box or casing.
On a rotatory motion being imparted to the fans or vanes, the water will be
drawn in at the side openings, and expelled with considerable force by the
centrifugal action of the vanes, at the discharge mouth, thereby producing
a sufficient reaction to propel the vessel in the opposite direction to that of
the issuing stream or jet. In order to steer or vary the direction or course of
the vessel, it is simply necessary to turn the main box round, more or less, so-
as to alter the direction of the jet and this adjustment is effected by a pinion
gearing into spur wheel teeth or cogs fitted to, or formed upon the box, the
pinion being rotated as required by hand through a vertical shaft leading up
into the vessel. Various mechanical contrivances may however be employed.

page_text: for adjusting the position of the propeller. When the vessel is required to
move astern the discharge mouth is simply reversed, so as to direct the jet
towards the ship, and by directing the jet at right angles to the keel the vessel
will be found to turn easily in her own length. This propeller in fact enables
a vessel to be manoeuvred in any desired manner, and is therefore particularly
well adapted for men-of-war vessels and gun-boats.
And in order that the said invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I
shall refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a vertical section of
my improved centrifugal propelling and steering apparatus detached, taken
along the line 1-2 in Figure 8. Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the same,
taken along the line 3-4 in Figure 1. Figure 3 is a plan of the upper side
of the apparatus, and Figure 4 is an elevation of the stern of a vessel, shewing.
the mode of applying this apparatus. A is the outer casing of the propeller,.
it is of a scroll shape, and contains within it a rotatory fan or series of blades,
B, B, keyed on to the lower end of the vertical crank shaft C. This shaft
extends through the upper side of the casing A, and into the vessel, and is
driven by a steam engine or other suitable prime mover. D is the discharge
mouth or aperture, and E, E, are the two inlet orifices for the entrance of
the water. These orifices are covered over by the boxes or hoods F, F, the
mouths or entrances to which are situate diametrically opposite to the dis-
charge mouth.
On the top of the casing A is a cog wheel or circular rack G, into which
gears the spur pinion H, fast on the lower end of the rod I, which passes:
upwards into the vessel as shewn in Figure 4. The vacuum produced in the
casing or box by the rapid rotation of the blades B, causes the influx of the
surrounding water through the orifices E, E, as shewn by the arrows which
water as fast as it enters is expelled again, in the form of a powerful jet
through the discharge mouth or aperture D. This jet, by reaction, effects the
propulsion of the vessel in a direction exactly the contrary to that in which
the jet issues. By simply adjusting or turning the casing A, more or less,
round the bottom of the shaft C, by the aid of the rack and pinion G and H,
it is obvious that the issuing jet may be directed with the greatest facility in
.any required direction, so as to steer or control the course of the vessel.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried.

page_text: into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and, therefore, claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the peculiar construction and arrangement of adjustable centrifugal
propelling and steering apparatus, as herein-before described and illustrated by
the drawings.
Second, the application and use to and in the steering of ships and
floating craft of all kinds of a box or casing, fitted internally with a set of
revolving arms or blades, and being capable of adjustment upon the driving
shaft so as to direct a jet of water in any required direction, for the purpose
of steering the ship or craft, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)