CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OR OTHER VESSELS, AND THE METHOD OF PROPELLING THEM
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
MARX, of No. 81, Eaton Square, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, send
greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of December, in the
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Francis Marx, Her especial licence that I, the said Francis
Marx, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others' as I, the said
Francis Marx, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others; from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also within
Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention, "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OR OTHER VESSELS, AND THE METHOD OF PROPELLING
THEM;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said Francis Marx, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Francis Marx, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and ascertained
by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the words following, that is to say:
My Invention of improvements in the construction of ships, and the methods
of propelling them, consists of three departments or things-First, in the
construction and form of the vessel; secondly, in the application thereto, or to
vessels of common construction, of submerged propelling or paddle wheels;
thirdly, in the method of combining therewith, or to any other paddle or pro-
pelling wheel, the steam engine and that part thereof called the wate pipe, for
the purpose of facilitating the condensation of the steam of said engine. In
constructing the vessel I provide a curvalinear or arched deck, which I call a
shield deck, to be faced with iron, and which I form to an arch of any desirable
curve, which facing shall form, with the direction of any missive discharged
from cannon afloat, an angle of any desired degree, so that it may glance or
throw off said missive. Said shield deck, in connection with the hull or parts
of the vessel below it, forms an air or water-tight bulkhead, which may be
divided into one or more compartments, and gives (by its displacement of water)
a buoyancy by which said vessel will float, though said vulnerable parts of
the vessel, or those parts above the line of the said arch and its abutments, be
pierced or torn by shot so as to admit water. The steam engines, machinery,
and water wheels are placed below said shield deck, and every part of them
below the water line, so as to be out of the reach of shot, and the water wheels
being from their position submerged and relieved from the effect of the sea.
And for the better elucidation of my said Invention I refer to the accompanying
Drawings, longitudinal elevation, sectional end view, and cross section marked
No. 1 and No. 2, representing a steam vessel for harbour defence or other use, in
which A, A, A, is the water line; B, B, B, B, the shield deck, faced with iron,
and supported by wooden or metal beams, or angle iron beams. The abut-
ments of the said shield deck are joined and secured entirely round the vessel
in any convenient or suitable manner, and at any required distance below the
water line, so as to be out of the reach of shot. The summit of said shield
deck is in a line with the line of the keel and midship, and is elevated the
same distance above the water line as its abutments are below it. The hatches
or hatchway should be amidship in the summit of the shield deck, and fitted
with water-tight metal sides, to travel or slide fore and aft on or within the
shield deck at C, C. The abutments of the shield deck B, B, are in like
manner below the water line, and by reason of their distance below it out of
the reach of shot, and the surface of the shield deck being faced with iron
forming with the direction of any missive discharged from cannon afloat or
otherwise any desirable, angle, and as such angle will cause said missive to be

page_text: glanced or thrown off from the said deck, that part of the vessel contained
under the surface of said shield deck is protected from the effect of shot.
Compare the displacement or space contained between the water line with that
part of the inner surface of the vessel's side and that part of the surface of the
shield deck at H, H, to that contained between the part of the water line and
part of the surface of the shield deck at K, K, K, Drawing No. 1, and it will
be seen that should the side be so pierced or torn by shot as to fill the first-
named displacement or space at H, H, with water, being all the water that can
enter, the vessel will settle or be depressed proportionately to the weight of
water contained in said space, leaving to the vessel the buoyancy occasioned
by the greater displacement or space contained between K, K, K, less the
weight of water at H, H. The vessel, therefore, cannot be made to sink by
the means aforesaid, and the steam engine and machinery will be protected
from ingress of water or shot. The water wheels of the vessel revolve horizon-
tally under water, the wheels being cylinders or drums M, to which paddles
or floats are attached in any convenient manner. The wheels are placed in
wheel cases or openings made in the sides of the vessel, and fitting the wheels
as near as couvenient to avoid contact and friction. The water wheels should
be made of metal, and consist of a hollow water-tight drum M and floats R.
The wheels may be either fixed permanently or made to detach at pleasure
from a vertical shaft on and passing through the floor of the vessel into the
wheel case or cases in said floor, which may be made of timber or metal, in
which a pedestal and stuffing boxes are placed, the first to support the wheel
shafts in their position, and in which they also revolve, and the latter to exclude
the water. The lower ends of said shafts D are in the shape of an inverted
cone, or bevelled with rounded ends made of metal properly tempered to dimi-
nish friction, the shaft end revolves in metal steps fixed in the bottom of the
wheel openings or cases. The upper ends of said water-wheel shafts connect
to the steam engine by a crank or wheel gearing. The middle parts, or drums
or cylinders M, of the paddle wheels are made hollow and water-tight, that
they may be light and buoyant, so as to relieve their shafts from weight and
friction, for which purpose some play should be allowed in fixing. When it is
desirable to construct the propelling wheels so as to ship and unship, a circular
ring of metal, having a flange, and larger in diameter than the throw of the
crank, should be bolted or secured to the floor over the wheel openings
embracing each water-wheel shaft. On the flange is attached, by screws, bolts,
and packing, a cylinder Q, reaching in height above the water line of the
cylinder Q, may be removed and placed out of the way when the operation of
shipping and unshipping the water wheel is completed. The propelling wheels
so fitted to ship and unship are attached to their shafts in the following

page_text: manner; videlicit, in the drum M is a female screw, with perpendicular groves
for the reception of keys N, each of which is fitted with an eye bolt on its
upper end, so as to admit of their being drawn by an iron hook or otherwise
and rod O to the top of the cylinder Q above the water line, and replaced in
the same manner. The water-wheel shafts have a male screw P to corre-
spond and fit the screw in the water wheel at M, and the operation of shipping
and unshipping said wheels is thus performed:-The engine is detached from
the wheels by removing the connecting rod, or by throwing out the wheel
gearing the cylinder Q is secured to its flange. The stuffing box is taken off,
the pedestals are taken out, the shaft keys N are drawn, and the shafts are
unscrewed and hoisted into the vessel through the cylinder Q. The water
wheels, being detached, can rapidly be drawn from the wheel openings, and
hoisted aboard, and another may be placed in the wheel opening; the paddle
wheel will then rest on the bottom of the wheel opening. Let the shaft be
lowered, and turn it till the end takes in its step,' then till the wheel is clear
of the bottom of the wheel opening, and then key it; let the pedestals, which
will nearly exclude the entrance of water, be put in, then pump the water out
of the cylinder Q, and whilst placing the stuffing box turn a cock, which may
be placed in the lower part of the cylinder Q, through which any water passing
the pedestals may run into the hold of the vessel; then detach the cylinder Q
and remove it, and connect the engine.
The nature of that part of my said Invention which relates to my improved
method of using the high-pressure steam engine, by which additional power
may be obtained, and the noise commonly produced by the escapement of the
steam in its passage from the cylinder is avoided or lessened, consists in making
a communication by means of a pipe between and from the escape pipe or
opening of the cylinder to the centre of the upper part of the propelling wheel
case encompassing the submerged paddle wheel, so that the escaping steam be
conducted within the said case by the vacuum in part or in whole formed by
the condensation of the steam at that place, and the centrifugal action given
by the paddle wheel to the water contained within said wheel case, which is
made to condense the escaped steam. And for the better elucidation of this
part of my Invention I refer to the accompanying Drawing marked No. 2,
where one half of the middle or cross section of a vessel with one paddle wheel
and condensing pipe or apparatus is represented. A, A, A, A, is one half of
the middle section of a vessel; B, B, the hollow cylinder or drum of the paddle
wheel; c, c, the paddles.or floats; D, the paddle-wheel shaft; E, E, E, E, E, the
case in which the paddle wheel revolves; F, F, F, F, F, the space between the
paddle wheel and case; G is the condensing pipe or apparatus. The escaping
steam is made to condense and exhaust about the axis of the paddle-wheel

page_text: shaft D by means of the pipe G, and the centrifugal action of the water caused
by the paddle wheel induces frequent change of water in the pipe G, and effects
a partial vacuum within the escape pipe and cylinder of the steam engine, and
the water contained within the case E, E, E, E, E, condenses the escaping
steam conducted to it through the pipe G, or an air-tight condensing cylinder
may be placed over the exit passage at G, the top of the cylinder standing
above the water line, the pipe G terminating in it as at T. The condenser
be of any required dimensions; the water contained in it will present a
refrigerating surface. The centrifugal motion of the water in the wheel case
caused by the action of the propelling wheel will induce frequent change of
water in the condensing cylinder.
may
I claim the application of shield decks to vessels constructed of metal or
wood, whether propelled by steam power or any other power, and also the
application of submerged propelling wheels upon the principle described in the
aforegoing Specification, whether placed vertically, horizontally, or obliquely,
for the purpose of propelling vessels.
I also claim the method of using the steam engine for the propulsion of
vessels, by which the submerged propelling wheel case or apparatus is made to
serve as an exhauster or exhausting medium, and the water contained within
the wheel case in which it revolves as a condenser, thereby confering all the
advantages of a condensing engine with the lightness and simplicity of the high-
pressure steam engine with also the noiseless action of the former.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Marx, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One