A NEW PROPULSION ENGINE TO BE USED FOR PROPELLING BODIES THROUGH THE WATER AND THROUGH THE AIR, AND FOR BREAKS TO RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES AND OTHER ENGINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Murray Ross, of Melbourne, in the
Colony of Victoria, Esquire, for the Invention of "A NEW PROPULSION
ENGINE TO BE USED FOR PROPELLING BODIES THROUGH THE WATER AND
THROUGH THE AIR, AND FOR BREAKS TO RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES AND OTHER
ENGINES."
Scaled the 17th January 1871, and dated the 20th July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Murray Ross
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th July 1870.
I, WILLIAM MURRAY Ross, of Melbourne, in the Colony of Victoria,.
Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for ".
"A
NEW PROPULSION ENGINE TO BE USED FOR PROPELLING BODIES THROUGH THE WATER
AND THROUGH THE AIR, AND FOR BREAKS TO RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES AND OTHER
ENGINES," to be as follows:-
'

page_text: and then returns the force borrowed in making the pushing stroke minus
friction and the power necessary to move the machinery.
Second. While the vessel moves in one density my propeller strikes
against another density infinitely greater. The paddle and screw do not
strike against even the same density-as that in which the vessel floats.
It is tantamount to the creation of a new power, since, though steam is
essential as an initiative, my propeller multiplies its force. Every pound
of steam acting upon my propeller will cause a very much greater result
than if working the paddle or screw. With the paddle there is backwater,
with the screw there is slip, with my propeller neither; it is simple
beyond a precedent. A piston working in a vacuum cylinder with an
air-tight cap having a dish valve and a stuffing box will if forced down
with a piston rod push before it the water and the air leaving the space
When the force used in
between the piston and the cap a vacuum.
pushing down the piston is withdrawn, as is the case in the stroke of a
steam engine, the weight of the air and water having nothing to oppose
it in the vacuum would push back the piston with a force equal to the
force which pushed it down, less friction. This return force by suitable
contrivances is used to push down another piston.
If cylinders one foot in diameter were placed diagonally in the bottom
of a ship drawing twenty feet of water the force opposing the downward
passage of the piston would be the weight of the water (about 1,000 lbs.)
and that of the air (1,400 lbs.), or together 2,400 lbs. Add to this the
friction, which in the downward passage would be considerable, and the
As
result would be the power necessary literally to create a vacuum.
the action of the pistons is reciprocal each piston must have its com-
panion piston. The one piston requires to be pushed down in the first
instance, unaided by the return stroke of the other piston, by a force of,
say, 3,100 lbs. (I assume merely for the purposes of illustration that
700 lbs. are required to overcome the friction and inanition.) This
piston pushed down by a force of 3,100 lbs. would be pushed up again
by nearly 2,400 lbs. weight of air and water. Here then I have a
magazine of nearly 2,400 lbs. of force. When the piston at the other
end of the beam is being pushed down these 2,400 lbs., less friction
(which in the upward stroke is very slight), will perform the task, aided
by 700 lbs. from the steam engine.
By arrangement in sections a number of pistons can be pushed down
at the same time when starting. This is accomplished with hydraulic

page_text: rams or presses worked by the steam engines, for I should recommend
several small instead of one large engine to work the propellers in
sections, so that in case of accident all might not be stopped. The first
stroke is inefficient for propulsion, it is so slow, but after that the motion
is as rapid as the piston of a locomotive. The steam engines would have
to be so constructed as to give a very rapid stroke.
I propose to place the propelling cylinders in a vessel's bottom at an
angle of twenty-five degrees with the plane of her motion. While in her
stem and in the bows of a war ship I propose to place them some parallel
and some at an angle with that plane. This mode of propulsion will tend
to raise her out of the water, while her own weight falling forward as on
an inclined plane will act as a new force, the effect of which can only be
measured by experiment.
In a merchant vessel I propose to fit her only with the stern engine
as shown in the Drawings accompanying this Provisional Specification.
My propellers will urge a vessel forward, or backward, or round her
centre as on a pivot in any direction by such an arrangement (shown in
the isometrical Drawings accompanying this Provisional Specification) as
will work a series of propellers on her port bow simultaneously with a
series on her starboard quarter or the reverse, or a series in her bows
projecting her backwards or in her stern driving her forwards.
Instructions could be conveyed to the engineers below by means of each
engine having a telegraph dial indicator connected by a wire with a
battery and motor dial on the poop deck. The characters on these dials

page_text: detected and repaired; I anticipate a remarkable speed; were a ship
built for speed, her carrying capacity being a secondary consideration, the
number of propellers which could be placed would be limited only by
her capacity to accommodate sufficient steam power to drive them. I
think it possible that such a number of propellers could be placed and
driven as would exert a propulsive and lifting force exceeding her whole
weight; and that it is not improbable that in a vessel of suitable and
light construction the propulsion against the air alone would also exceed
her weight, in which case she would sail through the air in any direction
and against any wind. Thus my propeller can be used for lifting and
driving a machine through the air because the whole column of the
atmosphere is so much heavier, nearly 15 lbs. to the square inch, than
this machine would be when constructed of sufficiently light materials.
The efficiency of my propeller depends upon the completeness with
which the vacuum can be kept. The dish valve is to permit the air to
be expelled in the first instance and also during action. Should air or
water intrude it would be expelled when the piston in its return stroke
came in contact with the cap. The danger to the vacuum occasioned by
a stuffing box could be avoided by drawing the piston down from below
instead of pushing it down from above, but there are obvious objections
to this in practice.
My propellers can also be applied as a break for, locomotive engines
by packing them in the front and connecting the piston rods by suitable
and simple machinery with the axles. On all railways, especially
railways of steep gradients, this break will excel all others for literally
the locomotive would buff against an air cushion.
The following is a description of the propulsion engines as shown and
numbered in the isometrical Drawings accompanying this Provisional
Specification:-
1. Stern Engine. The machinery for driving the propellers consists
mainly of repetitions of each part. To the two main steam shafts 1
and 2 (driven alternately by the double cylinder steam engine (3 and 4)
one on the port the other on the starboard side) is attached by joints
at each end a transverse telescope beam (5) in the centre of which is
immoveably fixed a vertical shaft (6) which semi-revolves in sockets
by centres above and below. On this central vertical shaft (6) are
immoveably fixed two beams one facing towards the starboard quarter
and the other towards the port quarter. To the ends of these beams rods

page_text: are jointed, which are similarly attached at the other ends to beams (9
and 10) fixed immoveably to port (11) and starboard (12), vertical
shafts facing in any required direction, to the ends of which are jointed
the piston rods of the propellers or propelling cylinders (13). The
vertical shafts (11 and 12) may contain as many beams as they can
hold, if it is desired to place the utmost number of propellers that can
be worked. The Drawings only show a few to preserve clearness. At
the end of these main steam shafts (1 and 2) is another telescope beam
(14) moving a vertical shaft (15) which gives motion to three vertical
shafts (16, 17, and 18), working propellers towards both quarters and
the stern. As the main steam shafts (1 and 2) move backwards and
forwards the central vertical shafts (6 and 15) communicate their semi-
revolutionary motion by their beams to the port and starboard vertical
shafts (11 and 12, and 16, 17, and 18), and they by their beams drive
the piston rods of the propellers out, when the weight of the air and
water drives them home again. A stroke or strokes can thus be given
parallel to the plane of the vessel's motion or at any desired angle with
that plane, or towards the stern, or towards the bow, or to port, or to
starboard, according to the directions in which the beams fixed to the
port and starboard vertical shafts face. Elbows (19 and 20) are jointed
on to the main steam shafts (1 and 2) connected at the other ends by
couplings to the secondary driving shafts (21 and 22) in such a way
that one part can be disengaged from the other part or re-connected
with it at will. Disconnections (23 and 24) though of a different form
are also made on the main steam shafts (1 and 2) abaft the elbow
couplings (19 and 20) with the same object. The use of the secondary
shafts (21 and 22) is to work the pumps (25 and 26) of the rams (27
and 28) and also a separate system of propellers for turning or backing
the vessel. Forward of the elbow couplings (19 and 20) on the main
steam shafts (19 and 20) is a transverse telescope beam (29) connected
and disconnected at pleasure with a vertical shaft (30) by. slide bolts,
on which shaft are two other beams facing in different directions driving
the piston rods of the two sets of pumps (25 and 26) which force the
water through the pipes (31 and 32) into the rams (27 and 28) into
which it is admitted and from which it is emitted by two double-way
stop-cocks 33 and 34 (connected by levers) which discharge themselves
into cisterns (35 and 36) from which the water is also supplied to the
pumps by pipes (37 and 38). When the rams (27 and 28) are to be
used the above slide bolt is inserted so as to connect the beam (29

page_text: with the vertical shaft (30.) The after part of the main driving shafts
(1 and 2) and the whole of the secondary shafts (21 and 22) are then
thrown out of gear by disconnections (23 and 24, and 19 and 20).
Upon the main shafts (1 and 2) are double cross heads (39 and 40)
against which the rams act by a ring on each (41 and 42) having two
bosses (43 and 44) at quarter distances which when turned up a quarter
puts one boss of each between the cross heads of the main shafts (1
and 2) and so moves them, or when turned down a quarter inserts the
other boss of each ring between similar cross heads (45 and 46) on the
secondary shafts (21 and 22) and so moves them. But the rams do not
act upon both of these sets of shafts at the same time. A vessel of war
having all three engines, bow, stern, and midships, would be turned
round and backed thus :-)
-In the stern engine at the end of the secondary
shafts (21 and 22) is a transverse telescope beam (47) giving motion to
a vertical shaft (48) on which are two other beams giving motion to a
port (49) and starboard (50) vertical shaft on which are beams one set
facing to starboard the other to port or to any desired point between those
points and the rudder, and driving two sets of propellers (51 and 52).
2. Bow Engine.-The description of the bow engine is the same as that
of the stern engine excepting that the turning and backing propellers
face the one set to the port bow (53), the other set to the starboard
bow (54), and the backing set (56) to the bows. If it was desired to
turn the vessel to port then by means of the telegraph already described
orders would be transmitted to put into action only the starboard bow
(54) and the port quarter (51) turning propellers; or if to starboard
then the port bow (53) and starboard quarter (52) propellers; or if to
back her, then only her bow (56) and port bow (53) and starboard bow
(54) propellers; or if forward at full speed then all her propellers,
both main and secondary, except those in her bows (53, 54, and 56), and
if at slower speed then such a number of propellers as might give the
required power. These backing and turning propellers (53, 54, 56, 51,
and 52) are connected or disconnected by slide bolts inserted through
their beams into their central vertical shafts 48 (stern engine) and 57
(bow engine) as before described in the vertical shaft (30) driving the
pumps. A merchant vessel only carrying the stern engine would be
turned thus: On the port (49) and starboard (50) vertical shafts of the
backing and turning propellers would be fixed at least two beams each
facing the one towards the port bow (58) the other towards the starboard
quarter (59), and the others facing just in the reverse ways, Numbers 58

page_text: and 59 only are shown on the isometrical Drawings in dotted lines, as
they are not required in a man-of-war's engines. They are connected
with the vertical shaft by slide bolts so as to be disconnected when
necessary. These would drive propellers striking in the direction of
these beams, When desiring to go to port the beams on the port
vertical shaft (49) facing to the port bow (58) and the one on the star-
board vertical shaft facing to the starboard quarter (not shown on the
Drawings) would be disconnected by withdrawing the slide bolts and
working the propellers driven by the beams facing the port quarter (59)
and the starboard bow (not shown on Drawings) and just the reverse
if desiring to go to starboard. When wishing to back the vessel the
beams facing to both the quarters would be disconnected, and the beams
worked which face both of the bows (58).
3
3. The midships engine only propels aft to drive the vessel forward,
and its parts are the same as the stern and the bow engines with the
omission of the backing and turning propellers.
What I claim as my Invention is the creation of a vacuum in a
cylinder in such a way as that most of the power required to push the
piston against the air and water is returned by the weight of the air and
water, forcing it (the piston) back again into the vacuum, and by means
of a piston rod jointed on to a reciprocating beam assisting the steam
engine to force down or propel against the air and water the rod of the
piston in another vacuum cylinder, and so on alternately, by which
means at least seventy-five per cent. of steam power would be saved, and
a greater effective resistance offered to the propelling stroke than is
now the case with the paddle or screw, and so avoiding the loss of force
by slip or backwater.
And I further claim as my Invention the machinery as shown by the
Drawings, accompanying this Provisional Specification with which I
propose to propel bodies through the air and through the water with
the exception of the hydraulic rams, the application only of which is
novel in this case.
And I further claim as my Invention the application of my vacuum
cylinder as a break for railway locomotives and other engines.