IMPROVEMENTS IN THE NAVI- GATION OF STEAM AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Archibald Cooper, of Dungannon, Ireland,
Railway Contractor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE NAVI-
GATION OF STEAM AND OTHER VESSELS."
Scaled the 21st May 1858, and dated the 21st November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Archibald Cooper,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st November 1857.
I, WILLIAM ARCHIBALD COOPER, of Dungannon, in Ireland, Railway
Contractor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE NAVIGATION OF STEAM AND OTHER VESSELS," to be as
follows:-
In order to direct or alter the position of the vessel while floating. I
discharge steam or water through one or more pipe or pipes, fixed in suitable
parts of the vessel, into the water in which she floats; and the resistance caused
thereby directs or alters the position of the vessel according to the number
and position of the pipes used as aforesaid.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Archibald Cooper in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ARCHIBALD COOPER, of Dungannon, Ireland, Railway Contractor, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Archibald Cooper, Her special licence, that I, tho said
William Archibald Cooper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Archibald Cooper, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 THE NAVIGATION OF STEAM AND OTHER
VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Archi-
bald Cooper, my executors or administrators, 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 Archibald Cooper, 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 of a mode or modes of directing or altering the
position of steam or other vessels while floating in the water by disclinrging
a current of steam through one or more pipe or pipes fixed in or communi-
cating with apertures made in the exterior of a vessel at suitable parts below
the water line, so that each current of steam passing through such an aperturo
may encounter the resistance of the water outside the vessel at the place of
discharge, and thus communicate motion or force to the vessel in a direction
contrary to that of the current of steam passing out of the orifice.
For this purpose I fix pipes of iron or other suitable material communi-

page_text: cating with the said apertures, and also communicating with a steam boiler
in the vessel (that is to say) in a steam vessel with one or more of its boilers,
and in any other vessel with a steam boiler, which may be placed in the vessel
for that purpose, taking care to fix the ends of the pipes securely to the
boiler, and to the exterior of vessel, so as to prevent any escape of the steam
within the vessel.
The pipes may be laid or fixed in any convenient directions and manner, so
as to interfere as little as may be with the other arrangements in the interior
of the vessel, and I regulate the number of pipes and also the internal
diameters of the pipes and apertures for discharging the steam according to
the amount or quantity of steam which the boiler or boilers in the vessel will
enable me to discharge for the purpose of communicating motion to the vessel.
I make the apertures which I intend to use as outlets for the steam on each
side of a vessel, and I prefer to make them as near both to the bow and to the
stern of the vessel as convenient. I also furnish the steam pipes communi-
cating with such apertures or outlets as above mentioned, with taps, stop-cocks,
or valves, so that all or any of the pipes may be closed when not in use, or
opened entirely, or to such an extent as may be requisite for discharging a
current or currents of steam with the desired force, taking care in a steam
vessel. not to open the stop-cocks, valves, or taps to such an extent as to
exhaust its boiler or boilers. I prefer to place a stop-cock, tap, or valve in
cach of the pipes near to its insertion or communication with the boiler, and
all the stop-cocks, taps, or valves may be connected by means of rods or
otherwise, with handles placed near to each other and in such a position that
cach of them may be either opened or closed at pleasure by a person regu-
lating or superintending the navigation or movements of the vessel.
In working a vessel furnished with apparatus according to my Invention,
if the steam pipe or pipes having an outlet or outlets at or near to the bow
on one side of the vessel, and the pipe or pipes having an outlet or outlets at
or near to the stern on the other side of vessel, be opened simultaneously,
the bow of the vessel may have motion communicated to it in one direction,
and the stern in another direction, and the vessel may be thus turned in the
water around its own centre. If the steam pipe or pipes having an outlet or
outlets at or near to one side of the bow or stern only be opened, the bow or
stern only (as the case may be) may be moved in the required direction; and
if all the steam pipes having their outlets on one side of a vessel, that is to
say, both those at or near to the bow and those at or near to the stern on one
side, be opened simultaneously, the vessel may be moved laterally in the water
without being turned.

page_text: I prefer to furnish each steam pipe with an additional stop-cock, tap,
or valve, near to its orifice or outlet, so as to enable me to close such pipes
when not in use.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which it is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my Invention the appli-
cation of currents of steam discharged through outlets against the water
surrounding a ship or other vessel, for the purpose of directing or altering
the position of such ship or vessel, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Archibald Cooper, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
WILLIAM ARCHIBALD COOPER. (L.S.)