IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPARATUS USED FOR STEERING, CONTROLLING, AND. PROPELLING STEAM SHIPS AND OTHER NAVIGABLE VESSELS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George White at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his. Petition, on the 11th
December 1869.
I, GEORGE WHITE, of 73, Hemingford Road, Islington, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPARATUS USED FOR STEERING, CONTROLLING, AND.
PROPELLING STEAM SHIPS AND OTHER NAVIGABLE VESSELS," to be as follows:-
To provide a means wherby a reservoir of power may be so obtained.
and disposed that the commander may at any moment alter the course
of his ship independently of the action of the steam engine, sails, or
rudder, and also to economise the power so. obtained, and it consists.
chiefly of two strong vessels. communicating with each other, and some-
what resembling the chambers of a common fire engine, but with the
exit pipe closed by a valve, the former vessel to contain water, and the
latter to contain air, the water to be supplied from the bottom side or
other part of the ship by any suitable pump or pumps, and the air to be
supplied by an air pump or other means. The apparatus may be formed

page_text: of one or more vessels or a combination of vessels or tubes according to
convenience, and this combination however arranged may be considered
as one vessel, and will herein-after be described under the name or
expression aero-hydro-dynamis or for brevity acro-hydro. To the lower
part of the water chamber I fix pipes furnished with valves leading to
the head, stern, or other part or parts of the vessel, and passing through
the hull terminate at points below the water line. All the discharge
pipes may be put into direct communication with the water chamber,
but I prefer to have an intermediate chamber separated by a valve, and
to that chamber to attach all other discharge pipes for the convenience
of repairing them or the valves. These valves I prefer to have worked
form the deck.
In order to prepare the aero-hydro for action a small quantity of
water is put into the water chamber sufficient to cover the lower valves,
and the discharge valve or valves being closed a pump or pumps may be
employed to force air into the acro-hydro filling all the chambers until
where practicable the pressure reaches ten atmospheres. The water
pumps are then set in action and continued until the desired pressure
and proportions of water and air are attained which can be discovered
by a water gauge and safety valve to be attached to the water chamber.
After the aero-hydro is once charged with air the air pump will not
be required except to re-supply the quantity that is wasted or absorbed
by the water, but a valve is provided for retaining it as far as possible.
It is evident that the rapid discharge of water from either of the discharge
pipes into the water in which the ship floats will by its reaction produce
a recoil in the ship in which the aero-hydro is placed in a direction and
with a force proportionate to the direction and force of the issuing stream.
The pumps before mentioned may be worked either by the principal
steam engine or by an auxiliary engine, but the work may be done by
manual labor or any other power, the latter methods being more suitable
to sailing vessels and barges.
My reason for adopting so high a pressure is to concentrate a large
amount of power into a small space, and thereby to reduce the bulk of
all pumps, pipes, valves, and appurtenances, and also to render the
apertures in the hull as small as possible. The store of power to be
laid up should be sufficient to deflect the ship some ten degrees from its
course, but for gun boats it should be sufficient to produce a revolution

page_text: upon or about the centre of its keel. The apparatus or aero-hydro
may be formed of iron, but I prefer to line the air vessel with thin
copper.
My Invention may be used for the purpose of navigating vessels in
the three following ways:-
Firstly. For occasional or intermittent uses.
Secondly. As a regular method of steering.
Thirdly. As a regular method of propulsion.
Under the first head it may be used for manoeuvring gun boats to
assist ships in and out of port; to avoid collisions with other vessels
and rocks, especialiy under stress of weather, or to economise the power
in steam ferries; for example, if six men be employed for one hour in
charging the aero-hydro, and that the whole of that force be judiciously
discharged in five minutes for the purpose of moving the ship, the force
exercised will, minus the friction, be equal to the combined force of about
seventy men, and this power would often enable a commander of a
vessel to enter a port or avoid some danger or perform some other
manoeuvre which the same six men unaided by this apparatus would
have been unable to perform.
Under the second head as the labor of steering is intermittent my
Invention would enable a small engine constantly at work to perform
the duty by storing up power, and then giving it out when required.
Under the third head it would reduce the bulk of all pumps, pipes,
and appurtenances, and by the rapidity of the discharge of the water
would produce a high speed, and at the same time leave the hull.
of the vessel free from paddle wheels, screws, and other external
appendages.