IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Fellows Harrington, of Ryde, in the
Isle of Wight, Dentist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS."
Sealed the 20th January 1874, and dated the 15th October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Fellows Har-
rington at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th October 1873.
. I, GEORGE FELLOWS HARRINGTON, of Ryde, in the Isle of Wight,
5 Dentist, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for “Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to apparatus for propelling ships or vessels in
which the screws are placed at the sides of the vessel so as to receive
the water which the vessel displaces and utilize the same for propelling
> her, and consists in an improved arrangement of the parts by which
economy in the consumption of fuel and increased speed are obtained.

page_text: In carrying out my Invention I propose to place two screws outside
the vessel, so that the screw shaft will be in a line parallel with her line
of passage, one screw being arranged on each side near the bows, and in
transmitting the power necessary to drives the screws from the engine or
other source of motive power by means of universal joints, which I
prefer to form of rings or eyes at the ends of the screw shaft and adjust-
able driving shaft, one ring or eye working in the other. This
arrangement is adapted for ordinary purposes, but when required for
inland navigation or special purposes the following modification is by
preference employed.
The arms or brackets which support the screws are secured to frames
or doors which are capable of turning on a vertical hinge or axis at the
sides of the vessel, the hinge or axis of the frame or door, and the
universal joint between the adjustable driving shaft, and the first motion
or fixed shaft, being made to work in the same or nearly the same
perpendicular line, a recess or chamber is formed in the sides of the
vessel to admit of the frame or door carrying the screw opening inwards
therein for the purpose of allowing two vessels readily to pass each
other, and also enable the vessel to pass through locks; and under this
arrangement of the universal joints the doors may be opened or closed
without stopping or interfering with the revolution of the screws.
By the use of this latter arrangement the ordinary rudder may, if
required, be dispensed with, as the screws may be employed for steering
t
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent 2
filed by the said George Fellows Harrington in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FELLOWS HARRINGTON, of Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the 37th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said George Fellows Harrington, Her special
license that I, the said George Fellows Harrington, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Fellows
Harrington, my executors, administrators, or 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 PROPELLING SHIPS
OR VESSELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Fellows Harrington, my
executors or administrators, 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 per-
formed, 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 George Fellows Harrington, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say :-
My said Invention relates to an improved mode of propelling ships
or boats which I designate the "fish gill" principle of screw pro-
pulsion, and consists―
First. In placing screws in positions corresponding with those of the
gills of fish, one on each side to work on shafts parallel with the keel,
outside the widest immersed section of the hull, where the water from
the front converges as the vessel displaces it, whereby the water is
transferred to the rear in imitation of the action of fish, such, for
example, as the cod fish, which, by means of its gills operating outside
the widest part of its body, transfers the water from its front to its rcar
in the act of swimming.
Secondly. In transmitting the power necessary to drive the
gill" screws by means of universal joints.
66 fish
And, Thirdly. In the employment of hinged frames for carrying the
screws, whereby greater facility is afforded for two vessels passing each

page_text: other, and for the passage of a vessel through locks when employed for
inland navigation.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings is a plan of the fore part of a vessel for the
purposes of ordinary navigation arranged to be propelled according to my
Invention; Figure 2 is a plan, Figure 3 a side elevation, and Figure 4
a transverse vertical section taken along the line 1-2, Figure 2, of a
modified arrangement adapted for inland navigation or special purposes,
and Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective view, shewing the form of
universal joint which I prefer to employ for canal or inland navigation.
A is the hull of the vessel, at the exterior of which on each side near
the bows I place a "fish gill" screw propeller B, the shafts C, C, of
which screws are supported on arms or brackets a, a, and arranged
parallel with the line of passage of the vessel; D, D, are adjustable
driving shafts, which are connected to the screw shafts C, C, and to fixed
shafts E, E, by universal joints 6, 6¹, by means of which the power is
transmitted to the screws through the train of gearing F from the main
driving shaft G of the engine or other source of motive power.
The above arrangement is adapted for ordinary purposes, but when the
vessel is required for inland navigation or special purposes I employ, by
preference, the modification shewn in Figures 2, 3, and 4. In this
arrangement the arms or brackets a, a, which support the screws, are
respectively secured to frames or doors H, H, which are capable of
turning on vertical hinges or axes c, c, arranged one at each side of the
· vessel, the hinge or axis c of each frame or door H and the universal
joint 6¹ between the adjustable driving shaft D and the fixed shaft E
being made to work in the same or nearly the same perpendicular
line.
Watertight recesses or chambers I, I, are formed in the sides of the
vessel into which the frames or doors H, H, carrying the screws open
inwards when required, as shewn by the red lines in Figure 2, such
frames or doors being operated by levers d, d, or other suitable means.

page_text: This arrangement admits of vessels passing each other and through
locks with facility, the universal joints permitting the frames or doors
to be opened or closed without stopping or interfering with the revolu-
tion of the "fish gill" screws. By the use of this latter arrangement
the ordinary rudder may, if required, be dispensed with, as the screws
may be employed for steering purposes. The ordinary universal joint
may be adopted with the arrangement first herein-before described, but
for inland navigation I prefer to employ a universal joint composed of
rings or eyes formed on the ends of the shafts (as shewn in the detail,
Figure 5) one ring or eye working in the other.
By the use of my Invention important advantages are obtained over
vessels propolled by a screw or screws at the stern. The "fish gill "
screws, by transferring water from their front to their rear create a
channel towards themselves for the rushing water as the vessel displaces
it, and thereby relieve the front of the vessel of water that would
otherwise accumulate as a "bow wave" and impede her progress.
Instead of forming a diverging "bow wave," such water is transferred
to the rear, where it accumulates as "stern waves," and impels the
vessel onwards. Moreover, the screws under the "fish gill" system
always work in a full supply of dense water, whereas under the stern
screw arrangement the water which, after being divided by the hull, is
required to fall into the run of the vessel in order to supply the screws,
is not able, when a certain speed is exceeded, to fall in with sufficient
rapidity to keep the screws fully supplied, and stern screws also, under
the best circumstances, work in broken water, which, striking the screw
blades produces intermittent concussions, thus jarring the machinery
and vessel. By my system, moreover, much greater speed and
economy in fuel are obtained than is possible under any stern screw
arrangement.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried 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. Placing screw propellers outside the widest immersed section of
the vessel where the water from the front converges as the vessel dis-
places it in imitation of the gills of fish, as herein-before described.

page_text: Secondly. Transmitting the power to "fish gill" screw propellers
when arranged on each side of the widest immersed section of the
vessel by means of universal joints in combination or not with the
employment of hinged frames or doors for carrying such propellers,
substantially in the manner herein-before described and illustrated by
the Drawings.
when arranged on each side of the widest immersed section of the
vessel by means of universal joints in combination or not with the
employment of hinged frames or doors for carrying such propellers,
substantially in the manner herein-before described and illustrated by
the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Fellows Harrington,- have
to this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day
of April, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
G. F. HARRINGTON. (L.S.)