AN IMPROVED METHOD OF OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Fletcher, of 39, Old Hall Street, Liverpool,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF OBTAINING AND APPLYING
MOTIVE POWER."
Sealed the 11th September 1868, and dated the 12th March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Fletcher at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th March 1868.
L, HENRY FLETCHER, of 39, Old Hall Street, Liverpool, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to obtain and apply motive power
by means of the oscillation, rolling, or rocking of ships or other vessels
caused by the action of the waves. For this purpose I employ a pendulum
or pensile body of any desired weight, which will hang or be affixed
to a rod or bar of any desired length, and be suspended on a pivot

page_text: or pivots in or on any convenient part of a ship or other vessel. . When
such ship or vessel is oscillated the pendulum will remain either per-
pendicular or nearly so, or generally will not oscillate in the same
time or the same direction as such ship or vessel. I utilize such
variations of oscillation in the two things, viz., the ship and the
pendulum.
At a convenient part of the pendulum rod, say, near the point or
points of suspension, I arrange a bracket, crosshead, lever, or similar
contrivance with a stud and connecting rod or other suitable connections,
so that as the ship oscillates such rods and connections may be made
to actuate a pump for pumping water or air, or may actuate a rack
or toothed wheel to cause a rotary motion, or the air may be pumped
and forced with pressure into a suitable receiver, and such compressed
air may be liberated into an engine similar to a high-pressure steam
engine, and such air engine power and also the wheelwork rotary
motion can be applied to a variety of purposes in the said ship, such
as pumping, ventilating, assisting at the helm, hauling, and aiding the
propulsion of the ship. If it be thought desirable at times not to
permit the pendulum to operate, arrangements are made to secure it in
a fixed position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Fletcher in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
FLETCHER, of 39, Old Hall Street, Liverpool, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Fletcher, Her special licence that
I, the said Henry Fletcher, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Henry Fletcher, 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

page_text: 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Fletcher, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Henry Fletcher, 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 accompanying Sheet of
Drawings (that is to say) :-
The object of my Invention is to obtain and apply motive power by
means of the oscillation, rolling, or rocking of ships or other vessels
caused by the waves. For this purpose I employ a pendulum or pensile
body of any desired weight, which will hang on or be affixed to a rod or
bar of any desired length, and be suspended on a pivot or pivots in
or on any convenient part of a ship or other vessel. When such ship
or vessel is oscillated the pendulum will remain either perpendicular or
nearly so, or generally will not oscillate in the same time or the same
direction as such ship or vessel. I utilize such variations of oscillation
in the two things, viz., the ship and the pendulum.
At a convenient part of the pendulum rod, say, near the point or
points of suspension, I arrange a bracket, crosshead, lever, or similar
contrivance with a stud and connecting rod or other suitable connections,
so that as the ship oscillates such rods and connections may be made
to actuate a pump for pumping water or air, or may actuate a rack
or toothed wheel to cause a rotary motion, or the air may be pumped
and forced with pressure into a suitable receiver, and such pressed air
may be liberated into an engine similar to a high-pressure steam engine,
and such air engine power and also the wheelwork rotary motion can
be applied to a variety of purposes in the said ship, such as pumping,
ventilating, assisting at the helm, hauling, and aiding the propulsion

page_text: of the ship. If it be thought desireable at times not to permit the
pendulum to operate arrangements are made to secure it in a fixed
position by means of springs or buffers gradually closing around it, or
raising the floor beneath, or lowering the pendulum to the floor.
It is evident that a great variety of plans may be adopted for utilizing
the power referred to, and in order that my Invention may be clearly
understood, I have attached hereto the accompanying Diagram or
Drawing.
I have a beam or lever A, Fig. 1, and rod with weight P attached,
resting upon bearings as shown at A; from each end of the said beam
I have connecting rods B, B, attached to cranks or arms C, C, which
are affixed to shafts D, D. I attach an arm E furnished with a palm
or paddle F, which will be loose when moved in one direction, but
fixed when moved in a contrary direction. The line G, G, represents
any convenient part of a ship. The bearings at A are fixed to the
ship by a pedastal as H, H, if the ship oscillates, as shown by the
dotted lines, the weight or pendulum P if sufficiently heavy will cause
the palms or paddles to move through the water and will be in the
position shown by the dotted lines.
Fig. 2 shows another method of utilising the oscillation of the ship.
One end of the beam or lever A has a rod B, which is worked in a
cylinder C as a pump for air or water, the cylinder being worked or
moved whilst the piston is comparatively stationery. The other end
of the beam shows how a rack wheel D may be rotated, the wheel
with its axle being elevated or depressed, whilst the click is com-
paratively stationery, in both cases caused by the vis inertia of the
pendulum or the differential oscillations of the ship and the pendulum.
The beam may be made to operate upon cylinders at both ends or
upon rack wheels at both ends. The dotted lines show the variations
from the ship being horizontal and when oscillating.
There is a small apparatus well known to nautical people and called
a "gimble," it is used for the purposes of keeping articles such as
compasses, lamps, or candles steady during the oscillation of the ship.
An apparatus on this plan I use having rods operating on levers as
described.
I do not confine myself to the details herein set forth, as the same
may be varied without departing from the principle of my said

page_text: Invention; but I claim the application of a pendulum or pensile
body to be used in ships or other vessels for obtaining motive power
by the action of the waves oscillating ships or vessels, as stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry. Fletcher, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of Septembor, A.D.
(1868) One thousand eight hundd & sixty-eight.
Witness,
GEO. H. BEDFORD.
HENRY FLETCHER. (L.S.)