IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hamilton, junior, of Liverpool, for the Inven-.
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS."
Sealed the 27th August 1858, and dated the 15th March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hamilton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
March 1858.
I, JOHN HAMILTON, junior, of Liverpool, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS," to be
as follows:
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for propelling
vessels. For these purposes endless bands or chains of float boards or paddles
are used, and it is preferred that the float boards or paddles should be
These
curved in such manner as to facilitate their entrance into the water.
paddles or float boards are fixed to endless bands of wire rope, or to chains
or otherwise, so as to produce endless bands of float boards or paddles.
Each set of float boards or paddles is carried by two cylinders or frames, one
of which, the hinder one, is driven by a steam engine or other power on board
the vessel, and the cylinder or frame which is driven is at such a height above
the water's surface that the paddles or float boards when they come under the
same will be out of the water, whilst the axle of the other or forward cylinder
or frame is arranged in suitable bearings to admit of it being raised and lowered,
and so as to cause the float boards or paddles to dip more or less below the
water's surface; by which arrangement it will be seen that each float board as
it passes under the axis of the forward cylinder or frame will be at the greatest

page_text: depth, and as each float board passes from such forward cylinder or frame to
the hinder cylinder or frame it will progressively rise out of the water; and, as
before stated, when it is below the hinder cylinder it will be wholly out of the
water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Hamilton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HAMILTON, junior, of Liverpool, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Hamilton, Her special licence that I, the said John Hamilton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Hamilton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Hamilton, 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 John Hamilton, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for propelling
vessels. For these purposes endless bands or chains of float boards or paddles
are used, and it is preferred that the float boards or paddles should be curved
in such manner as to facilitate their entrance into the water. These paddles
or float boards are fixed to endless bands of wire rope, or to chains or other-
wise, so as to produce endless bands of float boards or paddles. Each set of

page_text: float boards, or paddles is carried by two cylinders or frames, one of which, the
hinder one, is driven by a steam engine or other power on board the vessel;
and the cylinder or frame which is driven at such a height above the water's
surface that the paddles or float boards when they come under the same will
be out of the water, whilst the axle of the other or forward cylinder or frame
is arranged in suitable bearings to admit of it being raised and lowered, and so
as to cause the float boards or paddles to dip more or less below the water's
surface; by which arrangement it will be seen that each float board as it
passes under the axis of the forward cylinder or frame will be at the greatest
depth, and as each float board passes from such forward cylinder or frame to
the hinder cylinder or frame it will progressively rise out of the water, and, as
before stated, when it is below the hinder cylinder it will be wholly out of the
water.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows so much of a side view of a vessel having apparatus applied
thereto according to my Invention as will enable me readily to describe the same;
Figure 2 is a plan thereof. a, a, are the paddles or float boards, which are by
preference convex on the propelling surfaces; b, b, are endless wire ropes or
bands or chains to which the float boards or paddles are affixed. The paddles
or float boards work between the chains or endless bands or ropes, as shewn ;
c, c, are two cylinders or frames on each side of the ship or vessel, one of which
cylinders or frames is notched or recessed at its circumference, in order to gear
with the bars a' on which the float boards or paddles are fixed. The axis or
shaft which carries one of the frames or cylinders on each side of the ship or
vessel is driven by steam or other power on board. The two cylinders or frames
which are carried by the driving shaft are so arranged that the float boards or
paddles do not touch the water as they pass under such frames or cylinders.
The other frame or cylinder on each side of the ship or vessel is on an independent
shaft or axis, and the axes of the two last-mentioned frames or cylinders may
be independent of each other, or they may be arranged to be raised or lowered
simultaneously, and the apparatus or machinery used for raising and lowering
such axes may be actuated by the steam engine or other power, or they may
be raised or lowered by suitable apparatus actuated by manuel power.
bearings of the moveable axes of the cylinders or frames move in guides,
which are curved, and should be struck from the centre of the axis or shaft of
the other frames or cylinders. In the arrangement shewn by the Drawing
The

page_text: the rising and falling of the axes of the moveable frames or cylinders is by
means of screws put in motion by bevil wheels on an axis actuated by hand-
spikes d, d.
By the combination of machinery above described, it will be evident that
the paddles or float boards when passing under the moveable frames or
cylinders may be made to dip to any desired extent into the water, according
to the position in which the moveable frames or cylinders are for the time
placed, and as the float boards or paddles proceed towards the other frames or
cylinders they will rise out of the water, and they will be entirely out of the
water when they pass under the other frames or cylinders.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I am aware that it
has before been proposed to apply float boards or paddles to endless chains,
bands, or ropes, and to employ cylinders or frames on each side of a ship to
carry and give motion to such endless chains, bands, or ropes. I do not, there-
fore, claim the same generally; but what I claim is, the combination herein
described, whereby one of the frames or cylinders on each side of a ship or
vessel is arranged to cause the float boards or paddles to rise out of the water,
whilst the other frame or cylinder is arranged to rise and fall, so as to cause
the float boards or paddles to descend to the desired depth into the water, as
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hamilton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
GEORGE ANDERSON,
6, James Street, Liverpool.
JOHN HAMILTON, JN³. (L.S.)