IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA- RATUS FOR PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GARDNER
Srow, of King Street, Cheapside, in the City of London, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of January, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Gardner Stow, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Gardner Stow, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others, as I, the said Gardner Stow, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein men-
tioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
RATUS FOR PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS," being a communication
from a foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso obliging me, the said Gardner Stow, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be performed in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Gardner Stow, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
The principal object of this Invention, which has been communicated to me
by a foreigner residing abroad, is to employ the power of marine engines more
economically than has heretofore been done, in order to obtain with the same
amount of power a considerably increased propelling speed. This improvement is
effected partly by the employment of paddle wheels, having a peculiar form of
oblique paddle, but principally by the arrangement or position of the pro-
pelling wheels with regard to the vessel. It is well known to all persons
acquainted with steam vessels, that in the modes hitherto adopted for pro-
pelling vessels on the water, whether by paddle-wheels or screws, a power has
been required vastly superior to that which would suffice to move by traction
2
body of equal tonnage and draught at the same speed. This loss or useless
absorption of the motive power has been variously accounted for; but, by
careful experiment, the inventor of the hereafter described apparatus has
found that paddle-wheels which strike the water in a line parallel to their axis,
or at right angles to the progress of the vessel, absorb, by the repeated con-
cussions (upon the surface of the water) of the paddles or floats as they are
brought round to enter the water, a considerable amount of power, which
would be available to the propelling of the vessel if the paddles were to enter
the water without beating it into a foam. Again, when the paddles or floats
enter and leave the water at right angles to the vessel's course, a considerable
lift of water takes place by the paddles passing from a vertical to a horizontal
position, and thus a further useless expenditure of the power of the engine
occurs. When paddle-wheels, mounted in the ordinary manner, have their
paddles or floats set at an angle with the axis of the wheel, the "slip
has (by reason of the oblique pressure of the paddles on the water, assisted
also by the progressive motion of the vessel which draws them from their
work,) found to be so great as to counterbalance the advantage gained by their
more ready entrance to and exit from the water. It has likewise been found
that the screw propeller, or its various modifications, although in some respects
superior to the generality of paddle-wheels, is in other respects disadvantageous,
because by being submerged its shaft and bearings present a considerable

page_text: frictional or resisting surface to the water, and thus impede the progress of the
vessel. In the improved propelling apparatus which forms the subject of the
present Patent, the advantages of the oblique paddles are retained, and a hold
is taken on the water equal to that of an endless screw propeller, without the
disadvantage of bringing the axle and bearings of the screw or the arms of
angular blades in continuous contact with the water.
The Figures in the accompanying Drawing will shew the mode of carrying
out the Invention. Fig. 1 is a plan view of a vessel with the improved
paddle-wheels applied thereto; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same.
A, A, is a shaft placed horizontally across the vessel, and turning in suitable
bearings provided for the purpose. This shaft is brought into connection with
the steam engine, or other motive power machinery, by means of gearing,
crank rods, or other convenient mechanism. At either end of the shaft A is a
bevilled pinion in gear with other bevilled pinions, mounted respectively on
the shafts B, B, which carry the propelling wheels C, C, and turn in suitable
bearings provided on each side of the vessel. These shafts are shewn in the
Drawing as placed parallel to the centre line of the vessel, but, if thought
desirable, they may be set at such angle as will not interfere with the efficient
working of the propelling paddles or floats. The dip of the wheels should be
about one seventh of their diameter; but when the wheels are very large, say
thirty feet in diameter, a dip of about one tenth of their diameter would be
sufficient to insure a good hold on the water.
The manner in which the wheels are formed will be best seen by reference to
Figs. 3 and 4; Fig. 3 being a side view, and Fig. 4 an edge view, of the improved
wheel. The paddles or floats a, a, of this wheel are set at an angle of about forty-
five degrees to the shaft, in which position they stand up from the periphery b
of the wheel, and are sustained by arms c, c, which project radially from the
bosses of the wheel; d, d, are stay rods for giving strength and firmness to the
wheel. As this wheel partakes of the properties of a screw, and is intended
to act in the manner of a screw when rotating in the water, the ends of the
paddles are made with a bevilled edge to allow of their entering the water
with the least possible resistance.
One mode which the Inventor adopts for constructing the paddles or floats
is shewn at Fig. 5, and consists in making them of single plates of iron
suitably shaped, and attaching these several plates to their respective arms c;
and in order to obtain a uniform surface on each side of the paddle, and
prevent any useless resistance to the water when the wheel is revolving
therein, he applies at the back of each plate of iron filling pieces of wood or
other like substance, of a sufficient thickness to come flush with the face of the

page_text: arms c, and thus the paddles or floats are made of a uniform thickness
throughout, except at the edges, as before stated. But the mode preferred for
making the paddles is by enclosing the end of the radical arms c with sheet
metal, as shewn at Fig. 6, by which means a strong and efficient paddle may
be economically produced. The paddle-wheels are mounted, as above stated,
one on each side of the bows of the vessel, or they may be placed at any other
convenient part, and at such an elevation with regard to the draught line of
the vessel as will admit of the wheels dipping into the water the depth of the
paddles or floats. It may be remarked, that when the wheels are made to
revolve deeper in the water than is sufficient to immerse the paddles or floats,
the economic application of the motive power by the use of this Invention
will diminish, and that in a ratio proportionate to the increased dip of the
wheels.
From the foregoing it will be understood that each paddle, as it is immersed,
acts as a wedge upon the water in precisely the same manner as the thread of
a screw propeller; but the threads of the improved propelling wheel formed by
the oblique paddle being short, compared to the thread of an archimedean or other
similar screw propeller, the improved propelling wheel will not be liable to
work in the water which it has itself disturbed. If then the improved
propelling wheel is caused to rotate with a sufficient velocity, the water, being
non-elastic, will offer a resistance somewhat resembling that of a solid body,
and of this advantage is taken for the propulsion of the vessel to an extent
that will greatly economize the motive power.
Having now described the nature of the Invention which has been com-
municated to me, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to
be understood that I do not claim generally the application to vessels
of propelling wheels acting as screws in the water; but I claim, under
the above in part recited Letters Patent,
First, the modes of constructing the paddles or floats as above described.
And, secondly, I claim the mode of mounting paddle-wheels possessing the
properties of a screw, at such a height with regard to the draught of the vessel
to which they are applied that when in action in calm water their paddles or
floats only shall be in contact with the water, and in such a position with
respect to the length of the vessel that their shafts shall either be in a line
parallel with the vessel's course, or when placed at an angle they shall verge
towards the line of the vessel's course.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gardner Stow, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
GARDNER (L.S.)
STOW.

page_text: Taken and acknowledged by Gardner Stow (party hereto), at the City of
New York, in the State of New York, and United States of America, this
Fifteenth day of June One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
ANTH. BARCLAY,
Her Britannick Majesty's Consul.
Inrolled the Eleventh day of July, in the year above written.