Improvements in or connected with the Propulsion of Vessels.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Apr., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 18th Dec., 1893-Accepted, 17th Feb., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with the Propulsion of Vessels.
I, GEORGE AUGUSTUS HAIG, of Pen Ithon, in the County of Radnorshire,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to the propulsion of vessels and has for its object the
propelling of vessels at a high speed by means of paddle wheels wholly or partially
submerged.
Heretofore paddle wheels for propelling ships have only been used on the
surface of the water, a small portion only of the wheel being below the surface of
the water, while by far the greater portion is above the load water line of the ship,
and the wheels have usually been placed on each side of the ship, and sometimes as
in river steamers of light draught behind the ship. Now I propose to work paddle
wheels in air-tight cases wholly or partially submerged, filled with compressed air
at a pressure such as will prevent the water rising in the case higher than the point
most suitable for the effective working of the paddles in propelling the ship.
These air-tight cases may be fixed on the bottom of the ship on fore and aft lines
in which case the effective portion of the wheels would project below the bottom of
the ship, but it may be more convenient to place them on top of a square angled
channel or channels made through the ship fore and aft so that the effective
portions of the wheels dip into these channels while the upper portion works in
compressed air at pressure sufficient to prevent the water rising in each casing too
high for the effective working of the wheel. Any of the usual sorts of paddle
wheels may be used or a new kind of wheel in which the paddles always maintain
a position perpendicular or nearly perpendicular; but the particular kind of paddle
wheel makes no difference. The casings will be supplied with air from an air
pump or pumps sufficient to keep the air at the proper pressure in case of accidental
escape and with means of ascertaining the actual height of water in each casing at
any time.
The essential feature of my invention is the working of paddle wheels for the
propelling of ships in air tight casings partially or wholly submerged or below the
load water line of the ship and filled with compressed air at a pressure sufficient to
keep the water at the proper height on the wheels most suitable for their effective
work in propelling the vessel.
By means of this invention I expect to be able to provide a ship with a great
many paddle wheels which if driven at a proper speed would propel the vessel
at a speed far beyond anything heretofore attained. The water channels made
through the ship are intended to have sluice valves at each end or some other
simple means of closing them so that when closed they may be pumped empty and
access gained into them to effect repairs on the wheels without having to put the
ship into dry dock.
Dated this 14th day of April 1893.

page_text: Improvements in or connected with the Propulsion of Vessels.
I, GEORGE AUGUSTUS HAIG, of Pen Ithon, in the County of Radnor, Justice
of the Peace, and of No. 7, Argyle Street, London, W., and of 236, Fulham
Road, London, S.W., Merchant and Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to the propulsion of ships, and has for its object the
propelling of vessels through and over the seas or large lakes at a very high speed
by means of many paddle wheels arranged in one or more lines, wheel behind
wheel in a new position, and in paddle boxes or casings wholly or partially below
the load-water line of the vessel they propel, such casings being air-tight, fitted
with stuffing boxes for the shafts to work through, and filled with compressed air
of such a pressure as will keep the level of the water down in the casing to such a
point as is found by experience to be best for the efficient working of submerged
paddles in propelling the vessel, so that although the whole paddle wheel might be
below the surface of the water in which the vessel floats, yet the upper part of the
wheel would be revolving in air, while the lower paddles are immersed in water and
employed in propelling the ship. These air-tight casings will be supplied with air
by air pumps working direct into each casing, or working into a reservoir or
reservoirs of compressed air at a higher pressure than is needed in the casings, aud
each casing will be connected with the reservoir or reservoirs or with the pump or
pumps by proper pipes, valves, and stop-cocks, so as to replace escapes of air and
maintain the pressure at the proper point.
Heretofore paddle wheels for propelling ships have only been used on the surface
of the water, the greater part of the wheel being out of the water and covered by
a light box or casing which does not come down nearly so low as the load water
line, and only a small portion of the wheel dips into the surface water, where the
action of the waves and the rolling of the ship interfere greatly with its effective
action. Moreover, not more than two wheels have ever been employed to propel a
sea-going steamship, and those have always in sea going ships been placed outside
the vessel, one on each side, near the centre of the ship's length.
Now I propose to propel ships, not by two side wheels as heretofore, but by
many paddle wheels placed inside the ship in one or more long strings or lines,
wheel behind wheel, in a fore and aft direction, but preferably in one long line in
the very centre of the ship, so that a straight line drawn from stem to stern would
have one half of each wheel on either side of it, and two lines of wheels would only
be used in ships which were very broad in proportion to their length, and would
then be placed one line on each side of that central line at a suitable distance.
These wheels, too, would not work on the surface of the water, but deep down
below the first bottom of the ship, because my wheels would in every case have
their effective paddles working in a channel formed below the first bottom of the
ship so as to enclose the paddles at the sides and also at the bottom, but with both
ends open when at work, but there would be a sluice, or some other suitable
contrivance for closing each end of this channel, so as to pump or force out the
water when it was necessary to overhaul, examine, or repair the wheels without
going into dry dock to do so. The bottom of this channel I call the second bottom
of the ship.
In further explanation of my invention I will refer to the annexed diagrammatic
views. A ship arranged as above with one line of wheels would be constructed in
the centre of its length in the form shown in the section, Fig. 1, and have that
same form as far as the paddle wheels extended, as shown respectively in the longi-
tudinal section Fig. 2, and plan Fig. 3. In these figures P is one paddle wheel,

page_text: E and F the engine rooms, A the first bottom, B the second bottom, and C the
channel. No doubt the channel C below the first bottom A might be omitted, and
the wheels work equally well without it, but then it would be impossible to overhaul
the paddle wheels without putting the ship into dry dock.
But I think it would be an improvement to carry down the engine rooms on
each side of the channel to the same depth as the second bottom B (the bottom of
the channel) which then becomes the second bottom of the ship, because an express
steamer will burn a great deal of coal and will need a great deal of space for
coal bunkers. If this were done then the midship cross-section would be of the
form shown in the cross-section, Fig. 4, and the longitudinal section, Fig. 5, the
same letters of reference referring to the same parts.
The first bottom A. is the real level of the bottom of the fore and after portions
of the ship beyond the space or length occupied by the engine rooms, the paddle
wheels, and the water-channel, and the top of the channel Ccoincides in level
with the first bottom A. S S are the sluice valves at each end of the channel C
for closing same when required. The diagrams, Figs. 2 and 3 represent respectively
the horizontal section below the load water line and the stem and stern perpen-
dicular section of a steamer planned with one line of submerged central paddle
wheels and supposed to be 480 feet long, by 48 feet beam, and fitted with eight
wheels 21 feet in diameter, and Fig. 1 is the midship cross-section thereof.
The diagrams Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively a midship cross-section and a plan
below load water line of a similar ship having two parallel rows of four wheels in
each row, the same letters of reference as above indicating the same parts.
Now any of the old fashioned paddle wheels could be worked in a steamer
constructed on this plan with submerged air-tight casings filled with compressed
air, although the usual feathering wheel would be the best of them. Nevertheless,
because those wheels would greatly agitate the water in the air-tight casings, there
is a wheel which I prefer for use in these air-tight submerged casings, a wheel
in which the paddles always maintain a position perpendicular to the load water
line, with top and bottom edge of the paddles sharp so as to enter and come out
of the water quietly and with as little splash as possible, and which therefore will
not disturb the water in the casing nearly so much as the old-fashioned wheels,
and therefore will propel such a vessel much more steadily than any other wheel,
although I by no means limit the use of these casings to any particular sort of
wheel. With a long string of wheels which keep the paddles perpendicular and
which wheels are placed one behind the other in a fore and aft line as shown
above, I feel sure that it is quite possible to construct a steamer which can be
driven across the ocean at a very high speed, possibly reaching even sixty miles
an hour. Undoubtedly the steamer must be very strongly constructed and the
paddle wheels and machinery and engines must all be very strong and powerful,
but those requisites nowadays are not only possible but quite practicable.
By my arrangement of a large number of wheels placed one behind the other,
I am able to get a very large area of paddle surface in effective operation at the
same moment, an area greatly exceeding the area of the submerged portion of the
midship cross section. Hitherto in all sea-going paddle steamers with side wheels
the area of paddle surface in effective operation at the same moment is a mere
fraction of the area of the submerged cross section of the ship, and they
unquestionably slip, and slip. the more the faster they are driven in the effort to
obtain greater speed for the ship through the water.
Now this is a very important point, and in it lies the real secret of success in
driving ships through the water at a high speed. The chief obstruction to driving
a ship through the water is her submerged cross section in the widest part of her
length. Then there are skin friction, action of the waves, and head wind to
provide for. Now I hold that to drive a ship at a high speed it is requisite to
have the propelling area much greater than the area of the submerged cross-section
of the ship, that, in fact, there ought to be a margin beyond that area sufficient to
overcome skin friction and to provide against the varying and intermittent

page_text: F
obstructions of the waves and the wind. But by adding more paddle wheels or
by making those put in wider, I can, by my plan, greatly increase the propelling
surface of the paddles, and by thus increasing the grip of the wheels on the water
I can, if sufficient engine power is provided, undoubtedly force a ship through
the water at the very same speed as her paddles are passing over the water, and
there will be no slip any more than there is slip in the wheels of an express railway
train when the rails are dry and the road level, and the train not too heavy for the
grip of the wheels and the power of the locomotive.
Therefore I put a sufficient number of wheels to overbalance the resistance of
the submerged cross section, skin friction, waves, and head wind, and supply
sufficient engine power to drive them at a given speed, and if I make the rolling
circle of my paddle wheels pass over the water at the rate of sixty miles an hour,
then the ship in which they are revolving must cut through the water at the
same speed just as a railway locomotive propels an express train through the air
at the same speed as the tires of its driving wheels.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The arrangement and working of paddle wheels for the propulsion of vessels
in a fore and aft air-tight casing or casings filled with compressed air, the wheels
working not on the surface of the water but with the effective portions of the
paddles dipping into the solid water many feet below the load water line of the
ship, while the upper part of the wheels revolves in air enclosed in the air-tight
casing above, the pressure of the air being regulated so as to prevent the water
rising in the paddle boxes or casings higher than the point of maximum efficiency
for the working of the paddles.
2. Arranging and using a great many paddle wheels (that is to say, more than
the usual number hitherto) for the propulsion of a vessel, and disposing the said
paddle wheels in one or more fore and aft lines, the wheels in each line being
placed one behind the other, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
3. Placing the paddle wheels in the very centre of the ship's length and in the
centre of the breadth if she is long and narrow and only a single line of wheels is
used, or if she is very broad, arranging them in a double line one on each side of
and at a suitable distance from the fore and aft centre line between stem
and stern, but still in the centre of the ship's length, both which positions are
those in which paddles feel the effects of rolling and pitching least, and where they
would be (if left uncovered) least affected by the waves.
4. Making the paddle wheels work in a closed fore and aft channel or channels
wherein they are protected from many accidents and in which channel or channels
by simply closing up the ends and pumping or forcing out the water they can be
overhauled and repaired when required without obliging the ship to be brought
into dry dock.
Dated this 11th day of December 1893.
GEORGE AUGUSTUS HAIG.