A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN PROPELLING NAVIGABLE VESSELS THROUGH WATER
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Robinson Sampson, of the State of Massa-
chusetts, of the United States of America, for the Invention of "A NEW
AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN PROPELLING NAVIGABLE VESSELS THROUGH
WATER." A communication from John Taggart, a resident of Roxbury,
of the State of Massachusetts, of the United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Robinson Sampson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 20th May 1859, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT KNOWN,
that I, GEORGE ROBINSON SAMPSON, of the State Massachusetts, of the
United States of America, am in possession of an Invention of "A NEW
AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN PROPELLING NAVIGABLE VESSELS THROUGH WATER,"
and I do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, or in other words, its construction and
mode of operation, are fully described and represented in the following Speci-
fication and the accompanying Drawings, of which Figure 1 is a top view,
and Figure 2 a vertical and longitudinal section of the hull of a vessel
furnished with my improvement.
In such Drawings, A denotes the hull, while B and C represent two shafts
arranged longitudinally in the hull, and coupled together in the hold by a
universal joint D. The shaft B extends out of the hold at the stern thereof,
and carries a screw propeller E to work or screw into the water, within which
the hull or vessel may be afloat. The other shaft, viz. C, passes upwards in
an inclined position with respect to the keel plane of floatation or the deck,
and through the deck of the vessel and toward and over the bow, and into

page_text: the air or atmosphere outside of the hull, and carries a screw propeller F to
work or screw into the air.
The driving shaft of a steam engine or the motive power within the hull
is shown at G, and may be so applied or connected with the rear propeller
shaft by the bevel gears h, i, or equivalent means as to enable such shaft with
its water propeller to be revolved by the motor or engine, and to simultaneously
put in revolution the shaft of the air screw propeller so as to set such screw
propeller in action in a manner to cause it to screw into the air, and propel
the vessel along, the water propellor being made to screw into the water, so
as to aid in the propulsion of the vessel.
When a vessel has such means of propulsion, it is advisable to construct it
with a sharp bow, a very flat run, and a very broad stern. It may have
a covered deck, and its engine or smoke pipe, where it extends above the deck
or roof, may project horizontally backward toward and over the stern as shown
in the Drawings. If we suppose the boat or vessel to be anchored in a very
swift running current, it will be evident that the action of such current against
the water screw propeller will have a tendency to cause it to revolve, and put
the air screw propeller in rotation. Again, if we suppose the motive power of
the engine sufficient to operate both screw propellers at once, the vessel will
be driven or propelled by their conjoint action. The speed, however, will be
beyond what can be imparted by the water propeller alone, and therefore the
excess of speed will cause the water propeller to drag in the water. This
drag of the water propeller against the water will operate to increase its
rotations, and thereby facilitate the action of the wind propeller. Thus, by
the employment of the two separate air and water screw propellers arranged
and coupled together as specified, the water propeller will not only be made
to perform the duty of propelling the vessel, but that of facilitating the rotary
action of the air screw propeller. Thus, by connecting the two propellers
essentially as specified, I am enabled to attain great specd with much less
power than would be required were the two propellers so disconnected that the
revolutions of one would effect no rotary movement of the other.
I am aware that sails or wind propellers, stationary relatively to the hull,
have been applied to vessels, so as to propel such by a current of wind blowing
against such sails. I would remark that the kind of rotary propeller necessary
'to my Invention, and to work in the air, is not a windmill to be driven by wind,
or a current of air striking against its vanes or floats, but it is a rotary propeller,
which is not only to be rotated by a separate power or motor such as a steam
engine, for instance, placed within and carried by the vessel, but it is 'to press,
act, or screw into the surrounding air, and by the resistance thereof, cause the

page_text: water.
vessel to by propelled through the water. I am perfectly aware that a rotary
windmill or propeller to be moved by air, or an impinging current of wind
has been applied to the deck of a vessel, and connected with one or more.
screw propellers, or made to operate oars so as to propel a vessel through the
All the above operate differently from my Invention, or new mode of
propelling a vessel. Furthermore, by the inclined position of the axis or shaft
of the air propeller F, with reference to the keel or plane of floatation, the
said propeller while being rotated not only operates to draw the vessel ahead,
but has a tendency to lift her bow more or less out of water, and thereby
facititate her movement by reducing the amount of surface of bow exposed to
the resistance of the water. I would also remark that I am aware that a
screw partly submerged in the water has been employed to propel a vessel, in
which case the screw operated partly in the air. This, however, differs
materially from my Invention, and cannot be employed to like advantage. I
am also aware that it is not new to communicate motion in or into bodies
wholly or in part surrounded by water or air by the motion or reaction of
apparatus on such water or air or both, therefore I lay no claim to such, my
Invention being confined to particular means and devices for applying the
method, such differing from any other herein-before recited. Nor do I claim
propelling a vessel by a single screw working in air and partly submerged.in
water. Nor do I claim propelling a navigable vessel by means of a moving
current of wind acting on a wind wheel or mill placed above the deck and
connected with a screw propeller extending into the water astern of the vessel;
but what I do claim is my improved mode of propelling a navigable vessel
through the water, viz., by the conjoint action of two separate rotary or screw
propellers E and F, respectiveby operating or screwing into the water and air
arranged and combined substantially as described, and propelled by a steam
engine or motor within or carried by the vessel.
I also claim arranging the air screw propeller F or its axis at an inclination
upward from the keel or plane of floatation of the vessel substatially as shown
in Figure 2, in order that the said propeller while being rotated may operate
not only to draw the vessel ahead, but to lift her bow more or less out of the
water.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my signature and seal this
7th Aril 1850
GEORGE ROBINSON SAMPSON. (L.S.)