IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPULSION, AND IN ROTARY APPARATUS FOR GIVING MOTION OR ENERGY TO FLUIDS AND RECEIVING MOTION OR ENERGY FROM THEM
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, of Tew Park,
Oxfordshire, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPULSION,
AND IN ROTARY APPARATUS FOR GIVING MOTION OR ENERGY TO FLUIDS AND
RECEIVING MOTION OR ENERGY FROM THEM."
Sealed the 6th September 1867, and dated the 11th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Piers Watt
Boulton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th March 1867.
I, MATTHEW PIERS WATT BOULTON, of Tew Park, Oxfordshire, Esquire,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROPULSION, AND IN ROTARY APPARATUS FOR GIVING MOTION OR ENERGY TO FLUIDS
AND RECEIVING MOTION OR ENERGY FROM THEM," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the construction and arrangement of mechanism
for propelling vessels by producing an unbalanced pressure urging them
forwards, as also to the construction of rotary apparatus for giving motion or
energy to fluids and receiving motion or energy from them, and in the application
of such apparatus to the purpose of propulsion.

page_text: In the propellor known as the Ruthven propellor a centrifugal pump is
employed to draw water from beneath a vessel and expel it backwards,
employing a rotary pump to draw in and expel water; I adopt the following
construction I employ duplicate passages, both for inflow and for outflow,
provided with cocks, sluices, or valves, by means of which they can be alter-
nately opened and closed at pleasure. The inflow passages like those of outflow
open into the water in a direction as nearly as possible parallel to the length
of the vessel, in whichever way the vessel is moving the water is always
drawn in in the direction opposite to that of the vessel's advance and expelled
in the same direction; by this method an unbalanced pressure is created, con-
stantly urging the vessels forwards. The channels, of inflow like those of
outflow may have two or more branches, but all should open into the external
water in a direction as nearly as possible parallel to the vessel's length. There
may be an enlargement of the passage, through which the water flows previous
to entering the pump so formed that the velocity of the water is reduced with
little diminution of its energy; and the orifice of inflow may be fitted with a
mouth piece having the form of the vena contracta. I prefer to make the
openings for inflow and outflow so that no part of them projects beyond the
exterior surface of the vessel; and I prefer to construct the valves which open
and close the passages for inflow and for outflow so that when they are closed
they form portions of the vessel exterior surface or approximate to this very
nearly.
Several wheels or propellors may be used, each provided with their
respective channels, and they may be placed in different parts of the vessel. For
the rotary pump the various forms of turbine may be used inversely, the wheel
being forcibly turned in a direction contrary to that in which it moves when
the turbine is worked in the usual manner. The forms of turbine which when
worked in the ordinary manner act centrifugally when thus worked inversely
act centripetally, and vice versa, while the parallel flow turbine acts with a
parallel flow in either case. Various intermediate forms may be used, the
channels being set between cones or conoids either converging or diverging,
and these may be worked either directly or inversely, i.e., either to create a
vortex by the guides and destroy it in turning the wheel, or to create a vortex
by forcibly turning the wheel and destroy this vortex by the guides. Turbines
thus worked may be used to lift or drive water or liquids for general purposes.
In apparatus of this kind when used as a pump the water when emerging as
a vortex from the wheel has a certain velocity and pressure in a ratio suitable
for the efficient action of the instrument; the velocity and pressure can be
afterwards varied as desired by changes in the area of the channel, these

page_text: being made so that the total energy shall be reduced as little as possible. A
centrifugal pump may also be made without blades, the rotary motion being
communicated from the revolving wheel to the liquid by friction. For this
purpose a disc, cone, or conoid may revolve within a case, the water flowing
between it and the case; the space between the disc and the case narrows as
its distance from the axis increases. Several discs or wheels may be employed
rotating on a common axis, the water flowing between them, in which case the
discs or wheels are so formed that the spaces between them become narrowed,
as above explained.
The following is another construction of apparatus suitable for similar
purposes Water or liquid flows through a reaction wheel and turns it,
imparting a certain amount of its energy to the wheel, but retaining a certain
portion of it which it is desired further to utilise. The liquid issues from the
wheel as a vortex having also some progressive flow; it is caused to pass
between guides, in which the vertical movement is turned into a progressive
flow; it is also caused to lose velocity and acquire pressure by passing through
channels of suitably enlarged area; this may be done either during its
passage through the guides or subsequently. In this state it is caused to
enter another reaction wheel, where a further portion of its energy is utilised,
and if desired the process may be repeated. The reaction wheels may revolve
on the same axis, their diameters being adjusted accordingly with reference to
the suitable velocity of movement of their orifices. An apparatus of this kind
worked inversely may be used as a rotary pump for the purpose of drawing
and forcing water or liquids; also an apparatus consisting of reaction wheels
combined, as above described, may be worked directly by steam or aeriform
fluids issuing from a vessel under pressure. If steam is employed it may be
finally discharged into a condenser. Such an apparatus may be used to give
a very rapid rotation to a screw propellor, in which case the diameter and
pitch of the screw may be greatly reduced. In such a case two sets of wheels
made for rotation in opposite directions may revolve on one axis, steam being
admitted into one set when the vessel moves ahead and into the other when
it moves astern. Also apparatus of the same nature may be used for the
purpose of aerial locomotion to give rapid rotation to a propellor acting on
the air. The propellor employed for this purpose may be a screw propellor
or it may be a wheel or fan creating a vortex, and thus producing unbalanced
pressure urging the vessel forwards; in other words, its action may be similar
to that of the propellors described in the preceding part of this Specification
for the propulsion of vessels on water by means of a revolving wheel or
turbine. When the reaction wheels are used for such a purpose they may be

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Matthew Pièrs Watt Boulton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th September 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
PIERS WATT BOULTON, of Tew Park, Oxfordshire, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, Her special licence that I, the said
Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time, and at all times thereafter 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPULSION, AND IN ROTARY
APPARATUS FOR GIVING MOTION OR ENERGY TO FLUIDS AND RECEIVING MOTION OR
ENERGY FROM THEM, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to the construction and arrangement of mechanism for
propelling vessels by producing an unbalanced pressure urging them forwards,
as also to the construction of rotary apparatus for giving motion or energy to
fluids and receiving motion or energy from them, and in the application of
such apparatus to the purpose of propulsion.

page_text: In the propeller known as the Ruthven propeller a centrifugal pump is
employed to draw water from beneath a vessel and expel it backwards, employ-
ing a rotary pump to draw in and expel water; I adopt the following con-
struction-I employ duplicate passages both for inflow and for outflow
provided with cocks, sluices, or valves, by means of which they can be alter-
nately opened and closed at pleasure. The inflow passages like those of
outflow open into the water in a direction as nearly as possible parallel to the
length of the vessel. In whichever way the vessel is moving the water is
always drawn in in the direction opposite to that of the vessel's advance and
expelled in the same direction. By this method an unbalanced pressure is
created constantly urging the vessel forwards. The channels of inflow like
those of outflow may have two or more branches, but all should open into the
external water in a direction as nearly as possible parallel to the vessel's
length. There may be an enlargement of the passage through which the
water flows previous to entering the pump so formed that the velocity of the
water is reduced with little diminution of its energy; and the orifice of inflow
may be fitted with a mouth-piece having the form of the vena contracta.
I prefer to make the openings for inflow and outflow so that no part of them
projects beyond the exterior surface of the vessel; and I prefer to construct
the valves which open and close the passages for inflow and for outflow so that
when they are closed they form portions of the vessel's exterior surface or
approximate to this very nearly.
Several wheels or propellers may be used each provided with their respective
channels, and they may be placed in different parts of the vessel. For the
rotary pump the various forms of turbine may be used inversely, the wheel
being forcibly turned in a direction contrary to that in which it moves when
the turbine is worked in the usual manner. The forms of turbine which when
worked in the ordinary manner act centrifugally when thus worked inversely
act centripetally, and vice versa, while the parallel flow turbine acts with a
parallel flow in either case. Various intermediate forms may be used, the
channels being set between cones and conoids either converging or diverging,
and these may be worked either directly or inversely, i.e., either to create a
vortex by the guides and destroy it in turning the wheel, or to create a vortex
forcibly turning the wheel, and destroy this vortex by the guides. Turbines
thus worked may be used to lift or drive water or liquids for general purposes.
In apparatus of this kind when used as a pump the water when emerging as
a vortex from the wheel has a certain velocity and pressure in a ratio suitable
for the efficient action of the instrument. The velocity and pressure can be
afterwards varied as desired by changes in the area of the channel, these being

page_text: A
made so that the total energy shall be reduced as little as possible.
centrifugal pump may also be made without blades, the rotary motion being
communicated from the revolving wheel to the liquid by friction. For this
purpose a disc, conc, or conoid may revolve within a case, the water flowing
between it and the case. The space between the disc and the case narrows as
its distance from the axis increases; several discs or wheels may be employed
rotating on a common axis, the water flowing between them, in which case
the discs or wheels are so formed that the spaces between them become
narrowed, as above explained.
The following is another construction of apparatus suitable for similar
purposes Water or liquid flows through a reaction wheel, and turns it,"
imparting a certain amount of its energy to the wheel, but retaining a certain
portion of it which it is desired further to utilize. The liquid issues from the
wheel as a vortex, having also some progressive flow; it is caused to pass
between guides in which the vertical movement is turned into a progressive
flow; it is also caused to lose velocity and acquire pressure by passing through
channels of suitably enlarged area; this may be done either during its passage
through the guides or subsequently; in this state it is caused to enter another
reaction wheel, where a further portion of its energy is utilized; and if
desired the process may be repeated. The reaction wheels may revolve on
the same axis, their diameters being adjusted accordingly with reference to
the suitable velocity of movement of their orifices. An apparatus of this kind
worked inversely may be used as a rotary pump for the purpose of drawing
and forcing water and liquids. Also an apparatus consisting of reaction wheels
combined as above described may be worked directly by steam or aeriform
fluids issuing from a vessel under pressure. If steam is employed it may be
finally discharged into a condenser. Such an apparatus may be used to give
a very rapid rotation to a screw propeller, in which case the diameter and
pitch of the screw may be greatly reduced. In such a case two sets of wheels
made for rotation in opposite directions may revolve on one axis, steam being
admitted into one set when the vessel moves ahead, and into the other when
it moves astern. Also apparatus of the same nature may be used for the
purpose of aerial locomotion to give rapid rotation to a propeller acting on
the air. The propeller employed for this purpose may be a screw propeller,
or it may be a wheel or fan creating a vortex, and thus producing unbalanced
pressure urging the vessel forwards; in other words, its action may be similar
to that of the propellers described in the preceding part of this Specification
for the propulsion of vessels on water by means of a revolving wheel or turbine.
When the reaction wheels are used for such a purpose they may be moved by

page_text: gas or fluid generated from some substance or substances which disengage gas
or fluid rapidly when heated or subjected to chemical action.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
M. P. W. BOULTON. (L.S.)