AN IMPROVED PROPELLER FOR SHIPS, VESSELS, BOATS, AND WATER-WHEELS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Yves Marie Thomas, of 2, Rue Sainte Appoline,
Paris, (Empire of France,) and of 45, Essex Street, Strand, London, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROPELLER FOR SHIPS, VESSELS, BOATS, AND
WATER-WHEELS."
Sealed the 29th September 1859, and dated the 1st April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Yves Marie Thomas at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st April 1859.
I, YVES MARIE THOMAS, of 2, Rue Sainte Appoline, Paris, (Empire of
France,) and of 45, Essex Street, Strand, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PROPELLER FOR SHIPS, VESSELS,
BOATS, AND WATER-WHEELS," to be as follows, and consists in the use of a long
endless chain furnished with a certain number of articulated cups or buckets,
and directed by means of rods and rollers upon a kind of railway. This
long chain, bearing and directing the cups or buckets, is mounted so as
to allow it to be raised or lowered according to the depth of water. A chain
only may be placed in the centre of the ship, or one may be placed on
each side. This new combination of endless chain with articulated cups or
buckets may also be employed as motive power instead of the ordinary, water-
wheels, which in general give but a portion of the force received.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Yves Marie Thomas in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, YVES
MARIE THOMAS, of 2, Rue Sainte Appolino, Paris, (Empire of France,) and of
45, Essex Street, Strand, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Yves Marie Thomas, Her special licence that I, the said Yves Marie Thomas,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Yves
Maric Thomas, 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 "AN
IMPROVED PROPELLER FOR SHIPS, VESSELS, BOATS, AND WATER-WHEELS," upon
the condition (amongst others), that I, the said Yves Marie Thomas, 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 Yves Marie Thomas, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained. in and by the
following statement, that is to say :—
The object of my Invention is a system of propulsion, which may be used
as a hydraulic power, instead of the ordinary water-wheels; but which I
propose to apply principally as a propeller of vessels, instead of the ordinary
paddle-wheels.
The accompanying Drawing represents an example of construction of my
propeller, as applied to a ship.
Fig. 1 is a vertical and longitudinal projection of the propeller, and Fig. 2
is a transverse section, taken upon the line 1 & 2 of Fig. 1. The moveable
parts of this arrangement are supported by two horizontal shafts a and b,
mounted upon bearings. The shaft b, actuated by the motive power, has

page_text: fixed bearings, but those of the shaft a can slide laterally, so as to keep
stretched the two strong endless chains c, which may be made with double
or quadruple links, according the strength desired. These chains rest upon
the circumferences of the four wheels d, each of which is furnished with six
strong teeth, gearing with the two endless chains c. These two chains
are kept at a suitable distance from each other by the cross bars d, having
cach between the two chains a paddle f, articulated at f; the other and
of each paddle has a cross bar f³, each extremity of which is furnished with a
roller e. The rods 9 connect the cross bars f with the chains c, so as to force
the paddles to articulate at a proper time, and to take the respective
positions represented in the Drawings. Two sleepers supported by the
shaft b, are kept at a suitable distance from each other by cross bars; upon
these sleepers are fixed iron rails i, which act as guides for directing the
rollers e at the end of the cross bars f. These two strong sleepers h, bear
the whole system of this propeller, and the extremity opposite the shaft b may
be supported, so as to allow it to be raised or lowered at will, according as the
ship draws more or less water.
It will be understood that this new system of propeller possess the
great advantage of allowing the employment of a large number of paddles in
proportion to the power required, which advantage does not exist with the
ordinary paddle-wheels, the diameter of which and the number of their paddles
being necessarily limited. In this system the propeller may be lengthened as
much as desired. A propeller may be placed on each side of the vessel; it
may also be placed in the center, and in this case it could be contained in a
chamber completely closed, and hence be entirely removed from the chance of
any accident from exterior violence.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and how the same is or
may be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that what I claim is,
the form, combination, and mode of actuating the different parts of the
propeller as above described, and the application of the samo to the purposes
before mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Yvos Marie Thomas, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our
T