AN IMPROVED STEAM TRAIN FOR NAVIGATING SHALLOW RIVERS
Year: 1857

page_text: by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Bourne at the Office of the
⚫ Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st January 1857.
I, JOHN BOURNE, of 9, Billiter Street, in the City of London, Civil En-
gineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
STEAM TRAIN FOR NAVIGATING SHALLOW RIVERS," to be as follows:-
The train is composed of a steamer and train of barges articulated to one.
another by circular joints, so as to admit of lateral and vertical deflection. The
different constituent vessels of the train are made with their ends either convex
or concave; and each convex end fits into a corresponding concave end without
leaving any considerable space between them, so that the train is virtually a
very long jointed vessel, of which I prefer that the steamer should constitute
the first compartment. Each convex end has at the central point from which
the convexity is swept a strong pin, from which two rods or stays proceed to
the outer edges of the contiguous concave ends, and these rods always keep
the constituent barges of the train at the right distance apart, and prevent them
either from touching one another, or from having too great a space between
them. The train may be steered either by rudders at the bow and stern or by
employing two separate engines to work two paddle wheels not connected with
one another, so that one wheel may be turned ahead and the other astern.
But the mode of steering or guiding the train which I prefer. to. employ

page_text: consists in an arrangement whereby the first and last barges of the train may
be moved into any desired angle with the body of the train by means of
suitable mechanism applied for that purpose, and the nature of the course
which the train will pursue will depend upon the direction and amount of the
deflection given to the terminal barges. I also, in some cases, employ suitable
deflecting apparatus between each of the barges of the train, so as to throw
them in a curve or a circle, the action, in fact, resembling that which the
muscles exert upon the vertebræ of a fish or other animal, and by this action
the train is constrained to pursue the direction of the curve into which it is
thrown.
In order to assist the train over sand banks or other shallows in the rivers it
navigates, I cause the paddle wheels to project somewhat below the bottom of
the steamer, so that they will be the first part to take the ground, and in case
the ordinary power of the engine is insufficient to draw the train over, I apply
multiplying gearing to the paddle wheels, which gearing, when thrown into
action, will turn the paddle wheels round with a slow motion but with so much
force as will suffice to draw the steamer over the bank, even although there
was no water upon it at all, and if the steamer gets over, she can draw over
the succeeding barges one at a time, disconnecting them from one another,
and by drawing up each in sucession by an appropriate rope proceeding from
the steamer. In some cases I apply two screws revolving in opposite
directions in the bow of the steamer. These screws, which are of large
diameter, and only partially covered by the water, project somewhat below the
bottom of the steamer, and they sweep away to each side the sand or other
impediment which may be in the steamer's track, and clear a course for her, so
that she will run in the channel which she has just cut. In some cases I also
apply in the bottom of the vessel horizontal revolving arms or blades like a
centrifugal fan, and this instrument, which is larger in diameter than the
breadth of the vessel, sucks in the sand and water at its central part, and
discharges them at its circumferential part through an opening or openings
pointing astern, thus clearing away the sand from beneath the bottom, and at
the same time propelling the vessel. The train may thus be impelled either
by paddle wheels at the sides, by screws turning in opposite directions in the
low, or by an instrument resembling a revolving fan or centrifugal pump in
the bottom, and the whole or any portion of these methods may be employed
simultaneously for propulsion or for aiding the progress of the train over the
shallows.
The whole of the vessels or barges constituting the train I prefer to build of
iron, and when so built I truss the steamer by means of iron pipes rising up

page_text: above the deck, from the bow to the vicinity of the paddle boxes, and descending
from thence to the stern. I also place on each side of the steamer near the
stern a rudder, which usually lies inoperative against the ship's side, but should
the steamer require to be detached from the train and proceed by herself, these
rudders will then come into action.
To prevent the train from turning round in descending a rapid river, should
the steamer or first barge happen to get aground, I apply a mast or pole in the
last barge, which can be immediately dropped through a tube passing from the
deck through the vessel's bottom, and this pole, by engaging the bottom of the
river, anchors the stern of the train, and prevents it from being swung round
by the current, and when the steamer is again ready to advance the pole can
be drawn up by means of suitable arrangements.