IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nicholas Demetrius Spartali, of Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Steam Ship Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS."
Sealed the 26th March 1872, and dated the 2nd October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nicholas Demetrius
Spartali at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 2nd October 1871.
I, NICHOLAS DEMETRIUS SPARTALI, of Liverpool, in the County of
5 Lancaster, Steam Ship Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS,” to be
as follows:-

page_text: developed in the Patents granted to me, dated respectively 19th
January 1869, No. 174, and 10th August 1870, No. 2224, may be
applied so as to obtain a more efficient hydraulic propeller than
has hitherto been possible in consequence of the non-elasticity of
water.
A large reservoir or tank is situated in the hold of the vessel, and a
considerable head of water is maintained therein under great elastic
pressure in the following manner :-Water is admitted to the reservoir
by a branch channel or pipe leading from the bows or forward part of
the vessel, or from the sides or bottom as may be desired. This supply 1
may be aided by a force pump if necessary (valves being provided
to regulate the entrance and prevent the return of the water from the
reservoir).
In addition to this body of water passing into the reservoir with a
pressure due to the vessel's way or draught from the forward part of the 1
vessel, sides, or bottom, as above stated, a double pump similar to
that described in my Patent of the 10th August 1870, No. 2224, is
employed to force into the reservoir air and water, the water being taken
from the sides, stern, or the bottom of the vessel. This pump, which is
placed by preference horizontally, consists of two concentric cylinders 2
and corresponding pistons, the outer or annular pump being used for
forcing water, and the inner for forcing the air into the reservoir. The
pistons of this combined pump may receive motion from the engine
shaft so as to force air and water into the reservoir in alternation or
otherwise in any suitable and well known manner. Water is supplied 2
to the annular chamber of this pump by means of a central channel
having branch pipes leading from the sides, stern, or bottom of the
vessel.
[
Or I may employ one or more air pumps (similar to those described
in my Patents above mentioned) for the purpose of imparting the 8
desired pressure to the body of water contained in the reservoir, the
supply of water to the reservoir depending solely on the reaction
of the external water through the passages and valves before
mentioned.
From the reservoir a discharge pipe or pipes may lead to the stern 3

page_text: the form of discharge nozzles similar to those described under the
Patent granted to me 19th January 1869, No. 174.
By the means above indicated, water, or air and water combined,
may be forced through the exit or discharge pipe or pipes into the
external water, and caused to propel the vessel in any direction
desired.
In place of one large contral tank or reservoir I may find it desirable
to employ two or more, which may be placed fore and aft, or at the
sides of the vessel, and connected by suitable pipes. The fore and aft
tanks I may construct within or externally of the hull of the vessel;
their sides in the latter case corresponding to the lines of the vessel.
By the tank or tanks with their connections being wholly or in part
external of the vessel the carrying space within the vessel will not be
interfered with.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Nicholas Demetrius Spartali in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 2nd April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NICHOLAS
DEMETRIUS SPARTALI, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Steam
Ship Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Nicholas Demetrius Spartali, Her special
licence that I, the said Nicholas Demetrius Spartali, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Nicholas
Demetrius Spartali, 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 APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS," upon
'

page_text: the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Nicholas Demetrius
Spartali, 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 Nicholas Demetrius Spartali, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be, particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the.
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention consists in certain arrangements of apparatus for
propelling vessels whereby the principles developed in the Patents
granted to me, dated respectively Nineteenth January One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-nine, No. 174, and Tenth August One thousand
eight hundred and seventy, No. 2224, may be applied so as to obtain a
more efficient hydraulic propeller than has hitherto been possible in
consequence of the non-elasticity of water.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, one mode of carrying out
the object of the Invention is shewn at Fig. 1, which is a longitudinal
section of a vessel fitted with the improved apparatus, and Fig. 2 is a
plan view of the same....
In this arrangement a large reservoir or tank A is situated in the
hold of the vessel near the bows, and a head of water is maintained
therein under pressure in the following manner:-Water is admitted to
the reservoir À by the branch channels or-pipes B, B, (leading from the
open water at the bows or forward part of the vessel) under the pressure
due to the way or draught, and after filling the reservoir and com-
pressing the air in the upper part is conveyed to the force pumps D, D,
situated at stern of vessel by the pipe C to be discharged therefrom at:
both sides of the stern post through the discharge nozzles E, E,
which are similar to those described under the Patent granted to
me Nineteenth January One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine,
No. 174.

page_text: .
One of these discharge pumps is represented in longitudinal section
on an enlarged scale at Fig. 3. It will be seen that the force
pumps D, D, take their supply of water from a receiver F through
an opening covered by a valve f. This receiver is kept full of water
5 from the bow by the pipe C, to which is added water from the bottom
of the vessel by the pipe G; the water is prevented from returning by
the valves c and g. H is an air pipe situated at the forward end of the
pump cylinder, and furnished with a valve h opening downwards. This
pipe I use in lieu of valves in the piston, as heretofore proposed, to
O admit air to the front of the piston at the commencement of the return
stroke, whereby all back suction of the water will be prevented, the
water flowing into and filling the cylinder of the pumps with the
rapidity and pressure due to the draught and way of the vessel, as
before stated, so that the whole of the power of the engines I will be
5 expended during the forward stroke of the discharge pumps D, D, in
driving out the water through the discharge nozzles E, E, at a high
velocity.
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0
Fig. 4 shews a modification of this arrangement, in which that part
of the nozzle E which is attached to the cylinder is of the same diameter
O as the cylinder. The supply of water to the force pumps D, D, may be
aided if necessary by a force pump situated at the forward part of the
vessel, valves being provided to regulate the entrance and prevent the
return of the water.
This arrangement is shewn at Fig. 5, in which J is the additional
5 force pump employed to aid in transmitting motion to the water
(received through the pipe B from the forward part of the vessel)
keeping up the supply in sufficient quantity to the pump or pumps D,
from whence it is discharged into the outer water at the stern through
nozzles E as before; both these pumps are operated from the engines
at I by prolonging the driving shaft to both ends of the vessel. The
pump employed in this last-described arrangement is shewn in section
on an enlarged scale at Fig. 6, and is similar in construction to those
shewn and described in Letters Patent granted to me August Tenth One
thousand eight hundred and seventy, No. 2224.
:
Fig. 7 shews an arrangement in which the forward pump J is also
fitted with nozzles E', which are extended through the sides of the

page_text: By the means above indicated, water, or air and water combined, may
be forced through the exit or discharge pipe or pipes into the external
water, and caused to propel the vessel in any direction desired. When
using compressed air in the pumps and reservoirs, in order to obtain an
elastic pressure, I prefer to divide up the column of water into a number
of smaller jets, and thus obtain a great frictional surface. To prevent
the impelled water acting upon the light surface water, I form the
nozzle E in the manner shewn in Figures 10 and 11. Fig. 10 is a
horizontal section shewing the last one of the series of nozzles expanded
into a fan-shaped mouth, which is closed to the extent of from one-half
to two-thirds its area. The nozzle is shewn at Fig. 10 as placed centrally
at the vessel's stern.
Fig. 11 shews a partially closed propeller, nozzle E being one of a
pair of nozzles arranged one on each side of the keelson. The mouths
of these nozzles are curved or cut off to the lines of the vessel. It may
in some cases be desirable to allow the nozzles of this form to project
into deeper water.
In place of one largo central tank or reservoir A, as shewn at Fig. 12,
I may find it desirable to employ two or more, which may be placed fore
and aft as shewn at Fig. 11. These fore and aft tanks may be con-
structed within the vessel, as shewn in longitudinal section at Fig. 11,
and in cross section at Fig. 11*, or externally of the hull of the vessel
as shewn in longitudinal and cross section at Figures 13 and 13*, their
sides in the latter case corresponding to the lines of the vessel; or they
may be situated at the sides of the vessel, and connected by suitable
pipes. By the tank or tanks with their connections being wholly or in
part external of the vessel, the carrying space within the vessel will not
be interfered with.
In order to obtain an ample supply of water, and to avail myself of
the full effect of the pressure due to the way and draught of the vessel,
I prefer to place my pump reservoir and nozzles outside the vessel affixed
to and carried from the stern or sides, as shewn in Sheet III. and IV.
of the Drawings.
Fig. 14, Sheet III., shews an elevation of a vessel, in which the
propelling apparatus is carried at the stern; and this elevation and the
plan view, Fig. 15, shew the form of vessel best adapted to carry the

page_text: It
principles of this Invention into effect in the most perfect manner.
will be seen that the greatest breadth of beam or midship section of the
vessel is brought much further forward than is ordinarily the case, and
a greater sharpness is given to the immersed portion of the vessel at the
stern. From the above form, as shewn best at Fig. 15, I am enabled to 5
obtain the greatest amount of effect without diminishing the capacity,
or greatly increasing 'the resistance of the immersed section.
The discharge engine or pump cylinder D and nozzle E is carried by
bracket arms from the vessel's stern and keelson, as shewn best in
Sheet IV., Fig. 16, being a sectional elevation on an enlarged scale 1
shewing the stern portion of the vessel fitted with the arrangement
of propeller and engines for driving the same which I prefer. Fig. 17
is a plan view partly in section shewing the propeller and engine
detached, and Fig. 18 an end view of the cylinder of the propeller.
The cylinder of the propeller D is by preference oval in cross section, 1
that it may take in water from both sides of the run of the vessel, and
is fitted with an air pipe H (furnished with a valve h, as before
described) and nozzle E, which is shewn with one contraction; but it
may be constructed as indicated by dots at E¹. The cylinder D is fitted
with a piston D, which is an open frame (sco Fig. 18) covered by an 2
india-rubber valve so as to admit (during the backward stroke) the
water to pass freely into the cylinder D, and the rod which carries tho
piston of the propeller is the piston. rod of the engine I, and it passes
through both ends of the cylinder of the engine. Its outer end extends
through the keel post, which is fitted with a stuffing box, and its inner 2
end carries across head I¹ fitted into guides I; the reciprocating
motion of the rod is converted into rotary motion (in the ordinary
manner employed in driving donkey engines) for the purpose of driving
the vertical shaft J carrying the fly wheel R, and also operating the
slide valves of the engines through the excentric j.
.
3
In place of employing one oval propellor, two circular ones may be
used and arranged, one on each side of the keel at the stern, as shewn
at Fig. 19, Sheet III. The cylinders D may be extended backwards
beyond the stroke of the piston as shewn by dots in the Figure, so as to
become a kind of tanks or receivers. Or the propellers may be carried 3
at each side of the vessel, both being boxed in so as to offer the least
possible obstruction, as shown at Fig. 20.

page_text: Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in Apparatus for Propelling Vessels," and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the arrangements of
apparatus above described with reference to the Drawings, whereby the
pressure due to the draught and way of the vessel to which the same is
fitted is utilized to propel, by the aid of air and water in combination,
such vessels through the water.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nicholas Demetrius Spartali, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Επο