IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING AND STEERING SHIPS AND PI AMMAD TY"
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, of Notting Hill,
in the County of Middlesex, Architect and Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING AND STEERING SHIPS AND
PI
AMMAD TY"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isidore Alexandre
Vacherot at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 24th December 1872.
I, ISIDORE ALEXANDRE VACHEROT, of Notting Hill, in the County of
Middlesex, Architect and Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING AND STEERING SHIPS
"3 to be as
AND BOATS, AND IN APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREIN,
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain peculiar modes of and apparatus for
propelling and steering ships and boats, and consists in the application
and use of one or more, by preference two, submerged propellers in the
form of rudders, standing out from each side of a ship, barge, or boat;

page_text: cach propeller being so hinged vertically as to be removeable; this may
be accomplished by hinging them to a block or holder, which is slid
down between fixed guide pieces or strips secured to the ship's side.
These propellers may be used in pairs, both working on the same centre,
and be vibrated by separate forked levers which engage with the upper
sides of the propellers, at any convenient distance from their working
contre, have their longer arm connected to the steam engine or other
prime mover. Each of these propellers consists of a frame subdivided
into a number of valves or small doors hinged vertically at the side next
to the main fulcrum or shaft of the propeller, so as to open and allow
the water to pass freely through when the propeller is describing the
arc of a circle in one direction, and to close and propel the ship when
the propeller is moved in the contrary direction. This opening and
closing of the valves or small doors may be effected and regulated by
sliding rods and levers worked from the forked levers which actuate the
propellers.
These propellers may be actuated by hand, or by steam, or other
motive power. One set of propellers should have their valves or small
doors hinged so as to open on the opposite face to the other set in order
to afford facility for going ahead, or astern, or for manevring the ship
in any required direction.
I also propose to propel ships and boats by means of rudder pro-
pellers, hinged in pairs to both ends of the boat, such propellers being
similarly constructed to those herein-before referred to.
The pair of propellers at the front end serve when closed together to
guide or direct the course of the ship or boat, whilst those at the stern
end propel the vessel by being opened and closed alternately, so as to
expel the water from between them.
The vessel can be propelled in either direction by simply using one or
the other pair of propellers required.
I sometimes propose to employ oars for propelling, so centred as that
the longer arm shall be connected with the steam engine, whereby. I gain
oxtra power.
The propelling portion of these oars consists of a frame with hinged
valves or small doors opening in one direction only, and the oars them-
selves are centred upon removeable pieces or blocks capable of being

page_text: In some cases the before-mentioned side rudder propellers, as also the
oar propellers, are mounted in removeable frames or brackets attached by
screws to the ship's side.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISIDORE
ALEXANDRE VACHEROT, of Notting Hill, in the County of Middlesex,
Architect and Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the 36th
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, Her special license
that I, the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Isidore Alexandre
Vacherot, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-、
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING AND STEERING SHIPS AND BOATS, AND IN
APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREIN,' upon the condition (amongst
otliers) that I, the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, my executors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, 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,
وو
NOW KNOW YE, that L. the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, do hereby

page_text: The vessel can be propelled in either direction by simply using one or
the other pair of propellers as required.
In some cases the before-mentioned side rudder propellers and end
propellers are carried in fixed brackets secured to the ship's side or
ends.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings is a side elevation of a portion of a boat,
shewing two modes of propelling the same, according to my Invention,
by means of my propellers applied in the one case to the sides, and in
the other case to the stem and stern posts; Figure 2 is a transverse
section of the boat with its side propellers; Figure 3 is a plan of a
portion of the boat shewing one propeller in action, and one out of
action on each side, and Figure 4 is a plan on a larger scale of a pair of
bow or stern propellers, the outline of the boat and the portion of the
propellers when opened being shewn in dotted lines.
A, A, represent a pair of propellers consisting each of two metal
frames both hinged to one hinge pin a which is placed either on the
side or at the bows and stern, as shewn in my Drawings. Each frame
contains a number of valves or small doors b, b, hinged vertically to the
frame on the side next the centre of vibration a of the propellers. The
valves or doors when closed cover the entire area of the frame and
present sufficient resistance to the water to propel the boat, but when
open, as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 4, they allow the frame to
move with comparatively little resistance through the water. The
valves & in one of the frames of each pair of side propellers are so hinged
as to open in the opposite direction to those in the other frame of the
pair. By this arrangement and by using one or the other only of the
frames in each pair when attached to the side of the boat facility is
afforded for propelling the same. either "ahead” or "astern." The
propellers which are out of action are for the time being brought close
alongside the vessel, as shown at A' in Figures 2 and 3, and locked or
fixed in that position.

page_text: The joint pin or hinge on which the propellers vibrate may be fitted in
any convenient manner to the boat, but I prefer so to fit them that
the propellers shall be readily removeable for repairs or other purpose.
When attached to the side of the boat, as shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3,
these propellers, which are in all cases intended to be submerged may be
caused to vibrate on their centres by means of levers c, c¹, working on
fixed fulcra d, such levers being bent downwards at e and forked at their
lower ends so as to engage with the framing A of the propeller, so that
on imparting a vibratory motion by hand or otherwise to the said levers
the propellers will be set in motion, and will by the resistance offered by
the valves b to the water in one direction urge the vessel along whilst
the opening of the valves will allow the back stroke of the propeller to
be made with comparitively slight resistance.
Figures 1 and 4 illustrate also the application of similar pairs of
propellers to the ends of a boat. A, A, are the two propellers, both
hinged to one pin a, and both provided with valves or small doors b
opening inwards, as shewn by the dotted lines in Figure 4. The pro-
pelling action of these propellers consists in alternately opening and
closing the two frames A of the particular pair that may be required for
use, the corresponding pair at the opposite or front end of the boat being
maintained close together, as shewn by the full lines in Figure 4, in
which position they will serve to steer the boat by being turned more or
less to one side or the other of the boat whilst still kept in their closed
position. The opening and closing of these propellers may be effected
by the cross levers c, c, working on the fulcrum d, such levers being
bent down over the sides of the boat, as shewn at e, and engaged with
the propelling frames. The longer ends of the levers are jointed to
links ff, which are united by a pin joint at y, and connected to a rod h,
to which the power is applied.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The hinging of two submerged vibrating propellers to one hinge
pin placed at the sides of a boat or ship, and using one or other of the

page_text: is to be propelled ahead or astern, substantially as herein-before
described.
Second. The use of two pairs of vibrating submerged propellers
working on hinge pins situate at both ends of a boat or vessel when one
pair is employed for propelling and the other for steering the boat or
vessel, as herein-before described.
Third. The use of propelling levers for actuating my improved pro-
pellers, wherein the arm on the resisting side is shorter than the arm to
which the power is applied, as hercin-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, have to this
my Specification set my hand and scal, the Fifth day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
I. ALEXD³. VACHEROT. (L.S.)