IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Hall and Joseph Anthony Mason, both of
Burton-on-Trent, in the County of Stafford, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS."
Sealed the 10th November 1868, and dated the 21st May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Hall and Joseph
Anthony Mason at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 21st May 1868.
We, HENRY HALL and JOSEPH ANTHONY MASON, both of Burton-on-
Trent, in the County of Stafford, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS POR PROPELLING VESSELS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
propelling vessels. For this purpose we employ an endless web, rigid
or elastic, as may be required, with floats or buoys attached, and carried
on two or more water-tight hollow drums at each side or other suitable
part of a vessel, but by preference at each side as tending greatly to

page_text: diminish the liability of a vessel to roll. The drums may be either
spherical, cylindrical, or other similar shape, and connected by rods or
not, as they may be equal in size or not. It is preferred that when three
drums are used the centre drum should be larger than the end drums,
and in any case it is preferred that the lowest point in each drum shall
be in a horizontal line or nearly so. The bearings carrying the axes of
the drums are also so arranged that they may be raised or lowered
according to the extent to which the vessel may be loaded. In some
cases we dispense with floats and buoys and use flexible or other tubing
attached longitudinally to the web or band, and in some cases we use
only a web or band of suitable material for causing a small or reduced
resistance to the water. We also so arrange in some cases that the whole
or some of the drums and webs can be hoisted out of water when it is
desirable to do so. In some cases when the above-described apparatus is
put on the side we fix at the bow or stern (or both) of a vessel one or
more drums to move in connection with the side drums. We also so
arrange in all cases where practical or desirable that when vessels are
fitted with our propelling apparatus, but especially when either as
constant or occasional auxiliaries, the drums may be so formed and fixed
as to be readily utilized as life preservers in case of danger. In some
cases we employ paddles connected to the endless web or band by hinge
joints, so that cach paddle may when out of the water lie down parallel
with the web or band, the hinge joints being so made as to limit the
movement of the paddles; the paddles may also be carried in such
manner that they can be set at variable distances from the web or
band.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Hall and Joseph Anthony Mason in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
HALL and JOSEPH ANTHONY MASON, both of Burton-on-Trent, in the
County of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-

page_text: first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Henry Hall and Joseph Anthony
Mason, Her special licence that we, the said Henry Hall and Joseph
Anthony Mason, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Henry Hall and Joseph Anthony Mason, our
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 the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Henry Hall and Joseph Anthony Mason, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
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 we, the said Henry Hall and Joseph Anthony
Mason, 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:
Upon two or more water-tight hollow drums placed at each side or
other suitable part of a vessel and driven by the motive power wo
run endless webs or bands, rigid or elastic, having attached at intervals
obstructions or floats herein-after described. The drums may be of
any required diameter, breadth, and strength, and of any suitable material
and construction, and placed at any desired distance apart, but it is..
desirable that their peripheries on the lower side should maintain a
horizontal line or curve downwards. Any suitable method of taking
them out of water or out of action, or raising or lowering them to
suit the water line or of preventing slip of the web thereon, may be
used: The webs or bands may be of any suitable material and may
be for each set of drums in one whole and entire breadth, or in two
or even more bands attached to or independent of each other. The
floats or obstructions may be of any suitable form and application,
and may be placed at any distance apart compatible with the preser-

page_text: vation of the solidity of the water, but we strongly recommend only
two or three on each web regardless of its length.
We recommend the drums to be of wood or iron and made upon the
principle of a cask, and as nearly cylindrical as possible, and provided
with corrugated flanges, as shewn in the Drawings, the webs of
vulcanized india-rubber similar to machine driving straps, and by
preference with steel hoops, wire rope, or other suitable metallic bands
secured thereto or therein, such hoops or bands being as broad as
practicable.
When rigid webs are required we recommend them to be constructed
with angle irons or cast metal trays or blocks of wood or other suitable
material, and entirely covering the outer surface of the flexible web or
only a portion along each side. We advise the webs to be fixed a little
above the water. line. The floats may be attached to the webs in any
approved manner, but we recommend the plan of carrying some of the
hoops secured upon the web round a bar of iron, to which bar the floats.
may be attached as may be most convenient. Such bar being elongated
to take into corrugations on the flanges of the drums then becomes
the preventive of the web slipping upon the drums; the mode of effecting
this is clearly shown by the Drawings hereunto annexed..
The method we prefer to employ for raising or lowering the apparatus.
to suit the water line is as follows:-The axle boxes are made to traverse
a groove described by the piston rod of the engine, and are secured to a
tray-like segment of a circle of the same radius, but twice the length of
such groove, so as to overlap and continually cover the aperture, and
provided with cogs to take into ordinary gearing to be turned by manual
labour or by the engine, such gearing having clutches or other proper
mode of retaining the axle boxes in position.
A Drawing of this arrangement of raising and lowering the propellers
is shown in the Drawings hercunto annexed. If a rigid web is used
the slanting float No. 12 (shown in connection with a rigid web) or
any other float modified to that or any similar angle is recommended.
When our apparatus is to be applied to the largest class of ships and
placed at the sides we recommend drums of five feet diameter and three
feet wide, and fixed eight or ten feet apart from centre to centre, two
such drums on each side of the vessel, the webs carrying three floats
each, the floats one foot deep. In ships of light cargo we recommend

page_text: drums of five feet diameter, and of such number and width as will give
the desired steadiness, the hindermost drums in all cases being the
driving drums.
When applied to war vessels we recommend two drums at each side
amidships five feet in diameter and three feet wide, and placed 10 or 15
feet apart from centre to centre with floats 18 inches deep, the armour
plating being carried round them, as shewn in the Drawings. We recom-
mend them to be placed at the sides for the purpose of giving greater
steadiness and manoeuvering power, as also in some measure taking away
the flatness of the vessel's sides and causing a shot to strike her obliquely
for a portion of her length.
When applied at the bows of any vessel we recommend floats of extra
depth for the purpose of diverting to a greater extent the resistance of
the water against the bows, but as the extra depth and consequent extra
area are not required for propelling, the floats may be reduced in area,
as shewn in Drawings, and that the escape of water from that end
of the float next to the ship's sido may not be detrimental to the
vessel's progress, a shield or guard in form of either perforated or solid
thin plate may be fixed upon that end of the float so as to impede the
flow of the water in that direction.
It is always desirable when applying our apparatus at the stern as
twin screws to adopt either the narrow but deep float, or the narrow float
more swiftly driven, as the greater distance apart the propellers the
greater the manoeuvering power. In vessels built for our apparatus if
it be desired to place them at the stern, we recommend an aperture in
the stern for two drums as first above described, or four narrower drums
(say two feet each) to work as twin screws.
When applied at the stern of old vessels or at the bows of a new
vessel wrought-iron girders secured upon and within the sides of the
vessel are carried out to support a projecting deck, to which or to
the girders may be fixed the bearings for the desired number of drums.
When used as an auxiliary to sailing vessels merely in calms, we
recommend drums three feet in diameter, three feet wide, and six or
eight feet apart, with three floats on each web, cach one foot deep, placed
at any convenient part of the vessel, and when driven by manual labour
the driving axle may be cranked fifteen inches and supplied with double
handles fixed at two feet apart and working horizontally, as shewn in the

page_text: Drawings, and if necessary may have another set of handles working
vertically, so that in some particular cases of danger the crew and
passengers might assist the sails.
When applied to river steamers amidships we recommend two
drums on each side two or three feet in diameter, and three feet wide,
set ten feet apart from centre to centre, with floats 9 to 12 inches deep,
but if applied at the bows we should increase the diameter of the
drums to five feet or more, the breadth to four feet, and the floats to a
depth of 30 or 36 inches. For pleasure boats we recommend two
drums on each side 6, 9, or 12 inches diameter, 24 inches. wide
with floats 4, 6, or 8 inches deep for the smallest class of boats, for
the largest class the proportions of the drums only need to be increased.
Several of the plans above described are clearly shewn by the
Drawings hereunto annexed. Several varieties of construction of floats
are also shewn on the Drawing, but as the nature of each is written
upon the Drawing it is unnecessary further to describe them here..
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that what we claim
is, the employing hollow water-tight drums in combination with rigid
or elastic webs or bands as hercin described for propelling vessels.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry Hall and Joseph Anthony
Mason, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh
day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand cight
hundred and sixty-eight.
HENRY HALL.
(L.S.)
JOSEPH ANTHONY MASON. (L.S.)