CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1833

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
SUNDERLAND, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Nineteenth day of December, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-three, and in the fourth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Sunderland,
His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Thomas Sunderland, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas Sunderland, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING
VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said Thomas Sunderland, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Sunderland, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described

page_text: and ascertained in and by the following description thercof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My Invention of Certain Improvements in Propelling Vessels consist in the
employment of certain novel constructions and arrangements of machinery
capable of giving locomotion to ships, boats, and other vessels on water, which
novel arrangements of machinery may be described generally under two heads;
first, the adaptation of a peculiar construction of reciprocating paddles; and,
secondly, in the adaptation of a peculiar construction of rotary paddles. In the
accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 represents the longitudinal section of a vessel,
with a reciprocating paddle applied at the head, and another at the stern.
The paddles are attached to longitudinal sliding bars, and are intended to be
moved fore and aft by means of rotary cranks to which the sliding bars are
connected, or they may be actuated by any other convenient means. Figure 2
is a plan or horizontal view of the same, shewing the cranks which may be
driven by the ordinary mechanism of a steam engine or other first mover.
One of these paddles is represented detached and upon an enlarged scale in
the front view, Figure 3, and edgewise in Figures 4 and 5. The paddles are
formed by broad plates or boards a, a, a, each being suspended by a hinge
joint b, from the arms of the frame c, c, c. The upper part of this frame is
attached to a tube d, which forms a portion or elongation of the longitudinal
sliding bar before mentioned. The end of this bar d is made tubular for the
purpose of receiving a rod e, which is enabled to slide within it; but when
the paddle is in operation, they are locked firmly together by a wedge i. This
wedge i turns upon a pivot fixed in the rod e, and fits into a slot cut in the
upper part of the tube d. A piece f, with two arms g and h, designed to form
stops to the swinging paddle a, is made fast to the rod e, and is enabled to
slide with it by means of a slit cut in the under part of the tube d. This
stop-piece f, with the rod e, being fixed by means of the wedge i, as shewn at
Figure 4, the longitudinal bar d, in moving inward, will cause the paddle to
be brought up into the perpendicular position against the arm g, and by thus
presenting its broad surface to the water will cause the vessel to be propelled
in the opposite direction; but on the paddle a returning through the water it
will be enabled to swing back into the horizontal position, as shewn by dots,
the part p of the stop passing through a hole in the middle of the paddle seen
in the front view, Figure 3. If, on a sudden, it should be necessary to arrest
the progress of the vessel, or to give the vessel a retrograde movement, that
may be effected by turning the wedge i round upon its pivot, and at the same
time sliding back the rod e, and locking it by the wedge i, as at Figure ;

page_text: then, by giving the paddle a reciprocating action, as before, the force of the
paddle will be brought up against the stop h, and the vessel will be propelled
in the reverse direction. It must be obvious that several of these paddles may
be applied both at the head and at the stern of the vessel, and being respec-
tively attached to cranks upon the main rotary axle, will be moved to and fro,
and operate in the way described. The whole of this machinery may be
adapted to work below the surface of the water by simply lowering its position
and dispensing with the arms c, c, c, c, of the paddle frames, as represented in
Figures 6 and 7. The bars d must, under these circumstances, pass through
stuffing boxes or packing at the head and stern of the vessel, in order to
prevent the water from entering. The improved rotary paddles, which
constitute the second feature of my Invention, are designed to enter the water
edgewise to perform the propelling stroke in positions radial to the centre of
the axle, and to leave the water edgewise. The manner in which I effect these
objects will be perceived by reference to the following Figures of the Drawing:
Figure 8 is a vertical section of one construction of paddle wheel. a, a, a, are
the radial arms attached at their outer extremities to rims or wheels b, b. A
series of paddles c, c, c, are connected to the radial arms by pivots or axles at d,
upon which pivots they are enabled to turn. To each of these paddles a crank
or small lever is affixed which, by a joint is connected to a rod e. The reverse
end of each of these rods is formed with an eye that embraces and turns upon
the axle of a roller f, which is carried round within the groove g, g, g, made
fast to the side of the vessel. Another rod h is in a similar manner connected
to the axle of the roller at one end, and at the reverse end turns upon a pivot
i, fixed in the next radial arm of the wheel. It will hence be perceived, that
as the arms a revolve, the rollers f will be carried round the groove g, g, hold-
ing the paddles in the positions represented in Figure 8, that is, at right angles
to the arms a, until on the rollers f respectively arriving at k, the smaller radius
of the groove, they will then, by being brought nearer to the axle of the wheel,
draw the rods e, and cause them to turn the paddles into radial positions, which
the paddles will respectively retain while they are making the propelling stroke;
and then, having arrived at the other extremity of the smaller radius of the
groove at 1, the rollers will shift the paddle into the position first described.
Thus, the paddles respectively will be made to enter into and pass out of the
water edgewise, and perform their propelling strokes through the water in
radial positions. It may be necessary here to observe, that corresponding
grooves and rollers are to be placed on both sides of the wheel, in order to
afford parallel guides to the paddles. I sometimes construct my rotary paddles
in such a way that they may be enabled to turn upon axles placed in radial

page_text: upon
directions in the wheel. Figure 9 is a vertical section of a propelling wheel
this construction, and Figure 10 is an edge view of the same, in which
only three paddles and their cranks and rods are represented. a, a, are the
radial arms, the outer extremities of which are made fast to the rim or wheel b.
The paddles c turn upon axles mounted in transverse bars d, d; to these paddles,
and also to the axles of the rollers f, cranks and jointed rods e, e, e, and h, are
connected. The fulcrums of the cranks and rods e are pivots or axles turning
in the rims of the wheels at i, and the fulcrums of the rods h are pivots or
axles turning in the radial arms of the wheels at j. The movements of these
paddles are effected in a similar way to those already described in reference to
Figure 8; but by the manner in which the paddles are mounted it will be seen
that, immediately after entering the water, they will be turned from the posi-
tions in which they stand parallel to the face of the wheel into positions coin-
ciding with the direction of the axle of the wheel, and will then perform the
propelling stroke, after which they will respectively turn into their former
positions, and pass out of the water edgewise, and will thereby present no
resistance to the progress of the vessel. Lastly, having described the construc-
tion of my improvements in propelling vessels, I wish it to be understood that
my particular claim of Invention consists in the adaptation and arrangement of
the reciprocating paddles, and also in the peculiar construction and mode of
turning or feathering the paddles of a propelling wheel, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Sunderland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One