Improved Construction of Apparatus for Propelling and Steering Ships and other Vessels.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Mar., 1890-Accepted, 5th July, 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Construction of Apparatus for Propelling and Steering
Ships and other Vessels.
I, CHARLES CORNERO, of No. 13 Rue Garibaldi, Turin, Italy, Manufacturer of
Cornices, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
This invention relates to an improved construction of propelling apparatus for ships
and other vessels, which is capable of being applied in three different ways,
namely:
The first system is employed hy sailing vessels to avoid the necessity of being
towed into port by tugs, as described with reference to Fig. 4 of the drawings.
The second system is employed by steamers, and is shewn at D Fig. 10 of the
drawings, and will be hereinafter described.
The third system is employed for large ships, and is hereinafter described with
reference to Figs. 13 and 14, when acting as propeller only, and with reference to
Figs. 15 and 17 when acting both as propeller and for steering.
Fig. 1 and Fig. 1
shew the construction of the propeller in detail.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPELLER-RUDDER.
The propeller-rudder consists of two large blades of iron or other metal A A'
Fig. 1.
These two blades are connected together by a steel shaft or holt B to which are
connected six large plates indicated by the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, through
eyes in which the shaft passes, the eyes having gun metal linings to prevent heating
by friction, and which may be suitably lubricated. The large plates are covered by
sheet metal and are fixed by brazing and by rivets a a' a".
The vertical shaft B is supported by three pivots c c and c, one at top, one in the
middle, and one at bottom, or by one at top and bottom only, such pivots being
fixed at the back to the main shaft and being made of a wedge shape both in front
and behind the main shaft in order to reduce the resistance to the passage through
the water due to the thickness of the shaft.
The two blades A A' are secured together by curved portions of the sheet metal,
through which passes the shaft B, the blades being thus closed at the back. ddi
shews the cut water which holds in place the blades A A¹ when these are in the
central position; the front edges of the blades are slightly curved outwards and
brought to an edge as shewn, whereby they are enabled readily to open out to the
extreme angular position.
Fig. 1 shews the plan of the propeller with its blades opened out to an angle of
from 66° to 70°, this angle being governed by the abutinent of the ribs d against the
main shaft, such ribs being of the form shewn in the section on line A B.
Attached to the bottom of the main shaft is a plate marked B' at Fig. 1, and k at
Fig. 1b which serves to prevent more or less the downward escape of water from
between the blades A A' when these are being moved in the propelling direction.
APPARATUS FOR OPERATING THE PROPELLER FOR THE FIRST SYSTEM.

page_text: the motion and of two pitch wheels round which passes a pitch chain, to one of the
links of which is pivotted a rod for transmitting the motion to the propeller.
For obtaining a greater useful effect, the above described mechanism may be
replaced by mechanism such as is shewn at Figs. 7, 8 and 9, which shew respectively
a side elevation, a plan, and an end view to a smaller scale. It consists of a cylinder
on which is a helicoidal cam groove formed by two equal parabolic curves, and in
which slides a stud d fixed on the rod i, so that hy the rotation of the cylinder the
stud and rod will have a longitudinal to-and-fro motion imparted to them. If the
extent of such motion were considerable, the stud might be made as a toothed revolving
pinion gearing with teeth on the side of the cam groove, so as to obviate the sliding
friction of the stud.
The rod is connected to the double ended lever c c', to which consequently the
to-and-fro motion is imparted, and which serves to impart this motion to the propeller
as shewn at Fig. 4.
The cam-cylinder may either be rotated by hand, by means of a crank handle on
the fly wheel E as at Fig. 8, or by a motor engine by suitable gearing, the motion of
the fly wheel shaft being imparted to the cylinder by speed increasing gearing F .
In the external propelling mechanism shewn at Fig. 4, A' is a strong bearer fixed
to the stern of the vessel, and stayed by stays a a'; dd indicates gearing for working
the propeller so as to act as rudder, and which is actuated by suitable steering gear
on board.
The vertical propeller shaft is carried in a ring c, which is supported on a circular
rail by means of small rollers &¹ the pivots of which are carried in a ring b, as shown
in vertical section at Fig. 5 and in detail at Fig. 5°, so that the ring c is capable of
being rotated in either direction upon c'.
This motion is imparted by means of worms x y gearing with teeth on the ring c,
and actuated by bevil gear from the shaft of the wheel d¹ Fig. 4.
The vertical propeller shaft is supported from the ring c by a bar e in such a
manner as to be capable of receiving a reciprocating motion in the direction of the
longitudinal axis of the ship, and it has its upper end connected by a universal joint
to the rod o Figure 4, which receives the reciprocating motion from the lever c
Figure 7 as before described.
From this arrangement it will be seen that when the vertical shaft of the propeller
has a reciprocating motion imparted to it by the rod o in a fore-and-aft direction, the
propeller blades A A¹ pivotted to its lower end will alternately fold together when the
lower end of the shaft moves in the direction towards the end of the vessel, while
when the shaft moves in the contrary direction they will open out to the angular
position shewn at Figure 1 and in thereby offering considerable resistance to the
motion of the shaft through the water in that direction, they will effect a corresponding
forward propulsion of the shaft's fulcrum, and consequently, through the bearer A³,
the ship itself.
to
If now, by means of the steering gear the ring c Figures 5 and 6 be partially rotated
so as to bring the plane in which the propeller shaft reciprocates into a position
forming a greater or less angle to the longitudinal axis of the ship, it will be seen
that as the propelling effect will take place at such angle, the ship will be steered to
port or to starboard, according as the propeller shaft is turned to the right or to the
left.
As before stated, the above described arrangement is suited as auxiliary propelling
power for sailing vessels in order to enable them to dispense with towing when going
into dock, the apparatus being worked either by manual power, or by a small motor
engine; it might of course also be used as auxiliary propelling power when required
during the voyage. The apparatus may also be used as rudder only by turning the
vertical shaft on its axis without imparting reciprocating motion thereto. The vessel
may also be provided with an ordinary rudder for steering, as the blades A A' will
adjust themselves to the course and will offer little or no appreciable obstruction to the
motion.

page_text: SECOND SYSTEM.
The construction employed for this system, shewn at Figs. 10, 10, 10, 11 and 12
consists of two sets of propeller blades D, constructed and operating in the same way
as described with reference to the first system. In this arrangement the propulsion
is effected by a rectilineal to and fro motion of a strong tubular shaft shewn in side
view at Fig. 11, in plan at Fig. 12 and in end view at Fig. 10, actuated by the
motor engine, through which shaft passes a solid inner shaft which projects
beyond B and carries the circular rail c' on which rests the rotatable ring c carrying
the propellers D, as in the previous arrangement.
The vertical shaft of the propellers is however in this case rigidly fixed in the
vertical position in the ring c, the ring together with the propellers and its support c
being moved horizontally to and fro by means of the shaft B, thereby causing the
propeller blades to close together during the backward motion and to open out during
the forward motion as in the first arrangement.
The shaft B is for this purpose supported on rollers 1, 2, 3, 4 &c. running on
rails m m and carried by frames A, n, fixed to the shaft B.
The steering is effected by turning the ring carrying the propeller blades by means
of worms y gearing with teeth on the ring as before, the spindles of the worm being
geared by bevil gear to a shaft i which is turned by the capstan wheel G, Fig. 10,,
which is graduated and works past fixed pointers, as indicated, so as to shew the exact
angle to which the propellers are turned.
The shaft B is made to work through a watertight stuffing box at the stern, and it
may in addition, be covered in by a flexible watertight diaphragm to prevent ingress
of water.
THIRD SYSTEM.
The construction of this system, suited for large ships, is shewn at Figs. 13 to 18.
In this construction, the propellers are arranged on cach side of the ship instead of at
the stern, and they are made to operate either by rectilineal reciprocation, as in the
last described arrangement or by reciprocating on a fixed centro as in the first
doscribed arrangement. Figs. 13 and 14 shew the former, Fig. 13 shewing a side
view of part of the ship with the one set of propellers, and Fig. 14 part end view.
In this case there is fixed by brackets to the side of the ship a strong bearer A, on
which run three carriages B B B having wheels 2, 4, 5, 6 running on the upper and
under side of the rail, and to these carriages are rigidly fixed the shafts of the
propeller blades E. The carriages are all connected rigidly together by bars as
shewn so that they are all made to move to and fro simultaneously, such motion being
imparted by a fly wheel D with crank pin connected to the rear carriage by a
connecting rod C. The fly wheels D on each side of the vessel are driven by the
crank shaft of an engine in the same way as paddle wheels.
In the arrangement shewn at Figs. 15 to 18, the ring shaped supports e for the
rings e of the propellers are carried on a strong framing F projecting from the side
of the ship. The propellers are arranged and operate in the same manner as described
with reference to the first system, the jointed rods C connecting the upper ends of the
propeller shafts together, being actuated by the crank pin g, of the fly wheel S and
connecting rod r. The upper ends of the propeller shafts pass loose through rings to
which the rods C are jointed, so that the propeller shafts together with the propellers
can be rotated with their rings c for steering, independently of the rods C. The
steering movement of the propellers on both sides is effected simultaneously from the
interior of the ship by a transverse shaft carrying bevil gear A¹ Figs. 15 and 16,
working spur gear A" by which rotary motion is imparted to the shaft carrying the
worms Fig. 17, gearing with teeth on the rings c. The shafts of the propellers
are swelled out at the middle where they carry the pivotting trunnions, as shewn at H
Fig. 18.
If required, there might be arranged one or more sets of such propellers towards

page_text: the stern of the ship, and one or more other sets towards the bows, whereby a great
propelling power could be obtained.
It will be seen that the propellers only occupy a comparatively small space outside
the vessel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven- 5
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The use for propelling ships of propelling apparatus consisting of two blades
pivotled to a vertical shaft to which a reciprocating motion is imparted in the direction
of propulsion, whereby, the blades are made to fold closely together during the back
stroke, so as to offer little or no resistance to the motion of the shaft, while during the
forward or working stroke they open out to an angular position, thereby offering
great resistance to the motion of the propeller shaft, in the water, substantially as
described.
2. In propelling apparatus such as is referred to in the preceding claim, arranging
the vertical propeller shafts to turn on their axes so as to bring the propeller blades
into a more or less oblique position for effecting the steering simultaneously with the
propelling substantially as described.
3. Constructing propelling apparatus such as is referred to in the preceding claims,
substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1 to of the drawings, for
propelling and steering vessels according to the first herein described system.
4. Constructing propelling apparatus such as is referred to in the first and second
claims substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 10 to 12 of the
drawings for propelling and steering vessels according to the second herein described
system.
5. Constructing propelling apparatus such as is referred to in the first and second
claims substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 13 to 18 of the
drawings for propelling and steering vessels according to the third herein described
system
Dated this 17th day of March 1890.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.