A New and Improved Driver for Vessels in or on Air and in or on Water.
Year: 1885

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New and Improved Driver for Vessels in or on Air and in or
on Water.
We CHARLES EDWARD AUSTIN of 1 Westminster Chambers Victoria Street in
the City of Westminster Civil Engineer and WILLIAM BURCHELL of 5 & 6 Broad
Sanctuary also in the City of Westminster Solicitor, do hereby declare the nature
of our invention for A NEW AND IMPROVED DRIVER FOR VESSELS IN OR ON AIR
AND IN OR ON WATER and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our invention consists in a new and improved appliance for and method of
driving any suitable vessel that floats in or on air or in or on water and is
performed by drawing, in the manner hereinafter described, lengthwise through
one or more rectangular or otherwise shaped tubes, (in the direction in which it
is desired to propel the vessel), wholely or partly in, or attached wholely or partly
to the vessel, a portion of the fluid in or on which the vessel floats.
This drawing action is effected by the repeated reciprocal movement in and
across any such tube and in a direction perpendicular to any two parallel and
opposite sides thereof, of a sheet or sheets or of a series of sheets of pliable
and elastic metal or other suitable substance, in such inanner as that the transverse
axes or shortest lines of width of the said sheet or sheets and of any such sides of
the tube continue parallel; and that, at the same time, their longitudinal axes
maintain a certain constant angle between them.
When, in its passage across the tube, any part of the surface of a sheet reaches
a side of the tube or reaches another sheet or any part thereof or of a series of
sheets moving with it in a reciprocal and similar manner in the tube, as the case
may be, it's movement is instantly reverted, at a similar angle in the contrary
direction. Thus the continuous and reciprocating movement of the sheet or sheets
brings to bear an inclined equable force on the fluid in the tube whereby the fluid
is displaced and driven out at one end whilst it is drawn in at the other end
thereof. The current thus produced in one direction propels the vessel in the
contrary direction.
The annexed Drawings (numbered 1 and 2) illustrate several examples of
applying the "Driver to a vessel that floats in air (Drawing N° 2 Figs.
"

page_text: (Aerostat) 1 2 3 4 5) and also to a vessel that floats in water (Drawings Nos 1 & 2.
Figs. (ship) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.). The indicating letters apply to similar parts in all the
figures.
It will thence be observed that the aforesaid movement is communicated to each
sheet or series of sheets (s. s.) by three or more rods or links (r. r.) connected
therewith by hinges which give sufficient play for the reversal of the movement.
These rods or links pass through stuffing boxes or collars attached at equal
distances to the exterior surface of the tube (T. T.) and motion is imparted to
them by the Cams (c. c.) in the following manner.
The exterior end of each rod or link is solidly attached to and incorporated with
a frame (F. F.) sliding between guides and bearing two friction wheels which
remain in direct contact with the opposite points of the periphery of the Cam
between them, as it revolves, and receive, from the circular motion of the Cam, a
direct and reciprocating movement which they impart, by means of the rod or
link, to the sheet in the tube.
The Cams (c. c.) are similar and equal and the periphery of each is formed of
two Archimedes' spirals drawn in contrary directions from a point in the core and
meeting at the crown of the Cam where the radius is longest. Thus the synchronous
revolutions of the Cam impart an equal velocity to the rod and the sheet during
every part of their motion.
The Cams are keyed, at equal distances from one another, to one and the same
shaft, the axis of which is parallel to that of the tube. They are so arranged on
the shaft as that any similar radius, (say, for example, that passing through the
crown), in one cam forms the same angle from the shaft at the apex with the
similar radius in the Cam on each or either side of it and the angle included
between similar radii in the cams on both sides of it is double the before
mentioned angle, namely, that included between the similar radii of any two con-
secutive Cams. Also, the sum of all the angles, that is to say, the angle included
between similar radii in the exterior cams, or those furthest from one another is
equal to the angle formed by half a revolution of the radius; or 180°.
The Cams are driven either by manual, steam, gas, electric or other power best
suited to the purpose for which the propulsion is required.
The novelties and advantages of this invention are as follows.
1. Whereas by all propellors hitherto known or adopted, except the propellor
claimed by Lieutenant Colonel Hime in his Patent A.D. 1884 16 September
No. 12465 and perhaps, the feathering paddle, a centrifugal force is applied, part
of which is uselessly expended in a direction not parallel to the course of the
vessel propelled, and whereas by what are called hydraulic propellors namely
those which act by taking in and discharging water, that fluid is drawn into the
vessel in a direction not parallel with it's motion, is then lifted and discharged
through bent tubes at a considerable waste of power used to overcome the
constructive impediments to the current and the effect of the additional immersion
caused by raising the water above the line of floatation, by our invention much of
that loss of power is avoided. The sheets and the rods which move them present
the least possible impediment to the passage of the water through the tube and
the direction of the propelling stream is, at all times, parallel with and contrary to
the line of motion of the vessel propelled.
2. Our Driver is entirely submerged and can, if required, be placed at the lowest
or most protected part of the vessel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that
we disclaim anything described and claimed in the said Patent A.D. 1884-
16th September N° 12465, and that what we claim is
1. The method of driving a vessel by means of the transverse and reciprocal
movement in a tube of a flexible sheet or sheets as herein before described inclined
at an angle with the axis of the tube and moving tlie fluid therein.

page_text: 2. The method of driving a vessel by means of the transverse and reciprocal
movement of two or more flexible sheets or series of sheets inclined at an angle
with each other and acting on the fluid by successively approaching and receding
from each other and inclosed in a tube in or attached to the vessel they are
intended to drive and whether they are moved by means of rods and Cams or by
any other efficient appliance or mechanical contrivance.