A NEW METHOD OF PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
HERBERT MABERLY, of Bourne, in the County of Cambridge, Clerk, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britian, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirteenth day of July, in the sixth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Frederick Herbert Maberly, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Frederick Herbert Maberly, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, and also in all our Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"A NEW METHOD OF PROPELLING VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Frederick Herbert Maberly, 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 enrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said 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
Frederick Herbert Maberly, do hereby declare that the nature of my said In-
vention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described
and ascertained by the Drawings hereunto annexed and the words following,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists of two parts; the application of the power of sails

page_text: acted on by the wind to the motion of vessels on water, and a new paddle
wheel, which is worked either by the sails or by horses.
.
First, as to the sails when used as the power applied to propelling vessels.
The power is derived from a rotatory sail, after the manner of the wind-
mill sail, either revolving as the sails of a common windmill, or as the sails
of the fantail, or horizontally. In this case, there is an upright hollow post,
carrying a wind shaft with wheel and break upon it, and sails, similar to
those of cominon windmills. The post is formed of four pieces of wood
bolted together, revolving in collars, one of which is supported by shores
or struts from the deck or sides of the vessel, and also by iron rods; and
another on beams, on
or below the deck, into which latter collar the
post is grooved, so as to support it; while it has four rollers, one on each
side fixed to it, travelling on the top of an iron on this collar so that it
may revolve easily. The post is turned round and the sails brought into
the wind by a fantail attached to the post, after the ordinary manner,
near the upper part, working into a set of cogs on the outer edge of the upper
collar, the fantail having a worm on the end of the spindle which carries
its sails), the worm turning a vertical wheel on a spindle lying along and
fixed to one of the arms that support the fantail, upon the other end of
which spindle is another vertical wheel turning a horizontal wheel, which
horizontal wheel carries a spindle running along the side of the post and
attached to it, and at the termination of which spindle is another wheel
travelling round the cogs on the collar, and thus bringing the chief sails into
the wind; down the centre of the hollow post passes a long spindle, having at
each end a level wheel, the one of which is worked by the cogs of the wheel
on the wind shaft, and thus the spindle is turned round, while the other bevel
wheel, being attached to it at the bottom, is also turned round by it, and
works into another bevel wheel on a spindle carrying the paddle wheels and
turning them. On the wind shaft may be a crank instead of cogs on the break
wheel, and then the long spindle, having a swivel in it, must be attached to
this crank and worked up and down by it, while the other end of the spindle
is attached to a crank on the spindle of the paddle wheels, and thus the
power is gained immediately from the wind shaft and by cranks only. The
wind shaft may be made to revolve after the manner of the revolving of
the post, in which case the post will be a fixture, and the fantail must be
attached so as to work only the wind shaft round after the manner of the post's
revolving. If the sails are similar to the fantail sails and put ou the wind
shaft, then the wind shaft had better be horizontal, and must be sufficiently
extended to clear the post and stays, and being extended on the back side,

page_text: may have another set of sails of like kind; or these fantailed-like sails
may revolve between arms from the revolving post, as the common fantail
sails do, and then at the further end of the arms and from them may be
extended stays, reaching down to the deck, and running on wheels and
travelling from side to side of the deck, or, further, on pieces thrown out to
support them; or the arms may be supported by stays from the sides of the
post above the top collar, the collar in this case being placed somewhat lower
down the post to admit of this with advantage. The spindle or wind shaft
of these sails, as last attached, must carry a bevel wheel, which must work
another bevel wheel carrying a spindle, with another bevel wheel or crank at
its extremity, the spindle running along the arms and extending its bevel
wheel to the bevel wheel on the top of the upright spindle of the post, or
extending its crank to the top of the spindle, if it be worked by the crank.
In this case the sails must be kept in the wind, and be drawn out of it by
the extreme ends of the arms being lashed to the sides of the vessel by means
of ropes and pulleys; and in the case of these sails being carried by the
shaft of the upright post, then a stay must be fixed to the post, to which
to attach the ropes and pulleys. If the sails are used horizontally, then the
wind shaft may be attached to the upright spindle without any wheel inter-
vening, the spindle or wind shaft revolving in a collar at the top of the post,
being supported also on the collar by. the sides of the break wheel running
on rollers on the collar; of course, in this case the spindle will carry the
bevel wheel at the bottom of it to work as before. It is impossible to give
the exact size of the sails for each particular vessel, but sails with fifteen
feet of canvas and five feet wide on a post twenty-two feet above deck will be
best adapted to a vessel when a ten-horse power is required. From these data
other sails may be formed.
Secondly, as to the paddles, their form and method of driving and striking
them, the form of the paddles being as appears in No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3.
These paddles are to be driven by chains passing over riggers or wheels,
which are also driven by the spindle running through the vessel, and to
which the bevel wheel or crank that drives the spindle is attached. There
are other riggers or wheels attached to another spindle passing through the
vessel, and upon which these riggers or wheels turn, being brought round
by the action of the chain; or the riggers or wheels may be fastened to
these second spindles, and the same revolved by another motion from the first
spindle, and so turning the riggers and wheels. If there should be two chains
to each paddle, as is supposed in the case of paddle No. 3, then there must be
two riggers or wheels on the end of each of the spindles for the chains to pass

page_text: over, and at such distance from each other that the chains will run in the
notches cut half through the ends of the paddles. The wheels or riggers on
each spindle must be of the same size respectively, and the main wheels and
riggers must be of proportionate size to the size of the vessel, and the speed
with which it is wished to drive her. The length of the chains will be regu-
lated by the distance of the spiddles from each other, and must be never less
than the circumference of the wheels required to drive the paddles of the
vessels to which they are now applied, at least when applied to drive similar
vessels, and the wheels carrying the chain must be proportionably large, though
the chain should generally be much longer in proportion than is here described.
It is only to place the spindles further apart and to make the riggers or wheels
larger to accomplish this; thus the friction will be reduced. The paddles may
be struck by guides or slides, along which the projecting ends of the paddles
pass, and which give them their proper direction. These guides or slides may
be plain pieces, or rims of iron, in part attached to the spindles projecting
through the vessels, and in part fastened from the sides of the vessel.
The following is a description of the Drawing No. 2:-a, a, are the wheels
carrying the chains; b, b, are the guides on each side of the riggers or wheels,
proceeding from the spindles driving the wheels, and at sufficient distance from
the wheels, so as the paddles shall be struck by them, and they shall be carried
in their upper rotation in that direction. In this case they are brought into
the water in a right direction, and it is left to the chain to draw them along
in that direction, and as the water presses equally upon each side of the paddle
and upon each moiety of the halves, they will generally be kept in the right
direction.
The following is a description of the Drawing No. 3-a, a, are the wheels
carrying the chains; b, b, are the guides on each sides of the wheels or riggers
carrying the chain, the guides at such distance from each other as to allow
the paddles to work between the guides, while the points at the end of the
paddles run over the guides on the outside of them, and the paddles while in
the water are kept expanded by the guide at bottom, being half the width of
the paddle distant from the chain, but nearly close at top to allow the paddle
to strike, while there is another guide at top to take the ends of the paddles,
and thus strike them and keep them in this situation while they perform their
upper evolution. d, d, is the upper guide, striking the paddles and keeping
them so struck as long as they are wanted in this situation. The guides b, b,
are attached by arms e, e, to the spindles coming through the vessel, and the
guides d, d, fastened by irons from the side of the vessel. It is supposed in
this case that the guides b, b, are rims of iron, but they may be plain pieces on

page_text: the spindles; so in like manner the guide d, d, may be formed of wood and
fastened as the iron to the side of the vessel. The points on the paddles may
be iron, and have rollers on them, and the paddles themselves must be secured
and strengthened by iron rivetted to them along the side edges both inside
and out, or they may be wholly iron. The paddles No. 3 are drawn by two
chains over two riggers or wheels on each spindle, and kept out and struck by
three guides, as in Figure No. IIII., which guides are attached by cross beams
to the side of the vessel. Here there is a centre guide, or guide between the
wheels or riggers, and which strikes the paddle on the inner edge, and which
keeps it so struck while performing its upper evolution. These paddles may
be worked under water, and not only endways to the vessel, but also with the
ends perpendicularly to the horizon, in which case there will require only
some trifling alteration in the fastening of the guides, and the paddle chains
must be worked by wheels or riggers parrallel to the horizon, and on and by
spindles perpendicular to the horizon, and supported by pieces of iron or wood
from the sides of the vessel, and in which pieces they work, being turned by
additional bevel wheels, one on the top of each of the spindles so turned by
another on the spindle coming athwart the deck, in which case there must be a
necking near the top of the upright spindles carrying the wheels revolving the
chains. In this case the wheel or wheels on one of the downright spindles on
one side of the deck, and that or those on the other (such opposite spindle
being on the other side of the deck), may revolve on their respective spindles,
being turned by the revolution of the chains.
Thus I have described the manner in which I form and apply the sails as a
power, and the manner I make and apply the paddle wheels to vessels. I
claim as my Invention, the application of the former and the novelty of the
latter. Horses may be introduced as the moving power, and, with little con-
trivances, known to all mechanics, may move vessels with these paddle wheels,
and horses may in like manner move vessels with the common paddles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Herbert Maberly, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
FREDERICK HERBERT (L.s.) MABERLY.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-named
Frederick Herbert Maberly in the presence of
TR SOUDE

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid Frederick Herbert Maberly came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.