IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MECHANISM FOR STEERING AND PROPELLING BOATS OR VESSELS
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Bristow Hunt at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 31st December 1877. (A. communication
from abroad by William Wesley Shoe, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the
United States of America.)
BRISTOW HUNT, of Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MECHANISM FOR STEERING AND
PROPELLING BOATS OR VESSELS." (A communication from abroad by William
Wesley Shoe, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America.)
The first part of the Invention relates to a combined steering and propelling
device especially adapted for canal boats, lighters, and other small boats or vessels.
The rudder post is made in two parts, connected together by means of side plates,
which can slide on and are guided by each other, so that the lower part of the post
can be adjusted vertically on the upper part.
The post is hung to eyes on the stern post of the boat by means of pintles in the
same manner as an ordinary rudder is hung.
Each of the pintles is carried by a sleeve which embraces the rudder post, and
can slide vertically thereon, the upper sleeve being secured after adjustment by
means of a set screw or otherwise, and the lower one by means of a cam lever hung
to the sleeve, and extending upward to such a height that it can be operated from
the boat.
The upper end of the post is provided with eyes, to which is adapted the tapering
end of the tiller, which may be secured in position by means of a pin.
The tiller carries near its outer end a driving pulley, the shaft of which is furnished
with crank handles to be operated by the occupants of the boat.
Motion is communicated from the driving pulley by a belt properly directed by
idler pulleys, or by bevil gearing, or an arrangement of levers, or by other suitable
means to a pulley on the top of a shaft made in two parts, the upper of which has
its bearing in a bracket projecting from the upper portion of the rudder post, while
the lower portion of the shaft has its bearing in a frame carried by the lower portion
of the post, the upper end of the said lower portion of the shaft being of a square or
angular section, and being adapted to the similarly shaped interior of a sleeve secured
to the lower end of the upper portion of the shaft.

page_text: Near the lower end of the shaft is secured a bevil wheel, which gears intɔ a bevil
pinion on the propeller shaft, the latter also turning in bearings in the frame, and
carrying (say, for instance) a four-bladed wheel or propeller.
To the rear of the frame is secured a plate, which serves to aid the propeller in
steering the boat when the frame is turned to one side or the other.
The pintles are made adjustable vertically, in order that the device may be applied
to boats having eyes at different distances apart, the upper pintle being first adjusted
to the upper eye, and the sleeve carrying the lower pintle being then released from
the post by moving the cam lever, after which the sleeve is adjusted vertically to
the desired position, and again secured by restoring the said lever to its former
position.
The object of making the post and the said shaft in two parts, and connecting the
parts of the post by the sliding plates, and the parts of the shaft by the sleeve, is to
permit the lower portion of the post and the frame carried by the same to be adjusted
vertically, so that the propeller shall always be properly submerged, whether the
boat be light or loaded.
By the use of the sliding plates also a space is provided between the same for the
reception of the bolt with which the stern of the boat is generally provided, and by
which it is suspended from the davits; moreover, the plates by coming in contact
with the sides of the stern post, prevent undue movement in either direction of the
post and the propeller wheel.
The raising and lowering of the lower portion of the post and the parts carried
by the same may be readily effected from on board the boat by means of a cord or
chain and pulleys, the upper end of the cord being secured by passing it round a
suitable clent.
The above-described steering device is light, weighing but little if any more than
an ordinary rudder, and, owing to the fact that the driving pulley is carried by the
end of the tiller arm, the boat may (while the wheel is being operated) be steered
by turning the tiller arm in one direction or the other in the same manner as and
with no more exertion than in using a rudder.
As the tiller arm is detachable from the post it may be removed so as to permit
the compact packing of the device for storage or transportation.
The post and its connections being removable from the bont the device is not
subjected to the risk of being damaged when the boat is not in use, or is lifted out
of the water; furthermore, it does not prevent the use of the ordinary rudder when
it is desirable to propel the boat by sail or oars.
The second part of the Invention relates to the construction of a strong, cheap,
and effective propeller, which, while adapted to general use, is especially applicable
for use with the steering and propelling device above described.
On the end of the propeller shaft is secured a hub provided (say, for instance)
with four projecting arms, the rear faces of which are inclined in respect to a vertical
plane passing through the shaft.
The propeller shaft extends entirely through the hub, and its rear end is recessed
so as to form continuations of the inclined faces of the projecting arms of the hub.
Each blade of the propeller consists of a central plate reinforced on each side
throughout about two-thirds of its length by a supplementary plate, the plates being
rivetted or otherwise firmly secured together.
The blades are so formed at the inner ends as to correspond with the form of the
rear faces of the arms of the hub, to which they are secured by bolts, the extreme
inner end of the blade overlapping a portion of the end of the shaft, and being
secured directly to the same by a bolt.
By making the hub of the improved propeller of cast metal, and the blades of
wrought metal firmly bolted to the hub and to the propeller shaft, great strength
will be secured, and yet the propeller will be much lighter, and can be made at less
expense than an ordinary cast-iron propeller; moreover, as the pitch of the blade
extends down to the very centre of the propeller shaft, the effective working surface
of the propeller is carried much nearer the centre than in the usual propeller with a

page_text: solid hub. The latter feature may also be applied with advantage to propellers, the
blades of which are cast with the hub.
The use of strengthening plates on both sides of the central plate of each blade
is not essential to the present Invention, as the said plates may be applied to one
side only of the main plate; or in some cases the latter might be so formed that
the strengthening plates could be dispensed with altogether; their use however is
preferred.
The outer ends of the arms of the hub may be made abrupt, so as to forin a
shoulder, to which the bent end of the inner reinforcing plate may be bolted in order
to secure additional strength.