CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING CANAL AND OTHER BOATS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EZRA
JENKS COATES, of Bread Street, Cheapside, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date' at
Westminster, the Thirteenth day of June, in the third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Ezra
Jenks Coates, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Ezra Jenks Coates, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Ezra Jenks Coates, 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, the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, an
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING CANAL AND OTHER BOATS,"
being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Ezra Jenks Coates,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, J, the said
Ezra Jenks Coates, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
These improvements in propelling canal and other boats consist in the
employment of an endless chain or band, made either of metallic or suitable
substances, and furnished, if requisite, with a series of small anchors or
catches. The chain is passed over pulleys situated at the stem and stern of
the boat or vessel, and allowed to lie upon the bottom of the river or canal,
and upon rotary motion being communicated to the pulleys above mentioned,
they, from their being in direct contact with the chain, cause the boat or
vessel to be moved or propelled forward, in consequence of the hold or
resistance the endless chain or anchors have against or upon the bottom of
the canal or river; the endless chain or band being gradually laid along the
bottom of the river by the action of the front pulley as the vessel advances,
the pulley at the stern of the boat raising the chain from off the ground, and
the chain passing over antifriction rollers to the front part of the boat or
vessel, from whence it is delivered on to the ground as before mentioned.
In order that the Invention may be fully understood, I have shewn in the
accompanying Drawing two methods in which this Invention may be carried
into effect; similar letters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the
Figures. Fig. 1 represents a-section-of a boat or vessel constructed so as to
be propelled by this Invention; this vessel may be called a steam drag or
tug, and is intended to be used in canals or rivers to draw a number of boats
or barges after it, which may be connected by cables or otherwise, as shown
in Fig. 2. The endless chain is marked a, a, in Fig. 1, and is furnished
with anchors b, b. The driving or actuating wheel c (which in this instance
is shewn as placed in front of the boat) has teeth or spikes formed on its
periphery, which take into the openings or links of the chain or endless belt,
a detached portion of which, together with one of the anchors connected to it,
is shown in perspective at Fig. 3. Fig. 4 is a partial side clevation of the
said driving wheel, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same. The other wheel
is shewn in partial clevation and plan at Figures 6 and 7, and need not have
any rotary motion communicated to it, except that derived from the friction
of the chain in passing over its periphery. The endless chain is passed over
and supported by several antifriction rollers d, d, for the purpose of facilitating
its progress, the espur or driving wheel being caused to revolve by the application

page_text: of the power of a steam engine or other mechanical means. In Figures 1
and 3 I have shewn small anchors or catches or holders attached.to the
endless chain; yet, under some circumstances, it may be found that by increas-
ing the weight of the chain the use of the anchors may be dispensed with, as
the chain alone with such additional weight will have sufficient hold or friction
on the ground to enable the steam drag to draw the boats or barges attached
to it. This modification of the Invention is shewn at Fig. 8, and may be
found to answer the purpose, and it will not disturb the bottom of the canal
or river so much as the construction shewn in Figures 1 and 3; but where a
considerable number of barges are attached to one tug boat, then it will be
found necessary to employ a chain constructed in the manner shewn in Fig. 3,
in order to be able to tow a greater number of boats at a time.
Having now described the Invention cominunicated to me, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I claim as
the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, propelling vessels on rivers or canals by means of an endless chain
or band passed over pullies situated at the stem and stern of a tug boat or
vessel, and having part of its length lying along the bottom of the river or
canal, for the purpose of obtaining a hold thercon or means of resistance
therefrom, as above described, whether such endless chain is used in conjunction
with anchors or not.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ezra Jenks Coates, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lol One thousand night hundred and forty