IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Walter Watson Hughes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th April
1867.
I, WALTER WATSON HUGHES, of 14, Queen's Gate, Hyde Park, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS," to be as follows:-
My improvements relate to an hydraulic pressure wheel to be driven by
steam or other power for propelling ships or boats on seas, rivers, or canals
by forcing the water on which the said vessels float through a tube or tubes
having outlets at their sterns or sides below the surface of the water as near to
the line of the keel as may be found most convenient. Besides propelling the
apparatus is applicable for turning or stopping the vessels, as may be required.
In order to effect the object I have in view I construct a wheel with a rim,
the breadth or depth of which shall be proportionate to the number of blades
used, thus the distance between the inner edge of the rim and its outside or
periphery will be from 4 to 16 inches, according to the diameter of the wheel
and the number of blades, say, from 4 to 8, which may be used. These blades
I attach at one end to the inside of this rim, their other ends being attached
to the disc of the wheel, which is provided with a spindle in such a manner
that they shall not overlap each other, but the end of one blade shall terminate
on the same diameter line at the periphery where the next blade commences
on the inner edge of the rim, by which means the blades will on being made
to revolve act like long thin circular wedges pressing the water against the

page_text: inner side of the casing in which I propose to work the wheel, and this casing
is provided with channels or pipes leading to the bow, sides, and stern of the
ship or boat. The curve of the blades is formed from a centre taken at a
distance of half the diameter of the rim from the true centre of the wheel,
and proceeding from the inner to the outer edge of the rim. The wheel can
be used either in a vertical or horizontal position, but most efficiently in the
former with its axis in a line with the keel of the ship, as in this position the
largest supply of water can be obtained from its working closer to the bottom
of the vessel, and the wheel can be made of any required breadth according
to the lengthway of the vessel. The wheel is driven by a large spur wheel on
a shaft connected with the engine, and a smaller pinion wheel placed on the
spindle attached to its disc, as mentioned above. The water enters the wheel
from a channel having an opening or openings at the vessel's bow, and other
openings in the bottom or sides of the channels.
The peculiarity of this Invention is the particular construction of an hydraulic
wheel, for the purposes described, with an internal opening large in proportion
to the periphery. Also the particular construction and position of the blades
attached to its rim, so that they act as wedges producing with the least amount
of resistance in their passage through the water the maximum amount of
external pressure.