A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF COMBINING THE ENGINES AND PROPELLER SHAFTS OF STEAM VESSELS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ross Winans and Thomas Winans, of the City and
County of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, United States of
America, for the Invention of "A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MODE OF COMBINING THE ENGINES AND PROPELLER SHAFTS OF STEAM VESSELS."
Sealed the 30th September 1858, and dated the 19th June 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ross Winans and Thomas
Winans at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 19th June 1858.
We, Ross WINANS and THOMAS WINANS, of the City and County of Balti-
more, and State of Maryland, United States of America, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MODE OF COMBINING THE ENGINES AND PROPELLER SHAFTS OF STEAM VESSELS,'
to be as follows:-
Our Invention is designed to secure greater compactness in the arrange-
ment of the engines and propeller than has hitherto been attained, particularly
in ocean steamers, to secure for both the engines and the propeller the best
position for them in the vessel, and to connect them without employing long
shafts.
In an application for another Patent made simultaneously with this
application, we have shewn by what means a vertical transverse propelling

page_text: wheel of large diameter may be employed with advantage in vessels of forms
not essentially different from those now in use. Our present Invention is
applicable to these or to other forms of vessels in which such a propeller is so
arranged, that it has a part of the hull before and another part behind it.
The transverse opening for the screw propeller is formed by water-tight bulk
heads or partitions, and covered by a roof, forming a trunk open at the sides
and bottom for the reception of the propeller, whose shaft is supported in
bearings in the partitions. On both ends of the shaft of the propeller cranks
are fitted at a suitable angle with each other, to enable each engine to assist
the other in passing its dead point. Beneath these cranks respectively the
cylinder of a steam engine is placed, whose piston rods are connected by rods
to the pins of the cranks in the usual manner, to give a rotary motion to the
shaft.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ross Winans and Thomas Winans in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th December 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, Ross
WINANS and THOMAS WINANS, of the City and County of Baltimore, and State
of Maryland, United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
1858, in the twenty-first year of Her reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Ross Winans and Thomas
Winans, Her special license that we, the said Ross Winans, and Thomas
Winans, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
'said Ross Winans and Thomas Winans, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "A NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF COMBINING
THE ENGINES AND PROPELLER SHAFTS OF STEAM VESSELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Ross Winans and Thomas Winans, by
an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great

page_text: Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Ross Winans and Thomas Winans,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
Figure 1 represents a vertical longitudinal section through the keel of the
vessel; Fig. 2 represents a transverse section at the line X, X, of Fig. 1,
passing through the axis of the cylinder of one of the engines, the propeller
being partly shown and partly indicated by dotted lines; and Fig. 3 represents
a section of the vessel at the line X, X, of Fig. 2, showing the arrangement
in plan of the propelling mechanism, including the engine and the propelling
wheel.
Our Invention is designed to secure greater compactness in the arrangement
of the engines and propeller than has hitherto been attained, particularly in
ocean steamers, to secure for both the engines and the propeller the best
position for them in the vessel; and to connect them without employing long
shafts.
In an application for another Patent, made simultaneously with the
application for this, we have shown by what means a vertical transverse
propelling wheel of large diameter may be employed with advantage in vessels
of forms not essentially different from those now in use. Our present Inven-
tion is applicable to these or to other forms of vessels in which such a pro-
peller is so arranged, that it has a part of the hull before and another part.
behind it.
The application of our improvement to one form of vessel thus arranged, is
shown in the accompanying Drawings, in which the hull of the vessel is
represented with a transverse opening through its lower part of sufficient size
to accommodate a screw propeller. This opening is most advantageously
placed at that part of the length of the vessel at which side paddle wheels
would be placed, which is generally nearer the stern than the bow, and is
enclosed before and behind by water-tight bulkheads or partitions (a, b,) and
covered by a roof (C) forming a trunk, open at the sides and bottom for the
reception of the propeller (P), whose shaft (S) is supported in bearings in the
partitions, and whose blades project out of the trunk beyond the surface of the
vessel at the bottom and on both sides.
Other modifications of such a trunk and propeller are described in the
application for another Patent before mentioned, in which we have also shown

page_text: the peculiar advantages resulting from the employment of. a large propelling
wheel. On both ends of the shaft (S) of the propeller, cranks (i) are fitted
at a suitable angle with each other, to enable each engine to assist the other
in passing its dead point. Beneath these cranks respectively, the cylinder (D)
of a steam engine is placed, whose piston rods (R) are connected by rods (H)
to the pins of the cranks in the usual manner, to give a rotary motion to the
shaft (S). The details of the engine are not shown in the Drawings, as these
are common and well known to steam engine builders, for the same reason we
omit the description of the furnaces and boilers for generating steam for the
engines, as these need not differ in their construction or mode of connection
with the cylinders from such as are in common use in ocean steamers. In
some cases it may be deemed most suitable to place the boiler or boilers either
before or behind the propeller, a steam pipe being carried over the trunk for
connecting the boilers with the engine on the opposite side of the propeller.
In other cases it might prove advantageous to place one boiler, or a set of
boilers and an engine on each side of the propeller, so that the engine and
boiler before and those abaft the trunk would be capable of working inde-
pendently of each other.
The great weight and bulk of the powerful engines and capacious boilers
required for ocean steamers renders it a matter of necessity that they should
be placed not far from the middle portion of the length of the vessel; hence,
when stern propellers are used, shafts of great length must be employed to
transmit motion from the engine to the propeller. This increase of length
requires a corresponding increase of strength in the shafts, which consequently
are not only very heavy, but very difficult to make, and require numerous
bearings to support them. Moreover, as an ordinary vessel is not a rigid
body, but has considerable flexibility, every additional point of support to a
long shaft in such a vessel is liable to displacement, which, however slight in
degree, increases the friction, and uselessly consumes power, especially under
high velocities.
These serious difficulties attending the employment of stern propellers we
avoid by our arrangement, in which, by suitable framing, the shaft may be
supported immediately at the place where it passes through the partitions, and
thus only two bearings will be required. The length between these two
bearings will be but little more than the breadth of the wheel, and the thick-
ness of the bulkheads, and there will only be as much more length of shaft
required before and abaft the bearings as will support the cranks over the
cylinders beneath. By thus arranging the engine close to and on-both sides
of the propeller the power is directly and economically applied, and this pro-

page_text: pelling mechanism as a whole is more compact, occupies a better position in
the vessel, and possesses a higher degree of efficiency than is attainable by any
combination known prior to our Invention. We have mentioned engines with
guides and connecting rods, but trunk engines might be used, and with far
better effect than in ordinary stern propellers, owing to the less rapid motion
required. Oscillating engines might also be used with similar advantages.
In case of very great power being needed, two engines inclined to each other
in the well-known way might be used at each end of the shaft.
Having now set forth the nature of this Invention, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood, that
under the above recited Letters Patent we claim, the combination of two
engines or sets of engines with an intermediate vertical transverse propelling
wheel, to the shaft of which the engines are directly connected, substantially
as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Ross Winans and Thomas Winans,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Thirteenth day of
September, in the year of our Lord 1858.
Witness,
GEO. BECKENBAUGH.
ROSS WINANS.
THOS. WINANS.
(L.B.)
(L.S.)