IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Rice, of No. 384, Oxford Street, in the.
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Rice at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st March 1872.
I, JOSEPH RICE, of No. 384, Oxford Street, in the County of Middle-
sex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING VESSELS," to be as follows :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for pro-
pelling vessels. For this purpose I employ two pairs of paddle wheels,
one pair towards the bow, and the other towards the stern of the vessel,
the float boards or blades of these wheels in place of being in a line
with the shaft of the wheel, as is now most generally the case, arc set so

page_text: as to be inclined to it, and the blades of the wheels which are at the bow
are inclined in a direction to force the the water outwards away from the
vessel, whilst the blades of the wheels at the stern are set to draw the water
inwards, and so aid in closing in the water around the stern of a vessel.
Separate engines may be used for driving the pair of wheels which is
towards the bow end and for driving the wheels at the stern; or the pair
of wheels on one side may be driven by one engine, whilst the wheels on
the opposite side may be driven by another engine.
By thus employing two pairs of wheels with inclined blades, as above
described, no loss of power will result from the inclination of the blades,
as they will be moving the water in the direction in which it has to
travel as the vessel moves forward, whilst the advantages to be derived
from employing paddle wheels with the blades set inclined to the shaft
will be retained.
on the 20th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
RICE, of No. 384, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Joseph Rice, Her special license that I,
the said Joseph Rice, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Joseph Rice, my 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 * IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
PROPELLING VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,

page_text: the said Joseph Rice, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their 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 Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Rice, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for pro-
pelling vessels. For this purpose I employ two pairs of paddle wheels,
one pair towards the bow, and the other towards the stern of the vessel;
the float boards or blades of these wheels in place of being in a line with
the shaft of the wheel, as is now most generally the case, are set so as to
be inclined to it, and the blades of the wheels which are at the bow are
inclined in a direction to force the water outwards away from the vessel,
whilst the blades of the wheels at the stern are set to draw the water
inwards, and so aid in closing in the water around the stern of a vessel.
Separate engines may be used for driving the pair of wheels which is
towards the bow end and for driving the wheels at the stern; or the
pair of wheels on one side may be driven by one engine, whilst the
wheels on the opposite side may be driven by another engine.
By thus employing two pairs of wheels with inclined blades, as above
described, no loss of power will result from the inclination of the blades,
as they will be moving the water in the direction in which it has to
travel as the vessel moves forward, whilst the advantages to be derived
from employing paddle wheels with the blades set inclined to the shaft
will be retained.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into affect I will presed to decovile the Dani

page_text: section of the same; the section on the right-hand side of the Figure is
taken on the line 1, 1, Figure 1, and on the left-hand side on the line 2, 2;
Figures 3 shew to a larger scale a side view and an edge view of one of
the wheels. The float boards or blades of the pair of wheels nearer the
bow are inclined to throw the water outwards or away from the hull,
and the float boards or blades of the pair of wheels nearer the stern
are inclined to throw the water inwards or towards the stern...
I claim the arrangement of apparatus for propelling vessels, sub-
stantially as described, that is to say, with paddle wheels having inclined
float boards or blades so applied that those near the bow throw the
water outwards, and those near the stern throw the water inwards.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Rice, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.