CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
CUMMEROW, of Lawrance Pountney Lane, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of December, in the ninth year of His reign, did,
for himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Cummerow, His special licence that I, the said Charles Cummerow, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Cum-
merow, my exors, adñiors, 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
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS," communicated to me by a
certain foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso obliging me, the said Charles Cummerow, 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 enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
To have an exact idea of the spiral, one must figure to one's self a pivot,
for instance, of wrought iron, on which is fixed, in the shape of a vice or wing
of brass, wire of a quarter of an inch thick, of an elevation of three feet from

page_text: the centre of the pivot, and which runs round it along a length of nine feet.
One must likewise figure to one's self, with this vice, the water as the original
vice, and with a force giving a central motion to the vice, which, applied to a
boat, will produce, by this same motion, the translation of the boat. To recog-
nize all the advantages of the spiral on the wheels made use of till now in
steam boats, one must examine the effect of both, and the following results will
be found. As the degree Figure 1, of sinking of the wheels, changes when the
sea is agitated, the consequence is, that at the height of water m, n, the
wheels only waist out the strength of the steam engine without propelling
the boat forward; that at the height of water m², n³, the wheels do not propel
the boat forward, since, being entirely out of the water, their effect is only
complete at the height m, n. 2d, even at this last height of water there
is but the ladle a that is working in order, whilst the ladles b, c, obstruct the
advancing, since the ladle 6 lifts the boat, and the ladle c raises the water, their
effect consequently takes place but by jults. 3d, the other ladles of the wheels,
as f, g, which are out of the water, have to contend against the resistance of
the wind. 1. The effect of the spiral, on the contrary, is always the same at
every height of water, the spiral being in water under its axis, or out of the
water above its axis. 2. The spiral carries no water with it in rising again, and
does not employ its strength in acting to raise the boat. 3: The spiral has not
to overcome the resistance of the wind. 4. The spiral has four times as much
perpendicular superficia as the ladle a acting alone on the steanı-boat wheels.
5. Applied to the stern of a boat, the spiral lies in quiet water while the wheel-
work in agitated water.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MECANISM AND OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BOATS.
One may make use of the spiral for navigation in quiet water as well as in
running water, only it is necessary to observe that the construction of the boats
and the application of the spiral are different: Figure 1, 2, 7.
I. The spiral may be applied to the stern of a boat in stagnant water and
on canals without any danger or damage, for the dikes and terracement of the
said canals, either in narrow or wide rivers, when the latter have a rapid
current Figure 3, 4, 5, 6.
II. The spiral is placed between two boats tied together at a certain distance
on wide rivers, of which the current is not rapid: Figure 1, 2,
III. For the paquet boats out at sea or upon lakes, the construction usually
employed for quick-sailing vessels will be chosen, for transport vessels the
construction of merchant vessels will be chosen: Figure 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
IV. On rivers, when the water is not deep, the usual. construction of flat-

page_text: bottom boats must be conserved, in order that the boats do not take too much
water; but when there will be a sufficient depth, for instance, three feet,-
a middle term between the constructions here above described will be taken.
The prow of the boat, in order to avoid all resistance, must present a sharp
angle to the water: Figure 1.
V. The ships on sea are directed by means of an helm L, that is applied
behind the spiral, and on rivers by two helms C: Figure 8, 7; which are applied
to the two exterior sides of the boats: Figure 1, 2.
VI. It will be necessary, for the construction of the spiral ships for the sea,
that the false stern A, B, F, be added to the body of tho ship A, B, C, D, E, N,
in order to be able to apply well the spiral and the helm, that the dove O and
the part P be lengthened, and that the stick K be fastened at the exterior
extremities of P. This stick P must be well fastened to the false stern A, F, B,
at the part F, by means of the little arms T, and in that manner it will be
strong enough to apply the helm to its exterior part. The pivot x of the
spiral q passes through the handle T untill'd. A pinion in which the dentelated
wheel geers is applied to the pivot to d, and put in motion by the steam engine.
The position of the dentelated wheel and pinions must be so combined as to
cause the steam engine to make the spiral turn three times in one second.
The steam engine consists of two cylinders, each of which has a beam with
one handle for action. These beams work across the building, and every one
has the hypomoclelion at the declivity of the building which is nearest to its
cylinder. The two beams work on two handles put together in a straight angle.
These two handles form a body, and communicate strength to the dentelated
wheel here above described. From what has hero been stated it is evident
that one may cause the spiral to act so as to make the boats go forward or
backward according to the direction that will be given to the handle. To
hinder the water from entering into the boat by the opening through which
the pivot of the spiral passes, a brass box six inches wide, through which
the above-mentioned pivot passes before it enters the ship, is applied. This
box is filled with tallow that surrounds the pivot, and by that means hinders
the friction and the water from entering the ship. The tallow is caused to fall
now and then on the pivot. The stick K must be sharp against the ship, in
order to present but little resistance to the water, and for that reason made
in iron it will do the best service, since, in consequence of its size, it will take
up less space than a wooden one of the same strength: Figure 7.
VII. As for the boats that do not go out to sea, and to which the spiral will
be placed at the stern according to what has been said in I, the wooden
piercer W will reimplace the false stern B, A, T, and K. Besides, here, as in

page_text: VI., the same rules must be observed, and use of the same mover must be
made Figure 3, 4, 5, 6.
VIII. When one will want to place the spiral between two boats, one must
only refer to the Drawing, where is to be found that the two boats are tied
together by the wooden pieces c, a, b. The apparatus and the steam engine
are placed on the floor, which is fixed on the wooden pieces c, a, b. The
spiral will be placed between the wooden pieces a, b. The mover of the spiral
is the steam engine, awarding to what has been said in VI., and the mecanism
of which may be made by any experimented mecanician. The boats may be
also directed with a spiral between them by means of the arbor B, in causing
the pivot of the spiral to turn to the right or to the left.
IX. The deeper the spiral will be in the water the greater will be its effect;
but to put the effect and the resistance in the same proportion, care will be
taken not to sink the spiral into the water, but as far as the horizon of the
dove, and in flat boats, but to the horizon of the bottom of the boats.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Cummerow, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine.