Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 16th June, 1888
Complete Specification Left, 15th Mar., 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 20th Apr., 1889
I FRANCIS OBRÉ FERGUSON of Gothic Cottage Goldhawk Road Hammersmith in the
County of Middlesex London Architect assisting in the Estate department of the
London and North Western Railway Euston London do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:―
The object of my invention is to provide a combination of power that may be
suitably applied in propelling and steering boats.
I purpose carrying my object into effect in the following manner
To the stern and exterior of the boat I provide and support a vertical shaft which
works a pair of bevel wheels and a spindle placed under the water level. A screw
propeller is fixed to one end of the spindle which works at a right angle with the
vertical shaft and is put in motion by the working of the toothed bevel wheels. The
screw propeller and spindle are supported on a swivel which is placed immediately
under the vertical shaft and is fixed to the stern of the boat. By this arrangement
the propeller can be easily turned with the aid of steering cords to various angles with
the course of the boat and perform the functions of a rudder. The top end of the
vertical shaft which is here increased in circumference is secured to a ☐ shaped tiller
by a short piece working on two centres and is made to rotate by a reciprocating
motion of the tiller. The tiller works on a fixed centre or fulcrum placed at one end
of the shaped tiller the other end of the tiller being made to reciprocate by hand
power or other force. By this arrangement the screw propeller will necessarily act
as a flywheel. The vertical shaft can rotate either to propel the boat forward or to
backwater by a reverse action.
Or instead of using the tiller as above described the vertical shaft can be made to
rotate by another and extra pair of bevel wheels working on the top end of the shaft or
other suitable wheelwork to be turned by hand power.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Propelling and Steering Boats.
I, FRANCIS OBRÉ FERGUSON of Gothic Cottage Goldhawk Road Hammersmith in
the County of Middlesex Architect, lately assisting in the Estate department of the
London and North Western Railway, Euston Station, London do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
I
carry out and put my invention into effect as herein stated, and to make it more
clear shall refer to the figures on the drawings in the following manner.
V is a section
through the stern of the boat. K is a frame fixed to the stern of the boat. K¹ is a
frame capable of partly turning on the centre pin A', which is fixed to K. A is a
vertical shaft placed exactly over and on the same centre as A¹, and is fixed in the bevel
wheel H. The ratchet wheels R. R are also fixed to A. R¹ is a toothed rack working
on a fulcrum or pin F, which is fixed to K. The teeth of R¹ gear with the toothed
wheels W, W, which turn loose on A. D D are discs fixed on W, W, and carry clicks C,
and springs. A rotates in and is supported by the frame K and K. B is a hollow
tube in which A is free to rotate. T is a tiller fixed to B and capable of making P
take various angles with V, and B is fixed to K'. H gears with the bevel wheels X. X
which turn loose on the shaft or spindle S. E is a clutch working on a slot or feather
formed in S. Y is a lever fitted to B on a studd at M, and is arranged to make E slide
on S, and form a clutch with either of the bevel wheels X. X, by which means the
action of the propeller P can be reversed. D. D. W. W. turn loose on A, and by
means of the clicks C. C work with the ratchett wheels R. R. By this arrangement
and combination the reciprocating motion of the rack R¹ Fig. 1. from L to L and
back on the fixed pin F, is communicated to A and H, and thence to X and P, and if
the motion of the rack either way be constant, the motion of the propeller will be
constant, that is to say, the rack in moving one way or the other to L, will give a constant
motion to the propeller.
It is evident that my invention can be arranged inside or outside of a boat, and at
the sides, and in duplicate if required.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is
In boats a toothed circular rack R¹, working and moving on a pin fixed to the boat,
and which pin is the centre of the circle of which the rack forms a part, and formed
with inside and outside teeth made and set out at different levels and radius of the
centre pin, and provided with a long arm fixed to the rack. The difference in the level
of the teeth of the rack to equal the thickness of a wheel, and the difference in the
radius for setting out the teeth from the centre pin, to equal the diameter of a wheel.
In boats the vertical shaft A provided with toothed wheels W. W fitted with clicks
and springs, and turning loose on shaft A, and gearing with the toothed rack R¹, and
supported on a suitable frame fixed to the boat.

page_text: In boats the vertical shaft A provided with ratchett wheels R. R fixed to
working with clicks C. C carried by the wheels W. W. or discs fixed to same.
same,
and
In boats the vertical shaft A provided with a bevel wheel H fixed to one end of same,
and to gear with bevel wheels placed under water line.
In boats a tiller T fixed to a hollow vertical shaft, placed on the same centre and over
the pin A, and capable of partly turning the frame K', and also the propeller to
various angles.
In boats a suitable frame K¹ working on a pin A¹ fixed to the boat and placed under
water line, on the same centre and under the vertical shaft A, and supporting a
shaft or spindle placed at right angles to the vertical shaft, and carrying a screw
propeller, and also a pair of bevel wheels turning loose on the spindle, and which are
made to come into working action with the bevel wheel H fixed to the vertical shaft A,
by means of a clutch E made to slide on a slot or feather formed on the spindle, by a
lever Y fitted to the hollow vertical shaft B, and carried up the stern of the boat within
reach of the occupant or operator.
In boats the frame K in combination with the parts as described.
In boats large or small the combination and arrangement of the parts as described.