IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Steer Ohristopher and James Frederick
Lackersteen, of No. 3, Lombard Court, in the City of London,
Gentlemen, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING
VESSELS."
Sealed the 10th October 1872, and dated the 17th April 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Steer Chris-
topher and James Frederick Lackersteen at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 17th April
1872.
We, JOSEPH STEER CHRISTOPHER and JAMES FREDERICK LACKER-
STEEN, of No. 3, Lombard Court, in the City of London, Gentlemen, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROPELLING VESSELS," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in the application of continuous screws of
any desired pitch fixed upon shafts to propelling vessels, which shafts
are attached to both sides of the vessels by suitable means parallel to
each other. Motion may be conveyed to these shafts carrying the
screws by the ordinary motive power employed in vessels. They may be
placed at any required depth on the sides of the vessel, and may be of

page_text: any desired length; and motion is communicated to them by the engine
in the vessel through water-tight stuffing boxes. These screws are so
attached to the engines that they may be worked simultaneously
together in the same direction, or independently of each other in con-
trary directions, which latter arrangement will enable the vessel to turn t
round comparatively in a small space and quickly, and almost without
the help of a rudder. ·
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Steer Christopher and James Frederick
Lackersteen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th October
1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
STEER CHRISTOPHER and JAMES FREDERICK LACKERSTEEN, of No. 3,
Lombard Court, in the City of London, Gentlemen, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters. Patent, bearing date, the Seventeenth day of April, 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 us, the said Joseph Steer Christopher and James
Frederick Lackersteen, Her special licence that we, the said Joseph
Steer Christopher and James Frederick Lackersteen, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Joseph Steer
Christopher and James Frederick Lackersteen, our executors, admini-
strators, 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 PROPELLING
VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph
Steer Christopher and James Frederick Lackersteen, or one of us, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Joseph Steer Christopher and
James Frederick Lackersteen, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is
to say:
: These improvements consist in the application of continuous screws of
any desired pitch fixed upon shafts to propelling vessels, which shafts
are attached to both sides of the vessels by suitable means parallel to
each other. Motion may be conveyed to these shafts carrying the
screws by the ordinary motive power employed in vessels. They may
be placed at any required angle and depth on the sides of the vessel,
and may
be of any desired length; and motion is communicated to them
by the engine in the vessel through water-tight stuffing boxes. These
screws are so attached to the engines that they may be worked simul-
taneously together in the same direction, or independently of each other
in contrary directions, which latter arrangement will enable the vessel
to turn round comparatively in a small space and quickly, and almost
without the help of a rudder.
The manner of carrying our Invention into effect is represented in the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a side view
of a vessel to be propelled by steam or other motive power from the
inside, and by the screws upon the outside about midship. The
screws a, a, are continuous, and their shafts b, b, which are arranged
parallel to each other, are rotated by the bevil gear c, c, the thrust being
received by strong brackets or stays d, d, arranged fore and aft upon the
vessel's sides, as shown in Figures 2 and 8.
The screws are driven from the main shaft of the engine in the same
direction for the propulsion of the vessel, but are capable of being
reversed for backing purposes, or one screw in one direction and one
screw in the reverse direction for steering purposes, and either alone or
in combination with a rudder fitted at the stern.
The shaft or shafts of the engine is or are fitted in or pass through
stuffing boxes to render the vessel water-tight at those parts, and the
action of the blade or blades upon the water through, their shafts-being
set at an angle to the horizon, is that every part of the blades acts upon
a fresh body of water, and disposes of that body as the vessel proceeds

page_text: without churning the water, as would be the case were the screw blades
arranged in a horizontal line.
In some cases we fit two or more continuous screw blades at each side
of the vessel, as shown at Figure 4, one pair (parallel) in advance of the
midship portion, and one pair (parallel) abaft the midship portion. We
arrange these to work all together in the same direction for propelling
the vessel, and also to work singly or both on one side to work together
for steering purposes, as in the first case.
Figure 5 represents a modification of the brackets. Here, instead of
both being fixed upon the vessel's sides, only one is fixed upon each side,
and these are provided with cup or universal joints e, to permit of, say,
the after ends of the shafts being moved over to one side, that is nearer
to or farther from the vessel's sides by the hand lever, whereby she can
be moved over almost "broadside" on to "port" or "starboard," a matter
of great importance in a gale of wind, or in a heavy sea, or when the
vessel is being driven upon a lee shore, in which case her head could be
kept to windward under steam alone, or she can be manoeuvred to clear
vessels riding at anchor in a roadstead, or other obstacles, with a greater
degree of certainty than is possible under present circumstances with a
screw or screws fitted at or near the stern post or posts.
The fitting of continuous bladed screw propellers (parallel) in pairs at
the sides of a vessel and at an angle to the horizon is the novel feature
in our Invention, and to which we lay claim under our Letters Patent
herein-before in part recited, whether such screws are worked in the
same directions as pairs or in opposite directions as pairs, substantially as 2
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Steer Christopher and
James Frederick Lackersteen, have hereunto set our hands and
seals, this Seventeenth day of October, One thousand eight
J. S. CHRISTOPHER.
(L.S.)
JAMES F. LACKERSTEEN. (L.S.)