IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRARY "PELLING
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Jones Aston, of 13, Pembroke Gardens,
Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, and of the Middle Temple,
Barrister-at-Law, and also a Queen's Counsel of the County Palatine
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
DRARY
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Jones Aston
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th February 1870.
I, JAMES JONES ASTON, of 13, Pembroke Gardens, Kensington, in the
County of Middlesex, and of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, and
also a Queen's Counsel of the County Palatine of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of 'the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR PROPELLING VESSELS ON THE WATER," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to machinery for propelling ships, boats, and
other vessels on the water at a greater speed than hitherto. This
machinery consists of rings made of flat metal which I call disc plate

page_text: rings or disc plate wheels, they are without paddles or floats and are
mounted vertically on axes placed across the ship, boat, or other vessel
to be propelled by them; they must be arranged and combined in
sufficient number and of sufficient diameter to take up the power of the
engine, in order to make practically attainable a greater speed than
hitherto out of the same power; they may be caused to rotate by steam
or any other convenient power being applied thereto.
"
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Jones Aston in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th August 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
JONES ASTON, of 13, Pembroke Gardens, Kensington, in the County
of Middlesex, and of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, and also
a Queen's Counsel of the County Palatine of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Jones Aston, Her special
licence that I, the said James Jones Aston, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Jones Aston,
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
MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS ON THE WATER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Jones Aston, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW IE, that 1, the said James Jones Aston, do nereby
declare the nature of my 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 accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters, words, and figures marked thercon,
that is to say :-
The nature of my said Invention relates to machinery for propelling
ships, boats, and other vessels on the water at a greater rate of speed
than before the date of the said Patent could be obtained from the
steam power used to propel vessels.
The manner in which my said Invention is to be performed is as
follows The propellers to be used should be disc plate rings made of
iron, or steel, or copper, or other metal, they are flat at their sides with
a plane periphery and have no paddles or floats.
Figs. 1 and 2 in the Sheet of Drawings annexed to this Specification
represent respectively a side elevation and edge view of one of my disc
plate rings detached. The width of the disc plate of the rings (marked
a <-
-> b on the said Fig. 2) may vary, an inch of width of
disc plate to a foot of diameter of the disc plate rings I have found to be
a practically useful width. When practicable they may be cast or they
may be manufactured out of sheets of flat metal, but the disc plate
surface should be made as even as practicable. The plates of which the
rings are made should be as thin and light as practicable having due
regard to their size and the metal used, so that they may be sufficiently
strong to be turned rapidly in the water without breaking or buckling,
and in determining their thickness regard should also be had to the
risks of navigation. The disc plate rings should be attached vertically
by arms or otherwise to a central axis or shaft, or to central axes or
shafts placed across the boat or other vessel to be propelled by them,
see Figs. 2, 3, and 4 in the said Sheet of Drawings annexed to this
Specification. The disc plate rings next the boat should be placed
at some distance apart from the sides of the vessel, a practically useful
distance is a distance equal to the width of the disc plate.
The next point to be considered is as to the quantity of disc plate
surface to be applied to a particular boat, this should be made up of
rings of sufficient number and of sufficient diameter to take up the power
of the engines used, or in other words the size of the disc plate wheels
should be regulated by the pressure which the engines are capable of

page_text: exerting. To effectuate this two or more disc plate rings may be com-
bined together into a disc plate wheel and attached to one shaft, they
may be supported in their places and strengthened by stays or braces,
disturbing as little as possible the even side surface of the disc plate
rings. When combined together the distance apart at which the disc
plate rings should be placed must be considerable, and they should be
put so far apart that each disc plate ring may act by itself, and as far as
practicable strike or cut through water not disturbed by any adjoining
disc plate ring. I have found a practically useful distance apart to be a
distance apart double the width of the disc plate.
With regard to the number of disc plate rings to be combined together
in one wheel I have found three to be a practically useful number for
each wheel of the paddle boat of the dimensions herein-after mentioned,
but the number may be varied. Assuming then two disc plate wheels of
three rings like the said Fig. 3 to be employed to propel the vessel, the
next point to be considered is as to the diameter of each wheel, this should
be considerably larger than most paddle wheels, a common paddle wheel
boat of the following dimensions, namely, ninety feet long, eighteen
feet beam, five feet draught of water and having two steam engines,
each cylinder being twenty-nine inches in diameter and with forty-two
inches of stroke and capable of driving about thirty revolutions a
minute, two common paddle wheels, each paddle wheel being fourteen
feet in diameter and having fourteen floats, each float seven feet six
inches long and one foot seven inches broad, to be altered to a
practically useful disc plate wheel boat should have two disc plate
wheels (one on each side like the said Fig. 3), and each disc plate wheel
should be made of three disc plate rings, each disc plate ring being
eighteen feet in diameter and having one foot six inches of width of
disc plate and placed on the shaft three feet apart, and with the same
immersion of the disc plate wheels relatively to the boat as of the
paddle, wheels, and the shaft raised two feet for this
these
disc plate wheels driven by the old engines would give a considerable
increase of speed over the old rate of speed of the boat. Instead of
increasing the diameter of these wheels which for some navigations
would be inconvenient, the power of the engines may be taken up
by applying two or more disc plate ring wheels on two or more shafts.
The said Fig. 4 shews à side view of a boat fitted only with a single
disc plate ring on each of three shafts, this would be a convenient
purpose;

page_text: arrangement for some navigations, of course the other side of the
boat would be fitted in a similar manner. Two or more disc plate
rings might be fitted on each of the shafts, and to make the common
paddle wheel boat above described a practically useful disc plate wheel
boat, without increasing the diameter of the wheel or altering the
paddle shaft, the paddle shaft should be fitted with two disc plate wheels
of the same diameter as the old paddle wheel, and cach disc plate
wheel consisting of three disc plate rings, and each ring of fourteen
inches width of disc plate and also in addition with another shaft fitted
with two similar three disc plate ring wheels, and placed at the same
elevation as the other shaft and worked by the engines in connexion
therewith. All the shafts may be covered in with one box. One disc
plate ring only on each side of a vessel will propel it, but then the
diameter must be very large to take up the power of the engines, one
only on each side with small engine power might be very useful
as auxiliaries to a sailing vessel. In placing the disc plate wheel's
the shafts should be kept high out of the water as in paddle wheel
boats.
.
My improved disc plate wheels should have a rotatory motion imparted
to them by means of steam or other suitable power applied by
machinery in connexion with the axes or shafts fastened into the
centres of such disc plate wheels, and they will then cause the ship,
boat, or other vessel to which they are fitted to be propelled on the
water, and when two or more shafts are used they should be so geared
together as to work in unison.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I
state that I do not claim anything disclosed in my Specification filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the Sixteenth day of June Onc
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, under Her Majesty's Letters
Patent granted to me on the Seventeenth day of December One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-eight, No. 2892, or in my Provisional
Specification recorded in the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
on the Twenty-second day of February One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-eight, No. 505, but I declare that the Invention I desire to
have secured to me consists of the improvements herein-before described
for propelling vessels, and whereby a useful mode of propulsion by
disc plate rings or disc plate wheels is made practically attainable, and

page_text: whereby a greater rate of speed of vessels can be obtained than before
the date of the said Patent of the Twenty-fourth day of February Onc
thousand eight hundred and seventy, could be obtained out of the
same power by the application and use of metal disc plate rings or disc
plate wheels made as herein-before described, of sufficient diameter
and of sufficient number as herein-before described, and attached to one
or more axes or shafts, and arranged and combined as herein-before
described, and caused to rotate for propelling ships, boats, and other
vessels as herein-before described and illustrated in the Sheet of Drawings
annexed to this Specification as herein-before described..
In witness whereof, I, the said James Jones Aston, have herc-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
JOHN GEORGE PEARN,
12, Catherine Street,
Pimlico.
JAMES JONES ASTON.
(L.S.)