IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bourne, of Leith, Scotland, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS."
Scaled the 30th April 1869, and dated the 16th January 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bourne at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th January 1869.
I, JOHN BOURNE, of Leith, Scotland, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS,'
to be as follows:-
Instead of propelling a vessel wholly by a screw or screws or by
paddles in the usual manner, I propel her partly by a screw or screws
or by paddles and partly by a jet or jets of water, steam, air, or other
gases, or by any mixture of all or any of them, the said jet or jets issuing
sternward, and the screw or screws or paddles acting in conjunction or
combination with the jet or jets in the propulsion of the ship. Pro-
pulsion by jet though often tried within the last two hundred years has

page_text: never obtained any extended introduction, as, when used alono, it has
been considered to be less effective than a screw or screws or paddles;
but used in combination with a screw or screws or paddles its efficacy
will be increased as it will. have less slip, while it will at the same time
increase the efficacy of the screw or screws or paddles by reducing
their slip.
There are various methods of carrying out my Invention, some of
which I may enumerate. The jet or jets may be produced by means
of an independent engine or engines, or by other apparatus of any
description suitable for forcing water, steam, air, or other gases, or 1
any mixture of all or any of them, or may be actuated by the steam
engine or engines, or other apparatus which drives the screw or screws
or paddles. But the arrangement which I prefer as being generally the
most suitable is that which I shall now proceed to describe.
The main purpose of my Invention is to enable existing vessels to 1
have their speed increased or their consumption of fuel diminished, or
both, without discarding the existing engines, and this I propose to
accomplish by forcing out a jet or jets of water sternward by means
of a high-pressure engine or engines, the steam escaping from which will
proceed to the existing low-pressure engine or engines to work them 2
with the same or a similar pressure of steam as that which had been
previously used therein.
My Invention may be employed either to reduce the consumption of
fuel with the same speed of vessel, or to increase the speed of vessel
with the same consumption of fuel, or partly to do the one and partly 2
the other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Bourne in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN 80
BOURNE, of Leith, Scotland, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent,, bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, in the year

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, tho said John Bourne, Her special licence
that I, the said John Bourne, my exccutors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Bourne, 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
theroin 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 I, the
said John Bourne, 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 Scal Patent Offico within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Bourne, do hereby declaro
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by tho
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing thereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thercon (that is to say):-
:-
Instead of propelling a vessel wholly by a screw or screws or by
paddles in the usual manner, I propel her partly by a scrow or screws
or by paddles and partly by a jet or jets of water, steam, air, or other
gases, or by a mixture of all or any of them, the said jet or jets issuing
sternward, and the screw or screws or paddles acting in conjunction or
combination with the jet or jets in the propulsion of the ship. Pro-
pulsion by jet though often tried within the last two hundred years has
nover obtained any extended introduction, as, when used alone, it has
been considered to be less effective than a screw or screws or paddles;
but when used in combination with a scrow or screws or paddles its
efficacy will be increased as it will have less slip, while it will at the
same time increase the efficacy of the screw or sorows or paddles by.
reducing their slip.
"
There are various methods of carrying out my Invention, some of

page_text: 1
"
pendent engine or engines, or by other apparatus of any description
suitable for forcing water, steam, air, or other gases, such as a centrifugal
pump, a three-throw crank pump, or other usual instrument used for
pumping or ejecting fluids. These jets may consist either of water, steam,
or air, or of other gases, or of a mixture of two or more of these sub-
stances, and the apparatus used may be actuated by the steam engine
or other prime mover which drives the screw or screws or paddles. But
the arrangement which I prefer as being generally the most suitable is
that which I shall now proceed to describe.
The main purpose of my Invention is to enable existing vessels to
bavo their speed increased or their consumption of fuel diminished, or
both, without discarding the existing engines, and this I propose to
accomplish by forcing out a jet or jets of water sternward by means
of a high-pressure engine or engines, the steam escaping from which will
proceed to the existing low-pressure engine or engines to work them
with the same or similar pressure of steam as that which had previously
been used in them. But instead of a jet or jets of water I sometimes
employ a jet or jets of air or steam, or of the gaseous products of com-
bustion derived from the steam boiler furnaces, which may be propelled
either by a fan, a pump, or other similar instrument, or by a jet or jets
of steam or water, or of steam and water mixed, or by any other means
'by which the required force and velocity will be given to the fluid issuing
in a jet or jets. The screw or screws and paddles, as well as the engines
for driving them, and the propelling jet or jets, whether of water, air, or
other fluid; being all of the usual kinds and consequently well known
'it is unnecessary to give Drawings of them, the novelty of the present
'Invention consisting not in any special form of engine, sorew, paddle,
or jet, but in the combination of jet propulsion with screw or paddlo
propulsion, whereby the efficacy of both will be increased and a very
material economy in fuel will be obtained,
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in Propelling Vessels," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I do not claim the Invention of any particular
form of jet propeller, or limit myself to any particular position for it
with respect to the vessel's hull so that it points sternward, or to the use
of any particular engine, paddle, or screw; but I claim as new and of

page_text: my Invention, propelling vessels by a jet or jets of water, steam, air, or
the gaseous products of combustion, or of a mixture of two or more of
theso substances, in combination with a scrow or screws or paddles, as
boforo described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bourne, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-nine.