IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Fellows Harrington, of Ryde, in the
Isle of Wight, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING
SHIPS OR VESSELS."
Sealed the 9th January 1872, and dated the 12th July 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Fellows
Harrington at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 12th July 1871.
I, GEORGE FELLOWS HARRINGTON, of Ryde, in the Isle of Wight,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PROPELLING SHIPS OR VESSELS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists, firstly, in taking a continuous stream of the
opposing or surging water from the vessel's bows by means of a screw
at each bow placed under the draught line and above the bottom of
the keel, and forcing such stream or streams along pipes or passages

page_text: by the same screws, so as to drive the vessel forwards by the reaction
of the said water currents, so long as is desired to continue the vessel
in motion.
Secondly. In forcing into the water immediately in the rear of the
vessel by means of an air pump or pumps, or other air forcing apparatus,
one or more powerful jets or blasts of atmospheric air for the purpose
of propelling the vessel by the reaction of such jets of air thereon.
These improvements in propelling may be used either in one vessel,
in combination, or separately, as may be desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said George Fellows Harrington in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 12th January 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FELLOWS HARRINGTON, of Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the 35th
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said George Fellows Harrington, Her special license
that I, the said George Fellows Harrington, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Fellows
Harrington, my executors, administrators, or 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 SHIPS OR VESSELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Fellows Harrington, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Fellows Harrington,. do
hereby 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 and figures marked thereon, that
is to say :-
1
My said Invention applies to vessels that are propelled by steam or
other power, and consists of a peculiar arrangement of screw propellers.
According to my Invention the screw propellers are placed so as to
work under the surface of the water parallel with the length of the
vessel one on each side of her bows. These screws, whilst at work, not
only propel the vessel, but they also take the rushing water which the
bow displaces from her line of passage, and receive the force which such
rushing water contains to assist to propel the vessel and increase her
speed. By placing the screws so as to receive the force which the bow
of the vessel communicates to the water to displace it, and by driving
them by means of any suitable or well-known machinery and steam or
other power, I not only obtain the ordinary amount of force, such as a
screw placed at the stern of a vessel exerts, but I also gain the extra
amount of force which the displaced water communicates to the screws
whilst it is passing through them.
In applying my improved mode of propulsion, although I claim no
particular form of vessel, I believe that a parallel sided vessel will be
best, because it will not only displace the least quantity of water whilst
passing through it, but it will also afford a greater amount of deck and
stowage accommodation than those vessels do which resemble an elon-
gated bowl with a keel. And as great increase of speed will be obtained
by my system of propelling, vessels intended to encounter large waves
or seas may be made with a deck angular at the sides and bow and flat
at the top, something like the roof of a house, so that instead of waves
or seas striking against an abrupt surface standing at right angles to
them, they would glide up the incline and pass over the top, and
instead of the vessel riding over such waves or seas she would tunnel
through them, and thereby not be liable to such rolling, tossing, and
pitching, as is now sometimes experienced in stormy weather.

page_text: I wish it to be understood that I do not claim any particular form
of vessel or any particular arrangement of machinery for driving the
screws.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts.
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a side elevation and partial
section of the fore part of a vessel arranged to be propelled in accord- -
ance with my Invention; Figure 2 is a plan of the same; and Figure 3
is a transverse vertical section taken along the line 1-2 (Figure 2).
A is the hull of the vessel, which I prefer to make with parallel sides,
and of the form shown in my Drawings. On cach side of the vessel
near the bows, below the water line, and just under the lateral pro-
jection which extends from stem to stern, I place a screw propeller B,
which I make, by preference, to consist of two threads or blades of long
pitch, cach forming one half of the circumference of a circle. By this
means I obtain a quick pitched screw with a comparatively short length
of axis. Each of these screws is enclosed in a short pipe or casing C,
which protects it from the beating action of the waves, and also serves
to confine and direct the current of water which is displaced by the
bows of the vessel. These screws may obviously be driven in various
ways in my Drawings. I have shewn them as driven by endless pitch
chains and chain wheels D, D, from the intermediate shafts E, E, which
shafts carry small spur wheels F, F, driven from the large central spur
wheel G. This wheel G is the common driver for both the screws, and
is mounted upon the crank shaft H of a pair of steam engines.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, placing the
screws near the bows on each side of the vessel in such a manner as
not only to propel the vessel but also to receive the force which the
vessel communicates to the water whilst displacing it from her line of

page_text: passage, so as to utilize this force to increase the speed of the vessel,
substantially in the manner herein-before described and illustrated by
my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Fellows Harrington, have
to this my Specification set my hand and seal, the Ninth day
of January, One thousand cight hundred and seventy-two.