IMPROVEMENTS IN MOVING FLOATING BODIES THROUGH WATER AND AIR, AND IN ACCELERATING THE FLOW OF WATER, AIR, AND OTHER FLUIDS THROUGH SHAFTS PIPES, AND OTHER CHANNELS
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
SUNDERLAND, of Albany Street, Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Nineteenth day of January, in the sixth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas
Sunderland, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Sunderland, my exors,
admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas Sunderland, my
exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time, and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that
part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, Her Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon- weed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOVING FLOATING BODIES THROUGH WATER AND
AIR, AND IN ACCELERATING THE FLOW OF WATER, AIR, AND OTHER FLUIDS THROUGH
SHAFTS, PIPES, AND OTHER CHANNELS;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, that I, the said Thomas Sunderland, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of niy said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's

page_text: High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Sunderland, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are ascertained and described
in and by the following Specification thereof (that is to say) :-
For moving floating bodies through water and air, such as ships and
balloons, I propose to make use of a propeller of the form and placed in
the position in respect to the line of motion represented in Figures
1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Drawings hereunto annexed. It consists of two flat
blades A, A, attached to the ends of a cross bar B, affixed to a longi-
tudinal shaft C, and set at angles to the shaft C of about thirty degrees
(Figure 4), but inclined in opposite directions the one to the other.
Each blade is of the form shewn in the detached view, Figure 3, and in
respect of that form is wholly independant both of the shaft and cross bar.
The inner edge from a to b is the segment of a circle, and the outer edge from
c to d is of such a curve that every point thereof is equidistant from a straight
line drawn through the centre of the shaft C. In applying this propeller to
ships, I propose to attach it to the outer end of a longitudinal shaft D, connected
by suitable gearing to the steam engine or other first mover, and carried out
through the stern post and beyond the rudder, as represented in Figures 1 and 2.
The rudder is to be divided for this purpose into two parts, which are connected
by bands of iron, which will render the rudder as strong as if it were formed of
one piece in the usual way. The connecting bands have a bend outwards in
the middle, so as to allow of the rudder being put right starboard or larboard.
The propeller is represented in Figures 3 and 4 as being permanently fixed
to the end of the shaft D, but it may be attached thereto by any of various well-
known means, such as a hinge joint or bayonet joint, so as to be shipped and
unshipped at pleasure.
For the moving of certain classes of floating bodies through water, such as
canal boats and river barges, I further propose to employ a steam apparatus
of the simple form represented in Figures 5 and 6. Two, three, or more
boilers, as E, E, E, placed side by side and connected firmly together, are to
be fixed near to the stern of the boat or barge. F, F, F, are escape pipes
projecting from the back of the boilers, that is, pointing in a direction contrary.
to the line of motion of the boat or barge, and through which the steam, after
being raised to any required pressure, is to be projected against the atmosphere,

page_text: so that by the reactive effect produced the boat or barge may be propelled
forward. It is intended that the boilers should be worked in a continuous
series, the one after the other, during equal times and under equal average pres-
sures, and for this purpose they must be provided with valves so fixed, weighted,
and governed (by any of the well-known means in common use for such
purposes), that as the steam falls below the determined average pressure in one
boiler, the escape pipe of that boiler shall be closed, and that of the next boiler
in succession opened, and so on, throughout the series.
For accelarating the flow of water, air, and other fluids through shafts,
pipes, and other channels, I adopt the improved means exemplified by the
Drawings, Figures 7 and 8. Figure 6 is an elevation, and Figure 7 a plan,
of part of a steam engine furnace with my draught-accelerating apparatus
applied to the same. To the flue G leading from the furnace I attach a
common rotary blower H, at any point where it can be most conveniently
worked by a strap or band from the engine, and after the column of heated
air and vapours has passed through the blower, it may be conveyed away by a
flue carried in any direction found most suitable, whether perpendicular,
longitudinal, or otherwise. I is a damper, by which the quantity of atmo-
spheric air, and consequently the oxygen necessary to combustion admitted,
can be regulated at pleasure, any deficiency in the requisite quantity of
oxygen being immediately indicated by the presence of smoke. K is a drum,
which, supposing the working power to be obtained from the steam engine,
will carry the necessary connecting band.
And having now described my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is,―
First, the propeller with blades of the determinate form before described,
set at an angle of thirty degrees, less or more, to the shaft, and attached (not
immediately to the shaft, as usual, but) to the ends of a cross bar affixed to
the shaft.
Second, the propulsion of canal boats, steam barges, and other floating
bodies, by steam power applied in the manner or on the system before
described.
And, third, the means of accelerating the flow of water, air, and other fluids
before exemplified and described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Nine-
teenth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
THOS (L.S.) SUNDERLAND.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid Thomas Sunderland came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Nineteenth day of July, in the year of Our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and forty-three.