IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FLORIDE
HEINDRYCKX, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of April, in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Floride Heindryckx, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Floride Heindryckx, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Floride Heindryckx, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Floride Heindryckx, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Floride Heindryckx, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):
My improvements in propelling relate to that description of apparatus used
for propelling vessels, and usually known as stern propellors, such as the screw
or any modification of the screw. My improved propellor, which is intended
to be used in place of the screw, consists merely of two vanes or wings
attached to an arm or arms, which are firmly fixed on or are secured at right
angles to the main or propelling shaft. These vanes or wings, which may be
called the propellors, I prefer to construct of some highly elastic material,
such as steel or wrought iron, or any other material that will resist the strain
to which it will be subjected. Wood may; if thought desirable, be used, but I
do not intend to confine myself to the use of any particular material, so long
as a proper amount of elasticity can be obtained.
In order however that my Invention may be more clearly understood, I have
shewn in the accompanying Drawings three different views of my improved
propellor, and also the manner of applying the same for propelling a vessel.
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation or end view of the improved propellor; Fig. 2,
a side or edge view, and Fig. 8, a plan view of the same, as seen from above.
a is the main or driving shaft around which the propellors b, b, rotate, and to
which they are connected by the cross piece or transverse bar c. The dimensions
of the propellors or vanes vary, and the latter are more or less inclined
according to circumstances; their stiffness or rigidity must also depend upon
the size and form of the vessel they are intended to propel. In order to bring
the improved propellor within the same space as that occupied by the screw
which it is intended to supersede, the outer angles or corners of the vanes or
propellors may, if thought desirable, be rounded off. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal
vertical section of the after part of a vessel, in which I have shewn the pro-
pellor mounted in its place on the main or driving shaft a, in the same manner
as the screw; but, if thought desirable, two propelling apparatus may be used,
one on each side of the stern post, instead of only one situated immediately
behind it, as shewn in the Drawing.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in Propelling," and
the best means with which I am at present acquainted for carrying the same
into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that I do not mean or intend to
confine myself to any particular dimensions for the vanes or propellors, nor to

page_text: the form or inclination or angle shewn in the Drawing, nor yet to the material
of which they are to be constructed, as all these points admit of considerable
variation according to the circumstances under which the improved propellors
are to be employed. But that which I consider to be new, and therefore wish
to claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, is, mounting two or more elastic inclined vanes or wings on
an arm or arms fixed or attached transversely to the main or driving shaft,
and causing those vanes or wings to rotate with the shaft, so that by acting
on the water they may cause the vessel to move through the water.
In witness whereof, I, the said Floride Heindryckx, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.