AN IMPROVED METHOD OR MEANS OF PROPELLING BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1819

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY BOOTH,
of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Sixth day of May last, for Himself, His heirs and successors, did
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Booth, His special licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry Booth, my exors, adiñors,
and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my deputy or
deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said Henry Booth, my
exors, adiñors, 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 England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OR MEANS OF PROPELLING BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Henry Booth,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereto had, will more fully appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Booth, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the following descrip-
tion thereof (that is to say):-
4
Fig. 1 is a plan and Fig. 2 an elevation of the machine as applied to a canal
boat; Fig. 3 a section of the boat, and an end view of part of the machinery, as
seen beyond the dotted line in Fig. 2; Fig. 4, an end view of the propeller,
viewed from the stern of the boat; and Figs. 5, 6, and 7, different sections of the
propeller; the same letters refering to the same parts in all the figures. A, A, A,
&c., the boat (the fore part of which is not shewn), the keel timbers being ex-
tended at the stern to support an extra stern post, and other timbers to support
and guide the propeller; B, B, the propeller, with a piston rod C, C, affixed
to it, and which, passing through a stuffing box D in the stern of the boat,
is united to the solid piston. E, which moves in the cylindrical. tube F, and
which is united by flanches with the curved elbow tube G, and this again to
the cylinder H by other flanches in the cylinder H; another solid piston I
moves the cylindrical tube F, the elbow tube G, and the cylinder H, thus forming
the body of an hydraulic engine, into which oil, water, or other proper dense fluid
being put, the motion of the piston I is thereby communicated to the piston E,
but with an increased velocity and an extended stroke, according to the differ-
ence in the areas of the cylinders F and H. The piston rod J of the piston I
of the hydraulic engine is here shewn as connected by means of the cross
head K, and the side rods L, L, with the beams M, M, of a double action
steam engine, but the hydraulic engine may be actuated by horses, manual
labour, or any other fit and proper first mover.
The beams M, M, are con-
nected together by the collar bolts N, N, N, N, and by the axis 0, 0, the
pivots of which move in the carriages P, P, furnished with brasses, &c., as
usual, and which are firmly attached to the floor of the boat. Qis the cross
head of the piston of the steam engine; R, R, the side rods which connect it
with the beams M, M; S, the cross head of the air pump; T, T, the side rods
which connect it with the beams M, M; U, the steam cylinder; V, the con-
denser; W, the air pump; X, X, the steam pipe; Y, the boiler; and Z, its
chimney. The side rods L, L, R, R, and T, T, have conical holes at each end,
which move upon necks at the ends of the cross heads and studs fixed in the
insides of the beams M, M, and the steam cock may be opened or shut by the
usual contrivances, and the boiler. supplied with water in the usual manner of
steam engine boilers, which need not be described here. Across the top of the
cylinder H of the hydraulic engine is fixed a stuffing box, through which the

page_text: piston rod J passes to preserve its perpendicular movement.
'
In Fig. 2 the end
of one of the beams M, M, is represented as broken off, in order that it might
not interfere with the section of the hydraulic engine F, G, H. The propeller
B, B, consists of two rectangular frames a, a, firmly united together by means
of the block b, Figs. 5 and 7, and the upper plank c, c, Figs. 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
. Each of these frames has three or more partitions d, d, d, &c., Figs. 2, 5, and 6,
extended across it, and of half the depth of the frames; and to the back
ends of them are hinged the valves e, e, e, &c., which lift up nearly to
an horizontal position on their returning movement through the water, as
shewn in Figs. 2, 5, and 6, so as to present but little resistance thereto, but
fall perpendicularly downwards, as they are thrust outwards by the action of
the machinery, and as shewn in Fig. 4, so as to act with a considerable force
in propelling the vessel forward. The block 6, Figs. 5 and 7, moves backwards
and forwards along the space f, f, Fig. 2, between the elongated keel and the
plank g, g, and has two friction rollers h, h, Figs. 1, 2, 5, and 7, fixed in it, to
cause it to move more easily; and the upper plank e, e, moves in the slit k, k.
Eight other friction rollers i, i, i, i, &c. are fixed on the insides of the frames a, a,
four on each, which act against four bars of metal j, j, &c., two of which are
shewn in Fig. 2, as affixed to the elongated keel and plank g, g, to facilitate
and regulate the action of the propeller sideways. The piston rod C is also
firmly secured in the block b. By this arrangement the downward stroke of
the engine is made to exert a great power and considerable velocity in driving
out the propeller, which effect is also greatly increased by the weight of the
beams M, M; and the pistons, cross heads, and side rods acting at the same time,
the engine in its upward stroke having only to lift those parts, and to bring back
the propeller ready to make another rapid thrust outwards, and so on repeatedly.
The same apparatus is equally applicable to ships and other vessels, proper
provision being made in their construction to receive it. I do not mean hereby
to claim as my Invention any of the several parts composing this apparatus,
which may or may not have been in use before, but I do hereby claim the
application of those parts to this particular object.
The materials to be employed in the construction of the various parts of the
apparatus may be such as are ordinarily used, and are fit and proper for such
purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Booth, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and nineteen.
HENRY (LS.) BOOTH.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1819, the aforesaid Henry Booth came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the tenor
of the Statute made for that purpose.