IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER FLOATING VESSELS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Donald Beatson, of Mile End, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MEANS OF PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER FLOATING VESSELS."
Sealed the 23rd July 1853, and dated the 24th January 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Donald Beatson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th January 1858.
I, DONALD BEATSON, of Mile End, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER FLOATING
VESSELS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a propeller having
having a surface which is
formed of one or more waves, flutes, ridges, or corrugations, or in
applying such waves, flutes, ridges, or corrugations to propellers, similar
to the screw or fan now in use, the object being to lessen the slip,
and thereby increase the power...

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Donald Beatson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd July 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
DONALD BEATSON, of Mile End, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Efer
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Donald Beatson, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Donald Beatson,
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 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 certain "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER FLOATING
VESSELS," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said Donald
Beatson, 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 six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Donald Beatson, 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 and description thereof (that is to say):
My Invention relates to screw propellers, and consists in forming
and constructing the blades or fans with corrugated, ridged, ribbed, or
flanged surfaces, or of applying the same to the blades or fans of pro-
pellers, similar in form or action to those at present in use, the object
of such corrugated, ridged, ribbed, or flanged surfaces being to increase
the hold or purchase of the blades or fans upon the water.

page_text: I make or construct the blades or fans of screw propellers with
waved, corrugated, fluted, or ridged surfaces, in such a manner that the
projection on one face forms a hollow at the back or opposite face
thereof, so that if the blade were cut through transversely the section
thereof would show or waved, crooked, or zigzag edge. In lieu of the
above mentioned formus I construct ribbed or flanged proportions on
the plain face of the blade or fan, on one or both sides thereof, and I
form the said corrugations, waves, flutes, ridges, ribs, or flanges in
curvilineal lines, described by a radius from the axis or centre of the
shaft upon which or with which the propellers revolve.
I also apply this my said Invention to propellers, similar in form or
action to those now in use, by adding the above mentioned waved,
corrugated, fluted, ridged, ribbed, or flange surfaces to or upon the
face of the blades or fans of such propellers, on one or both sides
thereof, with the object or for the purpose of increasing the adhesion
of the water thereto, thereby preventing or lessening what is commonly
called the slip, or in other words the water, from being thrown off the
surface or surfaces of the blades or fans two rapidly.
The accompanying Drawings are intended to illustrato the form and
construction of the surface or surfaces of the blades or fans, as above
described, in this my said Invention.
Fig. 1, shows a blade or fan with corrugated surfaces.
Fig. 2, is a transverse section through the centre of the blades on
the line F, G, Fig. 1.
Fig. 3, shows a blade or fan with waved or fluted surfaces.
Fig. 4, is a transverse section through the line F, G, at Fig. 3.
Fig. 5, shows a blade or fan with ridge and valley surfaces.
Fig. 6, is a transverse section through the centre of the blades
at F, G.
Fig. 7, shows a blade or fan with ribbed or flanged surfaces.
Fig. 8, is a transverse section through the line.
Fig. 9, shows a rib or flange detached; and
Fig. 10, is the transverse section thereof, and shows a mode of
attaching the rib or flange to the surface of the blade.
For convenience of reference the several illustrations are lettered in

page_text: a similar manner, so that the following description applies to each
respectively. A, A, are the blades or fans; B, the shaft on
which or with which the blades or fans of the propeller revolve;
C, D, the axis of motion or centre about which the corrugations.
ridges, flanges, &c. are curved; E, E, the said corrugations, waves,
ridges, flanges, &c.; F, G, the line through the centre of the blades on
which the transverse sections are taken.
I do not confine myself to the exact forms of blades or surfaces
herein described, or as illustrated on the accompanying Drawings, as
the same may be varied without departing from the principle on which
-they are constructed; but I claim as my Invention the several forms
of surface herein described, or as illustrated on the annexed Drawings,
and also all such modifications thereof as may be, so long as the prin-
ciple of this my Invention is maintained in the construction of blades
or fans of screw propellers, and the application of the said surfaces to
the blades or fans of propellers, similar in form or action as those at
present in use.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Donald Beatson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, A.D.
1853.
DONALD BEATSON. (L.s.)