Improvements in the Form of Body for Vessels, Floating or Pontoon Bridges, Stationary Floating Structures, Aerial Vessels, Projectiles, and Torpedoes.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Feb., 1894
Complete Specification Left. 13th Nov. 1804 Accented 2nd Fab 1805
Date of Application, 15th Feb., 1894
Complete Specification Left. 13th Nov.
1894 Accepted, 2nd Feb
1805
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Form of Body for Vessels, Floating or
Pontoon Bridges, Stationary Floating Structures, Aerial
Vessels, Projectiles, and Torpedoes.
We FRANCIS EUGENE MILLS, Civil Engineer, and HORACE ATWATER
DEMING, Merchant, both of 124 Post Street, San Francisco, in the County of
San Francisco, State of California, United States of America, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In the drawings :-
Figure 1 is a perspective view and transverse sections (taken at the various
points indicated on the perspective view) of the form of body in devices for use
entirely immersed in water or surrounded by air.
Figure 2 is a side elevation, underside plan and cross section of the form of
body when but two sides are to be subjected to the action of the resisting fluid
medium and
Figure 3 shows for purpose of explanation and illustration a single compensating
wedge hereinafter referred to.
The object of the invention is to produce a form of body either solid or hollow,
which with a given length and end displacement will pass through the air, water or
any other resisting fluid medium with the greatest sustained velocity and the least
expenditure of power and also maintain a stationary position with the least
anchorage when opposed by currents of. wind or water, such form to be applied to
military or other projectiles shot through the air, submerged projectiles and
torpedoes shot through the water, submerged vessels propelled under water, other
uses hereinafter mentioned, and one longitudinal half of it to boats and other floating
craft partially immersed in water. To get the form required we first make a single
compensating wedge of the dimensions desired and the shape represented in
Figure 3 in the accompanying drawings; that is to say a wedge (the bottom being
flat and level) the top of which tapers longitudinally and continuously in one
direction to a thin horizontal edge, while the sides at right angles thereto taper
continuously in the opposite direction to a thin horizontal edge.
Now if this body were immersed in water pressing equally in all directions, the
pressure on the upper surface acting alone would tend to move it in the direction of
its vertical end, while the pressure on the reverse part (the sides) would of itself
tend to move it in the opposite direction; as these two opposing forces neutralize
each other the body would remain stationary. But if by some extrinsic power,
this body were moved rapidly and horizontally through the water, the upper
inclined surface would impinge against and displace the water while the reverse
sides would constantly recede from it, and as the displaced fluid could replace itself
against the receding sides by its gravitating power alone, the replacement would be
so slow as to leave no counteracting pressure on the reverse parts of the wedge, but
instead of that there would be a constant tendency to a vacuum there, which would
retard its motion. In order to prevent this vacuum and also to restore the
equilibrium of forces which existed upon the two opposing wedges when the body.
was stationary, we connect the two wedges by laterally intervening sides, whose:
transverse planes are at all points diagonal to the lines of taper of both. This we
do by drawing a line through the longitudinal centre of the tapering surface of the

page_text: upper wedge and cutting away the rectangular half of each transversely from this
central line to the tapering lines of the bottom all the way from one end to the
other, leaving it in the form shown in Figure 2, that is a three sided body, one
side a being flat, horizontal, non resistant, with its longitudinal edges a¹ tapering
all the way in one direction, and two equally transversely flaring diagonal sides b
whose line c of convergence tapers all the way in the opposite direction, the flare
of the sides commencing at the narrow end b¹ where they are vertical and increasing
in degree all the way to the wide end, where they become horizontal, and merge
into the flat bottom, each of these diagonal sides thus making in its entire length
a transverse twist of 90 degrees, but in opposite directions. The functions of the
wedge are now confined to these two diagonal sides b, each of which possesses in
itself the property of compensation.
If when in this form, the body were driven rapidly end wise through the water
in either direction, some portions of each side would be impinging against and
displacing the fluid, while other portions, laterally adjacent thereto would be
receding from it as before. But in the act of displacement the water will be
deflected spirally and relatively backward, directly into the vacuous spaces which
are being left between the receding portions and the surrounding fluid, not only
preventing á vacuum there but imparting the force of its momentum to the reverse
portions of the wedge, and thus counteracting the resistance opposed to its advance.
In other words the displacement and replacement will be coincident and reciprocal
parts of the same movement. The more rapid the displacement the more forcible
will be the impact of the displaced water as it is driven in upon the reverse portions
of the wedge.
The form hercin last described and shown in Figure 2 embodies in two contact
surfaces the principles underlying the solid shown in Figure 1, and where this half
is inverted and placed in the water with the flat side level and even with its surface,
it represents the application of the invention to boats and other craft partially
immersed in the water. It forms that part of the hull at and below the load water
line. In connection with the said bull construction it is preferred to supply a keel
as shown.
In all boats now in use, the motive inertia of the water which is displaced and
set in motion by the passage of the boat through it is lost. Yet in all fast-going
boats by far the greatest portion of the propelling power is consumed in producing
dual motion, and most of the power expended in producing it still resides in the
momentum of that moving water at the instant it is being driven from the boat.
In the form of hull herein described the larger portion of the displaced water,
instead of being driven away from the boat, in the form of waves, to toss and vex
all neighbouring craft and dash with destructive violence against the shores, will
be driven against the receding portions of the boat itself, in the manner and with
the effect hereinbefore described, leaving the shores uninjured and its smaller
neighbours undisturbed. The momentum of the displaced water is utilized and
restores to the boat in a large measure the power consumed in displacing it, thus
rendering possible a very high rate of speed at comparatively small cost for power.
When the invention is to be applied to submerged projectiles, or to projectiles
shot through the air, or to any other use where the body is wholly enclosed by the
resisting fluid, I unite to the half already described another half of the same
dimensions and form, placing the flat sides together so that their edges and
ends exactly conform. This gives it four equal longitudinal sides, each twisting
90 degrees in its entire length, terminating and merging in two chisel-form ends
standing at right angles with each other, the twist of adjacent sides being in opposite
directions, as shown in Figure 1. Both ends being alike, this body will pass
through the air, water or other fluid medium with equal ease in either direction,
displacing and replacing the fluid on the principle of a compensating wedge,
as hereinbefore explained. The angle of longitudinal taper, in these wedges
respectively, may be uniform from end to end, if desired, but to obtain the full
effect of the principle the line of taper should be a regular curve, tangential to the

page_text: line of motion at the wide end and continuing on a single radius to the opposite end
as shown. The reason for this lies in the fact that though the progressive motion
of the body through the air or water may be very rapid, the lateral movement of
the displaced fluid will be comparatively slow, and relatively towards the rear,
thus throwing the culminating force of the replacement upon the rear portions of
the reverse wedge, which by having the increasing angle of taper given it by this
curve will receive a greater impulse forward. For most purposes it will be found
desirable to round off the thin corners of the forward end (soinetimes the rear end
also) but this can be done without materially impairing the effect.
For submarine projectiles and torpedoes, this form would prove exceedingly
effective, and of great value in the defence of seaboard towns. The enormous
resistance opposed by the ris inertia of water to a body moving swiftly beneath its
surface, has hitherto so limited the speed and force of such projectiles, and enhanced
the cost of employing them, that the most vulnerable part of a hostile ship (that
below the water line) has been practically exempt from assault. But with a
projectile made in the form herein described, such parts could be reached with
destructive effect, either by a plunging fire through the air, or a horizontal one
beneath the surface of the water. Besides those already enumerated there are
various other uses to which we propose to apply this invention.
Among these are submerged or partially immersed supports for floating or
pontoon bridges, crossing rivers or waters subject to the flux and reflux of strong
tides, to floating stationary structures exposed to currents of water, to swinging
ferry boats when crossing rapid streams, and to balloons and other structures for
navigating the air, whether moving or stationary, to enable them to overcome the
resistance of the atmosphere, or to withstand the forces of the wind.
For most of the uses herein mentioned it is best to make the lines of the trans-
verse sections of the body straight but where greater buoyancy with the same
longitudinal dimensions is desired, as in stationary balloons and Hoats, these lines
may be slightly convex without detracting very greatly from the effect, such
curvature being indicated in some of the cross sectional views forming a part of
Figure 1.
Improvements in the Form of Body for Vessels, Floating or
Pontoon Bridges, Stationary Floating Structures, Aerial
Vessels, Projectiles, and Torpedoes.
We, FRANCIS EUGENE MILLS, Civil Engineer, and HORACE ATWATER
DEMING, Merchant, both of 124, Post Street, San Francisco, in the County of
San Francisco, and State of California, United States of America, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
In the drawings accompanying our Provisional Specification
Figure 1 is a perspective view and transverse sections (taken at the various
points indicated on the perspective view) of the form of body in devices for use
entirely immersed in water or surrounded by air;
Figure 2 is a side elevation, underside plan, and cross-section of the form of

page_text: body when but two sides are to be subjected to the action of the resisting fluid
medium; and
Figure 3. shews for the purpose of explanation and illustration, a single
compensating wedge hereinafter referred to.
The object of the invention is to produce a form of body, either solid or
hollow, which, with a given length and end displacement, will pass through the
air, water, or any other resisting fluid medium with the greatest sustained
velocity and the least expenditure of power, and also maintain a stationary
position with the least anchorage when opposed by currents of wind or water;
such form to be applied to military or other projectiles shot through the air,
submerged projectiles and torpedoes shot through the water, submerged vessels
propelled under water, and other uses hereinafter mentioned, and one longitudinal
half of it to boats and other floating crafts partially immersed in water.
To get the form required we first make a single compensating wedge of the
dimensions desired and the shape represented in Figure 3 in the accompanying
drawings, that is to say a wedge (the bottom being flat and level) the top of
which tapers longitudinally and continuously in one direction to a thin horizontal
edge while the sides at right angles thereto taper continuously in the opposite
direction to a thin vertical edge.
Now if this body were immersed in water pressing equally in all directions,
the pressure on the upper surface, acting alone, would tend to move it in the
direction of its vertical end while the pressure on the reverse part (the sides)
would of itself tend to move it in the opposite direction, as these two opposing
forces neutralize each other the body would remain stationary. But if, by some
extrinsic power, this body were moved rapidly and horizontally through the
water, the upper inclined surface would impinge against and displace the water,
while the reverse sides would constantly recede from it, and as the displaced
fluid could replace itself against the receding sides by its gravitating power
alone, the replacement would be so slow as to leave no counteracting pressure
on the reverse parts of the wedge but instead of that there would be a constant
tendency to a vacuum there, which would retard its motion. In order to prevent
this vacuum and also to restore the equilibrium of forces which existed upon
the two opposing wedges when the body was stationary, we connect the two
wedges by laterally intervening sides whose transverse planes are at all points
diagonal to the lines of taper of both. This we do by drawing a line through
the longitudinal centre of the tapered surface of the upper wedge and cutting
away the rectangular half of each, transversely, from this central line to the
tapering lines of the bottom all the way from one end to the other, leaving it
in the form shewn in Figure 2, that is a three sides body, one side a being flat,
horizontal, non-resistant, with its longitudinal edges a' tapering all the way in
one direction, and two equal transversely flaring diagonal sides & whose line c of
convergence tapers all the way in the opposite direction, the flare of the sides
commencing at the narrow end where they are vertical and increasing in
degree all the way to the wide end where they become horizontal and merge
into the flat bottom each of these diagonal sides thus making in its entire length
a transverse twist of 90 degrees, but in opposite directions. The functions of
the wedge are now confined to these two diagonal sides 6 each of which possesses
in itself the property of compensation. If when in this form the body were
driven rapidly end wise through the water in either direction, some portions of
each side would be impinged against and displacing the fluid while other portions
laterally adjacent thereto would be receding from it, as hefore. But in the act
of displacement the water will be deflected spirally and relatively backward,
directly into the vacuous spaces which are being left between the receding
portions and the surrounding fluid, not only preventing a vacuum there but
imparting the force of its momentum to the reverse portions of the wedge and
thus counteracting the resistance opposed to its advance. In other words the
displacement and replacement will be coincident, and reciprocal parts of the same

page_text: movement. The more rapid the displacement the more forcibly will be the
impact of the displaced water as it is driven in upon the reverse portions of the
wedge.
The form herein last described and shewn in Figure 2 embodies in two, contact
surfaces the principles underlying the solid shewn in Figure 1, and when this
half is inverted and placed in the water with the flat side level and even with
its surface it represents the application of the invention to boats and other crafts
partially immersed in the water. It forms that part of the hull at and below
the load water line. In connection with the said hull construction it is preferred
to supply a keel, as shewn.
In all boats now in use, the motive inertia of the water which is displaced
and set in motion by the passage of the boat through it is lost. Yet in all
fast going boats by far the greatest portion of the propelling power is consumed
in producing that motion and most of the power expended in producing it still
resides in the momentum of that moving water at the instant it is being driven
from the boat. In the form of hull herein described the larger portion of the
displaced water, instead of being driven away from the boat in the form of waves,
to toss and vex all neighbouring craft and dash with destructive violence against
the shores, will be driven against the receding portions of the boat itself, in the
manner and with the effect herein before described, leaving shores uninjured and its
smaller neighbours undisturbed. The momentum of the displaced water is utilized
and restores to the boat in a large measure the power consumed in displacing it,.
thus rendering possible a very high rate of speed at comparatively small cost for
power.
When the invention is to be applied to submerged projectiles or to projectiles
shot through the air, or to any other use where the body is wholly enclosed by
the resisting fluid, we unite to the half already described another half of the
same dimensions and form, placing the flat sides together so that their edges and
ends exactly conform. This gives it four equal longitudinal sides, each twisting
90 degrees in its entire length, terminating and merging in two chisel-form ends
standing at right angles with each other, the twist of adjacent sides being in
opposite directions as shewn in Figure 1. Both ends being alike this body will
pass through the air, water, or other fluid medium with equal ease in either direction,
displacing and replacing the fluid on the principle of a compensating wedge as
herein before explained.
The angle of longitudinal taper, in these wedges respectively may be uniform
from end to end, if desired, but to obtain the full effect of the principle, the line
of taper should be a regular curve tangential to the line of motion at the wide
end and continuing on a single radius to the opposite end, as shewn. The
reason for this lies in the fact that, though the progressive motion of the
body through the air or water may be very rapid, the lateral movement of the
displaced fluid will be comparatively slow and relatively towards the rear, thus
throwing the culminating force of the replacement upon the rear portions of the
reverse wedge which by having the increasing angle of taper given it by this curve
will receive a greater impulse forward. For most purposes it will be found
desirable to round off the thin corners of the forward end (sometimes the rear end
also) but this can be done without materially impairing the effect.
For submarine projectiles and torpedoes this form would prove exceedingly
effective and of great value in the defence of sea-board towns. The enormous
resistance opposed by the vis inertia of water to a body moving swiftly beneath its
surface, has hitherto so limited the speed and force of such projectiles and enhanced
the cost of employing them, that the most vulnerable part of a hostile ship (that
below the water line) has been practically exempt from assault. But with a
projectile made in the form herein described, such parts could be reached with
destructive effect, either by a plunging fire through the air or a horizontal one
beneath the surface of the water. Besides those already enumerated, there are
various other uses to which we propose to apply this invention. Among these are

page_text: submerged or partially-immersed supports for floating or pontoon bridges, crossing
rivers or waters subject to the flux and reflux of strong tides, to floating stationary
structures exposed to currents of water, to swinging ferry-boats when crossing rapid
streams, and to balloons and other structures for navigating the air, whether moving
or stationary, to enable them to overcome the resistance of the atmosphere or to
withstand the forces of the wind.
For most of the uses herein mentioned it is best to make the lines of the trans-
verse sections of the body straight, but where greater buoyancy with the same
longitudinal dimensions is desired, as in stationary balloons and floats, these lines
may be slightly convex without detracting very greatly from the effect, such
curvature being indicated in some of the cross-sectional views forming a part of
Figure 1.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
1. A body of least resistance, substantially as described, consisting mainly
and substantially of two laterally adjoined and longitudinal reversed wedges con-
nected and merged together laterally by four sides whose transverse planes are at
all points diagonal to the lines of taper of both wedges and twist transversely
90 degrees in their entire length, the twist of adjacent sides being in opposite
directions and all terminating in and merging into two chisel-form ends which stand
at right angles with each other, substantially as and for the purposes herein
described.
2. A body of least resistance, substantially as described, which consists sub-
stantially of two laterally-adjoined and longitudinally reversed wedges connected
and merged together by four transversely twisting sides diagonal to the lines of
taper of both, the twist of adjoining sides being 90 degrees in opposite directions all
terminating and merging in two chisel-form ends which stand at right angles with
each other, the longitudinal taper of the wedges, respectively, being in regular
curves commencing parallel with the line of motion at the wide end and continuing
on a single radius to the opposite end, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
3. In a boat or other floating craft partially immersed in the water, a hull which
at and below the load water line is relatively wide at one end and tapers con-
tinuously and horizontally to a narrow end, while the longitudinal centre of the extreme
bottom slopes upward continuously in the opposite direction from the lowest point
of the narrow end to the load water line at the wide end, the sides below the load
water line flaring upward and outward transversely from the longitudinal centre of
the inclined bottom to the load water line, the flare of the sides commencing at the
narrow and deep end where they are substantially vertical and increasing in degree
all the way to the wide end at or a little above the load water line, the flaring
sides having a transverse twist in opposite directions, substantially as and for the
purpose herein described.
4. A non-resistant device, substantially as described, having its adjacent surfaces
subject to the action of the resisting fluid merged at one end in a chisel-form edge,
sloped upward on their longitudinal meeting edges from said chisel-form edge to a
plane at right angles thereto and flared or twisted continuously in opposite directions
from the chisel-form end till they merge in the plane of the upper edge of the
bottom slope or their longitudinal meeting edges, substantially as set forth.
5. In a boat or other floating craft partially immersed in water, a hull which at
and below the load water line has the exterior form substantially of two laterally-
adjoined and longitudinally reversed wedges connected and merged together by
Haring sides which in their entire length are transversely diagonal to the lines of
taper of both and have a transverse twist of 90 degrees in opposite directions, the
lines of longitudinal taper being regular curves, the horizontal curves commencing
tangential to the line of the boat's motion at the wide end and continuing with a

page_text: single radius to the narrow end while the vertical taper starts parallel with the line
of motion at the lowest point of the narrow end and continues on a single radius
to the load water line at the wide end, substantially as and for the purpose herein
described.
6. A non-resistant device, substantially as described, having its adjacent faces
subject to the action of the resisting fluid merged at one end in a vertical edge and
terminating at their opposite ends in a common horizontal plane and tapered
continuously on a single radius between said ends, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 13th day of November 1894.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.