AN IMPROVED MODE OF PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHE FLOATING VESSELS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William James Baillie, of Southwark, Engineer, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHE
FLOATING VESSELS."
Sealed the 17th August 1854, and dated the 6th June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William James Baillie
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th June 1854.
I, WILLIAM JAMES BAILLIE, of Southwark, Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PROPELLING
SHIPS AND OTHER FLOATING VESSELS" to be as follows:-
The propeller consists of two parallel shafts, extending across the vessel
and terminating at each end, with one or more cranks (according to the
number of propellers used); the cranks are geared together by horizontal bars
or beams. To these horizontal bars or beams a number of floats or paddles
are fixed or hung vertically, and as the cranks revolve they carry the bars or
beams round in a horizontal position, and cause the paddles or floats to enter,
pass through, and leave the water in a vertical position.
The propellers may be constructed with one or more of these bars and
floats, and the shafts and cranks may be driven either by spur wheels, cranks,
or other gearing. In hanging the floats, provision is made for varying the
vertical position on entering and leaving the water.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William James Baillie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JAMES BAILLIE, of Southwark, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William James Baillic, Her special licence that I, the said William James
Baillie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William James Baillie, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF PROPELLING SHIP3 AND OTHER FLOATING VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William James Baillie, 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 William James Baillie, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and description thereof, together with the Drawings hereto annexed,
and the explanation applying thereto herein contained, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of a mode of propelling ships and other floating
vessels by means of a paddle propeller, the blades of which are made to enter
and leave the water in a vertical position.
In order to prevent to a certain degree the great disturbance of the water
caused by the ordinary paddle, which renders it objectionable in canal navigation,
from the effect produced upon the banks in a narrow channel, I construct my
propellers so that the blades enter and leave the water as before mentioned.
The same vertical position is maintained throughout the entire stroke, so that
the face or flat part of the paddle blade is caused to act directly upon the
water with a full dead thrust in the vessel's right line of motion. The line
of thrust or direction of effort of the propellers is always paralel with the load

page_text: water line, or line of deepest immersion, and therefore they have no tendency
to cause the vessel to dip at either stem or stern (Diagrams No. 1 and 2, here-
after referred to, will further explain this).
The blades of my propeller have a greater depth than width; they differ in
this respect also from the common float; the latter have their greatest dimen-
sion in width and their least dimension in depth: by reversing this order of
dimensions, I obtain a greater purchase upon the water under the same area
of paddle blade, for it is a well-known fact that the density of the water in-
creases in a ratio which is directly as its depth. Independently of the greater
purchase upon the water, I also by this form diminish the width of the paddle
box, and thereby offer less resistance to a head wind. I fix two or more of theso
blades vertically to a frame on the under side of a bar or beam; this bar I
mount in an horizontal position upon two cranks of equal radii, one at each
end of the bar, and drive the same by suitable gear. I either place these
propellers side by side in a double frame, as shewn by diagram No. 7, or ono
before the other in the same line, as shown by diagram No. 11. The blades
of the propeller are bolted to a vertical frame attached to the bar or beam,
and by slacking these bolts, which slide in a slot in the frame, the blades can
be raised or lowered for reefing when necessary.
In canal boats or vessels, I propose to fix the said propellers in the centre
of the boat at midships inside, for the purpose of further preventing injury to
the banks, in which case the cylinders of an engine may be placed one on
each side of the propeller. In other vessels I propose to place the said
propellers at cach side of the vessel at midship section, or fore or aft thereof,
outside.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The Drawings accompanying this Specification are laid down to the following
geometrical scales:-Figs. 1, 2 and 3, 10 feet to an inch; Figs. 4 to 11,
2 feet to an inch. Fig. 1 shows the deck plan of a vessel and propellers;
Fig. 2 shows an elevation thereof in still water; Fig. 3 shows the same
in a fluid, with an uneven or disturbed surface.
A, Fig. 1, represents the position of the engine and propellers; B, C, the
line of midship section; D, E, the centre lino of the keel; the arrows F, F,
show the lines of effort or thrust of the propellers, before alluded to. The lines
of effort are always paralel with the centre line of the keel. Fig. 2 shows the
hull of a vessel immersed to the load water line B, C; E, F, is a line vertical
thereto, and shows the position or angle of my paddle blade through its entire
stroke; G, H, shows the line of effort, which is always paralel to the load

page_text: water line B, C, as well as paralel with the centre line of the keel, and this
full paralel thrust is always maintained while the propelling blades are
immersed, whatever be the position of the vessel, as is shown at Fig. 3, where.
B, C, shows the average load water line under a broken or waved surface;
D, E, a line vertical thereto, again shows the position of the propeller blade, of
which F, G, shows the line of effort, paralel with 'the' line of deepest
immersion.
Fig. 4 shows the principle of the motion of the propeller. A, A, are two
circles of equal diameter, and if these move with equal velocities round their
centres B, B, the points C, C, will always be in an horizontal line with each
other; and if the points be connected by a rod, to the under side of which blades
are attached at right angles thereto, these blades will always be in a vertical
position while the points C, C, revolve.
.
T
Fig. 5 shows a side view of one of the propellers on this principle. A is
the bar; B, B, the blades; C, C, diagonal rods, to keep the same rigid;
this bar or beam is mounted upon the crank pins D, D, of the cranks E, E,
which are both of an equal radius, and which revolve upon the centres F, F.
G, H, shows the line of deepest immersion. Fig. 6 shows an end view of
one the propellers; the parts are referenced with similar letters to Fig. 5,
therefore the same explanation applies.
Fig. 7 shows a plan of the propellers as fixed to a vessel:- A is the main.
shaft, to which a driving wheel B is attached, and drives the wheels C, C,
fixed upon the crank shafts of the cranks D, D; these cranks carry the
bars E, E, to the under side of which the propeller blades are attached.;
Fig. 8 shows an elevation of the same propeller, and to which the same
explanation applies.
Fig. 9 shows the front elevation of a vessel with the propellers attached.
A, B, is the load water line; C, C, the propeller; and D, D, the propeller
or paddle boxes. In the Figs. 8 and 9, the propellers are shown side by
side; they may, however, be fixed, as shown at Fig. 11.
Fig. 10 shows the position of the propellers when the cranks are all in the
same horizontal line. It will be seen, that in this position the blades are all
above the water, as shown by the line A, B, and free from contact therewith;
and this is their intended position when the vessel is under canvas, which is an
advantage the common paddle does not posses.
I have now, to the best of my ability, ascertained and described the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed; but it
is to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise form of crank,
bar, or blade, herein described; neither do I confine myself to the mode of

page_text: driving the same, shown upon the Drawings; nor do I claim any one of the
respective parts separately; but I claim the principle of the propeller as
obtained by the combination of the parts and motions herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William James Baillie, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
WILLIAM JAMES (L.s.) BAILLIE.