A NEW MODE OF CONSTRUCTING STEAM ENGINES, AND APPLYING THEIR POWER TO THE PURPOSES OF PRODUCING ROTATORY AND OTHER MOTIONS, WITHOUT THE INTERPOSITION OF A LEVER OR BEAM
Year: 1801

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WILLIAM
SYMINGTON, of Kinnaird, in the County of Stirling, in that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called Scotland, send greeting.
WHEREAS the King's most Excellent Majesty, by Letters Patent under the
Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date the
Fourteenth day of October, in the forty-first year of His reign, gave and granted
unto the said William Symington, his executors and assigns, His Majesty's special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that he, the said William Syming-
ton, his executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by themselves,
or by their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as he, the said
William Symington, his executors, administrators, or assigns, shall 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 have the sole use, benefit,
and advantage of his Invention of "A NEW MODE OF CONSTRUCTING STEAM ENGINES,
AND APPLYING THEIR POWER TO THE PURPOSES OF PRODUCING ROTATORY AND OTHER
MOTIONS, WITHOUT THE INTERPOSITION OF A LEVER OR BEAM," being a principle
entirely new in that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in
such manner as to the said William Symington, his executors, administrators,
and assigns, or any of them, should in their discretion seem meet; and that the

page_text: said William Symington, his executors, adininistrators, or assigns, should and
lawfully might have and enjoy the sole profit, commodity, and advantage from
time to time coming, growing, and arising by reason of the said Invention for
and during the term of years therein mentioned; to have, hold, exercise, and
enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges, and advantages therein-before granted
or mentioned to be granted unto the said William Symington, bis executors,
administrators, and assigns, for and during and unto the full end and term of
fourteen years from the date of the said Letters Patent next and immediately
ensuing, and fully to be complete and ended; according to the Statute in such
case made and provided; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that if the said William Symington should not particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of his said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under his hand and seal, and cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and inmediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that
then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as by the said Letters
Patent, relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that the said William Symington, in pursuance of and
compliance with the said proviso in the said Letters Patent contained, and
the purport and true intent and meaning thereof, and of His Majesty's said most
gracious intentions, do by this instrument in writing under his hand and seal,
duly executed, describe and ascertain the nature of his said Invention, and
several of the methods by which the same may be performed, that is to say :-
The Drawing annexed shews my new method of constructing steam engines,
and applying their power for the purpose of producing rotatory motion without
the intervention of a lever or beam, viz:-The steam cylinder A is placed in a
horizontal position, and the piston-rod B coupled to one end of the crank arm C,
and the other end of the arm attached to the crank (the piston rod being kept
parallel to the axis of the steam cylinder by sliders or rollers, as represented in the
Drawing),-a-motion-backward.and forward being produced in the piston of the
steam cylinder, the crank will be turned round, and a rotatory motion produced
in the first spindle or lying shaft. The power of the engine may be thus
applied in producing rotatory motion by the revolving wheel in place of the
When a reciprocating motion is wanted; 'the piston rod of the steam
cylinder must be coupled to a pump rod, piston rod, or other body wished to be
so moved, and the engine being set to work a reciprocating motion will be thus
crank.
produced.

page_text: Although the steam cylinder is represented in the Drawing in a horizontal
position, it may be applied to produce the above motions when placed in a
perpendicular position, or in any of the different angles between a perpendicular
and-horizontal position, as circumstances may require.
The above-mentioned construction of steam engines is peculiarly adapted for
navigating boats, vessels, or rafts in canals or rivers, and for breaking the ice
on them, and may be so used in manner following:-First, a wheel or wheels
with blades may be placed in a boat, vessel, or raft, to act in such manner
upon the water, when put in motion by the steam engine, as to be able to impel
the boat, vessel, or raft, which may be used instead of horses to drag boats,
vessels, or rafts; and a wheel or wheels may be placed to act within the boat,
vessel, or raft, if constructed with two keels, or divided from stem to stern,
or upon the outside of those built in common form, as circumstances may
require.
The principle of this Invention comprehends" any species of machinery
thus put in rotatory motion by a steam engine, which may be made use of to
navigate boats, vessels, or rafts.
Second, to break ice, a number of beaters, hammers, or stampers may
be placed in the bow quarter of the boat, vessel, or raft, which beaters,
hammers, or stampers, when put in motion by the steam engine, may revolve
upon an axis, or be worked by an up-and-down motion, in manner of common
tilts or stampers.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Symington, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of March, in the forty-second year
of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and two.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of March, in the
forty-second year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the said
William Symington came before Archibald Campbell, one of the Magistrates
of the City of Edinburgh, in that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called Scotland, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
several Statutes made in the sixth year of the reign of the late King and Queen
William and Mary of England, and so forth, and in the seventeenth, twenty-
third, and thirty-seventh years of the reign of His present Majesty King George
the Third.
in the Hoor of our Lord One thousand