IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLERS FOR VESSELS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Mortimer Nelson, of the City and State of New
York, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROPELLERS FOR VESSELS."
Sealed the 7th December 1858, and dated the 5th July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Mortimer Nelson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
July 1858.
I, MORTIMER NELSON, of the City and State of New York, United States
of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PROPELLERS FOR VESSELS," to be as follows:-
I make use of vertical frames, two on each side of the vessel, and either
partially or entirely submerged, and the frames may be adjacent to each other
crossways of the vessel, or be one in front of the other, fore and aft of the
vessel. To these frames a reciprocating motion is given by means of cranks,
connecting rods, or levers, communicating to a suitable engine, in such a manner
that one frame on each side of the vessel is being moved towards the stern of
the vessel, while an opposite movement is given.to the other frames. These
frames move in slides, and carry slats jointed at one edge to the frame, and
the moving edges are connected together by one or more bars, so that the
slats open
and shut together in each frame. These slats are opened when the

page_text: frame commences to move towards the stern by a spring or springs, or a
suitable catch, so as to act as propellers to move the vessel. In order to cause
said slats to move the vessel, either bows or stern first, I cause the aforesaid
bar or bars to be arrested when the slats are open, by a blocking piece set on
a vertical shaft, and taking a notch in said bar, and if said blocking piece is
turned over the other way, the operation of the slats is reversed to move the
vessel in the other direction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Mortimer Nelson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
December 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MORTIMER
NELSON, of the City and State of New York, United States of America, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Mortimer Nelson, Her special license that I, the said Mortimer Nelson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Mortimer Nelson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROPELLERS POR VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Mortimer Nelson, 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 Mortimer Nelson, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-

page_text: Sheet 1, Fig. 1, is a plan of my improvements will the deck broken open to
show the engine; Fig. 2 is a side elevation; Fig. 3 is an end elevation at the
bows; and Fig. 4 is a cross section, the right side being at the line y, y, and
the left at the line a, x, of Fig. 2. In Sheet 2 a variation in the method
of driving the propellers is represented in similar Figures to those on Sheet 1,
except that Fig. 3 is a perspective view. Similar marks of reference denote
corresponding parts in each Sheet.
My said Invention relates to propellers fitted to reciprocate either partially
or entirely submerged. The nature of my said Invention consists in the
arrangement of two propeller frames on each side of the vessel, moving in,
o posite directions, and carrying buckets hinged on one of the vertical edges,
so that said buckets can turn down against said reciprocating frames in either
direction; and in combination with such buckets I make use of a movable
blocking device, by which the buckets are sustained when open, and allowed
to turn down towards the stern when the vessel is going forward, or towards
the bows when the propellers are giving stern way to the vessel.
The method of communicating the reciprocating movements to these
propeller frames may be varied; I have, however, shewn two devices in
Sheets 1 & 2. In Sheet 1 a represents the cylinder of any ordinary engine.
from which the piston rod 6 passes to the connecting rod b', giving motion to
the fly wheel c. This is simply a regulator to the movements of the engine
and parts, as the connecting rods or pitmans c, c, impart reciprocating motions
to the cranks d, and rocking or oscillating motions to shafts e, e, and walking
beams ff. The ends of these walking beams f, f, are provided with con-
necting rods f,, to the sliding bars g', g', which pass through stuffing boxes;
at the ends of the recesses or half cylinders h¹ formed on the sides of the
vessel. These sliding bars g¹, g¹, are connected with and impart a reciprocating:
motion to the propeller frames g, g, that are arranged back to back and slide.
in fixed bearings or frames h, h, attached to the sides of the vessel. By this
arrangement the pairs of propeller frames on each side of the vessel are caused
to reciprocate alternately in opposite directions, and the said frames carry the
buckets i, i, which are attached by eyes or hinges at one of the vertical sides,
those on the inner frames being between the frame and vessel, while those
attached to the outer frames g, g, are on the outside thereof. These buckets
i, i, being hinged at one side, and free to turn down against their respective
frames on either side, would not exert any propelling power, as the frames.
reciprocate, unless said buckets were arrested and held in a position at right
angles to the frames, so that they shall act to propel the vessel. I have,.

page_text: therefore, devised an arrangement of parts by which said buckets are permitted
a motion from a right angle to the side of the frame, either forward or aft of
the hinged edge, so that headway. will be given when said buckets turn
towards the stern of the vessel, and vice versa. The device for accomplishing
the foregoing is represented in larger size in Figs: 5 & 6, which are side and
plan views of portions of one bucket and the connections thereto; Figs. 7 are
the eyes for attaching the buckets separately. In these k, k, are bars con-
necting the outer edges of the buckets, so that the ranges in each respective
frame will open and shut together. is a vertical shaft applied to, and
supported on each propeller frame, and on this shaft is a blocking piece l
taking a notch in the bar f, the object being to arrest the buckets when at
right angles to the frames; and according to which end of the blocking
piece is in action, so the buckets will shut down towards the forward or the
after part of the vessel, and give head or stern way. The shaft is provided
with a latch n on the upper end, which retains the blocking piece l' in either
direction, and this latch can be changed while the propellers are in motion by
any suitable device. I have shewn a double incline n¹ on a rod m (see Fig. 8),
that when over the frames g is inoperative, but when drawn in or moved
outwards, operates on the respective latches of the inner and outer frames by
first lifting the latch, retaining it as the shaft moves along, and then forcing it
down in the outer notch as the shaft passes from beneath the incline n'. The
rods m terminating in the engine room are to be acted on by any suitable
levers, and the manner of constructing these reversing inclines, and the latches
of the shafts l, may be varied to suit the particular circumstances. In Sheet 2
the corresponding Figures show slight modifications in the construction of this
reversing device, in this instance the upper end of the shaft 2 is formed as a
spring latch, which is forced out of its notch and carried along to the other
notch by one side of the incline n'.
In Sheet 2 substantially the same parts are shewn, so far as relates to the
propellers themselves, and the same letters indicate corresponding parts as in
Sheet 1.
I will now proceed to describe the differences in the means that connect the
engine and the propellers, and impart to the latter a reciprocating movement.
a, a, represents suitable engines; b, b, their piston rods; d, d, cross heads;
b¹ is a connecting rod to the regulating or fly wheel c', which determines the
stroke of the engines, and is independently rotated on a vertical axis; next
below this fly wheel c' is a gear wheel d', and below and connected therewith
is a horizontal wheel e; immediately-beneath is another wheel (e) Fig. 4),

page_text: and connected thereto, and below the same is a second pinion corresponding
to d¹. From the cross heads d, d, (which travel one above the other) are
sliding racks c, c. The arrangement of these is so alternated, that the left.
rack of the upper cross head takes. the upper wheel d', while the right rack
takes the lower wheel d', and the right rack of the lower cross head takes the
upper wheel d¹, and the left rack the lower wheel; thus the engines
reciprocating in opposite directions are controlled by the fly wheel c¹, but give
alternate revolving or oscillating motions in opposite directions to the wheels
e, e, which motions are communicated to the propellers to reciprocate the
same, as hereafter set forth, cranks and pitmans may be substituted for the
racks c, c. Through the sides of the vessel I provide long horizontal slots.
fitted with two slides on each side of the vessel, in each of which is an inside
bar or slider connected by the arms g¹ to the respective propeller frames g, g,
and these propeller frames are braced and fitted to slide in and depend from
the horizontal slides h, h, shewn in the cross section Fig. 4, and the pro-
pellers themselves act substantially the same as those in Sheet 1. The bars or
sliders in the slots aforesaid are connected respectively to the wheels c, e, by
means of double wire ropes, one end of each rope being attached to the said
bar or slider, and the other to the wheel e, said ropes passing half around said
wheel in opposite directions, so that one winds on as the other winds off; and
said wheels (e), having the oscillating motion aforesaid, thus communicate a
reciprocating movement to the propellers. The slots in the sides of the vessel
are shown above the water line, but, if desired, may be below, and fitted with
sliding covers of rubber, gutta percha, or other materials to exclude water.
The aforesaid inside bars or sliders are fitted with pistons f¹, which, at the end
of each stroke enter cylinders f, and compressing the air therein, check the
momentum of the propeller frames and other parts, and also aid in starting
them in the opposite direction. The cylinders should be provided with air
cocks, so connected as to be under control of the engineer, for allowing the air
to escape when the engine is starting.
Having thus described my said Invention, and the means for carrying the
same into operation, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,
the vertical propeller buckets, connected together and hinged on to the
reciprocating frames, in such a manner as to be capable of turning on their
axis towards the bow or stern of the vessel, in combination with a reversible
stop, whereby the action of the propeller can be so varied as to communicate
head or stern way to the vessel, as set forth.
I also claim the arrangement of the pairs of reciprocating propeller frames

page_text: moving contiguous to each other, and carrying the buckets on the outer side
of one frame and the inner side of the other, as specified.
And, finally, I claim the arrangement of slides, wheels, pitmans, and racks,
for communicating motion directly from the engines to the propellers, and
controlling said motion substantially as described and shewn.
In witness whereof, I, the said Mortimer Nelson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, A.D., One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight
M. NELSON. (L.S.)
Witnesses,
LEMUEL W. SERRELL,
THOMAS G. HAROLD,
289, Broadway, New York.
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