IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS ON THE WATER
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Jones Aston, of 13, Pembroke Gardens,
Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, and of the Middle Temple,
Barrister-at-Law, and also a Queen's Counsel of the County Palatine
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
PROPELLING VESSELS ON THE WATER."
Scaled the 19th March 1872, and dated the 15th January 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Jones Aston
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th January 1872.
I, JAMES JONES ASTON, of 13, Pembroke Gardens, Kensington, in the
County of Middlesex, and of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, and
also a Queen's Counsel of the County Palatine of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR PROPELLING VESSELS ON THE WATER," to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to machinery for propelling ships, boats, .
and other vessels on the water.

page_text: The first object of my said Invention is to obtain a greater rate
of speed than can now be obtained from the power used to propel
vessels.
The second object of my said Invention is to obtain disc plate ring or
disc plate wheel propellers of very much less weight and cost than
those I have particularly described in my Specification, filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the Twentieth day of August, A.D. 1870, pursuant
to Her Majesty's Letters Patent granted to me on the 24th day of
February, A.D. 1870, No. 539, for certain "Improvements in Machinery
for Propelling Vessels on the Water."
Since the filing of my said Specification I have made many experi-
ments and I have discovered certain improvements upon the said disc
plate ring or disc plate wheel propellers, so particularly described as
aforesaid.
The improvements relate to propelling ships, boats, and other vessels
on the water by means of machinery consisting of improved rings of
flat metal, which I call improved disc plate rings or disc plate wheels,
mounted on axes and caused to rotate, for propelling ships, boats, and
other vessels on the water; my improved disc plate rings or disc plate
wheels are different to any propellers described in my said Specification in
this very material particular, that whereas I stated in my said Speci-
fication that an inch of width of disc plate to a foot of diameter of the
disc plate rings I had found to be a practically useful width, I have
found out since the filing thereof that an improved and more practically
useful effect may be obtained by reducing the width of the disc plate to
a very great extent; as for instance that instead of using disc plate rings
made up of disc plate, having the width of the disc plate of the rings
an inch of width of disc plate to a foot of diameter of the disc plate
rings, or as one 1 to 12, as described in my said Specification, it is a very
great improvement to make them with very much less width of disc
platė; they may be made as narrow as 1 to 40, or of less width.
Such improved disc plate rings or disc plate wheels are very much
lighter in weight, and are consequently less costly, both in their
construction and in the power required to drive them, and by means of
such improved disc plate rings or disc plate wheels greater speed of the
ship, boat, or other vessel may be obtained than hitherto.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Jones Aston in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM. THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
JONES ASTON, of 13, Pembroke Gardens, Kensington, in the County of
Middlesex, and of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, and also a
Queen's Counsel of the County Palatine of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, No. 116, bearing date the Fifteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Jones Aston, Her special
licence that I, the said James Jones Aston, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Jones Aston,
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 MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS ON THE WATER," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Jones Aston, my
executors or administrators, by au instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Jones Aston, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and the letters, words, and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:
The nature of my said Invention relates to machinery for propelling
ships, boats, and other vessels on the water, and the first object of my
said Invention is to obtain by the use of improved machinery or
propellers a greater rate of speed than before the date of the said Patent

page_text: of the Fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord 1872, could
be obtained from the steam power used to propel vessels.
The second object of my said Invention is that such improved
propellers should be of very much less weight and much less costly than
the propellers I have particularly described in my Specification, filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, pursuant to Her
Majesty's Letters Patent granted to me on the Twenty-fourth day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy, No. 539, for certain "Improvements in Machinery for Pro-
pelling Vessels on the Water."
Since the filing of my said Specification I have made many experiments
and I have discovered that machinery or propellers can be made as
herein-after described, which are improvements upon and more beneficial
than the disc plate ring or disc plate wheel propellers particularly
described in my said Specification.
My present improvements relate to the construction and use of such
improved machinery or propellers; such propellers consist of improved
rings of flat metal which I call improved disc plate rings or disc plate
wheels, and they are different to any propellers described in my said
Specification in this very material particular, that whereas I stated in
my said Specification that an inch of width of disc plate to a foot of
diameter of the disc plate rings I had then found to be a practically
useful width, I have found out since the filing thereof that an improved
and more practically useful effect may be obtained by reducing such
width to a very great extent as herein-after described.
My improved disc plate rings or disc plate wheels are made of iron or
steel, or other suitable metal; they are flat at their sides with plane
peripheries, and have not any paddles or floats. Figs. 1 and 2 in the
Sheet of Drawings annexed to this Specification represent respectively
a side elevation and edge view of one of my improved disc plate rings
detached, but fitted with arms some of which are marked A, and an inner
ring B, for strength.
My improved propellers may be manufactured out of sheets or plates
of flat metal or other suitable metal, and the disc plate surface should
be made as even as practicable.
The improved disc plate rings should be as thin and light as
practicable, having due regard to their size and the metal or plates used,

page_text: so that they may be sufficiently strong to be turned rapidly in the water
without breaking or buckling, and in determining their thickness regard
should also be had to the risks of navigation.
The novelty and improvement in the construction of my improved
propellers relates to the employment of better and more useful disc plate
rings, as regards the width of the rings at the part marked a <
on the said Fig. 2.
-
> b,
I now make my improved disc plate rings under this Specification
with a very narrow width of disc plate, and I have discovered that the
disc plate may with advantage be as narrow as six inches of width of
disc plate to a ring or wheel 20 feet in diameter, or as 1 to 40, or even
of less width, where it is practicable so to make them of sufficient
strength, as the less the width of the disc plate the better, always
remembering that it is of the first importance to make the disc plate as
thin as practicable.
The improved disc plate wheels under this Specification will make
good practical useful propellers, very much better and more useful than
any paddles or screws, and also very much better and more useful than any.
propellers made under or according to my said Specification, filed on the
Twentieth day of August above mentioned; they will be of very much
less weight and much less costly, and will give a rate of speed of the
vessel greater than could be obtained from the power used to propel
vessels at the date of the said Patent of the Fifteenth day of January
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, whether such power was
expended in driving paddles or screws or disc plate wheels, made
according to my said Specification filed on the Twentieth day of
August above mentioned.
The improved disc plate rings should be attached vertically by arms.
to a central axis or shaft placed across the boat or other vessel to be
propelled by them, see Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5, in the said Sheet of Drawings
annexed to this Specification.
Various diameters of my improved disc plate rings may be used; the
largest diameters will be the most powerful propellers. One improved
disc plate ring only on each side of a boat will propel it well, see Figs. 4
and 5, and in such case, speaking generally, I recommend that the
diameter of the improved disc plate rings should be large, say one-fourth
larger than the size of the beam of the vessel or boat to be propelled
hotham

page_text: Very large improved disc plate rings can be used for the propulsion
of vessels, and a very great speed obtained thereby.
Fig. 5 shews one side of a vessel fitted with a single improved disc
plate ring; the other side of the vessel should be fitted in a similar
manner.
For vessels using triple improved disc plate ring wheels like the said
Fig. 3, speaking generally, I recommend that their diameters should be
large, say at least as large in diameter as the beam of the vessel to be
propelled by them.
For some navigations, especially for some canals, boats may be fitted:
with two or more shafts having a single improved disc plate ring or
more on each of the shafts on both sides of the boat; one or more of
the improved disc plate rings on a shaft across the stern of a boat
or vessel will propel it.
In placing the improved disc plate rings on the shafts the shafts should
be kept high out of the water, and I recommend that the improved disc
plate rings should be immersed, in reference to the immersion of the boat
as far as practicable as low down towards the keel as the risks of
navigation will permit, and the wheels being of large diameter this can
in many cases be done without immersing any very great part of such
diameter, say a fourth or a fifth, as the nearer the part immersed
approaches towards a right line the better.
The improved disc plate rings next the boat should be placed at
some distance apart from its sides; this distance may vary, but it should
be enough to make any disturbance, motion, or run of the water caused
by the revolving disc plate rings as far as is practicable run clear of the
sides of the vessel.
When two or more improved "disc plate rings are combined together
into a disc plate whcel on the same shaft, they may be supported in their
places and strengthened by stays or braces, and if the size of the wheel
will permit it the stays or braces should not extend into the water, but
in very large wheels in order to make them sufficiently strong it may be
desirable that the stays or braces should extend into the water, and in
such case the wheels should be made accordingly, so that they may be
strong enough for their work, but with as little disturbance as possible
of the even side surface of the disc plate rings.
When combined together the distance apart at which the improved disc

page_text: plate rings are placed should be considerable; they should be put so far
apart that each improved disc plate ring may act by itself on both
sides, and as far as practicable strike or cut through water not disturbed
by any adjoining disc plate ring.
My improved disc plate rings or wheels should have a rapid rotatory
motion imparted to them by means of steam or other suitable power
applied by machinery in connection with the propeller axes or shafts,
and they will then cause the ship, boat, or other vessel to which they arc
fitted to be propelled on the water.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I
state that I do not claim anything disclosed in my Specification filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the Seventeenth day of June One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, under Her Majesty's Letters
Patent granted to me on the Seventeenth day of December One
thousand cight hundred and fifty-eight, No. 2892, or in my Provisional
Specification recorded in the Office of the Commissioners of Patents
on the Twenty-second day of February One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-eight, No. 595, or in my before-mentioned Specification filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the Twentieth day of August One thousand
eight hundred and seventy; but I declare that the Invention I desire
to have secured to me consists of the manufacture and use of the
improved machinery or propellers for propelling ships, boats, and other
vessels on the water, consisting of the improved disc plate rings or
improved disc plate wheels herein-before described and illustrated in
the Drawings annexed to this Specification.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Jones Aston, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
JOHN VIVIAN,
Clerk to Mr. Aston,
JAMES JONES ASTON. (L.S.)
4, Middle Temple Lane,
London.