AN IMPROVED APPLICATION OF MACHINERY TO BE USED AS A NEW MOTIVE PROPELLING POWER
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Wright, of 21, Bridge Street, Blackfriars,
London, County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
APPLICATION OF MACHINERY TO BE USED AS A NEW MOTIVE PROPELLING
POWER." A communication.
Sealed the 29th April 1859, and dated the 29th October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Wright at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th October 1858.
I, JAMES WRIGHT, of 21, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, London, County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED APPLICATION OF MACHINERY TO BE USED AS A NEW MOTIVE
PROPELLING POWER," a communication, to be as follows:-
I take one or more cylinders, preferably in pairs, open at one end and
closed at the other with suitable covers; within these a piston works air-tight,
the piston rods passing either through the covers or out at the open ends, each
cover having in it an air-tight valve opening outwards when pressed with some
little force; the rods are attached to a beam which is actuated by a steam
engine or other power, and the whole fixed to the vessel or machine to be
driven. The principle of its action is thus:-The portion of the cylinder between.

page_text: the piston and the cover is made a vacuum; upon force being applied to the
piston it is urged towards the open end of the cylinder in opposition to the
resistance of the medium which fills that end (which may be either air or
water), the resistance offered by such medium constituting a force which
impels the vessel or machine in the direction of the reacting force that is
opposite to the motion of the piston.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, file
by the said James Wright in the Great Seal Patent Office on th
29th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WRIGHT, of 21, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, London, County of Middlesex
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Wright, Her special licence that I, the said James Wright,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Wright, 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 APPLICATION OF
MACHINERY TO BE USED AS A NEW MOTIVE PROPELLING POWER," ("a communi-
cation,") upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Wright,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writin gunder 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 per-
formed, 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 James Wright, 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, that is to say:-.

page_text: I take one or more cylinders, and if more than one I have them preferably
in pairs, one end being open, the other closed with a suitable cover; within
each cylinder a piston works air-tight, the piston rods passing either through
stuffing boxes in the covers similarly to an ordinary steam cylinder, or out at
the open ends of the cylinder in a trunk fashion; each cover is fitted with an
air-tight valve to open outwards, or instead of the valve being in the cover it
may be in the piston; the piston rods are attached to a beam or connecting
rod, which is itself connected with a shaft or other arrangement communicating
with the motive power, which may either be a steam or other engine; the
apparatus thus described is fixed to the framework of the vessel or carriage to
be propelled. If applied to a ship, I fix it, by preference, in the stern of the
vessel, where the screw is usually placed; but several pairs of cylinders may
be applied in various parts, and always in such a way that the water shall
have free and open access to the interiors of the cylinders. If applied to a
carriage of any kind it must be affixed so that the air shall have full and free
access to the interiors of the cylinders. The principle of its action is as
follows: The portion of the cylinder between the closed end and the piston
is exhausted of the air so as to form a vacuum; this is effected in the first
instance either by means of steam, which is afterwards condensed, or by means
of the valve in the cover or the piston. Upon force being applied to the piston
it is urged towards the open end of the cylinder in opposition to the resistance
of the medium, filling that end which will be either water or air, as the
apparatus is used to propel a ship or a land carriage, the reaction offered by
such resistance constituting a force which impels the vessel or machine in the
direction of the reacting force that is opposite to the motion of the piston.
In order more clearly to shew the nature of the Invention as now described,
I have appended the accompanying Drawings, which are intended to illustrate
generally the principle which I claim and wish protected by the before in part
recited Letters Patent.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

page_text: is constructed and acts, I wish it understood that what I want protected and
secured by the said grant of Letters Patent is, the principle of propelling or
urging forward ships, vessels, or carriages by means of apparatus as described
in the Specification and generally illustrated in the Drawings appended.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Wright, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JAMES WRIGHT. (L.S.)