IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS AND VESSELS IN ORDER TO FACILITATE PROPULSION AND STEERING, AND THE PROTECTION AND REPAIR OF THE PROPELLERS AND RUDDERS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Whinrey Carter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th January 1869.
I, THOMAS WHINREY CARTER, of Gray's Inn Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Architect, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS AND VESSELS IN ORDER TO
FACILITATE PROPULSION AND STEERING, AND THE PROTECTION AND REPAIR OF THE
PROPELLERS AND RUDDERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of
ships and vessels of all descriptions, the object being so to arrange and
adjust the position of the propellers and rudders that they shall be
protected from external injury by contact with any impediment to their
free action or working, or while in a state of rest, and to enable repairs,
alterations, or renewals of such parts to be effected without the necessity
of docking or beaching the ship or vessel.
I propose by my Invention to form one or more longitudinal and
transverse channels or watercourses through the bottom portion of the
ship or vessel; these channels therefore form tubes running completely
through the submerged portion of the ship or vessel, but being equally

page_text: as water-tight as the hull make no difference, except in the space they
occupy) in regard to the soundness of the general structure, unless it be
to afford increased strength to the vessel. These channels may be of a
circular, or square, or other section, as the case may require, not only on
account of facility of construction, but of strength, and the suitability
of any such particular form for the revolution of the propeller or paddle
wheels, and for the position of the same, and the rudders either at the
stem or stern of the vessel, or at both ends, and within such channels or
watercourses. I then apply the propeller or paddle shaft or shafts in
the centre of the channel, supported in suitable bearings, attached or
connected to the internal surface of the channel. By these means the
propeller or propellers, instead of being exposed beyond the stern of the
vessel are protected within the channel, and are thus rendered incapable
of meeting with any sudden obstruction or receiving damage by
collision with a floating substance, such as the spar or other portion of a
wrecked vessel, or of rigging, rope, or other tackle, which often deranges
the working of a propeller. The shafts and bearings of the propeller
In connection with the engine and tube are made to pass through water-
tight joints or stuffing boxes, and thus the propeller or paddle shaft is
worked without leakage from the channel or channels to the hull; and
the rudder or rudders being also set in bearings within the tube may be
worked by the usual connections and with the same freedom, being also
protected from injury in the same manner as the propellers. The
rudders would thus rest and turn on vertical pivot joints, and would be
stronger than when supported by hinged cross bars in the ordinary
manner. The violence of the sea, likewise, will have no effect upon the
propellers and rudders thus arranged within the channel, and they are
thereby left free to act upon the column of water presented to them
with greater power than if acting a free body of water beyond the
stern, because the propeller is caused to throw back, by the power of the
blades, the entire surface of water acted upon during its revolution, the
channel rendering the lateral motion of the water impossible, and causing
a perfect back action and resistance, and effecting a corresponding
increase in the propelling power. In order to effect repairs, alterations,
or renewals in regard to the propeller or rudder it is only necessary to
shut or close one or other of a series of valves which are constructed at
the entrances of each of the channels, These valves may be of any
suitable construction, either in the form of slides or throttle valves, or
otherwise, that is to say, the valve or valves appertaining to the portion

page_text: of the vessel to be operated upon, and to pump out the water in the
enclosed part, which is easily accomplished by means of pumps on the
deck or other part of the vessel worked by hand or steam power; the
workmen then are enabled to enter the empty channel by means of a cap
or cover which is lifted up after the principle of a boiler, man-hole, or
other suitable inlet, capable of being opened and again closed in a water-
tight manner. If the aft rudder should require repair, the aft transverse
channels are to be opened, and the water ejected therefrom, and the
vessel steered by the fore rudder; should it he required to repair the
fore rudder then the fore transverse channels are to be opened and the
Vessel steered by the aft rudder, and should both be required to be
repaired then the vessel is to be steered by the valves of the transverse
channels being raised, turned, or lowered, and so also in regard to the
propellers, Thus any repairs can be made while the vessel is on her
course. In sailing vessels the propellers may be applied within the
channels, and worked by hand gearing from the deck when the vessel is
becalmed; and in violent gales recourse may he had to any or all of the
modes of steering, either alone or combined,
Many modifications of the Invention may be arranged, but the fore-
going description embodies the main principles on which all other
variations of detail will be based,