AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CONNECTING A PROPELLER TO ITS SHAFT TO SERVE THE DOUBLE PURPOSE OF PROPELLING AND STEERING A VESSEL, AND A UNIVERSAL JOINT OR COUPLING FOR THE SAME AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Fenner Ballou Taylor and
William Michael Adams at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 11th February 1871.
We, FENNER BALLOU TAYLOR, of Vowler Street, Walworth Road, in
the County of Surrey, Civil and Mechanical Engineer, and WILLIAM
MICHAEL ADAMS, of Horton Street, Lewisham, in the County of Kent,
Civil Engineer and Surveyor, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CONNECTING A PROPELLER TO ITS SHAFT
TO SERVE THE DOUBLE PURPOSE OF PROPELLING AND STEERING A VESSEL, AND A
UNIVERSAL JOINT OR COUPLING FOR THE SAME AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be
as follows:-
The main object of our said Invention is the employment of a screw
propeller for the double purpose of propelling and steering a ship or
vessel, and we thereby obviate the necessity of an ordinary rudder, and
moreover obtain a greatly improved steering power.
For obtaining these results we have devised a universal joint of
peculiar construction, which, besides its application to the above purpose,
may also be advantageously used as a shaft coupling in all cases where

page_text: shafts lying obliquely or at an angle to each other. As, however, we
consider the use of the joint for the connection of the steering propeller
to be the most important feature of this Invention, we have in the
following description more particularly referred to this application of the
said joint, the construction of which will be substantially the same in all
cases.
Figure 1 is a section of the joint or coupling; Figure 2 is a section at
a right angle to Figure 1; Figure 3 is a detached view of the inter-
mediate piece. The same letters refer to corresponding parts throughout
the Drawing.
Our improved joint or coupling consists essentially of three distinct
portions, namely, the socket a, the ball b, and an intermediate or trans-
mitting piece c; these three, though separate from each other, are
grooved and tongued together in such a manner that the socket can be
turned freely to any angle upon the ball without disconnecting the parts
of the joint or interfering with the action of the propeller. The socket
forms the boss or hub of the said propeller. At the stern of the ship or
vessel there is hinged or pivotted in any secure and suitable manner a
strong vertical frame d of iron or other suitable metal. This frame is
formed with a bearing to receive a short shaft or journal e which
projects from the socket of the joint, and when this pivotted frame is in
its central position this journal lies in line with the propeller shaft f, and
a line drawn in continuation of the axis of the latter would cut the
centre of the joint and journal, the propeller being then exactly at a
right angle to the shaft.
This frame may be continued upward and take
the place of the ordinary rudder post for the connection of the steering
apparatus. The socket has a cap a¹, which is firmly secured therein
over the ball by screwing or otherwise.
The ball is formed on the end of the shaft, and is made of such
diameter as will give the required strength and security to the joint.
The construction of the aforesaid three parts of the joint or coupling
may be somewhat varied, but we prefer that the ball should have the
groove g formed in it to receive a tongue h on the intermediate piece,
while the latter has at a right angle to the said tongue another tongue
or tongues i working in a groove or grooves in the socket. The said
intermediate piece in this form of our joint is a segment of a hollow
sphere whose internal surface fits and works upon the ball while its

page_text: outer surface fits and works against the rear portion of the socket. The
cap has an aperture j for the shaft, and this aperture must be of such a
size as to permit the free angular adjustment of the propeller to the
extent required.
In one modification of our improved joint the ball is cut away on the
sides leaving a central tongue which is fitted into a groove in the inter-
mediate piece, and this piece and the socket instead of being spherical
are semicircular with flat ends. The tongue and groove lie at a right
angle to the flat sides of the socket.
According to another modification of our joint a recess or mortice is
formed in the rear of the ball to a sufficient depth to allow the inter-
mediate piece to be hinged or pivotted to the centre or axis of the ball;
this mortice is widened at the surface of the ball to allow the inter-
mediate piece to have a rocking motion in one direction about its pivot
in the centre of the ball. The block or intermediate piece is made
square in form, which prevents its turning and also projects beyond or
outside of the ball. On this piece is formed a tongue or cam at right
angles with the motion of the block; this tongue works in a groove in
the outer socket, thus allowing the shaft to be revolved and the motion
transmitted to the propeller at the different angles required, as before
described.
In all of the modifications of the aforesaid joint there must be
sufficient space left inside the socket between the edges of the inter-
mediate piece and the cap to permit the required angular adjustment of
the parts of the joint.