IMPROVEMENTS IN SCREW PROPELLERS FOR SHIPS for the
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Maudslay, of the firm of Maudslay,
Sons, and Field, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineers,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCREW PROPELLERS FOR SHIPS
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCREW PROPELLERS FOR SHIPS
τσαντα
"
Sealed the 19th August 1853, and dated the 15th March 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Maudslay
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th March 1853.
I, JOSEPH MAUDSLAY, of the firm of Maudslay, Sons, and Field, of
Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCREW PROPELLERS
FOR SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS" to be as follows:―
This Invention consists of an improved method of feathering the
blades of screw propellers by levers fixed on the lower ends of the blades,
in connection with bell cranks or racks, which are operated upon by
means of a screw spindle from the deck of the vessel.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Maudslay, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 15th September 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOSEPH MAUDSLAY, of the firm of Maudslay, Sons, and Field, of Lam-
beth, in the County of Surrey, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the fifteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Joseph Maudslay, Her special licence that I, the said
Joseph Maudslay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Joseph Maudslay, 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 Chanuel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS SCREW PRO-
PELLERS FOR SHIPS AND OTHER VISILS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Joseph Maudslay, 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 Scal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Maudslay, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the samo
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the drawings here-
unto annexed, that is to say:
My Invention relates to improvements on an Invention for a feathering
screw propeller, patented by me, in England, the Eighth day of March,
One thousand cight hundred and forty-eight, and consists in feathering
the blades of screw propellers by turning them on their axes, so as to
bring them from the propelling position to one in which they shall offer

page_text: the least possible resistance to the progress of the vessel when under
sail alone. The apparatus by which I now propose to feather the blades
may be worked from the deck of the vessel, either when the propeller
is at rest or in motion, and affords the means of holding the blades at
any angle that may be desired. My Invention further consists in com-
bining the apparatus I employ with a lifting frame, by means of which
the propeller, together with the feathering apparatus, may be lifted up
on to the deck of the vessel when required.
The advantage derived from feathering the blades while the propeller
is revolving is, that by regulating the speed of the engines the screw
may be made to advance through the water at the same speed as that
of the vessel, and the friction on the axles caused by the resistance
offered to blades when dragging through the water is obviated.
Figure 1, of the drawings annexed is a side elevation, partly in
section, of part of a ship or vessel fitted with a screw propeller having
my improved feathering arrangement adapted thereto. Figure 2, is a
plan view, partly in section. Figure 3, a cross section of Figure 1, but
shewing the screw blades in elevation; and Figures 4, and 5, views of
some of the parts detached. The screw is shewn as being fitted in its
framing so as to admit of its being disengaged from the driving shaft,
and hoisted on deck through a well, in the manner now generally
adopted in screw propelled vessels. A, is the propeller shaft; B, the
boss in which the screw blades C, C, are fitted. The blades are capable
of turning on their axes when acted on as herein-after explained, and
are retained in position in the boss by means of the keys D, D, which
pass through the boss and the spindles of the blades. The extremities
of the spindles of the blades have levers E, E, fitted on to them, the
ends of which are connected by pin joints to the extremities of the
links F, F, which again are jointed at their other ends to lugs G, G,
cast on opposite sides of the outer flange of the grooved sliding collar H,
which is free to be moved endwise on the elongated portion of the
propeller boss B. I, is a fork or clutch attached to the outer extremity
of the rack J, which slides in the groove K. The fork I, rides in the
groove of the sliding collar H, and gives motion to that collar, and
consequently to the screw blades C, C, when the rack J, is caused to

page_text: move in either direction by means of the wheel L, which is driven
by the worm M, mounted on the spindle N. The spindle N, has its
bearings in the frame which carries the propeller, and is made square
at its upper end to receive the socket on the lower end of the spindle N',
the upper end of which is furnished with a capstan head having holes to
receive the handle O, by means of which the entire feathering arrango-
ment is worked. It will readily be seen that when the tiller handle O,
is moved, the sliding collar H, will, through its connections therowith,
be drawn or pushed along that portion of the propeller boss marked A',
and the blades C, C, thereby brought to the feathered or sailing position,
and vice versa.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim
is the arrangement of feathering apparatus for screw propellers repre-
sented in the drawings and herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Maudslay, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
JOSEPH MAUDSLAY. (L.8.)