IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES, AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH, AND IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HALE, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of March, in the first year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Hale, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said William Hale, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Williamı Hale, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES, AND APPARATUS CONNECTED
THEREWITH, AND IN MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William Hale, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and, by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hale, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained in

page_text: and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say:-
My Invention relates, first, to an improved apparatus to be worked by steam
or by water in its state of ebullition, acting after the manner of an undershot
water wheel within a steam boiler or steam chest, as hereafter described, in
which the steam may act upon and give motion to the apparatus, independently
of its producing effect to impel the ordinary steam engine;
And, secondly, my Invention relates to an improved apparatus for propelling
vessels, consisting of a rotatory propeller inclosed within a box having guides or
planes, as hereafter described, to give the water put in motion by the propeller
a direction that shall produce the most effective result in propelling the vessel
when actuated by steam or other power.
Figure 1 represents a cylindrical steam boiler, having my improved steam
apparatus affixed therein. a, a, is the steam boiler. b is a rotator con-
structed of a series of planes or vanes set at an angle to the axis, and affixed
on two circular plates to the shaft or axis c; the vanes on one plate are set at
an opposite angle to the vanes on the other plate. d is a circular box that
incloses the rotator as nearly as possible without touching; the covers at each
end of the box are flanged and bolted on steam-tight; the shaft c passes
through one cover and the end of the boiler a, a, and is made steam-tight by a
stuffing box or otherwise. The space e, between the two plates, forms a
chamber for the steam after it has produced its effect upon the rotator.
ff, are pipes to conduct the steam from the upper part of the boiler into the
box d, one end of which leads to the upper part of the boiler with enlarged
open mouths, and the other ends are connected to the covers of the box, where
apertures are mad eopposito the vanes in a loping direction; in order that the
steam may act upon the vanes in a direction perpendicular to their surface,
the end pressure of the steam upon the vanes on the one plate is neutralized
by the pressure of the steam upon the vanes on the other plate, which are set
opposite angles the one to the other. 9 represents the main steam pipe
whereby the steam is conveyed from the chamber e through the boiler a, a,
for the supply of steam to impel the ordinary steam engine, or any other pur-
pose for which the steam may be required; the main pipe 9 is rendered steam-
tight in passing through the boiler by a stuffixing box, or any other convenient
mode. A rigger or wheel-work is affixed to the end of the axis e, whereby
the power of the steam given to the rotator may be communicated by suitable
gearing to any purpose for which the power may be required.
Figure 2 represents the same apparatus with one cover or end of the box off

page_text: Figure 3 represents part of the hull of a steam vessel having the second
part of my Invention applied thereto.
Figure 4 is a transverse section of the same.
Figure 5 is a longitudinal section of one of the propellers and box, there
being two propellers used, one on each side of the keel of the vessel, as shewn
at Figure 4.
Figure 6 is an end view of the circular propeller box shewing the fixed
curved guides.
Figures 7 and 8 are front and back views of the propeller a, a, consisting of
six curved surfaces affixed to a circular plate and shaft b. c, c, is a cylindrical
box encircling the propeller as nearly as possible without touching; d is a
plain end or cover; e is the opposite cover projecting from the end of the
cylinder in a sloping direction towards the bottom of the vessel. The intention
of the sloped end or cover e is to obtain a full and sufficient capacity for the
supply of water to the propeller without taking up more room in the vessel
than is necessary; the covers d, e, close only three fourths of the end of the
cylinder, leaving the other fourth entirely open, thereby forming an aperture in
each end of the cylinder. The portion of the cylinder where the apertures are
formed projects from the bottom of the vessel in a direction fore and aft, and
in a direction parallel to the axis of the cylinder; the aperture towards the
fore part of the vessel forms the induction passage for the water to the pro-
peller, and the aperture towards the aft part of the vessel forms the eduction
passage for the water escaping from the propeller; when the propeller is put in
motion by steam or other power the covers d, e, are bolted on the cylinder by screw
bolts and nuts; and the shaft 6 passes through the cover d, and is rendered water-
tight by a stuffing box. f, g, are guides affixed on a barrel h to the cylinder c,
by screws or any other convenient mode. The figure of the guides are com-
pounded of a spiral and quadrant; the construction of the spiral part allows the
water that is put in motion by the propeller in that part of the cylinder which
is inclosed by the covers continuously to fly off, and is directed finally by the
quadrant part or right angular bend into a course parallel to the vessel's keel;
and the quantity acted upon in the line of the aperture receives also the same
direction, consequently the whole momentum of the water obtained by the
propeller acts in the direction of the vessel's motion, and produces the most
effective result in propelling the vessel.
b
Figures 9 and 10 are views of similar portions of the hull of a steam vessel
to those described in Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 11 is a longitudinal section of the propeller and box, shewn in
Figures 9 and 10..

page_text: Figure 12 is an end view of the propeller and box.
Figure 18 is an end view of one of the inclined covers. The propeller a, a,
is formed of two similar propellers to the one already described, by placing the
two backs close to each other on the same shaft, and inclosed in an oval
box c, c. The axis 6 of the propeller stands in an inclined direction towards
the bottom of the vessel. The cover d slopes in a direction parallel to the
axis of the propeller, and the cover e in a direction at right angles to the pro-
peller's axis. Plates fare affixed to the covers in a vertical position to prevent
the rotation of the water, and answers the purpose of the fixed curve guides f, g,
shewn in the circular box, Figure 5.
In the first part of my Invention I claim the use of a series of vanes, in what-
ever shape or form constructed, when made to revolve on an axis inside a box
or chamber, after the manner of an undershot water wheel, by the force of
steam or water in its state of ebullition, whether the same be made use of as
an independent engine or in combination with an ordinary steam engine.
In the second part of my. Invention I claim the use of a propeller consisting
of a number of curved or plane surfaces affixed to an axis, whether constructed
as a double or single propeller, shewn in Figures 11 and 5, or in any other
form that may answer the like purpose, when made use of inside an elliptical or
circular box having apertures, as represented in the Drawings, with a guide or
directing surface or surfaces that shall prevent the rotation of the water put in
motion by the propeller, and cause the whole quantity so acted upon to take
one rectilinear course for the purpose of propelling vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hale, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-eight.
.