IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER AND FOR PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Woollatt and William Brown Dodds,
both of Clifton Terrace, Gravesend, in the County of Kent, for thè
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
AND FOR PROPELLING VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Woollatt and
William Brown, Dodds at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 30th September 1868.
We, JOSEPH WOOLLATT and WILLIAM BROWN DODDS, both of Clifton
Terrace, Gravesend, in the County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING
MOTIVE POWER AND FOR PROPELLING VESSELS" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
obtaining motive power and for propelling vessels.

page_text: In order to obtain motive power we employ a main lever or beam
rocking on an axis at its centre, and with each end of it mechanism is
connected of which the following is-a-description.
The mechanism consists of a connecting rod passing from the end of
the main lever or beam to one arm of a bell-crank lever turning on an
axis below the axis of the main lever or beam. The other arm of the
bell-crank lever projects upwards and is coupled by means of another
connecting rod with a long lever turning on an axis at its lower end.
One end of the main lever or beam is also coupled by means of a third
connecting rod with a crank on an axis carrying a fly wheel. Thus as the
crank axis revolves the long levers already mentioned are caused to rock
on their axes. At one end of the-stroke the long lever stands vertically or
nearly so, and at the other end of the stroke it stands in a more or less
inclined position capable of moving up and down along suitable guides.
On this lever is a cylindrical weight having trucks or wheels upon it;
these trucks or wheels as the lever moves from the inclined to the
vertical position run up inclined courses which then support the weight.
When the weight arrives at its highest position it becomes locked to the
lever by a catch, and then during the return stroke the weight does not
rest on the inclined courses but is supported by the lever and aids it to
descend. In this way we render the weight effective to urge the engine
forward during the descending stroke and we relieve the engine from it
in the ascending stroke. This machine may be used to drive paddle
wheels or a screw to propel a ship or vessel, or otherwise to propel a ship
or vessel, or the motive power obtained may be in other ways usefully
applied. At the fore part of a vessel propelled in this manner or
otherwise we provide a grated opening which admits water into a
chamber over a water wheel which it thus causes to turn. The water
passes from the chamber into a trunk or passage running along the
vessel and discharging the water through openings in the bottom
directed backwards or towards the stem of the vessel. In the trunk or
passage there is a fan or propeller (or more than one may be used)
working to urge the water astern through the trunk or passage. This
fan or propeller is driven by the water wheel already mentioned, the
openings in the bottom are provided with valves which close when the
forward motion of the vessel ceases.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Woollatt and William Brown Dodds in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 80th March 1869:.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
WOOLLATT and WILLIAM BROWN DODDS, both of Clifton. Terrace,,
Gravesend,, in the County of Kent;, send.greeting:.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand. eight hundred. and. sixty-eight,, in the thirty-.
second year of Her reign,, did,, for Herself,, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Joseph Woollatt and William Brown
Dodds;. Her special licence that we, the said. Joseph: Woollatt and.
William Brown Dodds,. our executors, administrators;. and assigns; or
such others: as, we, the said. Joseph Woollatt and William Brown Dodds,,
our 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 "IM--
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER AND FOR PROPELLING.
VESSELS," upon: the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph
Woollatt and William Brown Dodds; our executors or administrators,.
by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal: of one of us or them, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months. next and.
immediately after the date of the said Letters. Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Joseph Woollatt and William
Brown Dodds, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to
say:―

page_text: In order to obtain motive power we employ a main lever or beam
rocking on an axis at its centre. To each end of the main lever or beam
a connecting rod is jointed, and these rods couple the beam with a
combination of bell-crank levers and weights arranged in such manner
that the weight at each end of the beam is effective to urge the engine
forward during the descending stroke and is released during the
ascending stroke. One end of the main lever or beam is also coupled
by means of a third connecting rod with a crank on an axis carrying a
fly wheel. This machine may be used to drive paddle wheels or a screw
to propel a ship or vessel.
In order that our said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the Drawings.
hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view of a machine constructed according to our
Invention. a, a, is the main lever or beam; b, b, connecting rods at its
ends coupling them with the arms c¹ of bell-crank lovers c, c, turning on
axes at c³, o; c³, c³, are short arms of the same levers, which by links d, d,
are connected with the power levers e, e, and theso levers are also jointed
at e', c', to the extremities of the long arms ct of the levers c. The
levers e, e, have slots in them at es, e³, and the catches ff pass through
them. The catches farc jointed at their lower ends with levers g
turning on axes at g' and having heavy weights connected with them,
as is shown. i, i, are stop wheels mounted upon the levers e; one of
them is shown in plan at Figure 2, it is partially rotated as it comes to
the upper and lower ends of the stroke by fixed stops h, k, having
suitable inclines upon them. At the top of the stroke the stop wheel
throws the catch f forward and causes it to catch the power lever e, the
weight is then suspended from this lever, and it draws it down and in
so doing it acts forcibly on the lever c pushing down its arm c* and
drawing upwards its arm c³, both of which actions tend to cause the
descent of the corresponding end of the main lover or beam a, and when
this end of the beam gets to its lowest position the stop wheel i throws
back the catch f and so frees the lever e. The beam then returns by a
similar action of the parts on the other side of its centre, and during this
motion the arm c³ of the first lever c which has now gone out of action
by means of the link gives motion to the small bell-crank lever m, and
this by a link n lifts the lever g and the weight / ready to again operate,

page_text: and at the top of the stroke the stop wheel i acts on the catch f so as
again to lock the lever g to the power lever e, and then the weight again
commences to descend and acts on the beam a as already described, and
so the work continues. o is another connecting rod connecting the
beam a at one end with the cranked axis p on which is a fly wheel q.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, we would have it understood that what
we claim is, the arranging apparatus for obtaining motive power and for
propelling vessels, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Woollatt and William
Brown Dodds, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
JOSEPH WOOLLATT.
(L.S.)
WILLIAM BROWN DODDS. (L.S.)