IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR PROPELLERS APPLICABLE FOR THE PROPULSION OF SHIPS, BOATS, AND OTHER VESSELS ON AND THROUGH THE WATER, AND IN THE PROPELLING OF ALL SUCH VESSELS ON AND THROUGH THE WATER BY MEANS OF SUCH PROPELLERS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Jones Aston, of 41, Doughty Street, in the
County of Middlesex, and of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR PROPELLERS APPLICABLE FOR
THE PROPULSION OF SHIPS, BOATS, AND OTHER VESSELS ON AND THROUGH THE
WATER, AND IN THE PROPELLING OF ALL SUCH VESSELS ON AND THROUGH THE
WATER BY MEANS OF SUCH PROPELLERS."
Sealed the 27th May 1859, and dated the 17th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Jones Aston at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th December 1858.
I, JAMES JONES ASTON, of 41, Doughty Street, in the County of Middlesex,
and of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR PROPELLERS APPLICABLE
FOR THE PROPULSION OF SHIPS, BOATS, AND OTHER VESSELS ON AND THROUGH THE
WATER, AND IN THE PROPELLING OF ALL SUCH VESSELS ON AND THROUGH THE WATER
BY MEANS OF SUCH PROPELLERS," to be as follows:-
My improved propellers are made solid of metal, or wood, or wood and
metal, or other convenient substance, and are formed round with a plane
circumference and flat sides, like rollers or roller wheels, but, perhaps, as my
Invention is so simple, the easiest mode of describing its nature is to give an
account of how I made two of my improved propellers for an experimental trial

page_text: on a small model boat worked by a spring; it was as follows:-Out of a small
sheet of flat tin, about the one twenty-fourth part of an inch in thickness, I
had cut out with a pair of shears two round pieces or discs, six inches in
diameter, & such two round pieces, rollers, or discs formed two of my
improved propellers, and which I applied at the sides of my model boat in the
place of paddle wheels.
My improved propellers may be of various diameters and of various thick-
nesses or widths.
My inprovements in propelling consist in the application of one, two, or
more of such propellers or rollers in various ways to the propelling of ships,
boats, and other vessels on and through the water, as, for instance, one may be
applied at the head or stern, or it may be submerged under and partly encased
in any such vessel, or two of my propellers or rollers may be applied at the
sides of any such vessel much where paddle wheels are now placed, or they
may be submerged under and partly encased in any such vessel. More than
two rollers may in some cases be used.
By means of any force applied to machinery connected with the centres of
the rollers or roller, or with spindles or shafts fastened into such centres (or by
any other convenient method) a rapid rotary motion may be given to the
rollers or roller, and the ship, boat, or other vessel will be propelled at, I
believe, a greater rate of speed than by paddles, screws, oars, or any other
propellers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Jones Aston in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
JONES ASTON, of 41, Doughty Street, in the County of Middlesex, and of the
Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Jones Aston, Her special license that I, the said James
Jones Aston, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Jones Aston, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all

page_text: 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR PROPELLERS APPLICABLE FOR THE PROPULSION OF
SHIPS, BOATS, AND OTHER VESSELS ON AND THROUGH THE WATER, AND IN THE
PROPELLING OF ALL SUCH VESSELS ON AND THROUGH THE WATER BY MEANS OF SUCH
PROPELLERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Jones Aston, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Jones Aston, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
propellers for ships, boats, and other vessels, whereby a greater rate of speed
is obtained with less agitation of the water than when the paddle wheel or the
screw is employed. My improved propellers consist of solid circular discs or
rollers mounted on a central axis, and made of wood, metal, or wood and
metal combined, or of other convenient substances. They are flat at the
sides, and have no floats, paddles, or projections of any kind on their plane
peripheries.
Figures 1 and 2 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represent respectively &
side elevation and edge view of one form of my propeller, detached. In this
case, the propeller consists of a disc of wood or metal.
These propellers may be made of various diameters and of various thick-
nesses or widths, and may be made as thin as practicable, having due regard
to their size and the material used, so that they may be sufficiently strong to be
turned rapidly in the water without breaking or buckling; and several pro-
pellers may be used and placed apart, as hereafter stated with reference to
Figure 6, have a more beneficial propelling action than they would have if "
they were placed close together and formed as it were one propeller.
Various means may obviously be employed for strengthening the discs if
and when requisite: Figure 3 represents a propeller composed or built up of
wood, but strengthened by having pieces of metal A let into the wood.
When such propellers are applied so as to have any considerable portion's

page_text: thereof above the water, variations therein may be made in those parts of the
propellers not working in the water, by cutting away portions thereof, and
fitting or forming arms therein at the centre, as shewn at Figure 4 of my
Drawings.
Two or more of my improved propellers may be applied at the sides of a
boat or other vessel. Figure 5 represents an end view of a boat fitted with
two of my propellers, namely, one ou each side.
The number of propellers used may be increased, and two or more may be
combined and placed on the same shaft at a small and convenient distance
apart. Figure 6 represents an arrangement of six of the propellers on each
side of a boat, and, in this case, they may be made of sheet metal, or of wood,
each disc being kept a slight distance from its neighbour by the interposition
of distance blocks or bosses or stretchers, as shewn in the Drawing, the whole
being firmly secured together on the shaft. In Figures 5 and 6, the line
marked W, L, denotes the water line. Figures 7 and 8 represent respectively
an elevation and plan of a boat having two propellers on each side at its head
or bows.
When found desirable, my propellers may be partly incased in the vessel,
and so placed as to work in or under the keel at the head or stern, or other
part of the vessel.
Figures 9 and 10 represent, in elevation and plan, a single wide propeller,
of the form shewn detached at Figure 3a placed across a vessel, and partially
projecting below the keel. Figure 11 represents a plan of a similar single
wide propeller placed across the head of a barge, and also partially projecting
below the bottom thereof. In this case the propeller will help to prevent the
gathering of head water, and also to overcome the fluid resistance offered by
the water to the passage of the barge, and will in this case, as in Figures 7, 8,
and 13, have every advantage to be derived from the action of the propeller
being at the head of the vessel, and thus drawing it through the water.
Figure 12 represents four propellers, partly enclosed in a vessel at the stern;
and Figure 13 represents an elevation of two of my propellers placed on each
side of the head of a vessel, and arranged similarly to Figures 7 and 8,
excepting that they work entirely under water, the line W, L, denoting the
water line.
My improved propellers should have a rapid rotatory motion imparted to
them by means of any suitable force applied by machinery in connection with
the propeller shafts, or with shafts fastened into the centres of such propellers,
thereby causing the ship, boat, or other vessel carrying the same to be pro-
pelled on and through the water.

page_text: My improved propellers may further be applied to boats, barges, or other
similar craft and in these applications cranks worked by hand or by the feet
might be employed for actuating the same. This propeller offers great
advantages in its application to canal navigation, by reason of the diminished
agitation of the water caused by my propellers as compared with paddle wheels
or screws.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I declare that the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent, consists of,-
First, the general constructions, arrangements, and combinations of pro-
pellers for ships, boats, and other vessels, as herein-before described and
illustrated by my Drawings.
Second, the application and use of one or more circular discs or rollers
mounted on axes, and caused to rotate for propelling ships, boats, and other
vessels, as herein-before described and illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Jones Aston, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
JAMES JONES ASTON. (L.S.)
JAMES JONES ASTON.
L.S.