AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR DRIVING THE PROPELLING SHAFTS OF SHIPS OR VESSELS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Austin Ashe, of Bolton Place, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR DRIVING THE PROPELLING SHAFTS OF SHIPS OR
VESSELS." A communication from abroad by Edward David Ashe, of
Quebec, in Lower Canada.
Sealed the 22nd August 1862, and dated the 28th March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Austin Ashe
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th March 1862.
I, WILLIAM AUSTIN ASHE, of Bolton Place, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention. for "An
IMPROVED MODE OF AND. APPARATUS FOR DRIVING THE PROPELLING SHAFTS OF SHIPS
OR VESSELS," to be as follows:-
This Invention of an improved mode of and apparatus for driving the pro-"
pelling, shafts of ships or vessels relates to a mode of imparting a rotary.
motion to the shaft of a screw propeller, or other propelling shaft, without the
use. of a crank, connecting rod, driving band, or toothed wheel, or other
gearing. This object is effected by causing the propeller shaft to pass through
the steam cylinder, and adapting the piston of this cylinder to reciprocate to.
and fro on this shaft, and in. so doing to impart rotary motion thereto by

page_text: means of a driver or tooth fixed to the piston, and made to work in diagonal
slots cut in the propeller shaft. As the piston advances the driver or tooth
fixed thereon will pass along the diagonal groove cut in the propeller shaft,
and will cause the latter to turn in its bearings, and thereby actuate the pro-
peller. On the return stroke the driver will turn round and pass back along
another diagonal groove cut in an opposite direction to the former one, and
consequently on the return stroke of the piston the rotary motion of the shaft
will be continued in the same direction as when the piston is advancing. The
propeller shaft passes freely through the cylinder, and is mounted in suitable
bearings as usual; but in the steam cylinder it is surrounded by two sleeve
shafts, one of which has cut in it diagonal slots corresponding to the diagonal
grooves of the propeller shaft, and the other or outer sleeve shaft has a
straight slot made therein to guide the driver and piston in a straight line, and
prevent them from deviating therefrom. The induction and eduction valves of
the steam cylinder are worked by causing an endless screw on the propeller
shaft to gear into and drive a screw wheel on the axle of an excentric, so that
by turning this latter the stem of the valve may be operated upon. When
great power is required to drive the propeller, two cylinders and pistons may
bé arranged one behind the other on the shaft, and combined in such a
manner that when one piston is at the full stroke, the other-is at half stroke.
Both pistons may be made to act in both directions, or each piston alternately
in only one direction. Suitable arrangements must, of course, be made for
reversing or stopping, and starting the engines..
I
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Austin Ashe in the Great Seal Patent Office on 2
the 27th September 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
AUSTIN ASHE, of Bolton Place, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Austin Ashe, Her special license, that I, the said
William Austin Ashe, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such 3
others as I, the said William Austin Ashe, my executors, administrators,

page_text: 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR DRIVING THE PRO-
PELLING SHAFTS OF SHIPS OR VESSELS," being a communication from Edward
David Ashe, of Quebec, in Lower Canada, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Austin Ashe, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Austin Ashe, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention of "An Improved Mode of and Apparatus for Driving the
Propelling Shafts of Ships or Vessels," relates to a mode of imparting a rotary
motion to the shaft of a screw propeller, or other shaft, without the use of a
crank, connecting rod, driving band, or toothed gearing. In carrying out this
Invention the propeller shaft passes through the steam cylinder or cylinders,
which are placed horizontally parallel to the keel of the vessel, and also
through the pistons of these cylinders. The pistons are made to reciprocate
to and fro on the shaft, and in so doing to impart rotary motion thereto by
means of a driver or drivers fixed either direct to the piston, or to the end of
the piston rod. The driver of each piston is made to work in diagonal slots
or grooves cut in the propeller shaft, and as the piston advances, the driver
being fixed thereto will move forward in a right line, and by passing along
the diagonal groove cut in the propeller, or other shaft, will cause the latter
to turn in its bearings, and thereby actuate the propeller. On the return
stroke the driver will turn round in the socket on its axis, and will. pass back
along another diagonal groove cut in the propeller shaft in an opposite
direction to the former one, and consequently on the return stroke of the
piston the rotary motion of the shaft will be continued in the same direction.
as when the piston is advancing. The propeller shaft passes freely through
the cylinder, and is mounted in suitable bearings as usual; but the axis of the
propeller shaft not being coincident with the axis of the cylinder, it will be

page_text: understood that the shaft is placed excentrically in the steam cylinders, and is
surrounded by a jacket or sleeve shaft upon which the piston slides. By this
means the driver and piston are guided in a straight line, and are prevented
from deviating therefrom. The induction-and eduction valves of the steam
cylinder may be worked by causing an endless screw on the propeller shaft to
gear into and drive a screw wheel on the axle of an excentric, so that by
turning the latter the stem of the valve may be operated upon. When great
power is required to drive the propeller, two cylinders and pistons may be
arranged one behind the other, and the shaft made to pass through both, the
motions of the two pistons being so combined and arranged that when one
piston is at full stroke, the other is at half stroke, or some other part of the
stroke, so that the dead point may be passed with facility. Both pistons may
be made to act in both directions, or each piston alternately in only one
direction. Suitable arrangements must of course be made for reversing, or
stopping, or starting the engine.
The several Figures in Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings represent
one arrangement of parts whereby the object of my Invention may be effected,
and in which only one steam cylinder is employed.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section taken through the steam cylinder
a, a, the piston b, b, and valve chest c, c; Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical
section of the same. The propeller shaft is seen at d, d, it passes through the
steam cylinder and piston, but excentrically to the centre or axis of both, as
will be seen by referring to Fig. 2, which represents a transverse section of
the cylinder, with the shaft d passing through it. The piston 6 is provided
with an instrument e, e¹, which I denominate the driver. This driver is shewn
detached in elevation and plan, and drawn upon an enlarged scale at Figures
4 and 4. The vertical spindle e of the driver turns freely in its socket in the
piston 6, and its foot e¹ works in the diagonal or double helical groove d', d',
cut in the propeller shaft d, which is enclosed within two sleeves or jackets,
ff, for the purpose of preventing the steam when admitted at. one side of
the piston from passing along the groove d¹ to the other side; Fig. 5 is a
sectional plan view of the grooved part of the propeller shaft, with its
enveloping jackets or sleeves ff; Fig. 6 is an external plan view of the
same, from which it will be seen that the outer sleeve shaft f¹ has a longi-
tulinal slot made along it for the passage of the driver e; Fig. 7 is an
external view of the inner sleeve shaft f, in which a helical or diagonal groove
is made for the passage of the driver e. It will now be seen that as the shaft d
passes excentrically through the piston the latter cannot turn round on its
axis, but is obliged to reciprocate to and fro in a right line without any axial

page_text: motion: The driver e will thus be carried along the helical or diagonal.groove.
in the shaft d, and cause the latter to rotate on its axis, and when the driver
and piston arrive at one end of the stroke, as shewn in the Drawings at:
Figures 1 and 5, the former will turn round. on its vertical axis, as seen at
Fig. 5, and upon the piston performing the return stroke the driver will pass:
along the opposite groove in the shaft d, and thereby continue the rotation of
the latter. The same operation occurs at the end of the other stroke, so that.
by the driver passing backwards and forwards alternately along the double
helical or diagonal grooves the rotation of the shaft will continue. In order:
to reverse the action of the propeller, it will only be necessary. to propel
the piston and driver in the opposite direction, admitting the steam on
the opposite side of the piston by means of any of the well known gear, or
arrangements usually employed for this purpose. The valve for the induction
and.eduction of the steam is worked from the propeller shaft d by means of a
snail or screw d, which gears into and drives a snail wheel g on the shaft of
the excentric h, which works the rocking shaft i, and by means of a lever and
link connected to the valve stem j works the valve k..
I lay no claim to this mode of working the valve, as it forms no part of
my Invention. The valve may, therefore, be actuated in any other suitable
and convenient manner.
:
In Sheet II. I have shewn a modification of the plan just described,
the principal difference being that two steam cylinders and pistons are
employed.
Fig. 8 is a sectional plan view of this modification; Fig. 9 is a partial side
elevation, and Fig. 10, a sectional end elevation of a double action engine.
a, a, a, a,. are the steam cylinders, and b, b, the pistons, through both of which
the propeller shaft d passes freely, and is enclosed within or surrounded by a
sleeve shaft or tube f¹, on which the piston b works through a stuffing box or
suitable packing. The reciprocating driver e of each piston is mounted at one
end of a cross head 61 at the extremity of the piston rod 62, and works in the
double helical or diagonal groove d' made in the propeller shaft d. In this
instance it will be seen that the grooved part of the propeller shaft is situated
outside or between the ends of the two steam cylinders; the drivers e, e, of
the two are also necessarily outside. By this arrangement these working
parts can always be got at with facility, and lubricated and repaired when
required. Air pump cylinders 7, 1, are placed alongside each steam cylinder,
and condensers m, m, are placed below. The rods of the pistons of the air
pump cylinders connected to the cross heads b¹, 61, and are consequently
worked thereby, the cross heads being made to reciprocate in slotted guides

page_text: n, n. In order that there shall be no dead points, it will be seen that when
one piston and driver has reached the end of its stroke, the other will be at its
full power.
Having now described the Invention of "An Improved Mode of and Appa-
ratus for Driving the Propeller Shafts of Ships or Vessels," and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Inven-
tion secured to me by Letters Patent, as aforesaid, communicating rotary
motion to the propelling shafts of ships or vessels by means of a driver, which
is made to move to and fro in a double helical or right and left handed
diagonal groove in the said shaft, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Austin Ashe, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness;
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. AUSTIN ASHE. (L.S.)