AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE FORCING AND DIRECTING OF LIQUIDS AND FLUIDS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hyde Pidcock, of Leighton Buzzard, in the
County of Beds, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO
THE FORCING AND DIRECTING OF LIQUIDS AND FLUIDS."
Sealed the 15th June 1855, and dated the 21st February 1855...
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hyde Pidcock
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st February 1855.
I, JOHN HYDE PIDCOCK, of Leighton Buzzard, in the County of Beds,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE
TO THE FORCING AND DIRECTING OF LIQUIDS AND FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in acting upon water or other liquid, or upon gases
and other fluids, through an undulating elastic band or series of strips, united
so as to form a continuous band, to which an alternating up and down undu-
latory motion is communicated from a cranked shaft or other source, set in
motion by a steam engine or other prime mover. One method of applying my
Invention, which I will describe as adapted to the propelling of vessels, will be
to form a trough or tube under the water line of the vessel, parallel with the
keel, and open at stem and stern. I fit a jointed band in an undulating line

page_text: in the trough, along nearly the whole length thereof, and cause it to move up
and down by means of rods working through the upper part of the tube or
trough, connected to cranks or eccentrics upon a shaft running through the
length of the vessel. At each stroke of the engine the whole contents of the
trough will be ejected therefrom, and the vessel will be caused to move ahead
or astern at will. In order to steer the vessel, or to give direction to the
liquids or fluids entering into and issuing from the trough or tube, I fit vanes at
each end of the trough or tube, by means of which the liquids and fluids will be
caused to enter therein and to issue therefrom in any desired direction. By
properly adjusting such vanes in a vessel, so as to cause the water to enter at
one side of the trough and to issue from the same side at the opposite end of
the trough, a vessel could be turned round in her own length, or nearly so.
In fact, by the admission and ejection of the water being properly adjusted, the
greatest nicety in steering may be readily and with certainty attained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Hyde Pidcock, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HYDE PIDCOCK, of Leighton Buzzard, in the County of Beds, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Hyde Pidcock, Her special licence that I, the said John
Hyde Pidcock, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Hyde Pidcock, 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 Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS, WHICH IS ALSO APPLICABLE
TO THE FORCING AND DIRECTING OF LIQUIDS AND FLUIDS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Hyde Pidcock, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain

page_text: 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 John Hyde Pidcock, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in acting upon water or other liquid, or upon gases and
other fluids, through an undulating elastic band or series of strips, united so as
to form a continuous band, to which an alternating up and down undulatory
motion is communicated from a cranked shaft or other source, set in motion by
a steam engine or other prime mover. One method of applying my Invention,
which I will describe as adapted to the propelling of vessels, will be to form a
trough or tube under the water line of the vessel, parallel with the keel, and
open at the stem and stern. I fit a jointed band in an undulating line in the
trough or tube along nearly the whole length thereof, and cause it to move up
and down, by means of rods working through the upper part of the trough or
tube, and connected to cranks or excentrics upon a shaft running through the
length of the vessel. At each stroke of the engine the whole contents of
the trough or tube will be twice ejected therefrom, and the vessel will be
caused to move ahead or astern at will. In order to steer the vessel, or to
give direction to the liquids or fluids entering into and issuing from the trough
or tube, I fit vanes, paddles, or sluices at each end of the trough or tube, by
means of which the liquids and fluids will be caused to enter therein and to
issue therefrom in any desired direction. By properly adjusting such vanes in
a vessel, so as to cause the water to enter at one side of the trough or tube
and to issue from the same side at the opposite end of the trough or tube, a
vessel could be turned round in her own length, or nearly so. In fact, by the
admission and ejection of the water being properly adjusted, the greatest nicety
in steering may be readily and with certainty attained, even to the making the
vessel move sideways.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed is a side elevation, partly
in section, of a vessel having my propelling arrangement applied thereto;
Figure 2 is a plan of the same, also partly in section; and Figures 3 and 4 aro
respectively a cross section and a front view. A, A, is the hull of the vessel;
B is the trough or tube, which is under the water line, parallel with the keel,

page_text: and open at stem and stern, as before mentioned; C, C, is the jointed band,
which is fitted in the trough or tube B, so as to be in close contact with the
sides thereof; and D, D, are rods by which the jointed band is caused to
receive an upward and downward undulatory movement. E, E, are stuffing
boxes in the upper part of the trough or tube B, through which the rods D, D,
work; F is the engine crank shaft; and G, G, are cranks to which the rods
D, D, are connected, the crank pins of the cranks G, G, working in slots H,
formed in the cross heads I, attached to the rods D, D, as shewn in Figure 3.
J, J, are guides, between which the cross heads I work, so as to keep the rods
D, D, steady during their upward and downward motion; K, K, are a pair of
oscillating cylinders, by which the crank shaft F is set in motion, and the rods
D, D, thereby acted on so as to produce in the jointed band B the upward and
downward undulatory movement herein-before mentioned. Figure 5 is a plan,
Figure 6 a side elevation, and Figure 7 an end view, of the steering arrange-
ment as adapted to one side of the vessel; it being understood that there is to
be a similar arrangement on both sides and at both ends of the trough or tube.
L is a vane, paddle, or sluice, which works in a space formed between the
inner and outer planking of the vessel, and is capable of being moved forward
so as to come in contact with the stern post, and thus prevent the admission of
water at one side of that end of the trough or tube; M is a rod attached to
the vane or sluice L, and working through a stuffing box N; 0, 0, are
shackles fixed on the rod M; and P, P, are chains which are connected at
one end to the shackles O, O, and after passing round the pulley Q are fixed at
their opposite ends to ring bolts R, R. The pulley Q is attached to the end
of the piston rod S of a water or steam cylinder 'T', so that, by the admission of
water or steam into that cylinder to act on the piston thereof and its rod S,
the vane or sluice L can be moved forward or backward, and the admission of
water into the trough or tube can be regulated accordingly. The piston rod
S may also be connected with suitable apparatus to be worked by hand for
the purpose of steering the vessel when under sail. The vanes or sluices at
the stern of the vessel are fitted in a similar manner, and may be connected to
those at the stem of the vessel, so as to be acted on simultaneously, each vane
or sluice on either side at the stern being connected to the vane or sluice on
the opposite side at the stem of the vessel. By this arrangement the steering
of the vessel can be performed with the greatest nicety, as herein-before
mentioned.
Although I have described the use of a steam engine for working the
propelling apparatus, I do not mean to confine myself thereto, as other

page_text: engines may also be employed; neither do I confine myself to the use of a
water cylinder for working the steering arrangement, as any other suitable
power may be employed for that purpose. The method of applying my Inven-
tion to the forcing and directing of liquids and fluids for other purposes will
be readily understood from the foregoing description.
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 as my Inven-
tion is,―
First, the mode of propelling vessels and forcing liquids and fluids by acting
upon water or other liquid, or upon gases and other fluids, through an undu-
lating elastic band or series of strips, united so as to form a continuous band,
to which an alternating up and down undulatory motion is communicated from
a cranked shaft or other source, set in motion by a steam engine or other
prime mover, as herein-before exemplified and described; and,
Second, the mode of steering vessels and directing liquids and fluids by the
employment of vanes or directing means, in combination with such mode of
propelling vessels and forcing liquids and fluids as also herein-before exem-
plified and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hyde Pidcock, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
JOHN HYDE PIDCOCK. (L.S.)