AN IMPROVED PROPELLING APPARATUS FOR MARINE AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WILLIAM FIRCHILD, of Weoley Park, Northfield, in the County of Worcester,
Farmer, 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 Fourteenth day of March in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles
William Firchild, Her especial license that I, the said Charles William Firchild,
my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles William
Firchild, my exors, adñiors, 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
"AN IMPROVED PROPELLING APPARATUS FOR MARINE AND OTHER PURPOSES;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Charles
William Firchild, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles William Firchild, do hereby declare the nature of my said Juvention
to consist in pistons working in-chambers at the stern of the vessel, into which
chambers the water surrounding the vessel is admitted and expelled by the
nction of the said pistons. And in further compliance with the said proviso, I,
the said Charles William Firchild, do hereby describe the manner in which my
said Invention is to be performed by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing anexed, which represents its application to a
canal boat, and to the figures and letters marked thereon; that is to say,—
Figure Ono is a plan, and Figure Two a section, of a boat fitted with one of
my said improved propelling apparatuses, and similar letters are used to denote
similar parts in both the Figures. A is the body of the boat; B, an ordinary
steam boiler; C, C, a pair of ordinary steam cylinders; D, D, two pistons
working in the chambers E, E, which are open at the end; F is the rudder
of the vessel. The remainder of the machinery is to give motion to slide
valves, which let the steam alternately into each cylinder, so that while one
piston is drawn back, the other is thrust out. The pistons D, D. are packed
on three sides only, for it will be seen that they do not touch the cover of
the chambers E. E. Now, whereas it is evident that there are many ways by
which the piston rods, which carry the pistons D, D, may be acted upon, and
they may be placed wholly under water, which 1 prefer for sea-going boats,
and in which case the pistons should be packed on all sides, or otherwise,
according as they are used for one purpose or another, that is to say, for
marine or sea-going boats or for canals: But whereas I claim as my Inven-
tion the improved propelling apparatus of pistons acting upon water admitted
into chambers at the stern of the boat or vessel as aforesaid, and such my
Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief entirely new, and
never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said Dominion of Wales, or
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification
of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply
in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the proviso in the said
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained: Wherefore I do hereby
claim to maintain exclusivo right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles William Firchild, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
C. W. (L.S.) FIRCHILD.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of September, in
the year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid Charles William Firchild came
before Our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-two.