IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR GIVING MOTION TO SHIPS AND MACHINERY AND FOR RAISING WATER
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Standfield and John Stand-
field at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 20th December 1861.
We, JAMES STANDFIELD, of Aylsford, in the County of Kent, Engineer, and
JOHN STANDFIELD, of Stratford, in the County of Essex, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR GIVING MOTION TO SHIPS AND MACHINERY AND FOR RAISING WATER,"
to be as follows:-
The first part of our Invention relates to the machinery or apparatus for
transmitting the power generated by a stream of water or other fluid to a
rotating shaft connected with a screw propeller, or with any machinery required
to be driven, and consists mainly of an open cylindrical case in which a number
of vanes are arranged radially, but which are set in an oblique direction so
that any fluid impinging upon or projected against such vanes shall give a
rotary motion thereto, and consequently to the case containing them. In the
centre of the said cylindrical case a boss or centre is fixed, being retained in
place by the vanes before referred to, and through which boss the driving
shaft passes, being securely keyed or otherwise attached thereto, so that it
receives a like rotary motion. The water or other fluid employed for giving
motion to the cylindrical case and its connected shaft is supplied to the vanes
by means of a tube terminating, when desireable, in two or more branches,
which enter for a short distance into the cylindrical case, the vanes before

page_text: referred to not being quite equal in depth to that of the case. By this
arrangement any waste of water is prevented, the whole of it issuing from the
supply tube necessarily passing through the cylindrical case between the vanes.
Where desireable this supply tube may be made to rotate with the cylindrical
case, being firmly attached thereto, in which case the back of the cylindrical
case is entirely closed, except where the supply pipe enters it and is attached
to it. The driving shaft, with the cylindrical case keyed thereon as well as
the supply tube (when the latter is allowed to revolve) are supported by
ordinary bearings in which they revolve.
When this apparatus is employed for giving motion to ships, a water-tight
receptacle is formed in the stern of the vessel sufficiently large to contain the
driving shaft and the cylindrical case attached to it. In this case the whole
of this part of the apparatus revolves in water. In other cases the driving
shaft and cylindrical case may revolve in water or not, as most convenient. In
some cases, videlicet, where two small screw propellers are employed as for
shallow draught vessels, instead of connecting the screw shaft directly with the
cylindrical case, we apply toothed gearing to the outside of the cylindrical-
case, or to the shaft to which it is attached, which gives motion to a screw
shaft on each side of it, such screw shafts carrying toothed driving wheels upon
them. We also sometimes employ toothed gearing to the cylindrical case or
to the shaft to which it is attached; for the purpose of giving a screw propeller
a different velocity, to that of the cylindrical vessel, or in order to alter the
level of the centre of the screw shaft or shafts with respect to the centre of
the cylindrical case.
The back end of the water-supply pipe when used in ships, if made to revolve,
works through an ordinary stuffing box attached to the end of the water
chamber before described. For driving ordinary machinery, the cylindrical
case and driving shaft is placed' vertically instead of 'horizontally as in the case
of driving screw propellers. In some cases we dispense, when propelling
vessels of ships, with part of the apparatus above described, and substitute one
or more simple tubes, from the ends of which the water is projected, so that
by its reaction, it may give motion to the ship or vessel. In this case the said
tubes are stationary, and are supplied by the same apparatus as the cylindrical
case before described, and which apparatus constitutes the second part of our
Invention, which we shall now describe.
The second part of our Invention consists of apparatus so arranged that a
current or several currents of steam issuing from flat cylindrical, annular, or
otherwise shaped orifices are caused to meet currents of water or other fluids,
(surrounding the flat, cylindrical, or otherwise shaped jets, or being surrounded

page_text: by the annular jets,) and thus carry the latter along with them to the supply
pipe for feeding the rotating cylindrical case or the stationary reaction tube
or tubes above described, or lastly, to an ordinary delivery pipe when the
apparatus is used for raising water. The orifices through which the steam or
water issues may be regulated at pleasure in a convenient manner by making
them of two cones or tubes one within the other, their ends being capable of
being brought together or separated more or less. The orifice in the inner
cone or tube may be regulated by a valve or cock, while that in the outer
cone or tube may be regulated by increasing or diminishing the distance
between the ends of the said cones or tubes, & so enlarging or diminishing the
space between them for the passage of the steam or water, as the case may be.
By means of the apparatus constituting the second part of our Invention we
are able to force water into any ordinary hydraulic engine or turbine, instead
of the apparatus first described, and so give motion to machinery. The boiler
for supplying steam to the above apparatus, may be of the ordinary kind, high-
pressure steam being preferred for producing the currents of water before
described.