CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTING AND PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1816

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
WRIGHT, of Bishopsgate within the City of London and County of Mid-
dlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of December, in the
fifty-sixth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Richard
Wright, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Richard Wright, my exors, adññiors,
and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of years therein
mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTING AND PROPELLING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said Richard Wright,
shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease,
determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto
had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Wright, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained by the following description and annexed Drawing (that is
to say) :-
It consists in the improvement in the construction and propelling of ships
and other vessels in the following manner :-
(First), the vessel is constructed with one or more channels entirely thro' her
fore and aft, open at the bottom, with sides nearly parallel, as per plan W, W.
(Secondly), to have the advantage of propelling vessels in rough water, or
at sea, I add to the boiler a reservoir thro' which the steam passes previous
to its entering the cylinder or cylinders of the steam engine between the
reservoir and the boiler; a valve or valves may be placed to prevent the
agitated water in the boiler condensing the stenm in the reservoir.
(Thirdly), in the construction of the engine I use two cylinders, with two
beams and cranks at right angles with each other, to prevent the necessity of
a fly wheel. In the first or steam cylinder the steam acts by its expansive
force, without being condensed; in the second or condensed cylinder it will be
similar to other condensing engines. As the passages of the condensing cylinder
will be closed part of the time the other is discharging its steam it is neces-
sary to have a depot to receive the steam from the steam cylinder for the pur-
poses of supplying the condensed cylinder when the passages of the steam cylinder
are shut. The depot may be a jacket to the cylinders fixed in the boiler, or
contiguous; dimensions and shape not material, but should prefer a content equal
to one or more cylinders supply.-N.B. To prevent the necessity of using high
pressure I propose using cylinders of near the same diameter, that the steam in
the boiler may not exceed an additional atmosphere, although safe at forty
pounds per square inch, the boiler being properly proved.
(Fourthly), the construction of the paddle apparatus is as follows:-Fix two
wheels, A and B, perpendicular, at a distance from each other, as per plan,
B being highest to each wheel. Fix a number of round pins (C) projecting
towards each other, the spaces between them being equally divided; to each
pin of wheels A and B introduce the links (D); suspend from the pins in (B)
the paddles on the loops (E); fasten the paddles to the lower part of the
link (D).
In the first article I claim as an improvement in the vessel the channel or
channels above described. The improvement in the second article consists in
the introduction of the steam reservoir, and valve or valves occasionally fixed
in the space or spaces between the reservoir and the boiler. In the third

page_text: article I claim as an improvement the introduction of the depot to receive
steam from the steam cylinder, to supply the condensing cylinder for the
particular purpose of working the two cyilnders with cranks at right angles.
In the fourth article my improvement consists in the manner in which the
paddle apparatus is constructed. Although a scale is introduced on the plan,
yet I do not confine myself to any particular dimensions.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Wright, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixteen.
RICH (L.S.) WRIGHT.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixteen, the aforesaid
Richard Wright came before our said Lord the King in His, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid
was stamp'd according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and seventeen.