A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING STEAM SHIPS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Thomas, of No. 273, Netherfield Road
North, Liverpool, in the Township of Kirkdale, in the County of
Lancashire, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR PROPELLING STEAM SHIPS."
Sealed the 21st June 1870, and dated the 24th December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Thomas at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th December 1869.
I, ROBERT THOMAS, of No. 273, Netherfield Road North, Liverpool,
in the Township of Kirkdale, in the County of Lancashire, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR PROPELLING STEAM SHIPS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a blade propelling power for sailing ships
and steamers, and is an improvement on the principle of screw or
paddle. It was originally intended for driving sailing ships only in

page_text: calm weather; its advantages are that when there is a sufficient wind for
the vessel to sail the engine need only be stopped, and the apparatus will
be entirely clear from the water and of no impediment whatever to the
vessel sailing. It can also be applied to steamers in the room of paddles
or as a propeller at the stern, as well as an auxiliary power in sailing
vessels. It is expected that an engine of 100 horse power with this
apparatus will give a vessel a speed equal to 200 horse power compared
with that of a paddle or screw, and consequently requiring a considerable
less quantity of fuel.
The following is a description of the apparatus:-A pair of horizontal
engines fixed between two main shafts crossing the boat from one side
to the other; the same two shafts have two cranks each set at right
angles similar to a locomotive. The same is driven direct from cylinders
with piston rods working through each end of the same with two or four
connecting rods to two cylinders, as may be required to suit the boat or
position the apparatus has to be fitted in. The above two main shafts
have connected to them four counter shafts fixed directly above them
at the outer ends, and also connected to them by four connecting rods
attached to four cranks set at opposite angles to the engine cranks. By
this means it dispenses with toothed wheels or fly wheels to keep them
in uniform motion, also avoiding noiso and unsteadiness which wheels
are subject to.
The working of the flat blades is as follows:-Two blades on each side
of the ship are attached to two connecting rods, which revolve on two long
cranks working jointly with each other carrying the blades in and out
of the water, the edges down and up, at the rate of 100 revolutions per
minute, more or less, and taking hold of the water at great depths to
avoid slip, say, 5 feet deep and 6 feet wide, making an area 30 feet solid
surface of water upon the blades, more or less, as required to suit the
size of the boat or ship it is arranged for. The blades work in the water
with a uniform pull, one being out and the other in the water on each
side of the ship or the stern; the same blades can be adjusted by means
of worm and tooth or screw to rise and fall them and to get sufficient
hold of the water. They can be drawn totally up on centres, and traps
to shut out the sea or waves in a storm when the ship is sailing under
canvas. By this plan there is a continual pull, and being clear of
back wash that all other propellers of steam ships have to contend with.

page_text: It will require smaller engines by one-third of the present ones in use,
and will drive a ship at much greater speed either backwards or
forwards.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Thomas in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 24th June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
THOMAS, of No. 273, Netherfield Road North, Liverpool, in the Township
of Kirkdale, in the County of Lanchashire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Thomas, Her special
licence that I, the said Robert Thomas, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Thomas, 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 "PROPELLING STEAM
SHIPS WITHOUT THE USE OF THE ORDINARY SCREW OR PADDLES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Thomas, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, 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 Robert Thomas, 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 :-

page_text: This Invention consists in a blade propelling power for sailing ships,
canal flats or boats, and steamers, and is an improvement on the principle
of the screw or paddle. Its advantages for sailing vessels are that when
there is a sufficient wind for the vessel to sail the engine need only be
stopped, and the apparatus will be entirely clear of the water and of no
impediment whatever to the vessel sailing. It can also be applied to
steamers in the room of paddles, or as a propeller at the stern or
It is
underneath, as well as an auxiliary power in sailing vessels.
expected that an engine of 100 horse power with this apparatus will
give a vessel a speed equal to 200 horse power compared with that of
a paddle or screw, and consequently requiring a considerably less
quantity of fuel. It works by means of four flat blades working in
the water of various depths and sizes in proportion to the size of the
vessel; these blades can be regulated as required, and driven by two
horizontal engines direct to cranks for working the propelling blades.
And in order that my Invention may be clearly understood, reference
is made to the accompanying Drawings, in which the same letters refer
Sheet 1, Fig. 1, shews end view and half transverse section of motions?
through centre of propelling blades with water line.
Sheet 2, Fig. 2, a plan of the above Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shews top of
propelling blades, full size; Fig. 4, side view shewing the edge of
propelling blades and reverse link of engines, and the raising and
falling rack down at its depth.
A, the driving blades; B, the slide fixed on the driving cranks, shaft,
or on the top of the cranks; the screw W goes through the same, and
by placing the key on the square end D to turn the screw W the blades
could be raised or lowered as required to suit any depth of water the
ship may draw; D, the key end or spindle for key to turn the screw W;
by so doing the blades are moved up or down as required; E, the crank
pins, or, as above described, under the letter B, shaft, or top of the
cranks; F, the cranks to connect the two main shafts together, and to
keep the gearing in uniform motion working at right angles with the
driving cranks T; L, engine crank to drive the apparatus or propeller;

page_text: P, the coupling link to keep the engine correctly together; R, the iron
framing fixed to the ship; S, the position of cylinder; T, the apparatus
crank forged solid to the shaft; V, a groove or socket on the back of the
blade, both ends of the shape >, in which the travelling slide B moves
up and down, as required, by the use of a key to fit the square end of D,
and by so doing turning the screw or the worm to place the blade in any
position required.
Having now described my said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, that which I claim is, the principle of this
Invention as before set forth, or any mere modification thereof, whether
worked by cranks, eccentric, or cams through holes in the ship's stern;
these holes when there is sufficient wind for sailing will be closed by
trapdoors or other means. This Invention totally dispenses with back
water that paddle boats are troubled with. The propelling blades enter
the water on their edges and come out the same quite clear of back wash.
The driving blades fixed on connecting rods to two cranks one above the
other, and when in motion the top crank is counteracted upon at full
twenty-five per cent. in favor of the engine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Thomas, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.