CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING BOATS AND SHIPS OR OTHER VESSELS OR FLOATING BODIES
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BUSK, of Broad Street, in the City of London, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of October, in the seventh year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Busk, His especial licence that I, the said William Busk, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Busk, my exors,
admors, 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, and also in all His said Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING
BOATS AND SHIPS OR OTHER VESSELS OR FLOATING BODIES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Busk, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 His said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Busk, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist
in two particulars, the first being a flat board or paddle with sides to it,

page_text: moved in an undulating manner at the side of the vessel or body to be pro-
-pelled; and the second, a cylinder fixed in a line parallel to the vessel's side
with a paddle wheel within it, and with the end of the cylinder so formed that
the turning of the paddle wheel causes the water to be forced out of the
cylinder with such force as to propel the vessel or body to be propelled. And in
further compliance with the said proviso I, the said William Busk, do
hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed
by the following description of its application to propelling vessels, reference
being had to the Drawings annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, in the Drawing marked A, represents a side elevation of part of a
vessel, to which the first particular of my said Invention is attached. A being
the stern. B is a fly wheel turning on an axis over to its side. C, D, is a sort
of crank or rod and joint movement attached to the wheel B at E, and acting
from a fixed point at F. At the bottom of the shaft C is my said paddle G,
which is more particularly described by reference to the next Figure. Figure 2
is a perspective view of the before-mentioned flat board or paddle with sides to it.
G is one side, and H the opposite side; and it will be seen that the flat board r
is placed horizontally between the two sides, and that there is as much of
the sides above the board r as below it. It is only necessary to observe, that
the action produced by the wheel and crank movement here described causes
the paddle wheel here described to propel forward the vessel to which it is
applied when the wheel is turned in the direction marked by the arrow, and
backward when the wheel is turned in the contrary direction. Figures 3, 4,
and 5 shew various positions into which the aforesaid movement and board is
brought by the revolution of the wheel B.
The Drawing marked B represents the second particular of my said Inven-
tion. Fig. 1 shews a cylinder, in which is an ordinary paddle wheel turning
on axes having their bearings at each end of the cylinder. The end hero
shewn, it will be seen, is open round its outer part, and closed at the centre.
Fig. 2 shows the other end of the same cylinder, which, it will be observed,
is closed round its outer part, and open at the centre. Now, if a cylinder
so formed at the ends with a paddle wheel in it, as before described, be
immersed in water, and the paddle wheel be turned round, the water in the
cylinder will be thrown by the centrifugal action with great force out of the
end of the cylinder, shown at Fig. 1; and if such a cylinder and apparatus be
applied to a vessel's side, with the axes of the paddle wheel on a line parallel

page_text: to the said side, and with the end, shewn at Fig. 1, aftermost, the effect of
turning the paddle wheel will be to propel the vessel forwards.
Now whereas I do not claim as my Invention the wheel and crank move-
ment aforesaid, nor the paddle wheel aforesaid. But whereas I claim as
my Invention, with respect to the first particular of the same, a board, such
as is herein-before described, and to which such undulating motion as afore-
said is given for the purpose of propelling a vessel, whether by the crank
movement and wheel herein-before described, or by any other of the known
apparatus or movements in mechanics which will produce the same motion.
And with respect to the second particular of my said Invention, I claim the
cylinder formed at the ends, as herein-before described, with a paddle wheel
within it, and applied to a vessel's side, in manner aforesaid. And such my
Invention as I have hereby claimed, it being to the best of my knowledge and
belief entirely new and never before used within that part of His said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His
said Dominion of Wales or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in any of His
said Majesty's Colonies or Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this to be
my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specifi-
cation 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 hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Busk, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven. -
(L.B.) W BUSK.