IMPROVED PROPELLERS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Edwards Colley, of the Daily Telegraph
Office, Fleet Street, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
“IMPROVED PROPELLERS."
Sealed the 19th April 1865, and dated the 24th October 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Edwards Colley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th October 1864.
I, EDWARD EDWARDS COLLEY, of the Daily Telegraph Office, Fleet Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVED PROPELLERS," to be as follows, that is to
say:-
This Invention consists of improved propellers, combining the action of the
screw and paddle in each.
The improved propeller is formed by fixing a number of blades upon an
axis at an angle therewith of 40° more or less. The propellers are fitted at
the stern of the vessel, one on each side of the rudder, the centre line of their
axes forming a horizontal right angle, or each forming an angle of 45° with
the centre line of the keel. The propellers are coupled, and driven by
an ordinary engine. The propellers are intended to operate when wholly
or partly submerged. The axes of the propellers are mounted in bearings,
which can be raised and lowered by screws.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Edwards Colley in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th April 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
EDWARDS COLLEY, of the Daily Telegraph Office, Fleet Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edward Edwards Colley, Her special licence that I, the said
Edward Edwards Colley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Edwards Colley, 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 "IMPROVED PROPELLERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Edward Edwards Colley, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Edwards Colley, 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, that is to say:
:-
This Invention relates to propellers for steam ships and other vessels, and
consists of the following improvements in the forms and dispositions of the
vanes or blades and shafts, by which the action of the screw and paddle are
combined in each propeller.
I propose to form the said improved propellers by affixing a number of flat
blades or discs upon and radiating from a centre boss, shaft, or axis, so as to
revolve therewith. I set the said blades at an angle of 45° more or less with
the axis of the shaft with which they revolve. I place one of the propellers
thus formed on each side of the ship or vessel at the stem, or at the "run"
or dead wood, or at both, or in a hollow at the midship section, or in any
"

page_text: necessary, as in some vessels a greater or less angle than 45° with the keel
will be found more convenient. In such cases the angles of the blades will
have to be increased or diminished accordingly, so as to cause them still to
enter, act upon, and leave the water as above described. I also propose to
apply a third or auxiliary propeller upon a shaft in a line with the centre of 5
the vessel, and gear the three propeller shafts together, so that they can all
three be operating together when great speed is required, and be respectively
disconnected, and each operate separately for enabling rapid evolutions of the
ship. When the two propellers only are fitted, they are fitted with discon-
necting couplings, so that they can operate independant of each other, and if 1
necessary in opposite directions, and thus dispense with the necessity for a
rudder, or supply the function of the rudder when it is out of order. The
propeller blades may be fitted to the boss or shaft so that their angles there-
with can be varied and increased or diminished.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Edwards Colley, have hereunto 1.
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
EDWARD EDWARDS (L.s.) COLLEY.