IMPROVE- MENTS IN PROPELLERS
Year: 1856

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Lanphier Anderson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th July 1856.
..I, WILLIAM LANPHIER ANDERSON, of Norwood, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PROPELLERS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in certain arrangements of propellers, whereby the
floats of which they are composed are made to feather after producing their
propulsive effect. My propellers may be submerged entirely or partially,.and
are peculiarly adapted to be placed one on each side of the quarter or dead
wood.
Each propeller is composed of two, four, or more paddles carried upon arms,
which are free to turn freely in their supports, and the manner in which they
are maintained in their position, with their flat surfaces or with their edges to
the water, and in which they are feathered or turned from one position to
the other, is as follows:-On each arm is fixed a wheel, having any suitable
number of points or cogs, and on another part of each arm a square collar.
The bearing, through which the transverse shaft passes to connect a pair
of propellers, is extended so as to form a plane surface round the centre,
and the square collar travels on one of its sides upon this surface as the
paddle revolves, by which the latter is prevented from turning on its axis
until it arrives at certain points where the bearing is cut away. Opposite

page_text: to each of the openings or parts cut away are stationary cogs attached
to the bearing, one-fourth of the number contained in the wheel on the
paddle arm, which is carried clear of the bearing until it arrives at one of
these points, when the lower point or cog of the wheel is intercepted by the
nearest of the fixed cogs, and the next caused to turn into the space between
them; an action is thereby produced, which turns the paddle round the fourth
part of a revolution, changing its direction from flat to edgeways, or the reverse,
as the case may be; the square on the paddle arm is at the same time turned
over in the part cut away, and comes into action again upon its adjoining side.
The wheels and squares may be convex on the outer, and concave on the inner
-side, to accord with the bearing round which they travel; and the cogs, or
such of these parts as thought desirable, may be constructed of durable wood
or other material calculated to produce a noiseless action.
Other modes may be adopted for changing the position of the paddles; one of
which is as follows:-In place of the cog wheel before mentioned, a second
square collar is attached to the paddle arm at right angles to the first; in lieu
of the fixed cogs before described, projections or cams are attached to the
bearing, the upper surface of each being rounded so as to form a segment of
a circle; on reaching this cam one side of one of the squares rolls over it,
thereby partially turning the paddle; the openings into which the other square
turns at the same time should be constructed in the form of two segments of
a circle. The length of surface of the projections or cams, and of the open-
ings, should each of them be equal to that portion of the two squares which
passes over them.
Another means of turning the paddles consists in the employment of one
square only in combination with a cross or other regular figure having four
arms or projections.