IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ALL
Lowe, of King Street, Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, Mechanic,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Lowe, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said James Lowe, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Lowe, my exors, adñiors, 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, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said James Lowe, shall cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part 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
James Lowe, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being. had to. the

page_text: Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):-
My Invention consists in a mode of propelling vessels by means of one or
more curved blades set or affixed on a revolving shaft below the water line
of the vessel, and running from stem to stern of the vessel.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents so much of the stern of a vessel having my apparatus
applied thereto for propelling as will enable me to explain the nature of my
Invention, a being the shaft or axis on which the curved blades are set or
affixed; this shaft or axis is to receive rotatory motion from a steam engine or
other suitable power. b, b, are four curved blades, each a portion of a curve,
which, if continued, would produce a screw. But here I would remark, that
screws have been heretofore attempted to be used, and have failed of success,
which has been owing to the water not being able to pass away, but that may
be said to produce a choaking action; and my Invention is such that there
being only sections or portions of a screw employed, each blade is a propelling
instrument, which allows the water to pass away in all directions, except at that
point where the instrument is in full action. Hence there is no choaking or
holding the water towards the centre of motion, which is the case in using
complete screws.
Figure 2 shows a portion of the shaft or axis, having only one blade or
section of a screw; and Figure 3 shows an arrangement of two blades, one
placed in the same line with the other. But I should state that although this
is an important improvement over the use of a complete screw, yet, so far as
my experience has gone, I have not found such an arrangement so good as the
using each section of a screw or blade out of the line of all other blades, as
is shown in Figure 1. The blades, it will be seen, are at the stern of the
vessel, and the shaft on a line parallel with the keel, and the shaft in passing
through the vessel below the water line is through a stuffing box, in order to
render the same water-tight.
It should be stated, that although I prefer to have the shaft above the keel,
and in a parallel line with it, and the propellers at the stern of the vessel, I
do not confine myself thereto, as a shaft or shafts below the water line, having
similar propellers, may be used at other parts of the vessel, such as at the sides
or at the dead wood, but I believe that such arrangements are not so conve-
nient as those shown by the Drawing; and it should be stated that I am aware
that propellers having somewhat similar action where some years ago experi-
mented on, and for which Invention a Patent was taken by Edward Shorter,

page_text: such propellers being carried by certain outriggers over the bow of the vessel,
as is shown and described in the Specification of his Patent, but the same
failed. I do not, therefore, claim the application of curved blades generally,
but my Invention relates to the modes herein described of propelling vessels by
applying one or more curved blades on shafts or axes below the water line of
such vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lowe, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
JAMES (L.S.) LOWE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1838, the aforesaid James Lowe came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.