MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS THROUGH THE WATER, TO BE EFFECTED BY STEAM OR ANY OTHER POWER
Year: 1825

page_text: PALMER'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HOLWORTHY PALMER, of the Royal Mint, Civil Engineer, 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 Fifteenth day of September, in the sixth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Holworthy Palmer, His especial licence, that I, the said George
Holworthy Palmer, my exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said George Holworthy Palmer, 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, and
carry on, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
also in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention or
new arrangement of "MACHINERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS THROUGH THE WATER,
TO BE EFFECTED BY STEAM OR ANY OTHER POWER;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said George Holworthy Palmer, 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 inrolled in His 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
George Holworthy Palmer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
by the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawing
and Figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-

page_text: My said Invention consists in the application of travelling flaps or propellers
applied either at the sides or at the bottom of the vessel, which are to
be operated upon by any first mover calculated to effect the objects in view.
These propellers reciprocate parallel to each other in a right line from head to
stern and from stern to head of vessel, alternately changing their direction,
and varying the angle formed with the under side of the vessel. These pro-
pellers are connected to sliding frames furnished with friction rollers, intended
to run on guide frames fixed parallel to each other. This is equally applicable
whether the propellers are situated at the sides or at the bottom of the vessel,
between three protecting keels, the latter of which I consider preferable.
When the propellers are travelling from head to stern they are permitted
to fall down and form a right angle with the sliding frames, and to collapse
when going the contrary way. This motion is regulated by the introduction
of spring chains, raw hides, or any other suitable material connecting the
propellers and sliding frames on the side towards the stern of the vessel.
From what has been before stated it is evident that the propellers, when in an
effective position, will assume a perpendicular direction, presenting their whole
area precisely at right angles to the vessel's line of motion. It necessarily
follows that the new power generated is in a contrary direction to the motion of
the propellers; therefore the greatest possible quantity of power is expended
upon the vessel in the direction of her course. Should an advantage offer for
the use of sails alone, it is evident that the propellers will not impede the
progress of the vessel when the machinery is out of action, neither will the
protecting keels be objectionable when sails are used, as they will tend to keep
the vessel well to windward; and, further, they will prevent in great measure
the vessel from rolling in a heavy sea.
The following are the principal advantages of this mode of propelling vessels
(viz.) 1st, the variation of the vessel's draught of water does not diminish the
effectiveness of the propellers; 2nd, whatever angle of inclination the vessel's
side may form with the surface of the water, her progress is no way impeded;
3rdly, the action of the propellers produce no sensible agitation of the water, a
grand desideratum. By the adoption of this mode the use of railroads would
in great measure be superseded, as the banks of a canal would receive no
injury by vessels navigating therein.
Not having discovered any new mechanical principle, all I lay claim to as my
Invention is, the modifying the known principles in mechanics, by which new
arrangement and application I am enabled to propel vessels, however great
their dimensions, through the water, in a more expeditious, cheap, safe, and effi-
cient manner than has heretofore been accomplished. The Drawings and

page_text: descriptive references accompanying this Specification will more clearly exhibit
the arrangement of the machinery and its mode of operation.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS, wherein each particular letter refers to the
same parts in the Figures 1, 2, and 3, and also in the Figures 4, 5, and
6, so far as the parts of the one correspond and is applicable to that of
the other.
Figure 1, the plan; Figure 2, transverse section from A to B, and
Figure 3 longitudinal section from C to D on plan; which three Figures shew
the mode whereby the propellers are put into action at the bottom of the
vessel. a, doublo grooved wheels, whose circumference determines the length
of stroke made by the propellers. b, doubled grooved driving pulleys (the
circumference which must exceed the length of the engine's stroke), which
with the double grooved wheels a are affixed to the shaft s. d, grooved
pulleys to guide the chains g, attached to the propellers and the wheels a
e are chambers or pipes to convey the chains 9 to the propellers, which must
be of a height exceeding the vessel's draught of water. The situation of these
pipes e, to which are attached the guide pulleys d, should be opposite to each
other, but have been drawn otherwise in Figures 1 and 3, to show the parts
more clearly. f, guide frames on which the propellers h perform their recipro-
cating motion, which propellers may be furnished with friction rollers or with-
out, as delineated in the sections 2 and 5. c is, in Figures 4, 5, and 6, frame-
work of cast iron or wood to carry the double grooved wheels a, the guide pulleys
d, and the guide frames f attached to the sides of the vessel. The dotted
lines
sp, p, denote the water line, or the vessel's greatest draught of water.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Holworthy Palmer, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of March, in the year Ono
thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.
G. H. PALMER. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord 1826, the aforesaid George Holworthy Palmer came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according