IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHI- NERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HUNT BARBER, of King Street, Cheapside, in the City of London, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of October,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the eleventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Hunt Barber, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Hunt Barber,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Hunt
Barber, 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, and in the Islands
of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantatious abroad, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHI-
NERY FOR PROPELLING VESSELS," communicated to me from abroad; in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Thomas Hunt
Barber, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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
hereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Hunt Barber, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
may
The Invention consists of a novel arrangement or combination of parts into
paddle-wheels for propelling vessels; and in order that the Invention be
most fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe
the Drawings hereunto annexed in the various figures of which the same
letters are used to indicate similar parts wherever they occur.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a side view, and Figure 2 a front view, of a paddle-wheel
constructed according to the Invention. Figure 3 is a side section, and
Figure 4 a transverse section, shewing the interior construction of the wheel.
a is the main or driving axle, to which is fixed or keyed one of the side
plates of the hollow cylinder b, b', b. The axle a does not pass through
the wheel from side to side, for it will be seen that the other or outer
plate 6 turns on the fixed neck or axis c of the crank d, the other end of
the cranked axis d entering into the axis a, by which means the cranked
axis d is sustained in position. The two side plates b, b, of the wheel
are combined together the cylinder 2, such cylinder having as many slits
or openings through it as there are floats or paddles to the wheel; and
within the cylinder bare fixed guides or angular hollow vessels f,f, which
give buoyancy to the wheel, and serve also for the purpose of offering inclined
guiding surfaces to the floats or paddles as they are moved outwards. On
the crank axis is placed a boss or collar g, to which the arms h, h, are attached
by pin joints, and to the ends of the arms the floats or paddles i, i, are to be
securely affixed. By this combination of parts it will readily be understood,
that by giving motion to the axis a, the cylinder b, b', of the paddle-wheel
will be turned round, which will cause the floats or paddles to be carried
round also, and owing to the use of the cranked axis, the floats or paddles will
be caused to be projected outwards as they are required to come into action
and to act on the water, and they will be again withdrawn into the cylinder
as they go out of action, all which will readily be traced on examining the
Drawings, such construction of paddle-wheel allowing it to be wholly im-
mersed under water. I would here remark, that although I prefer to use a
cranked axis for governing the action of the floats or paddles, it will be

page_text: evident to an engineer that an excentric might be substituted and produce a
like result; and it will also be evident, that in place of having the floats or
paddles, when on arms or spokes, governed or controlled by crank or excentric
axis, the case b, b', b, might revolve on and be governed by fixed excentrics,
one on either side. In such cases there would be a fixed axis between the
excentric bearings of the case b, b'. The nave having the arms of the floats
or paddles would revolve freely on the fixed axis between the fixed excentrics,
and the case b, b', 6, would receive motion by a cog-wheel affixed thereto,
driven by another cog-wheel actuated by the engine, or in any convenient
manner, but I prefer the mode of working first described.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the details shown and described; and I would state, that
I am aware that paddle-wheels have before been made, wherein the floats or
paddles on arms are governed or controlled by cranks and by excentrics, in
which cases, however, there have not been any revolving cylinder or case b, b.
I do not therefore claim the use of excentrics or cranks for governing or
controlling the action of the floats or paddles when separately considered, nor
do I claim the having a case similar to b, b, b, separately, the peculiarity of
this Invention depending on the combined using of a crank or excentric to
give motion to floats on arms, with a case as herein described. And I would
have it understood, that what I claim are the modes of constructing paddle-
wheels whereby floats or paddles on arms are combined with a case b, b', b', such
floats or the case being governed by a crank or excentrics as hercin described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Hunt Barber, have hereunto
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.