IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING AND IN APPARATUS TO BR PRO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN, WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE AS AVENTILATOR
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, of Notting Hill, in
the County of Middlesex, Architect and Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING AND IN APPARATUS TO BR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isidore Alexandre
Vacherot at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 20th May 1873.
I, ISIDORE ALEXANDRE VACHEROT, of Notting Hill, in the County of
Middlesex, Architect and Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING AND IN APPARATUS
TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN, WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE AS A VENTILATOR,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
rotatory propeller capable of being used either partially or entirely sub-
merged, and of being applied to the sides or to the ends of a vessel

page_text: My improved propeller consists of a wheel or disc mounted on a pro-
peller shaft having a number of vanes or blades hinged to the face
thereof, each vane or blade being caused in turn to open out from the
side of the said wheel or disc, and to close inwards again to the surface
thereof by the action of either of a fixed eccentric, round which the said
wheel or disc rotates, or by the action of spur gearing, or of cranks or
arms on the exterior ends of the axles of the vanes or blades acting
against or sliding over fixed surfaces round the exterior of the wheel, or
by other convenient arrangements of mechanism. This eccentric (when
used) operates upon radial slides which engage with longitudinally spiral
or inclined surfaces on the axis of each vane or blade, and causes it to
open or close according as the slide is moved outwards or inwards. The
vanes or blades on the upper half of the wheel (which revolves in a
vertical plane in the water) are closed flat against the face of the wheel,
but after passing the horizontal diameter line of the wheel each vane or
blade commences to open, so as to present a gradually increasing area to
the fluid till it arrives at its point of greatest effort, after passing which
it gradually closes again so as to offer no obstruction to the fluid (if
entirely submerged), or to the air (if only partially immersed). This
propeller may be rotated in either direction, and may be placed like
paddle wheels on each side of a vessel, or situate at the bows or stern,
or both.
By adjusting the eccentric to a central position by means of a hand
lever or otherwise the several slides will be caused to assume such a
position as to ensure the whole of the vanes or blades lying close against
the face of the disc or wheel, thus presenting no obstruction to the
vessel's progress when sailing with the wind alone.
It is obvious that precisely the same arrangement of self-acting hinged
vanes or blades may be used as a propeller for aerial machines, or as a
ventilator or blower. The said propeller or ventilator may be rotated by
hand, steam, or other power by any well known arrangement.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISIDORE
ALEXANDRE VACHEROT, of Notting Hill, in the County of Middlesex,
Architect and Civil Engineer, send greeting.
'
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of May, in the year.
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
36th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give.
and grant unto me, the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, Her special
license that I, the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Isidore Alexandro
Vacherot, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN,
WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO APPLICABLE AS A VENTILATOR," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, my exe-
cutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing, under my hand
and seal, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thercon,
that is to say :-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
rotatory propeller capable of being used cither partially or entirely sub-
merged, and of being applied to the sides or to the ends of a vessel.

page_text: My improved propeller consists of a wheel or disc mounted on a pro-
peller shaft having a number of vanes or blades hinged to the face
thereof, each vane or blade being caused in turn to open out from the
side of the said wheel or disc, and to close inwards again to the surface
thereof by the action of either a fixed eccentric round which the said
wheel or disc rotates, or by the action of cranks or arms on the exterior
ends of the axles of the vanes or blades acting against or sliding over
fixed surfaces round the exterior of the wheel, or by other convenient
arrangements of mechanism. This eccentric, when used, operates upon
radial slides which engage with longitudinally spiral or inclined surfaces
on the axis of each vane or blade, and causes it to open or close according
as the slide is moved outwards or inwards. The vanes or blades on tho
upper half of the wheel (which revolves in a vertical plane in the water)
are closed flat against the face of the wheel, but after passing the hori-
zontal diameter line of the wheel each vane or blade commences to open
so as to present a gradually increasing area to the fluid till it arrives at
its point of greatest effort, after passing which it gradually closes again
so as to offer no obstruction to the fluid (if entirely submerged), or to
the air (if only partially immersed). This propeller may be rotated in
either direction, and may be placed like paddle wheels on each side of a
vessel, or situate at the bows or stern, or both.
By adjusting the eccentric to a central position by means of a hand
lever or otherwise, the several slides will be caused to assume such a
position as to ensure the whole of the vanes or blades lying close against
the face of the disc or wheel, thus presenting no obstruction to the
vessel's progress when sailing with the wind alone.
It is obvious that precisely the same arrangement of self-acting hinged
vanes or blades may be used as a propeller for aerial machines, or as a
ventilator or blower. The said propeller or ventilator may be rotated
by hand, steam, or other power by any well known arrangement.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a transverse section of a

page_text: elevation; Figure 3, a transverse section taken along the line 1—2
(Figure 2); and Figuro 4, a back elevation of the propeller detached,
drawn to a larger scale.
A is the wheel or disc which is mounted fast on the propeller shaft B,
and has six or other suitable number of vanes, blades, or paddles C
hinged to its face at a; D is the eccentric, which is secured by the
brackets or stays b to the vessel, and E the eccentric ring to which are
attached radial rods c, which are connected by bolts or pins to the
radial slides d, each slide being provided with two pins e which engage
with longitudinally spiral or inclined surfaces on the axis a of each
vane, blade, or paddle. The wheel or disc A is provided with slots ƒ, ƒ',
in which the bolts or pins which connect the radial slides to the radial
rods, and to the wheel or discs, respectively traverse, so that as the
wheel or disc A revolves by the motion of the propeller shaft B, the
eccentric ring E also revolving with the wheel or disc, causes the radial
rods c under the action of the eccentric E to slide and impart their
motion to the radial slides d. The pins e on which act upon the spiral
or inclined surfaces formed on the axis a, and open or close, as the case
may be, the vane, blade, or paddle C. The eccentric is placed at such
an angle that every time any one of the vanes, blades, or paddles in its
descent reaches the horizontal line passing through the axis of the pro-
peller shaft it commences to open, and remains open for about a quarter
of a revolution, say until it reaches the vertical line passing through
such axis, when it begins to close, so that when six vanes, blades, or
paddles are employed, three, videlicit, those above the horizontal line,
are constantly closed; whilst one of the set below the horizontal line is
in the act of opening, one is open, and the other is in the act of closing.
On the right hand side of Figure 1 I have shewn two sets of vanes,
blades, or paddles fitted to one wheel or disc which admits of the size of
such wheel or disc being reduced, whilst at the same time obtaining an
equal surface of paddle.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, a propeller
consisting of a wheel or disc provided with vanes, blades, or paddles so

page_text: arranged that one at a time only of such vanes, blades, or paddles will
be fully opened out at the required point of its revolution, the others
being closed, or partly closed, or flat against the surface of the wheel or
disc, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated by my
Drawings.
being closed, or partly closed, or flat against the surface of the wheel or
disc, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated by my
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isidore Alexandre Vacherot, have
to this my Specification set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth
day of November, One thousand eight hundred. and seventy-
three..
I. ALEXD³. VACHEROT. (L.S.)