Improvements in Apparatus for Propelling and Steering Boats.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 2nd May, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Propelling and Steering Boats.
I, JOHN KIRKALDY of Feltimores Harlow Essex Engineer do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My invention relates to mechanical methods and apparatus for propelling boats
by foot. According to my invention screw propellers with two or more blades
carried on shafts or spindles are operated by means of gear actuated by the feet
by means of cranks and pedals the crank shaft or crank shafts carrying wheels or
pulleys on which run chain belt or rope gear for transmitting the rotary move-
ment of the pedals to the screw propeller spindle or shaft. The arrangements
and devices I adopt in carrying my invention into effect are shewn by the drawings
hereunto attached.
Fig. 1 Sheet I is a plau and Fig. 2 a longitudinal sectional elevation of a boat
fitted with two screw propellers and the gear and fittings required according to
my invention when the screw propellers are operated by two persons.
Figure 3 Sheet II is a plan and Fig. 4 a longitudinal section through the centre
a boat fitted with screw propellers and the gear according to my invention as
arranged for operation by four persons.
As seen in Figs. 1 and 2 the boat A is fitted on the bottom of the inside with
two brackets B and B carrying bearings, preferably ball bearings for crank shafts
upon which are pulleys C and C. The crank shafts being worked by crank
arms D and D' and pedals E and E' in the ordinary manner and as with bicycles.
The pulley C is connected with the pulley C by means of a belt, rope or gut
band F and the pulley C which is wide enough to carry two belts on the flat
periphery or in a grooved periphery transmits the power from the pulleys both C'
and C by means of the belt or band F which runs over guide pulleys G and G'
and thence around the pulleys H and H' upon the screw propeller shafts J and J¹
the guide pulley G' being placed at a lower elevation than the guide pulley G.
In front of the ordinary thwarts I erect two tubular standards K and K¹ made
to receive the adjustable pillars for carrying the seats or saddles L, L', upon
which the operators sit. In front of the operators and attached to the top of the
brackets B and B I erect tubular standards N, N' which carry handles and
handle bars M, M' adjustable as the similar haudles are iu bicycles, the standards
being stayed to the thwarts in front of them in the manner shewn. To vary or
adjust the tightness of the bands F and F I attach to the standards K and K¹ by
means of short spindles connected to the standards by adjustable clips the guide
or tightening pulleys O, O' as shewn in Figure 2. Instead of being placed under
the upper part of the bands F and F as shewn in the drawing they may be placed
over the bands or under the lower part of the bands and any slackness which
occurs in the bands will then be taken up by bringing the two parts of the bands
closer together.
As shewn in Figs. 1 and 2 the band F from the pulley C first passes over the
guide pulley G₁ thence to the lower part of the periphery of the pulley H
thence it descends to the lower part of the periphery of and round the pulley H
from which it passes from the guide pulley G to the pulley C.

page_text: In the arrangement shewn in Figs. 3 and 4, Sheet II in which the apparatus is
arranged for operation by four persons the apparatus is in general the same in
construction as in Figs. 1 and 2 but the guide pulleys G and G¹ are on horizontal
instead of vertical spindles and the belt or band F runs over the upper parts of
both pulleys and descends vertically or at a slight angle from the pulley G¹ to the
pulley H approaching it tangentially or approximately so and rising from it to
the guide pulley G and thence back to the pulley C. In the sectional elevation
Fig. 4 only one set of the propelling apparatus is shewn in consequence of the
section being taken along the centre of the boat.
The steering of the boat as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2 is effected in the ordinary
way by means of tiller ropes or other usual means. As shewn in Figs. 3 and 4
the steering is effected by a novel method operated by the person working the
sternmost pedals. Fixed upon the stem of the handle bar and loose upon the
standard N is an excentric P sufficient movement for which is secured by a
circumferential slot about one third round the standard in which a key holding the
excentric P on the vertical part of the handle bar is free to move.
An excentric strap with excentric rod connects the excentric to the lower end
of the pivotted lever R. To the upper end of the lever R is a short connecting
rod S connecting it to the tiller lever I on the top of the rudder U. When the
handle bar M is moved by the rider the throw of the excentric moves the rod Q
backward or forward and thus by the levers R, S, T gives angular movement to
the rudder. All the hearings of the screw shafts J and Jare preferably ball
bearings and the pulleys G and G and and O'may also be carried on spindles
running in ball bearings or if the spindles be bent at the centre as may in some
cases be necessary in the arrangement shewn in Figs. 3 and 4 the pulleys them-
selves may be provided with ball cups and the spindles with cones so that the
spindles may be fixed as in cycle construction. The short stern tubes shewn in
Figs. 2 and 4 are provided with a suitable stuffing box and gland.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that I am aware
that several forms of mechanical arrangements for propelling boats by hand and
foot gear have heretofore been made and what I clain as my invention is:-
(1) The arrangement and combination in a boat propelled by foot power of the
apparatus substantially as herein described and shewn."
(2) Steering a boat propelled by foot gear by means of an excentric on the
stem of a steering handle connected by levers to the rudder and operating
substantially in the manner described and shewu.
Dated this 12th day of March 1896.
FIRTH & Co.,
77 Chancery Lane, W.C., Solicitors, Applicant's Agents.