Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Sept., 1887
Complete Left, 6th June, 1888
Complete Accepted, 6th July, 1888
We, WILLIAM JAY STEVES Pattern Maker and ANDREW JACKSON HILL Machinist
both of Mechanicsville County of Saratoga State of New York United States of
America, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
:-
Our Invention relates to improvements in scrow propellers; and has for its object
to provide a means whereby the blades of a propeller may be set to any desired angle
or pitch, without stoppage of the engine. The shanks of the propeller blades are
pivoted in the hub and have bevel pinions on their inner ends within the hub which
is hollow with which gears a ring of bevel teeth on a sleeve on the propeller shaft and
which is capable of being partially rotated independently thereof by the longitudinal
sliding motion of a second sleeve engaging with the first mentioned sleeve by oblique
cam grooves in the one taking hold of pins on the other. This second sleeve revolves
with the shaft, but may be slid longitudinally by means of an encircling internally
grooved ring taking hold of a collar on the sleeve and journaled in a forked lever
operated by hand or steam power.
W. J. STEVES.
A. J. HILL.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.

page_text: We, WILLIAM J. STEVES, Pattern Maker, and ANDREW JACKSON HILL, Machinist,
both of Mechanicsville, County of Saratoga, State of New York, United States of
America, 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 :-
Our Invention relates to improvements in screw propellers; and has for its object
to provide a means whereby the blades of a propeller may be set to any desired angle
or pitch without stoppage of the engine.
The Invention consists in the construction and combination of the several parts,
as will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out in the claims.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this
specification, in which figure 1 is a central longitudinal section through the boss of
the propeller and the gear for altering the pitch of the blades. Figure 2 is a transverse
section on line of figure 1; and figure 3 is a perspective view of the geared sleeve
separately.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.
A is the propeller shaft, and A¹ the propeller hub which is hollow, and B the
propeller blades whose shanks are pivoted in the hub and have bevel pinion gear B¹
fast on their inner ends within the hub, as shewn in figure 1. A sleeve D is fitted to
turn upon the shaft A, and its rear end extends and revolves within the hub A¹ and
has bevel teeth d which gear with the bevel pinions B. Collars d' are formed upon
said sleeve D at the inside and outside of the part of the hull of the vessel through
which it passes, so that the sleeve, whilst free to revolve with the shaft, is prevented
from moving longitudinally thereon. A second sleeve E is mounted to slide
longitudinally upon the shaft A to which it is connected at its forward end by a
series of splines F on the shaft, received in corresponding grooves in an internal
shoulder e formed within the sleeve E so that the sleeve E and shaft A revolve
together. The rear end of the sleeve E fits over the adjacent end of the sleeve D and
is provided with four oblique or cam slots E' which engage with radial pins d² fixed
on that end of the sleeve D so that as the sleeve E is slid along the shaft A, the
sleeve I will be caused by the obliquity of the cam slots E¹ to partially revolve thus,
through the bevel gear d B¹, rotating the blades B each upon its own axis to the
desired angle or pitch. The longitudinal sliding motion is imparted to the sleeve E
through the agency of a loose internally grooved ring H embracing an external
collar e formed on the sleeve E, the grooved ring H having trunnions h at opposite
sides (as illustrated in figure 2) journaled in the U-shaped lower end of a lever H¹
fulcrumed upon a pillow block secured at the bottom of the boat. To the upper
arm of the lever H¹ is jointed a rod ³ that extends back to the engine room, or
other convenient place, where it may be operated by hand or steam power.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is :
1. The combination with the shaft A, the hub A' and propeller blades B each pivoted
on its own axis and having a bevel pinion B' on the inner end within the hub, of a
sleeve D mounted loosely upon said shaft and having teeth & upon the rear end gearing
with the pinions B, the adjusting sleeve E, the lever H connected therewith, and
means for manipulating the sleeve D through adjusting sleeve E from said lover,
substantially as shewn and described and for the purposes herein set forth.
2. The combination with the shaft A, the hub A' and propeller blades B each pivoted
on its own axis and having a bevel pinion B attached thereto within the hub, of the
sleeve D mounted loosely upon the said shaft, having teeth d upon the rear end and
pins upon the forward end, a sleeve E splined to said shaft having cam slots E¹
adapted to engage said pins, a grooved ring H engaging said sleevo E, the lever H'
fulcrumed in a pillow block, and means for operating said lever, substantially as shown
and described.