Improved Swimming Apparatus.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Jan., 1899-Accepted, 25th Feb., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Swimming Apparatus.
1 RIDLEY JAMES Urquhart, of 57, Barton Arcade, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention, which has been communicated to me by Gustav Zacher, of 14,
Durlacher Strasse, Wilmersdorf, in the German Empire, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
-
This invention relates to swimming apparatus intended chiefly for the purposes
of sport and recreation and consists in the novel or improved construction or
arrangement of such an apparatus by means of which the pushing action of the
legs required in swimming is at the same time utilised for rotating screw propellers.
A swimmer, as is known, draws his arms under the chest and his legs under the
body, and then pushes both of them out vigorously. The pushing out of the arms
serves only to divide the water and thus diminish its resistance to the forward
movement, which is solely effected by the push of the spread out legs. The more
strongly the swimmer strikes out with the legs, the more rapidly he moves forward,
but the forward movement only corresponds to a fraction of the power expended,
as the water does not offer sufficient resistance for the full utilisation of the
same.
The object of the present invention is to utilise the pushing movement of
the legs to a considerably greater extent than has been done hitherto, by allowing
the push not only to act directly against the water but at the same time upon a
propelling mechanism.
On the drawing appended hereunto an apparatus for carrying this idea into
effect is represented in a top view by Figure 1 and in a side view by Figure 2.
The swimmer lies flat in the water with his body stretched out in a frame A which
is fixed at its front and back end upon floats a which preferably have the shape
represented on the drawing in order to cut easily through the water. The feet
of the swimmer are placed against the cranks of a double crank shaft B, which
runs in bearings on the frame A and carries at each outer end a bevil wheel C
which drives by means of smaller bevil wheels c and c¹ at an accelerated speed
the screw propellers DD¹ mounted on the shafts carried in bearings on the
frame.
As the body of the swimmer is for the greater part immersed in water and thus
chiefly supported by the same, the floats a can be made comparatively small taking
the weight of the apparatus itself into consideration. The swimmer seizes the
front end of the frame with his hands and pushes vigorously with his feet; not
simultaneously with both as in swimming, but alternately, which movement will
naturally be adopted in consequence of the feet resting against the double crank-
shaft B. Thus while one leg is pushed out and a forward movement of the
swimmer effected thereby, the other leg is drawn up, the foot resting on the crank,
so that it can be pushed out again at once, and so on.
In doing this the push of the leg acts in a similar way as in ordinary swimming,
but is utilised much better in consequence of the feet actuating the crank shaft
and thereby rotating the propellers, which in their turn drive the frame forward in

page_text: the known manner. Thus a peculiar double action is produced firstly by the
swimmer moving himself forward directly and taking the apparatus with him, and
secondly by the propellers driving the apparatus forward and the latter carrying
the swimmer along with it. In consequence of this double action and the
essentially greater utilisation of the leg power the swimmer can travel in the water
with the apparatus much more quickly than the ordinary free swimmer, or than
a person on a water vehicle propelled by him by a treadling motion and screw
propellers.
In order to steer the swimming apparatus as desired no special steering apparatus
is required if the floats a are attached to the frame A so that they can be turned
and are coupled together in such a way that the swimmer can turn them by
hand.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
―
The construction or arrangement of a swimming apparatus for sporting or
recreative purposes consisting of an open frame supported on floats in which
frame the swimmer immersed in the water supports himself at the front and by
his hands and actuates by his feet a double crank shaft mounted on the frame and
provided with gearing for driving propellers arranged at the sides of the frame,
substantially as herein before described and illustrated by the drawings.
Dated this 18th day of January 1899.
R. J. URQUHART, C.E.,
57, Barton Arcade, Manchester, Chartered Patent Agent.