CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING ON LAND AND WATER
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
SAMUEL RAYNER, of Ripley, in the County of Derby, Civil Engineer, 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 Twenty-third day of July,
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
Henry Samuel Rayner, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry Samuel
Rayner, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Samuel Rayner, my exors, admors, 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 also in all Her
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING ON LAND AND WATER;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Henry Samuel Rayner, should
cause a particular description of the nature of my 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 thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Samuel Rayner, hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
consists in certain arrangements of apparatus or machinery for propelling on
land and water, whereby the direct pressure requisite for such propulsion is
obtained from the atmosphere; and that the manner in which the said Invention
is to be performed or carried into effect is represented in the Drawings here-
unto annexed, reference being thereunto had, and in the following description
thereof, that is to say:-
Figures 1 and 2 of the said Drawings represent one arrangement for pro-
pelling, which is applicable on water alone, and is here exemplified as applied
to an ordinary river or canal boat. Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, and
Figure 2 a sectional plan of this arrangement. A, A, is a tube or pipe or close
channel, which tapers from the bow G inwards, and extends therefrom to a
pump B, which may be placed in any covenient situation in the vessel. The
pump B is to be worked by a steam engine, or other equivalent first mover,
and the pump and engine are to be of sufficient mechanical capability to raise
the water out of the tube A into the vessel C, C, with such effect as to pro-
duce and maintain a certain degree of exhaustion in the tube A. The water-
thus raised into the vessel C is discharged by a pipe D back into the river or
canal whence it was drawn, the extremity E of this pipe being curved back-
ward, in order that the water may be ejected in the direction opposite to that
in which the vessel is moving. The tube A, by the action of the pump B,
being kept more or less free from the water flowing in at G, an atmospheric
pressure on the closed end P is the result, which becomes a propelling force.
The horizontal pressure on the inner end of the tube at P being removed by
the pumping out of the water in sufficient quantities to produce a degree of
exhaustion more or less in the tube A, the discharge of the water at E is
facilitated by the onward motion of the vessel, while conversely the motion
of the vessel is facilitated by the discharge at E. The pump may be of the
form represented in Figure 1, or of any other suitable form, and worked by
any convenient power connected as at F.
Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, represent another arrangement of apparatus or
machinery, which is applicable not only to propelling of vessels on water, but
to the propelling of railway and other carriages on land. Figure 3 is a longi-
tudinal plan, partly in section of this arrangement, as applied to a canal or
river boat. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, represent an inside framing firmly attached to the
boat. B is a horizontal steam cylinder, and A, A, are two horizontal air
cylinders closed at the inner ends C, C, C. To each of these cylinders there
is a piston P, and all the three pistons are attached to one cross-head E,

page_text: which works horizontally in the slides F, F; the cross-head E again is
connected by a rod I with a crank shaft G,. on the axis of a fly wheel W.
M is a rearward buffing cylinder, which is closed at its inner end 5, and at
its outer end z is open to the water from the river or canal. In this cylinder
there is a piston L with valve V, which is worked by a rod K, which rod is
connected to a secondary cross-head R, which also works evenly and freely
in a continuation of the slides F, F. The cross-head R is connected on the
opposite side by the rod H to the crank G, whereby the cylinders A, A, B,
are at once connected with the buffer cylinder M, and with the fly-wheel W.
Steam being admitted through valves of any approved construction into the
steam cylinder B, the pistons P, P, P, are simultaneously pushed forward
into the piston shewn in the Drawing, Figure 3; a vacuum is thus formed in
the air cylinders A, A, and the steam being at the same moment cut off by
the action of the valves, the air pressing on the pistons tends to force them
inwards or backwards. The pressure is, however, transmitted through the
cross-head E and rod I and crank G to the rods H and K, and thence to the
piston L, which acts directly upon the water at Z. The pressure on the piston
is by this means neutralized more or less, or held back as it were, and the
atmospheric pressure on the closed ends of C, C, acts as a propelling power
directly in the line of the boat's motion. It is obvious that the more com-
plete the atmospheric pressure on the pistons P, P, P, can be neutralized, the
more perfect will be the on the closed ends C, C, C, of the cylinders A, A, B,
and the greater its tendency to propel the vessel. The space moved through
by the piston L and rod K should exceed the space described by the rod
I and pistons P, P, P, and their respective velocities should preserve the
same ratio, the momenta would then be equalized by a smaller buffing
cylinder M, than if the speeds or spaces passed through were equal. The
increase in the speed of the buffer cylinder piston spoken of is simply effected
by increasing the distance of the connecting rod H from the centre of the fly-
wheel; a longer stroke and quicker motion is thus secured; in other words,
this effect is obtained by using a longer crank for the buffing cylinder than
for the steam and air cylinders. The water is admitted through the cock S
into the pipe N, whence it flows into the buffing cylinder M. The working
of the piston L creates a vacuum above L, which thus answers the purpose
of an air pump. An intervening vessel 8 is used as a condenser, as shewn in
Figure 4, to which vessel the steam regularly passes from the cylinder A,
whence, after being condensed, it escapes through the pipe N. By the use
of this condenser, the steam cylinder B is also converted into a vacuum

page_text: cylinder, the air pressing upon the closed end C (of course this applies to a
condensing steam engine only). The steam may be discharged into the boiler
chimney, if found more convenient.
"
The Drawing Figure 4, (last referred to) is a transverse view of the closed
or covered ends C, C, C, of the cylinders upon which the atmosphere presses.
8 is an end view of the condenser, which is employed when the apparatus is
worked on the condensing principle; it is placed under the cylinder, which
receives its condensing water through the side of the boat and pipe 7, and
transmits it to the air pump and buffing cylinder through the pipe 6.
Figure 5 is a section of the buffing cylinder M when the piston L is solid,
and Figure 6 represents the buffing cylinder M when the piston L contains
the valve V; in both cases the abutment on which the buffer acts is furnished
by the fluid at Z. The apparatus or machinery last herein described is capable
of being used without a condenser, the steam being discharged at once through
the smoke box and chimney; in canal boats this form is the most useful,
owing to its serving to economize space.
As before stated, this apparatus (Figure 3) is also applicable to locomotion
on land; the speed of the buffing-cylinder piston must in this case, however,
be considerably increased, as also the length of space passed through longitu-
dinally, as compared with the stroke of the steam and air pistons, for by that
means only can an available abutment be obtained. The steam is used in
this instance at high pressure, and the eduction pipe leads into the chimney.
A reverse motion may be obtained by the application of steam to the reverse
side of the piston, and a corresponding apparatus placed in a reverse position.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare, that I do not lay claim to any
of the parts of the machinery herein-before described as being individually
new and original, but that which I claim as of my Invention is, the method
of propelling on water, represented in Figures 1 and 2, and the method of
propelling either on land or water, represented in Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, each
in the peculiar arrangement and combination of parts of which the same
consists, as respectively before described, and whereby, in each case, the direct
pressure requisite for the propelling is obtained from the atmosphere.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Samuel Rayner, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
HENRY S. (L.S.) RAYNER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid Henry Samuel Rayner came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.