IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MARINER'S COMPASS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I, Sir SAMUEL
BROWN, of Vanburgh Lodge, Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Knight of
the Hanovarian Guelphic Order, and Captain in Her Majesty's Navy, 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 Seventh day of October,
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
'Sir Samuel Brown, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Sir Samuel Brown, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Sir Samuel Brown,
my exors, adñiors, 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, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MARINER'S
COMPASS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the
said Sir Samuel Brown, shall 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

page_text: and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Sir Samuel Brown, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say:
The first part of my Invention consists in improvements in the construction of
and manner of working marine propellers, and other methods hereafter described
and delineated for accelerating the velocity of ships and vessels, more especially
under the combined agency of the sails and steam power, and at all times
diminishing the risk of striking on rocks or shoals, or navigating in intricate
channels aided by a shoal warner. Before entering into the minutiae of the
details it may be proper to state, that these important objects are attained
principally by means of expanding and contracting the propelling blades or
fans; so that they may be extended nearer the surface or water line of the ship
or vessel, and by substituting a strong metal plate for the keel, the diameter
But the greatest
may be increased to the extent of timber removed.
advantage is attained by removing that part of the keel immediately under the
propeller, which enables me to expand the blacles under the keel, and obtain
nearly one third more diameter and propulsive power. To supply the defi-
ciency of this portion of the keel I form the after end of the boss into a spindle,
which rests on a journal or plummer block morticed into the rudder post,
having a cap or collar at the extreme end which drops into a groove aud
effectually prevents the rudder post either from receding from its relative
position with the main stern post, or being affected by lateral pressure.
These improvements and the manner of carrying them into effect are more
particularly described as follows:-Figures 1, 2, and 3 are longitudinal eleva-
tions of the after body of a steam ship of the first class, which admits of being
modified to all other classes. Figure 4 is a view of the double-bladed screw
-propeller in the position now in general use, the diameter from edge to edge
of the blades being twelve feet, extreme width five feet, which cannot be
expanded, contracted, feathered, or set edgeways to diminish the resistance of
the current when the ship is under sail without steam. Figure 5 is the
improved propeller, the lower edge of the blade or fan being reefed in or drawn
up a little above the line of the keel, to enable ships to be navigated in the
same depth of water as in Figure 1. Figure 5 is the propeller expanded, as
above mentioned. The dotted lines A represent the blades reefed in, as

page_text: shewn at Figure 6. B is the spindle formed by reducing the outer end of the
boss resting on the journal or plummer block C. D'is a head or collar work-
ing in a groove, which prevents the rudder post from receding from the main
stern post, as above mentioned. Figure 6 is the improved propeller reefed in,
the lower edge of the blade or fan being drawn up a little above the bottom of
the keel; the dotted lines shew the expansion of Figure 5. The rudder post in
this Figure is secured in the same manner as Figure 5. These propeller
blades, although partaking of the twisted form of the screw, are flat in their
inner sides, and the swell occasioned by the expanding screw inside of the
blade is formed on the back or after part of the propellers. Figure 6 is the
propeller expanded from twelve feet (as shewn in Figure 1) to eighteen feet,
when the ship or vessel is sailing in deep water. The same law of propulsion
obtains with the screw propeller and the paddle wheels. The speed or velocity
with which the ship is propelled is always as the ratio of the revolutions at a
given time is to the diameter of the wheels and the diameter of the propeller
blades or fans. Thus, the large ship of five or six hundred horse-power
engines, having paddle wheels of thirty feet in diameter, making twelve revo-
lutions in a minute, would be propelled, allowing for the ship or yielding of the
fluid to the stroke of the floats, woe'd be eleven miles an hour, but the smaller
ship having paddle wheels of twenty-five feet diameter requires fifteen revolu-
tions in a minute to run the same distance in the same time. Now, although
I have the means by my improvement, shewn in Figure 7, of reducing the
diameter, as the draft of water is increased by the lading of the ship, so as to
obtain nearly the same speed by a proporsionate number of revolutions, there
is no possibility of increasing the diameter of the paddle wheels to obtain the
same speed with fewer revolutions, and hence consists the great advantage of
my improved system of expanding and contracting as well the propelling
blades or fans assuming the same case. The large ship of five hundred or six
hundred horse power, having propellers of twelve feet in diameter, five feet
wide across the outer edge, set to a pitch of fourteen feet, rotary motion given
direct from the crank of the engines without the additions of spur wheel or
pinion, allowing for ship, as before, to attain a speed of eleven miles an hour,
the engines must make eighty strokes in a minute; but when the propeller is
expanded to eighteen feet, the pitch set to twenty feet, she would perform the
eleven miles an hour, making only fifty-three strokes in a minute, and if the
power was to be increased to produce eighty revolutions in a minute she would
perform eighteen miles in the hour. The following Figures and references
will illustrate the system:-Figure 7 is a partial section of Figure 6 upon án
enlarged scale, shewing two small bevel, wheels in the boss at the root of each

page_text: arm for expanding and contracting the propelling blades.or fans; the same
bevel pinions admit of being thrown in or out of gear to feather or set the
propelling blades edgeways between the main stern post and the rudder..post,
where the one enclosed or cased in by iron plates, forming a chamber in the
dead wood of the ship, as herein-after mentioned. F is an iron rod of suitable
diameter passing up the hollow shaft E. Upon the end in the boss there is a
small bevel tooth pinion affixed, which takes into and gears two other small
bevil pinions H, H, keyed on to the vertical rods I, I, upon the outer. ends of
which screws are formed which work round in the transverse screw bars J, J,
the ends of which bars being connected to the outer or reefing portion of the
propeller. blades I,.I, are worked out or in by. the rod. in the main shaft.
The feathering or turning edgeway of the blades is done by drawing back or
throwing the expanding bevel wheel out of gear, which brings the feathering
bevel pinion into gear. Qis a lever or winch at the inner end of the rod F,
which being turned to the right or the left, the blades are either feather
edeway, or set to the pitch required, where it is retained by the bevel pinions in
whatever situation or position may be given to them. R, R, are the necks or
arm of the propeller, which admit of being feathered or set to any desired pitch
in the socket of the boss. T is the rim of the bevel pinion which retains the
arms of the propeller, in the boss. An important part of my Invention
consists in feathering or setting the propellers, whether reefed in or expanded
to any desired pitch, by which I am enabled to enclose them in a case
constructed of a series of metal plates, which slide up and down in grooves on
the stern post and rudder post; by this means the run of the ship is preserved
in the same form as if there were no opening in the dead wood for the pro-
pellers, so that the resistance caused by the back of the rudder post and body
of water, contained in the opening is entirely obviated. Figure 8 is another
elevation of the after body of a first-class steam ship with the propellers
enclosed within the case, completing the natural or original run of the ship.
N, N, are the off side of the opening filled up by the plates. O, O, are the
grooves above mentioned for guiding the plates into their places; the lower
part of the groove is closed to prevent the plates from dropping below the line
of the keel. P, P; are small sheaves fixed on each end of the lower plate, in
which is reeved a suitable chain for drawing up the plates by a portable crab
or any other purchase; as the plates are drawn up the lowest plate pushes up
all those above, which; as they are raised above the groove, are laid down in the
most convenient place, and they are in like manner replaced in 'succession
in the grooves when required to slide down to complete the run of the ship
as before.. The intention of this improvement is to obviate the necessity of

page_text: ensue.
lifting up the propeller, which would otherwise cause a very injurious
obstruction when sailing without the agency of steam, but none of these
improvements present any impediment to the present method of removing
propellers if required. The improvement in steering is affected by the
increased influence which is given to the rudder by the additional depth of the
sliding keel, as shewn in Figures 11 and 12, which prevents or greatly
diminishes the lee way, which more or less neutralises its effects, and more
especially by removing the obstructions which are inseparable from those ships
which are prepared for the use of steam propellers. For instance, the stern
post produces a strong eddy continually drawing with it a volume of water,
which would otherwise glide away as the ship advanced, while the stern or
rudder post presents a direct resistance, which not only impedes the ship's
velocity but diverts the impulse of the current, and materially diminishes the
power of the rudder. On a reference to Figure 8 it will be seen that the
ship's run is preserved by the chamber in its original scientific form, and con-
sequently when the ship is sailing without the power of steam, the obstruction
being effectually removed, a positive improvement in the steerage must
Another part of my invented improvements in reefing or drawing in the paddle
boards, commonly called the floats, closer to the centre of motion, so as to
have the power of adjusting them at all times to the ship's draft of water, and
removing them from the wheels either wholly or in part when the ship
is under sail and not propelled by steam power. R is a cross bar fixed to
the rims at each end by screws and nuts S, S. When the float is removed
the bar is replaced, and the rim of the wheel secured as before. Figure 13;
a middle section through c, d; K, K, colored brown, are the floats fixed at
the extreme ends of the spokes on which threads of a screw are cut, by which
they are either screwed down towards the centre by the crank handle
or outwards, according to the depth or immersion of the wheels in the water.
Figure 14 is a section of the wheel, shewing one float at the extreme end of
the spoke when the ship is light, the other screwed nearer the centre when she
is laden. Figure 16 is a front elevation of the paddle wheel, shewing the
method of securing the spokes and rim of the wheels in case they should be
struck by shot or broken by any other cause. For example, if a shot' should
break the rim at n, n, the adjoining spoke o, o, would be supported by the..
lattice bars m, m, and if the arms or spokes m, m, should be broken, the
adjoining spokes or arms p, p, would be held together by the adjoining..
bars. By this means the paddle wheels can never be entirely disabled.
The remaining part of my Invention relates to an important improvement
in the mariner's compass, particularly adapted for iron-built ships, by which I

page_text: am enabled to elevate it a sufficient height above the deck to be beyond
the influence of lateral or local attraction, while by the more favorable
exposition of the points on a vertical zone they are rendered visible in all
directions. Figure 17 exhibits various views of the above-mentioned improve-
ments. A is a sectional elevation of the compass, supposed to be raised on a
pillar, on the most convenient part of the deck, a sufficient height beyond the
influence of local attraction. B, the magnetic bar or needle suspended under
the pivot point C. F is a circular hollow rim inside of the compass box,
containing the oil for the lamps G. H, H, are feed pipes, and cock I, I, a
section of the vertical compass card shewn in the elevation E. K is a glass
bottom of the compass box. E is a side elevation of the compass overhanging
the mirror K. L is a plan or bird's eye view of the compass card, as
reflected from the inverted card in E to K. M, a joint in the pillar for
lowering the compass to trim the light; M, the steering wheel, and helmsman
viewing the reflected compass card, and steering the ship thereby. The
shoal warner, shewn in the Figure 10, was invented by me in the year
One thousand eight hundred and twenty, but as I had used it in a sailing boat
of my own, and being known to the public, I have not claimed it as a part of
my present Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir Samuel Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight
Enrolled the Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and forty-eight.