IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING VESSELS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Barling, of Belle Grange, in the County of
Lancaster, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING
VESSELS."
Sealed the 12th June 1860, and dated the 13th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Barling at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th December 1859.
I, JOHN BARLING, of Belle Grange, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROPELLING VESSELS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the propulsion of vessels by means of jets of water
projected through orifices or slots in tubes. The jets are driven out under high
pressure, and to effect this I use a force pump having its piston furnished with
cupped leathers, which are protected from excessive friction (whenever such
protection may be thought necessary) by a metal hoop or ring; I place
this pump as near as may be to the bottom of the ship, and as far aft as
convenient. It is double acting, and is worked by a double acting engine,
whether of high or low pressure; the water is discharged in the first place
into a receiver, which may be made to communicate with an air chamber,
whenever such an arrangement may be thought necessary, and which furnishes

page_text: the best position for the valves of egress from the pump. From the receiver
the water passes, either at once or by short and roomy passages, to two pipes or
barrels opening directly downwards through the bottom of the ship, one on
each side of the keel. In each of these barrels is placed an upright tube open
at top, closed at bottom, and having on one side either one large orifice, or two
or more smaller orifices, one above the other, or a perpendicular slot. A rod firmly
attached to the bottom of each tube passes up through stuffing boxes to the
deck or any convenient place, where it is supported by a frame. A nut
above the frame enables a man to raise or depress the tube at pleasure, so as
to disclose a larger or smaller amount of aperture for the discharge of the jet.
A wheel or lever affixed to] the same rod enables the man also to turn the
tube either outward, backward, or forward. These tubes form the propellers.
But in order to provide the ship with means of more rapid turning, in cases
of emergency, I place two similar jet tubes near the bow of the vessel, and
connect their chamber or chambers with the chamber or chambers aft by a
pipe or pipes furnished with cocks for turning the water on or off at pleasure.
These jet tubes not being intended for propulsion, are ordinarily drawn up.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Barling, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BARLING, of Belle Grange, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Barling, Her special licence that I, the said John
Barling, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Barling, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROPELLING VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Barling, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Barling, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
Or it
My Invention relates to the propulsion of vessels by means of jets of water
projected through orifices or slots in tubes. The jets are driven out under
high pressure, and to effect this I use a force pump having its piston furnished
with cupped leathers, which are protected from excessive friction (whenever
such protection may be thought necessary) by a metal hoop or ring. The hoop
is attached to the leather by means of rivets or screws with nuts, and is so con-
structed and fitted as to be capable of expanding with the leather under the
pressure of the water. It may be formed after the manner of a cooper's hoop
with ends overlapping but left free and ground to a razor's fineness.
may be made in the first place entire and fitting the inside of the pump, or
slightly larger, then cut through transversely (as is sometimes done in the case
of pistons of steam engines), and a metal tongue or a wedge inserted into the
opening. The pump is double-acting, and is worked by an engine of either
high or low pressure, that is, either by a condensing or non-condensing engine.
The water is discharged in the first place into a receiver which may be made
to communicate with an air chamber, whenever such an arrangement may be
thought necessary, and which furnishes the most suitable position for the valves
of egress from the pump, so as to avoid throttling. At the bottom of this
receiver, or closely connected with it, are two pipes or barrels opening directly
downward through the bottom of the ship, one on each side of the keel. They
should be prolonged somewhat below the bottom of the ship, or furnished with
an inner casing made capable of such prolongation. In each of these barrels
is placed a sliding tube open at top, closed at bottom, and having on one side
either one large orifice or two or more smaller orifices one above another, or a
slot. A rod, firmly attached to the bottom or sides of each tube, passes up
through stuffing boxes to the deck or any convenient place where it is sup-
ported by a frame. A nut above the frame enables a man to raise or depress
the tube at pleasure, so as to disclose a larger or smaller amount of aperture
for the discharge of the water. A wheel or lever affixed to the same rod,

page_text: enables the man to turn the tube either outwards, backwards, or forwards.
The jets from these tubes form the principal propellers. But in order to
provide the means of working the ship more quickly whenever it may be needed,
I place two additional jet tubes near the bow of the vessel, one on each side
of the keel, and connect their barrels or chambers with the hydraulic apparatus
aft, by means of a pipe or pipes furnished with cocks for turning the water on
or off at pleasure. Thus, by directing outward a jet fore and aft on opposite
sides of the vessel, the other tubes being retracted within their barrels, the
vessel may be made to come round like a Barker's mill, or the whole power of
the engine may, in a few seconds, be concentrated upon either one of the jets,
the stroke of the engine remaining unchanged. For a ship of war, or for a
ship on a lee shore engaged in difficult navigation, or in danger of collision,
such an equipment would be found invaluable. There will be some loss of
power from the friction of the water in the connecting pipe or pipes, but as
the forward jets are intended for occasional use only, and that under circum-
stances wherein steam is often blowing off, the loss from this source is not of
sufficient importance to render it necessary or desirable to repeat the entire
apparatus.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings shews, in longitudinal section, a
double-acting horizontal pump with its valve chamber and propelling apparatus
constructed according to my Invention. The piston rod is supposed to be
continuous with the piston rod of the steam cylinder. A is the pump barrel,
p is the piston, and the piston rod; B is a pipe of equal diameter with the
pump barrel; C is the receiver or valve chamber, to which the water passes
by the pipe B, during the back stroke of the piston; b, b, are the exit valves
from the pump, and a, a, are the orifices by which the water is admitted.
The valves which regulate the admission of the water are not shown, but are
placed at that part where the pipe or pipes conveying the water from the out-
side of the vessel is or are jointed to the pump. The water may be taken
either from immediately below the vessel or from the condensing chamber of
the engine (when a condensing engine is used), or from the bow of the vessel,
as may be found most convenient; c is a light cylinder, rising above the
highest water line, and fitted in such manner that it may be easily removed
when required. It is intended to prevent the overflow of water when the
plate d is removed, and if made of sufficient strength and fitted with a cover,
may be employed as an air chamber; g is one of the water barrels, in which
the jet tubes t are placed as hereafter explained.
it
Figure 2 is a vertical section shewing the propelling apparatus, the valve
chamber, and means of working and raising the jet tubes. g, g, are the water

page_text: barrels; t, t, are the jet tubes; 0, 0, are orifices by which the water is dis-
charged, and ¹, ¹, are rods attached to the jet tubes. These rods pass up
through stuffing boxes f, f. One tube is shown projecting more than the other
in order to exhibit the entire orifice, which is represent as rectangular in the
Drawing, but it may be of any other desired shape or form. The tubes are
of such length that they may be thrust down far enough to stop or check the
way of the ship when the forward jets are not in use, the orifices in the tubes in
such case being turned towards the bow. k is a flanged neck, to which the pipe
or pipes for conveying the water to the forward jets is attached. The rods 2³, 71,
are connected by joints h, h, to the rods 1, 2, which are continued up through
the deck, where they are supported by a stand or table. j,j, are hand wheels
fixed on the upper ends of these rods. They are intended for the purpose of
turning the jet tubes so as to present their orifices in the required direction.
,, are nuts furnished with lever handles l, l. The rods i, i, are threaded for
a certain distance from their upper ends downwards, and friction rollers not
shewn in the Drawings are fitted on the table for the nuts to revolve upon.
In order to raise the propelling orifices the nuts have to be turned so as to
cause the rods to rise.
Figure 3 is a plan of the bottom of the valve chamber. 8, s, is a slide or
valve revolving on its axis a. It is turned by means of a key through the
opening in the top of the chamber, and is intended to close the openings into
the barrels g, g, whenever it may be necessary to examine or repair the valves
b, b, change the jet tubes, or otherwise. There is a stud on the margin of each
segment which, when the slide is in position for use, presses against a rim cast
in the side of the chamber so as to keep the valve close.
Figure 4 is a section of the pump piston constructed as pistons with cupped
washers usually are, with the exception of the metal ring. The ring is shown
more distinctly in Figure 5, which is a perspective view of the piston. The
ring is represented as formed with overlapping ends. u is the hoop or ring;
the cupped leather, and w the iron plates.
Figure 6 is a section of one of the jet tubes on a larger scale. 7 is a cupped
leather fitted to the top of the tube by means of a ring and screws, intended
to prevent the water entering between the tube and the barrel g.
Figure 7 is a tranverse section of a double-acting vertical pump, with its
valve chamber. The letters of reference are the same as in Figure 1, and
indicate like parts.
Figure 8 is a vertical section of the valve chamber shewn in Figure 7, the
barrels for the tubes being detached, and placed one on each side. The
advantage of this arrangement is, that the barrels may be placed at any dis-

page_text: tance apart without entailing the necessity of increasing the diameter of the
valve chamber. 9, 9, are the barrels, and G, G, chambers in connection with
the valve chamber C, and intended for the conveyance of the water to the
barrels g, g, and also for the reception of the jet tubes when drawn up. n, n,
are flanges cast on the outside of these chambers for connecting the cylinders
c, c, which answer the same purposes as the cylinder marked c in Figure 1.
Figure 9 is an enlarged view of one of these chambers, with its barrel and
jet tube. In this Figure the barrel is double, the inner one being intended to
be withdrawn along with the jet tube when the vessel is under sail alone. g is
the outer barrel intended to be fixed in the hull of the vessel, and passing up
into the chamber G. g¹ is the inner barrel made to slide within the outer and
to rest on the top of it when in use by means of a flange. s¹, s', are screws
for holding it in its place; t is the jet tube, and z, z, flanges or projections on
the tube, by means of which the inner barrel is raised along with the jet tube,
when the screws s¹, s¹, are withdrawn. The screws may be immediately
replaced as soon as the barrel has been raised sufficiently to enable them to
pass under the flange.
I conceive that the partial failure of the system of propulsion by water jet
hitherto has, in a great measure, arisen from inattention to the loss of
momentum sustained by the vessel from the entering water. The water enters
from a state of comparative rest, and yet (unless in exceptional cases) it must
be made to partake of the motion of the vessel before it can be expelled. But
it cannot be made to partake of the motion of the vessel without robbing the
vessel of a part of her momentum, and this deprivation must be directly pro-
portional to the quantity of water employed, the speed of the vessel being
supposed constant. I therefore diminish as far as practicable this quantity,
and make up for loss of working power by increased pressure within the
pump. The provisions which are made for effecting this pressure, diminishing
the friction of the pump piston, and transmitting the pressure within the pump
with as little loss as may be to the point of discharge, are the most important
features in my Invention. Next to these are the means employed for increased
facility of manoeuvring. I do not limit myself to the precise arrangements of
the parts herein-before described, as the same are capable of various modifi-
cations without departing from these features.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First, the employment in propelling vessels of pump pistons with cupped
leathers, and with or without expansible metal rings, essentially in manner
herein-before described.

page_text: Second, propelling vessels by means of jets of water forced through one or
more apertures formed in the sides of tubes closed at bottom, and capable of
being raised and turned, essentially in manner and for the purposes herein-
before described.
And, third, the employment of supplementary jets at the bow of a vessel to
assist in working her when required, such jets being appendages only of the
proper propelling apparatus nearer the stern.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Barling, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty.
JOHN BARLING. (L.S.)