IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROPELLER OF A SHIP
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James David Parkes at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th Septem-
ber 1861. A communication from abroad by Jean Baptiste Vincent, of
No. 9, Rue Ferdinand du Temple, Paris, and Martin Louis Goupy, of
No. 28, Rue St. Georges, Paris.
I, JAMES DAVID PARKES, of 47, Parliament Street, Westminster, County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROPELLER OF A SHIP," which has been commu-
nicated to me from abroad by Jean Baptiste Vincent, of No. 9, Rue Ferdinand
du Temple, Paris, and Martin Louis Goupy, of No. 28, Rue St. Georges,
Paris, to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in a system of propellers improved and disposed
in such a manner that they act horizontally throughout their course, presenting
their entire surface to the water in a rectilinear alternative movement which
is communicated to them by a simple transmission from any motive power.
The disposition of these flaps or floats and the simplicity of the system, offer
advantages infinitely superior to all the means of propulsion hitherto employed,
inasmuch as the force which they produce acts parallel to the axis of the
boat, and in the contrary direction to its course, so that the effect produced
is entirely made available, the power acting in the contrary direction to the
resistance.
Fig. 1 of the annexed or accompanying Drawings, represents the entire of

page_text: a vessel on this system. A grooved wheel A, receiving its movement from
any motive power, has a chain B passing round it, and which also passes
round two other wheels C and D, and which is fixed at its two ends to the
propeller E, at a and b. The moving wheel A is fixed on a shaft F, Fig. 4,
which carries two small wheels c and d; one of these, c, is in direct communi-
cation with the piston rode of the machine, the second, d, carries also a chain
which is rolled upon a wheel placed on a shaft on the other side of the cylin-
der, and which shaft carries also a wheel moved in the same manner as the
wheel c, and placed in the same direction at the other end of the second piston
rod. In its rectilinear alternative movement, the piston will communicate
to the wheel c, and to the corresponding wheel a movement of alternative
rotation, which will be transmitted to the flaps by the wheels A, C, and D.
The two guides G, G', fixed on the side of the vessel, receive the guide plates
and the rollers which the propeller carries, and which serve to maintain it.
whilst they facilitate its movement. These guide plates placed on the upper
part of the propeller are enclosed in the guide G, seen in section in Fig. 2, so
that if shells or pebbles such as adhere to the sides of ships should be found
in its passage, they would be crushed and expelled in its movement.. The
rollers, placed in the lower part and seen in section in Fig. 3, run upon plates
enclosing the guide, which is engaged in their groove, and which resists all
movement of or shock to the guide plates, in like manner as the latter by
their recessed system, re-establish the equilibrium in the wheels which any
cause might destroy. It is proved, therefore, that this system is simple, and
that it produces the greatest possible useful effect.
CHANGE OF DIRECTION.
The propellers can carry one or many flaps. In the Figures 5 and 6 three
flaps are shewn; a and b are the points of attachment of the chain; H, I, J,
are the axes upon which the flaps turn; K the frame which supports them,
and K' is another frame moveable on the first by means of bridles L, L, fixed
on these latter. This latter frame is provided with stops m, n, o, which come
against the ends m¹, n¹, o¹, of the flaps. The flaps in their alternate motion
are folded down on the frame K in the direction of the stops, as they are
not held up from the opposite side, the resistance of the water acting upon
their surface. Thus applied upon the frame K they do not require any force
to take their useful course. When they recommence, to work, the resistance
which has served to fold them back is the cause of their opening again, but
as in this movement their ends m¹, n', o', bear against the stops m, n, o, they
are held in a vertical position and present their entire surface to the water.

page_text: The power is thus opposed to the resistance. To change the direction a lever
P, Figs. 7 and 8, is placed for this purpose on the frame K¹. In using it the
bridles L, L, describe an arc of a circle, so that the stops m, n, o, are placed on
the opposite side of the flap, which changes immediately the direction of the
vessel, inasmuch as the flaps are made to fold down in the contrary direction.
This lever is brought to the hand of the mechanic, who can thus change the
direction at once without stopping the engine, an advantage which no one
has hitherto realised. There may be several propellers placed for one and
the same system of wheels, and several systems of wheels for vessels of great
power.