AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ROWING OR PROPELLING BOATS OR ANY OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1814

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE,
DUNNAGE, of the Upper Mall, Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of
July, in the fifty-fourth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
George Dunnage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said George
Dunnage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should and lawfully might,
during the term of years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ROWING OR PROPELLING BOATS OR ANY OTHER
VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if
I, the said George Dunnage, shall not particularly describe and ascertain 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, and cause the same to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that
then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by
the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Dunnage, do hereby particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as follows,
(that is to say):-
Whereas, in the usual method of rowing, the feet of the rower press against
a part of the vessel,. as in barge rowing or in boat rowing, against a fixed
stretcher which commonly lies across the boat and rests against the sides of it,
by means of which stretcher the rower obtains a purchase enabling him to
apply a part of his strength to pulling the oar or oars; now my improvement
consists in making the stretcher moveable, and in connecting it with the oar or
oars, or with an additional oar or float board to be worked either at the head
or stern of barges or other large vessels, in either case rendering the stretcher
an active instead of a passive instrument. And I wish it to be clearly under-
stood, that making the force of the feet and under parts of the rower assist the
hands and upper parts of the rower by pulling the oar or oars in a contrary
direction to the force exerted by the feet, or otherwise, by enabling the feet to
work an additional oar or float board, thus obtaining a purchase in the water
independant of the vessel, is what I claim as my Invention or improvement.
It is my desire likewise, that it may be clearly understood, that the apparatus
used to produce these effects may and must be varied beyond all possibility of
description by Drawing or otherwise, in the course of adapting it to the size
and kind of vessel to be propelled, or to the number of rowers to be employed
in the same vehicle; but notwithstanding such variation of means, while they
enable the feet and hands of the rower to pull together in the same direction,
or enable the rower to work an additional oar or float board by his feet, they
are to be considered as different ways of obtaining the same end.
The methods I use to carry the above improvement into practice, by con-
necting a moveable stretcher or moveable stretchers with the oars as in
Figures 1st and 2nd in the Drawing hereto annexed, and by working an
additional oar or float board with the feet by means also of a moveable stretcher,
as in Figure 3 in the said Drawing, are as follows:-First, in a boat where one
man only is employed, as in Figure 1st, No. 1, in the Drawing hereto annexed,
where (A, A,) represents a longitudinal section of a part of a boat suspend
from the thwart or seat of the rower (B) on hinges or centres, a light iron
frame (C, C,) sixteen or eighteen inches wide, and eight or nine inches deep.
At the upper corners of this frame (D, D,) let there be sockets made in order
to receive two light iron stanchions (E, E,) made of such length that when
shipped into the sockets they may stand from sixteen to eighteen inches
or more, if necessary, above the thwart. The upper ends of these stanchions

page_text: should have an eye through which a rope or line may be fastened; and the other
end of such line or rope (F, F,) should be formed into a small loop just sufficient
to receive the handle of the oar or skull. From the lower corners of the iron
frame, already described, two thin iron rods (G, G,) must be attached, running
in a direction towards the stern of the boat; the other ends of these rods must
be screwed or otherwise fastened to a moveable stretcher (H), which stretcher
must be made to run on two small wheels or rollers (I). Figure 1st, No. 2,
consists of a front view of the iron frame (I, I,) to be suspended from the
thwart, a stanchion out of the socket (2), a stanchion shipped in the frame (3).
The stanchions being placed in the sockets, the loops being put over the ends
of the oars, and the rower having placed himself on the seat with his feet
resting on the moveable stretcher, it is obvious that when he pulls the oars
with his hands he must push the stretcher with equal force with his feet; and
it is equally plain that this force so applied to the stretcher must immediately
pull the oars, and thereby assist or ease the labour of the rower.
Secondly, Figure 2d, (A, A,) in the Drawings hereto annexed, represents a
longitudinal section of a part of a boat, in which two or more persons row
together. Instead of the iron frame before described, let an iron rod or
bar (B), having a socket at the top to receive a stanchion, as in Fig. 1st, be
suspended a hinge or on centres from any convenient part of the boat,
ahead of the headmost rower; the lower end of this rod or bar must be
fastened either by an iron rod or by a rope (C) to the headmost stretcher.
The stretchers (D, D,) must run on rollers, as before described, the number
of them corresponding with the number of rowers, as in the usual method of
rowing, and they must all be connected either by iron rods or ropes passing
from one to the other. To the upper end of the stanchion (E) a rope (F)
must be fastened, which from thence will pass along the middle of the boat
towards the stern. At a convenient distance ahead of each rowlock, a
line (G, G, G, G,) having a loop at the end of it must branch off from the
last-mentioned горе; and there being as many of the last-mentioned lines as
oars, each loop must be put over the handle of the oar it is designed to pull in
the act of rowing.
Thirdly, the use of a moveable stretcher will enable the rower to work an
additional oar or float board with his feet, as at Figure 3d in the Drawing
hereto annexed, where (A, A,) represents a longitudinal section of part of a
barge, and he may thus obtain a purchase in the water instead of obtaining
it in the usual way on the vessel itself. To effect this, to a moveable
stretcher (B), made as described in said Figure, two iron rods or bars of hard
wood (C, C,) must be attached. The other ends of these rods or bars must

page_text: pass through the barge or other vessel, and with these an additional oar or
float board must be connected and worked. A weight (D) must be suspended
by a rope, which, running over the pullies, (E, E,) and having the other end
fastened to the staple (F), serves to run the stretcher back as soon as the
rower has stepped off it preparatory to renewing his stroke.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of November in the year above written.