US398703A - Boat-propelling mechanism - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

P. E. COLLINS.

BOAT PROPELLING MEUHANISM.

Patented Feb. 26, 1889.

N, FEYERS. Phem-Lnw m ljnirnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL E. COLLINS, OF LYNN, HASSACIIFSETTS.

BOAT-PROPELLING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 398,703, dated February 26, 1889.

Application filed April 26, 1884. Renewed August 16, 1886. Serial No. 211,070. (No model.)

turn before it gets far into the waterthat To all whom it may concern..- ancy or by reason of the air-chambers, a spiral Be it known that l, PAUL E. COLLINs. of spring (not shown) is placed in the box C, with Lynn, in the county of Essex and Commonone end bearing upward against the box and wealth of Massachusetts, have invented certhe opposite end bearing down on the shaft. tain new and useful Improvements in Boat- This spring needs, of course, to beonly strong Propelling Mechanism, of which the followenough to overcome the buoyancy of the ing, taken in connection with the aceompanywheels and air-chambers. ing drawings, is a specification. By reference to Fig. 1 it will be observed This invention relates to boat-propelling that the paddles 2 2 2, &c., have their tangs mechanism; and it consistsin the devices and arranged to turn in suitable bearings or combinations of devices hereinafter fully set grooves in the plate 3, while their outer ends forth and particularly claimed. are connected by the band 4:. Each paddle In the accompanyin drawings, Figure l is is constructed with more area 011 one than on a perspective view of a section of a boat, a the other side of the line intersecting its pivpaddle-wheel and its feathering-paddles, the oted points, and the side with the largerarea mechanism for regulating the'movements of being allowed to enter the water first the acthe paddles, the mechanism for propelling the tion of the water will eitect a half-turn of the wheels, and fully illustrates the general 1nan paddle, allowing it to come out of the water nor in which the said several parts are organedgewise. Paddles adapted to operate in this ized and con'ibined together. Fig. 2 is a plan manner are not new; but the combination of of a section of the parts shown in Fig. 1, the such paddles with the plate 3 has not, to my section being made on line .71 Figs. 3 and knowledge, ever been used prior to my inven- -lare side views of certain detached parts of tion thereof. The objects of such a plate are the mechanirnn made on an enlarged scale, to avoid the lifting of water incident to and and to be more fully described hereinafter. necessarily done by the arms of the ordinary The boat represented in the accom mnying feathering-wheels. The power expended in drawings has a very narrow body, being after such manner is alwaysa pure loss,and though the style of the ordinary 'elocipede-boat; but it amounts to little when the wheel is partly So the invention is applicable to other boats and submerged, yet it amounts to much when the is not limited to any particular style. The wheel is run low down in the water, and, as it invention will, however, be first; described as is desirable to extend the wheel as far down combined with a boat of the peculiar style as possible in order to secure the advantage represented in the drawings. of denser water, I prefer and lind it a gain of The body 13, as before remarked, is quite power to construct the wheel with central narrow, and is provided with outriggers f, plate, 23, as described. also a frantic-work, l) I), adapted to support- All feathcring-wheclsheretofore constructed the seat E, on which the person riding is sup are dependent upon the action of the water posed to sit. The feet of the rider are to be to turn the paddlcsf. 6., the paddles enter 9o placed on the pedals (I u, and thereby maybe the water nearly edgewisc, the wider side of rm'olved the Cl'l-llli-Slltlft f and the wheel Z), the blade being ahead, and the water bearing from which motion is transmitted through against this causes the paddle to turn round, belt 0 and wheel (7 to revolve the wheel-shaft bringing the wider side of the paddle in the l and thus propel the boat. Said wheelrear and allowing the paddles to come out of shaft F carries a paddle-wheel on each end, the water edgewise. It is very desirable that ,5 and the shaft has its bearings in the outrigthe paddle should not turn before it begins O. The wheel-shaft F is also provided to lift out of the water; but the moment that on either end with an air-tight chamber, 10- the paddle enters the water it is subjected to cated by preference just outside of the padthe action thereof, and it not unfrequently IOO die-wheels, which, being always filled with air, happens that the paddle completes its haltprevent the boat from tipping over sidewise. 7 In order to prevent the paddle-wheels from i lifting by reason of their own natural buoyis, before it completes its downward movement. This is more commonly the case whcuever the wheel is made torevolve rapidly whenever it is far into the water. In this way much power is lost, as the paddle fails to take hold of the water at the very moment when its work would be the most effective in driving the boat. To obviate this difficult-y I have provided a locking mechanism adapted to engage and hold the paddle till it reaches the desired point for work, and then releases the same to permit the quarter-turn, and then firmly holds it again until it passes the working-point, and again releases it as it commences to lift water, and allows it to further turn and come out of the water edgewise.

The several parts which together compose the loekin g an d releasing mechanism are fully represented in Fig. 3 of the drawings, and the manner of combining this mechanism with the boat is clearly represented in Fig. 2. It will be observed that the arm 10 has its rear end attached firmly to the boat at or nearly in line with the wheel-shaft F, and extends horizontally outward till its branches 11, 12, 13, and 14 come nearly in contact with the center plate, 3, of the paddle-wheel.

It is essential that the end faces of the arms or extensions 12 13 L1 should be in the same vertical plane and parallel to the plate 3, while in the end of the lever 15 (see Figs. 1. and 3) is a sliding stud, 16. This stud bears its inner end against the incline and face of arm 11, and by an obvious operation of the lever 15 this stud 16 may be carried toward or away from the said plate It is necessary to have only a very slight movement of the stud 16 in this direction, and it should be adapted to come slightly nearer to the plate 3 than the extensions 12 13 H are allowed to comethat is, the distance between the stud 16 extended and the plate 3 should be slightly less than the distance between plate 3 and the end surfaces of arms 12 13 14, and a proper movement of lever 15 should bring the stud back into the same plane withthe end surface of said arms 12 13 14. These several extensions are intended to trip the pawl 17, which is pivoted on the wheel-plate 3 and is carried round by the same. One of these pawls is provided for each paddle in the wheel, and on the tang or shaft of the paddle is arranged a small wheel, 18, provided on its periphery with notches, and the pawl 17, by dropping into one of these notches, holds the wheel, and thus locks and holds the paddle from turning farther until released by the pawl coming in contact with some one of the extensions 11 12 13 14. Te

now suppose the whole to be revolving in thethe pawl is lifted out of the notchin the wheel 2 18, and the paddle is turned by the action of the water till the pawl 17 drops into the next notch in the wheel 18. This brings the paddle at right angles to the body of the boat and into the proper position for work. It is desirable that the paddle should attain this position as quickly as possible after it reaches the point for effective work, and the arm 11 should be located accordingly, and to further hasten the operation of the paddle, as Well as to insure its turning in the right direction, the edge of the paddle should be slightlybeveled. The paddle should remain in the position stated until it passes to that part on the opposite side of the wheel where work cannot effectually be performed on account of the lifting of water, and at this point the pawl 1 7 will have been carried sufficiently far round to engage with the end of the arm 12, whereby the pawl in passing is again lifted and the paddle is allowed to make a f urther quarterturn to come out of the water edgewise. It is now desired to bring the paddle into position. for again entering the water, which requires a further half-turn. This halfturn is effected by means of the cam 21. To this end the cam 21 is secured to the side of the wheel 18, as represented in Fig. 3, and is in line to strike the end surface of arm 14c whenever it is carried by the wheel-plate 3 round to'that point, and at the moment the cam 21 engages the end of the arm 1% the pawl 17 is lifted by the arm 13, thereby allowing the cam to roll in passing the end of arm 14, and thus effect a half-turn of the wheel 18, and with it of course the paddle blade, thus bringing the paddle into position to re-enter the water, as above described.

It will of course be understood that in some cases it might be desired to turn the wheels without operatin g the paddlesthat is, allowing the paddles to pass through the water edgewise. To provide for this, I arrange the wheel 18 eccentrically in reference to the shaft of the paddle in such manner that three of the notches in the periphery of the wheel 18 will be equidistant from the shaft of the paddle, and the distance between the shaft of the paddle and either of these three notches will be slightly less than the distance from said shaft to the other or fourth notch. The paddle, the wheel 18, and the pawl 17 are also arranged relatively to each other so that when the paddle is in position for entering the water, as above described, the pawl 17 will be located in that notch of the wheel 18 which is farthest from the paddle-shaft. \Vhile in this notch the rear end of the pawl lies closer down to the plate 3 and escapes the ends of the several arms 12 13 14:, and therefore it is only neces- 'sary to move back the stud 16, (which may be done by a suitable movement of the lever 15,

particular notch. It then falls into the other notches, where it will be lifted by the other arms, 1:2 The cam 21 carries on one end a small wheel, Said wheel is mounted upon a curved arm, 24, as fully illustrated on an. enlarged scale in Fig. -l of the drawings. The manner of combining this with the cam 21 better shown in Fig. 3. The purpose of this wheel is, in part, to avoid the friction at the point where the cam is about to leave the arm 11, and for this purpose it is allowed to turn in one direction, being prevented from turning in the opposite direction by means of the pawl and ratchet shown in Fig. 1. This wheel, whenever the paddle-wheel is revolved in the direction opposite to that indicated by the arrow 20, and described above, comes first into contact with the end arm, 14, and yields downward slightly, the arm 24 being for this purpose adapted to spring slightly downward, and in this manner the straining and possible breaking of parts is avoided, that might otherwise occur while the pawl 17 is coming into engagement with the arm 1 to be lifted thereby, and allow the paddle to be reversed into position for entering the water, and the paddle in passing the arms 12 11 will be operated, as before described.

I claim- 1. The con'ibination, with a boat, of the outriggers forming a bearing for the shaft F, the {ntddle-wheels consisting of air-tight chanr bers and outer rings, the paddles having bearings in. the plate 3 and the said ring, and means, substantially as described, for open atin said wheels to propel the boat, substantiall y as described.

2. The combination, with the boat, of the paddle-wheels consist-in of air-tight chamber and ring, movable feathering-paddles between said. chamber and ring, and means, snl'istantially as described, under the control of the operator adapted to engage said paddles and hold the same duringa part revolution of the wheel, and means, as described, to automaticallv release the same, sult stantially as set forth.

3. The combination of a wheel having movable feathering-paddles, substantially as described, the wheel 18, connected to the shaft of the paddle and notched as described, the pawl 17, pivoted to the plate 3, one end thereof engaging with the notches of the wheel 18, and means, substant-i ally as described, adapted to engage the passage end of said pawl intermittingly and lift the same to release the wheel 18, substantially as described.

4:. In a boat of the class described, the arm 10, connected to the boat and extending horizontally outward, having a branch, 11, and the lever 1 5, having the stud 1 (3, combined with the wheel 18 and pawl 17, whereby in the revolution of the paddle'wheel the said pawl 17 holding the paddle-blade, comes in contact with the stud 16, thereby acting upon the wheel 18 to turn the paddle, substantially as described.

5. The combination, in a boat of the class described, of the shaft carrying the paddlewheels, the air-tight chambers having faceplate 3, and the ring 4:, of larger diameter than the plate 3 and in line therewith, the said plate and ring forming bearings for feathering paddle-blades having their movement between the plate 3 and ring 1, substantially as described.

(3. In a boat of the class described, having the arm 10 connected thereto, with branch arms 12, 123, and 14-, the combination of the wheel 1S, pawl 17 and cam 31, carried by the plate 23, whereby when the said cam 21 strikes the. arm ll the said pawl 17 is lifted by the arm 1 thus allowing the cam to roll in passing the end of the arm ll and effecting the half-turn of the paddle-blade.

7. The combination, in a boat of the class de scribed, with the arm 10, having the branch 11, of the plate 3, carrying the wheel 18, pawl 17, and cam 21, with its spring-arm 21- and wheel 22, whereby the friction is avoided in the movement of the cam 21 over the arm 14 and straining prevented by the action of the spring-arm 24, substantially as described.

lA CL E. COLLINS.

in presence of" I). A. SANBORN, C. B. TUTTLE.

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