GB782628A - Improvements in devices on watercraft for facilitating manoeuvring in narrow channels, especially for tug-boats - Google Patents

Abstract

782,628. Steering ships. KNIEF, J. April 27, 1956 [Dec. 2, 1955], No. 12943/56. Class 114. In a ship adapted to manoeuvre in a narrow channel by being fitted with an arcuate tubular channel 3 athwart her forecastle and housing a propeller 4 the driving shaft 7 of which passes through the wall of the tube, the cross section of the tube adjacent the propeller is narrowed, nozzle fashion, radial fins 12, 13 extend inwards from the tube to check swirl in water flowing through the tube, the driving motor 9 is mounted on the top side of the tube, and the propeller and motor shafts 7, 10 are parallel to one another and geared together as at 11. The single, reversible propeller 5 is arranged asymmetrically in relation to the longitudinal medial plane of the ship and the ends of its blades are crescentshaped to act as weed cutters. The propeller shaft passes through a rubber bearing block 19, Fig. 3, channelled axially to provide for the passage of water, which acts as a lubricant, into a conical sleeve 23 provided with tangential ports 21 to adapt it to act as a centrifugal pump. In one part of the tube a diametrical fin 12 divides almost the whole length thereof into two channels ; in the other fins or ribs 13 permit removal of the propeller through the end thereof when horizontal bars 16 have been removed. At the ends of the tube, the ships' plating is bent inwards to form funnels 15 except at the part nearest the bow where it would cause resistance to the ship's motion. The ends of the tube are secured in the funnels, the thickness of the tube material forming a step 14 to assist flow out of the tube.