US374985A - John mbelette - Google Patents

Description

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Y J. MBRLETTE, sr. 'MEANS POR PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS.

Patented Dec. 20', 1887".

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN MERLETTE, SR., OF BOUND BROOK, `NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO BENJAMIN B. MATTHEWS, OF SAME PLACE.

MEANS FOR PROPELLING AND STEERING VESSELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374.985, dated December 20, 1887.

Application filed March 30, 1887. Serial No. 232,986.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, J oHN MEELETTE, Sr., ofBound Brook, in the county of Somerset and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Propelling and Steering Vessels, of which the following is a specification.

This invention consists in a novel combination of screw-propellers for vessels, whereby the drag of the backwater or its resistance to the propulsion of the vessel is to a great extent obviated; and it further consists in a novel combination, with two screw-propellers arranged one before another on the same shaft in the stern of the vessel, of two rudders arranged between the two propellers, the said two rudders being suitable for use separately or in combination with a rudder arranged like that commonly employed for steering screwpropelled vessels.

Figure l in the accompanying drawings is a side view of the after part of a vessel having my invention applied. Fig. 2 is a stern view ofthe same. Fig. 8 is a plan in the line x a' of Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in the several figures.

A designates the hull of the vessel, and B C D D designate four screw-propellers.

The two screw-propellers B O are secured upon one shaft, a, which occupies a central position in the vessel, like the shaft of the single screw-propeller commonly used. The propeller B occupies the same position as the single propeller commonly used-that is to say, in an opening, c, between the stern-post b and the solid portion d of the structure of the ves sel forward thereof. The propeller C, which is some distance forward of that B, works in an opening, e, provided in the hull forward of the solid portion or post d. Thelatter propeller may be somewhat smallerl than the first one, and is so represented.

The two sicrew-propellers D D' have separate shafts g g', which are arranged in the same horizontal plane some distance above the propeller-shaft a. and at equal distances from the horizontal center of the vessel. The said propellers are arranged on the ends of their shafts entirelyT outside of the hull, but

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some distance forward of the propeller C. Their diameter is so much smaller than that of the propeller B that their blades when in their highest position are at about the same level as are the ends of the blades of B when in their highest position. One of the said propellers D D has its blades of right-hand and the other its blades of left-hand pitch, and their shafts g g' are intended to be so geared with each other and with the shafts c of the propellers B C or to be so driven that the said shafts gg will rotate in opposite directions.

The hull of the vessel is made quite full, as shown Aat hin Figs. 2 and 3, immediately in front of the propellers D D', in order to protect their blades.

E designates a rudder like that commonly employed in screw-propelled vessels,arranged outside of the stern-post b. F F designate two rudders, each constructed like a single rudder, arranged one on each side of the post or solid structure d ofthe vessel between the openings c e, in which the two screw1')ropellers B C work. These two rudders, when not in use, lie flat against the side of the post d in the position in which F' is shown in Fig. 3 and parallel with the longitudinal center of the vessel. The said post d is represented in Figs. 1 and 3 as having constructed in it recesses i i for the reception of the two rudders F F', so that they may be brought flush with the exterior of the vessel. These two rudders may be worked by steering apparatus of any known or suitable kind.

By the employment of a number of propel- 1ers forward of the stern-post and at different distances therefrom-two in the center of the vessel, one before the other, and two farther forward on opposite sides of the center of the vessel and above the'central propellers-almost the entire body of water aft of the submerged portion of the vessel is caused to be acted upon by the propellers withgood propulsive effect, and the drag of the backwater, which is prejudicial to the propulsive effect of screw-propellers applied according to the usual methods, is obviated.

The position of the two rudders F F', arranged one on each side of the post or solid Structure d, between the two central propellers, B O, renders them very effective under all circumstances, whether used alone in cases when no such rudder as E 'is provided or whether used in combination with and at the same time as the rudder E or whether applied to a vessel as supplemental rudders, not to be used until some accident happens to the rudder E.

What I claim as my invention,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a vessel, with two screwpropellers and one shaft arranged centrally to the vessel and having the said propellers arranged upon it one before the other, of two other serew-propellers and separate shafts therefor arranged above and forward of both ofthe central propellers at equal distances singes from the center of the vessel on opposite sides thereof, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth. l

2. The combination, in a vessel, with two screw-propellers arranged one before the other in separate openings provided in the stern'of` the vessel, with a post or solid structure ybetween them, and a shaft central to the vessel and common to both propellers, of two ruddersl arranged between the two propellers, one on each side of the said post or solid structure, substantially as and for the purposes herein described.

' JNO. MERLETTE, SR. Vitnesses:

FREDK. HAYNEs, HENRY J. MCBRIDE.

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