US545950A - Propelling and steering steamboats - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. EVANS. PROPELLING AND STEERING STEAMBQATS. No. 545,950. Patented Sept. 10,1895.

2 sheets-sheet 2.

(No Model.) I I I C. EVANS.

r i PROPE'LLING AND STEERING STBAMBOATS.

No. 545,950. Patented Sept. 10,1895.

' stern-Wheel steamboats, such as are com- NITED I STATES Q ATENI FFIQEI PROPELLING AND STEERING STEAMBOATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,950, dated September 10, 1895. Application filed September 22, 1894. Serial No. 523,772. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES EVANS, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Propellin g and Steering Steamboats; and I hereby declare the following specification and the drawings therewith to be a complete description of my improvements.

My invention relates to what are called monly employed in narrow rivers, sloughs, and bayous for transportation purposes.

My invention consists of acylindrical platform set flush with the main deck,its rim conforming to the contour of the vessels stern and capable of partial revolution on its axis, and in mounting on this platform, so as to be approximatelybalanced across its axis, a sternwheel and propelling-engines, so arranged that the platform, although forminga portion of the deck and floor of the engine-room, can be turned so the thrust of the wheel will fall oblique to the axis or course of the boat.

The object of my invention is to perform the function of steering by means of the position and thrust of the wheel, dispensing with rudders; also, to attain lateral force and movement of the stern of the boat when there is little or no headway, or in any case, by the angular thrust or pull of the wheel as it may be turned forward or backward or is set diagonal to the axis of the boat.

In navigating narrow sinuous streams, Where the speed of a vessel is too slow to permit the action of rudders to direct the course, such navigation becomes slow, tedious, and dangerous, the wanting element being some power or force to swing the boat when there is no headway; also powerful means of guiding the course of the boat in crooked places, so as to permit headway and to save time. The common method of employing rudders is inadequate for such functions, their action being contingent upon the speed of progression through the water and falls off or fails altogether just at the time when most required.

With my improvements the thrust of the wheel performs the required functions without much departing from the usual construction of steamboats or occupying space upon the main deck, as will now be explained.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view on the after-deck of a steamboat arranged according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail showing the throttle-valve and swivel-joint in the steam-pipe leading to the engines. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1. Y

The wheel A and all of its connected parts are mounted on timbers or girders B, projecting out from and supported by a swiveling platform C. This platform G extends nearly the whole width of the boat D and sustains the engines E E, with all their attendant defails, as shown in the drawings. The platform C is guided and sustained laterally by an axis at F, and is supported vertically on a series of rollers a, rolling on a circular way beneath, the rollers a being mounted on the struts e or in any other suitable manner. Lateral supports can also be provided or supplemented by means of rollers; but as strain in this direction is only that of propulsion the central axis at F is sufficient.

Steam is conveyed to the engine-valve boxes G G2 by the pipes H H and from the boiler by a pipe H these pipes all being attached to a swiveling chamber I, preferably supported on the deck overhead and having its axis concentric with that of the platform 0 atF. The chamber I also contains a throttling-valve V.

The exhaust-pipes J J of the engines G G2 extend down beneath the platform 0 and are connected to a swiveling chamber below and concentric with the axis F, a waste-pipe from there conducting the steam to a condenser or to the atmosphere. The rotary or swiveling movement of the platform 0, with the engines and Wheel mounted thereon, is controlled from the pilot-house, power being provided by steam, air, or hydraulic apparatus in the usual manner of steam or other power steering-gear.

In the drawings I have shown a tooth-pinion K, meshing into a toothed sectorL on the periphery of the platform 0. Reducing-gearing is indicated by the dotted circles M and N.

In an arrangement of this kind two small steam-engines set diagonally on the lines 0 O, turning the shaft P and pinion N; would constitute a suitable gearing; but as suchmechanism does not form a part of my invention and can be modified in various Ways, such as is common in operating tillers, no further description will be required here.

The turning or steering mechanism to revolve the platform 0 can be controlled from the pilot-house or in any other suitable manner so the line of thrust will fall on the lines Q, or R or any intermediate point between these and the central or normal position. (Shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.)

Sliding bulk-heads S S are provided to inclose the engine-room, and a platform T extends out on each side of the wheel A to permit access to the cranks eccentrics and main bearings of the wheel-shaftin the usual manner.

I am aware that propelling-instruments,

such as screws, have been arranged to swivel,

so their axis could be set diagonal to the line or axis of a vessel by means of swivel-joints in the propelling-shafts; also that propellingwheels have been arranged to swivel, so as to perform the function of steering. This I do not claim, broadly; but

VVhatI do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a stern-wheel steamboat, a pairof steam engines and a propelling wheel, mountedon a swiveling platform in the manner described, this platform extending across the main deck and surrounded at the rear side by a bulkhead that extends around and moves with the platform, so as to inclose the engines and engine room, substantially as and in the manner described.

2. In a stern-wheel steamboat, a swiveling platform pivoted concentrically with the run or stern curves of the vessel, provided with a movable bulkhead inc'losing the rear of the engine room, so the latter with the engines and propelling wheel can be turned to difi'erent angles by means of steering gearing, in the manner substantially as described.

3. In a stern-wheel steamboat, a pivoted platform flush with the main deck at the stern of the boat, a paddle wheel mounted on girders extending outfrom the platform; the latter made wide enough to receive the impelling engines outside or beyond the girders on which the wheel is supported, in the manner substantially and for the purposes specified.

4. In a stern-wheel steamboat, a swiveling circular platform mounted on the rear of a vessel flush with the main deck, and provided with out-board girders, the propelling wheel supported in said girders, the bulkhead inclosing the rear of the engine room, and a run- Way around the wheel placed outside the girders, substantially as described.

5. In a stern-wheel steamboat, the combination of a revoluble platform, set flush with and forming a part of the main deck, a propelling wheel supported on girders extending CHARLES EVANS.

Witnesses:

ALFRED A. ENQUIST, WILSON D. BENT, Jr.

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