US958A

US958A - hunt and j

Info

Publication number: US958A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1838-10-03
Anticipated expiration: 1855-10-03

Description

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

W. HUNT AND J. TOWNSEND, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ICE BOAT FOR BREAKING ICE AND FACILITATING NAVIGATION IN THE WINTER SEASON.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 958, dated October 3, 1838.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, WALTER I-IUNT and JACOB TowNsEND, both of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved plan of machinery to be applied to boats and vessels and designed for breaking iceV and facilitating the navigation of rivers, lakes, bays, Sto., in 'the winter sea-son; andwe do hereby declare, that the following is afull and exact description.

The first and `principal machine in the above plan is a cylinder (see letter A Figure 2 in the annexed drawing), with its periphery and ends, armed with strong iron hooked and wedged shaped teeth, about one foot in height and depth upon thebase, and some two inches in thickness (see letters D, D, D, D Fig. 2). The cylinder, which ,may be made of wood in the usual manner, and the teeth fastened on the periphery by means of strong hoops binding over flanges cast upon the base of the saine (see letters F, F, F, F,)

4or it may be formed entirely of iron, cast in rings or zones, and united in a similar manner to iron water pipes or otherwise, is to be suspended horizontally in front, and supported upon end ,gudge ons, revolving in strong iron arms aixed to the sides of the same at their back end, by means of heavy iron bolts passing through brackets into the boats side timbers in. the strongest manner. These arms are further supported at the forward ends near the bearings of the cylinder by means of stirrups or yokes, that fall down astride the ends of a strong beam situated across the bows of the boat (see Gr Fig. l). The arms H II passing through the slots in said yokes are raised and depressed by means of upright screws or otherwise working through the tops of said yokes, with their feet resting in steps on the ends of the beam G.

Though not essential to our plan, we have in our model adopted the twin boat, with a paddle wheel in the center, the outside rim of which is cogged at I Fig. l, into which gears pinion P on the shaft of the fly wheel, by which means the power is communicated to the paddle wheel I, and from thence to the cylinder A, by a chain band or bands passing over spurs upon the same at K, or otherwise the power may be communicated from the engine as usual by means of cranks upon the shaft of the paddle wheel.

To prevent the accumulation of ice upon the paddle wheel and cylinder, they can be housed upon their upper sections into which the exhaust steam and smoke may be discharged. The periphery of the cylinder in its rotation may travel somewhat faster than the paddle wheel in order that the boat may not be forced upon the ice any faster than its path may be cleared.

If necessary, stern and side cylinders may be added, and the whole or part moved by gearing bands or otherwise.

The teeth D, D, D, D, should range spirally around the cylinder in the manner of a right and left hand screw. from the center (see Letter A) in order that they may take alternate effect upon the ice, their sharp ends striking rst in the manner of an adze upon the edge of the broken ice, chipping it off in fragments without allowing the body.

of the cylinder to come in contact with the solid ice; by this arrangement it willbe seen that the principal force of the engine may be exerted upon each tooth singly at the moment of contact, and the resistance of the ice will in a measure aid in propelling the boat in case the cylinder is not immersed to its center, in which case it may not be necessary to put ext-ra heads upon the journals of the cylinder on the outside of the arms as represented in figure.

In this invention we conne our claims to the use and application of revolving Vcylinders with teeth or spurs upon their outer surfaces to be attached to boats and vessels; said cylinder being suspended upon arms, and the whole constructed substantially in the manner and for the purposes as hereinabove set forth.

New York Septemberv 18th 1838.

WALTER HUNT. JACOB TOwNsEND.

Witnesses:

S. O. BENNETT, WM. L. MORRIS.