IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM NAVIGATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 642, 19 March 1864, Page 17

IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM NAVIGATION.

(Prom the "Army and Navy (Jazette ")

The judicial Committee of the Privy Council have granted the extension of a patent to Mr M. W. Ruthven, of Greenock, for prrpelling and navigating ships, vessels, or boats by steam or other power, It appeared that the petitioner first conceived the idea of this mode of propelling vessels many years ago, and labored along with his late father, at the expense of much time and money, to perfect the invention. They obtained a grant of letters patent in the year 1839, for certain inventions relating thereto, and upon these expended L3OOO. The result of continued experiments in working out the invention in practice was the discovery of certain improvements in the apparatus for carrying out the principle developed in the first patent, and for which a new patent was obtained in 1849, the extension of which was the subject of this application. The invention, as claimed by the specification, consisted of the combination of a centrifugal pump of peculiar form, with certain curved plates and other apparatus, by which means a portion of the water on which the vessel floats is raised in the interior of such vessel, and then discharged therefrom so as to propel the vessels ; and also of certain bent nozzlepipes attached to a stationary pipe, and capable of motion, by means of which the water to be discharged may issue with one aperture and without the use of valves, in different directions, at the will of the operator. The principle of the invention is very simple, and rests upon the same ground as the Turbine or Barker's Mill, viz., — the reaction obtained by pausing water to flow from a chamber, which is closed except at the points of entrance and esit. To adapt this principle as a hydraulic propellor for floating vessels, water is caused to enter a chamber, and from this chamber it is driven oft by the application of steam power, The reaction caused by its outflow

drives the whole vessel in a direction opposite to that in which the water effects its exit. The mode of applying the principle which the patentee adopted has been illustrated by him in a series of engravings. We must refrain from passing an opinion upon the merits or the demerits of the plan, not having witnessed it in operation ; but we are bound to say that we are assured Rear-Admiral George Elliott, Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard, has taken a very favourable view of the invention. So also have Captain R. W. Risk, late flag-captain on the Cape of Good Hope station ; and Captain Christopher Claxton. Mr Murray, chief engineer at Portsmouth Dockyard, has given the following testimony: — "That having seen a number of experiments with Mr Ruthven's propeller, he was enabled to form an opinion as to its utility. It afforded great facilities for manoeuvring vessels of war. The being able to turn a vessel round enables you to brinsrher gun* to bear with the greatest force on the weakest part of the enemy's ship, and that without going a-head or a -stern to obtain the power of rotating. You have means of steering on this principle which you would not have in any other system. It gives great advantages in respect to tee freedom of the machinery from fouling. In the late action before Charleston, the screws were all fouled by plates, net 3, warps, and ropes. There is no chance whatever of this occurring with a propelling power of the kind. Witness saw no reason why the speed on that system should not equal the speed to be obtained with the paddle or screw. Witness was ordered by the Admiralty to go to Belgium to inspect a vessel called the Seraing, built by Messrs Cockerell, fitted with a propelling apparatus on Ruthven's principle. His report was a favorable one. To test the speed, a vessel exactly similar in form, or as nearly similar as the tsvo systems of propulsion would admit, was built by Messrs Cockerell, and propelled by paddlewheels. The difference in speed between the two vessels, with the same horse-power, was perhaps ten per cent. in favor of the paddlewheel vessel; but witness thought that witti more experience this difference wonld be corrected. Witness considered the invention of so much value that he has pressed it on the attention of the Admiralty, and there are orders now in Portsmouth Yard to prepare lines, drawings, and specifications ior a vessel of from 1000 to 1200 tons, equal to a small frigate or corvette, and this vessel is to be specially laid down for this invention. He agreed with Captain Claxton as to the facility of clearing out the water from the ship in case of accident or sudden damage, and this is an important attendant upon the invention." After having heard several other witnesses, and perused certain documents which tended to show the great advantage of the principle advocated by Mr Ruthven. Lord Justice Knight Bruce said :---" The general rule of this committee in applications of the present kind, is against acceding to them where an invention has been brought into but little use, and the general rule with their lordships, therefore, has been beneficially and wisely adopted, and ought not to be departed from unless under special circumstances and for special reasons. It is also very unusual, in the exercise ot the jurisdiction with which this committee is entrusted, to grant an extension of the term given by a patent for so lonjx a period as that asked in the present instance, namely, ten years. There are, however, in the present instance, particular circumstances. Although the invention has been scarcely at all used, their Lordships are convinced from the evidence that it is an ingenious, and beneficial, and an important invention, the general introduction or general use of which has been frustrated by circumstances altogether independent of the will and without the fault of the inventor. They cannot disregard the manner in which the Admiralty, and those who represent the will of the Crown, or the inclinations of the Crown, upon cases of this nature, view the matter, and they cannot regard that opinion as unfavorable to the claims of the petitioner. He is the discoverer of a very ingenious process, which is likely, in their Lordships' opinion, to be of great utility to the public generally, and he haa not only hitherto without any fault of his own, as has been said, been deprived of all profit from it, but has been subjected to considerable loss. Taking all those' facts together, including the view specially taken of it by the Admiralty and by the Crown, and including the absence of opposition after repeated advertisements, their Lordship 3 think that they will be acting in the due exercise of the discretion which the Crown has confided to them in cases of this discription (it must be understood again, in the very particular circumstances of this case, which, as far as they are aware, have never occurred before, and are not likely to occur again), and that they will not in their opinion be transgressing the proper bounds of the discretion intrusted to them,

by granting an enlargement of the letters patent, even for so unusual a term as that of ten years." The patent having thus been exteneded for a further period of ten years, it is to be honed that if any good can be derived from it in connection with the Royal Navy, no time will be lost in extracting it.