Water-Jet Propellers

Abstract

VERY early in the history of steam navigation, attempts were made to employ the “hydraulic” on “water-jet” propeller. About 1782 Rumsey began to work in this direction, using a steam-engine to force water out at the stern of a boat, the inlet being at the bow. His experiments are said to have extended over twenty years, but led to no practical result. Another American, named Livingston, applied the same principle of propulsion in a different manner. A horizontal wheel, or turbine, was placed in the bottom of the boat, near the middle of the length, the water was admitted from beneath it, and expelled from the periphery of the wneel through an opening at the after part of the boat. In 1798 a monopoly was granted to Livingston for twenty years by the State of New York, on condition that within a given period he produced a vessel capable of attaining the speed of four miles an hour. This condition was not fulfilled, and, as is well known, the first successful steamers built in this country or abroad were propelled by paddle wheels. This form of propeller alone was employed for nearly forty years, during which period steam-ships increased greatly in numbers, size, and speed, proving themselves well adapted not merely for service on inland and coasting navigation, but also for ocean voyages. Just when the Transatlantic steam service had been successfully commenced by the Great Western and Sirius, both paddle steamers, the screw-propeller began to threaten the supremacy of the paddle-wheel; and the success of the Archimedes in 1840 led to the adoption of the screw in the Great Britain, as well as the construction of the screw sloop Rattler for the Royal Navy. Soon after came a revival of the water-jet propeller by the Messrs. Ruthven of Edinburgh. In 1843 their first vessel was tried, attaining a speed of about seven miles an hour. Ten years later a fishing-vessel was built on the same principle, and exceeded nine miles an hour. Several other river steamers and small craft were constructed with jet-propellers in the period 1853–65, but they were all comparatively slow, and the plan did not grow into favour either as a substitute for the paddle-wheel or the screw.