Jack Craib's Rowboat Motor Information Site

Henschel

Henschel and Company, Berlin

 

 

  

The flexible shaft outboard from 1899 was offered as either battery powered or benzine motor powered.

Roughly translated:

Another firm of Henschel and Co. patented a motorboat for electric or benzine operation (Fig. 44). The practically built and protected boat drive (Fig. 45) consists of the motor, the flexible shaft and the propeller, which are fastened all on a common frame, so that the entire device forms a connection forming a whole. The motor, which can be an electric motor or combustion engine (which therefore in the first case with a storage battery, in the latter operated conveniently with gasoline) coupled with flexible shaft, the latter rises gooseneck-like over the hull of the boat and at its other end of the propeller.

The electric drive is recommended wherever electricity is available and convenient to charge the batteries, while gasoline will be as practical, where electricity is not available, and will run especially long distances.

(Another article below.)

Dingler's polytechnisches Journal, Volume 314 - 1899

From the firm of Henschel and Co. a boat motor that allows for electrical and petrol operation. The practically built and protected boat drive consists of the motor, the flexible shaft and the propeller, which are all attached to a common frame, so that the entire device forms a coherent whole. The motor, which can be an electric motor or an explosion motor (which in the first case is operated with the help of an accumulator battery, in the latter is expediently operated with petrol), is coupled to the flexible shaft; the latter rises like a gooseneck over the side of the boat and carries the propeller at its other end.


The flexible shaft is mounted in a steel tube, which is designed to guide it, and which at the same time absorbs the pressure of the propeller and transfers this pressure to the boat. The storage of the steel pipe mentioned with regard to the pressure transmission is carried out in such a way that the pipe can rotate about a vertical axis. The main advantage of this is that the propeller can also be used for steering, since the tube and thus the propeller can be adjusted at an angle to the ship's keel.


The coupling between the flexible shaft and the motor, which with the boat drive with explosions motor also includes the reversal, is manufactured in such a way that the flexible shaft running in the tube can follow the movements of the tube in all directions.  The flexible shaft itself, which is manufactured according to a new system (DRP), also appears to be suitable for the greatest stresses. 

Their great flexibility allows even the shaft to turn in small bends without any significant loss of power. As we learn, measurements taken have actually shown that the efficiency of this new transmission is far higher than that of an identical transmission with a rigid shaft guided through the keel of the boat.In the latter transmission, of course, a lot of power is lost due to the stuffing box becoming necessary, and it is therefore easy to see why disproportionately large motors are necessary when using such a transmission, especially for smaller boats. The motors for the new boat drive can be on average 20 to 30 ° / o smaller than for the drives of older construction, given the advantages that their use offers. The flexible shaft consists of spring-hard crucible steel wire and runs in petroleum jelly; as a result, wear is the least conceivable.
The company supplies the boat drive, which is legally protected by the Berlin machinery factory Henschel and Co. and manufactured by the factory, completely for installation in the boat. It is possible to convert smaller ones from 6 to 8 m in length within an hour, in an emergency in a few minutes into a motor boat.    This motor should be of great importance for the tenders of our large war and merchant ships; it also provides a means of operating ferries by motor, and of giving the sailboat effective motor assistance in the event of a calm wind.