Name: Cornelio Celeste Yr. & Sec.

: AAMT 1-DELTA
Subject: 1203

History and Development of the Propeller

220 BC- Archimedes uses screws to lift water.

400 B- Archytas, disciple of Pythagoras, puts and inclined plane on a cylinder

1480-1510- Leonardo da Vinci sketches a helicopter, using a screw, as well as a rotating spit,
driven by a screw.

1680- Robert Hooke notes that vanes of a windmill could be used to move water.

1752- Bernoulli suggests propelling boats using vanes set at an angle of 60° to both the arbor
and the knell.
 1770- James Watt proposes a screw propeller, though opposed to use his steam engines on board
ships.

1776- David Bushnell uses a propeller to drive his submarine turtle. In contrast to the illustration
showing a screw, the propeller was made of single blades.

1784- The Frenchman Vallet propels a boat with a propeller mounted above the boat, in the
following year he uses a three bladed propeller mounted bellow a balloon.

1786- A.J.P. Paucton publishes his “Théorie De La Vis D’Archimede” and proposes a horizontal
axis rotor for propulsion.

Robert Fulton experiments with a four bladed propeller on a ship.

1800- Edward Shorter patents the “Perpetual Sculling Machine”. Two years Later, HMS Dragon,
powered by 8 men at a capstan, achieves 1.5 knots.

1815- Richard Trevithick designs a propeller with blades placed obliquely on a cylinder,
powered by steam engine.

1829- The Morgan wheel is patented, using Hooke’s windmill idea, with feathering vanes.
1816-1846- Patents for propellers are granted at least to John Millington, CharlesCummerow,
Julius Pumphrey, Bennet Woodcroft, Francis Petit Smith, John Ericsson, James Lowe, and
George Blaxland. All these patents are for marine usage and lead to several lawsuits in England.
1843- Sir George Cayley designs an ingenious convertiplane. Equipped with four rotors and twin
propellers.

1865- Rankine develops his momentum theory.

1878- William Froude develops the blade element theory.

1900-1905- The Wright brothers design and test propellers systematically and succeed in 1903,
performing their famous first powered flights.

1907- Lancaster publishes his “Aerodynamics”, including a theory of Optimum propellers.

1910- Coanda tests his piston engine powered jet unit.

1919- Ludwig Prandtl and Albert Betz calculate optimum propellers, having minimum induced
loss.
Fixed pitch propellers with metal blades enter service.
1924- The constant speed propeller is patented by Dr. H. S. Hele-Shaw and T. E. Beacham.

1932- Variable pitch propellers are introduced into air force service.

1935- Constant speed propellers become available.

1939- The Heinkel He 178 makes the first flight of a turbo jet driven airplane.

1945- The first turboprop engines are tested by Rolls-Royce on a Gloster Meteor.

1980’s- GE/NASA UDF, NASA and industry perform tests with high speed Propellers (Propfans
and unducted fans) for transport aircraft.

2023- You read this history about propellers and …….. nothing happens.