Works Sixty Years on Propeller.
At the age of seventy-four years, James Henry Miller, of Albany, Ore., believes that the ambition of a lifetime is about to be realized. Sixty years ago, when he first saw a river boat with a stern propeller, Miller made up his mind to construct a propeller which would not strike the water with such resistance. He says that his invention, now virtually completed, will revolutionize river and ocean navigation throughout the world.
The propeller has eight blades, each six feet long and twelve inches wide, and each working on ratchets, so that the edge of the blade strikes the water as it enters, falls into propelling position while in deepest water, and continues to adjust itself as the wheel turns, so that it emerges from the water edge first. The flat side of the blade never strikes the water. As the wheel turns, the blades enter and leave the water with as little resistance as a feathered oar.