THE HAWAIIAN STAR — OCTOBER 08, 1903
PUTS PROPELLER AT FRONT.
FREAK INVENTION FOR STEAMSHIP ♢ Former Newspaperman Turns Inventor With Scheme To Put Propellers in Front Instead Behind Steamers.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Sept. 21.—Will the steamships of the future be pulled, instead of pushed along as at present?
This question has been answered in the affirmative by A. H. Gilmore, the former business manager of the first morning paper ever published in Newport News. Mr. Gilmore has just made application to the patent office at Washington for patents on a remarkable invention which he believes will revolutionize navigation by steam power.
The invention is regarded as a freak by the mechanics and ship-builders here before whom he has exhibited it. The inventor proposes to place the propeller, wheels or screws, at the bow instead of the stern end of the vessel. He claims that the device will produce double the present speed at about one-half the cost.
“I firmly believe,” he said today, “that I have solved the problem of rapid transit by water. The principle of my invention is very simple. A cart can be drawn much more easily than it can be pushed. Now that’s exactly what I propose to do to the steamboat. Don’t push it; pull it. It will go much faster at less expense.
The propellers are placed at the front end of the boat. Of course, they are differently constructed from those now in use at the stern. I am afraid to describe them before I
