US 6,981,902 B1
Marine reaction thruster
Samuel Barran Tafoya, 135 - 41st Circle E, Bradenton, Fla. 34208 (US); and Hans Guenter Broemel, 2908 - 29th Avenue E, Bradenton, Fla. 34208 (US)
Filed on Nov. 03, 2003, as Appl. No. 10/700,027.
Int. Cl. B63H 11/103 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 440—47 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A marine reaction thruster for use within a marine hull, said thruster comprising:
an elongated housing having a cross-sectional configuration and opposing ends, a drive shaft opening through one of said opposing ends and a discharge opening through the other of said opposing ends, a wide end adjacent to said drive shaft opening, a bottom fluid inlet opening in said wide end, an upper opening, a tapering central portion between said inlet opening and said upper opening, and a tapering narrow end between said upper opening and said discharge opening;
a drive shaft extending longitudinally through said housing between said drive shaft opening and said narrow end of said housing, said drive shaft having a distal end;
a plurality of propellers having different diameter dimensions, each of said propellers being supported by said drive shaft and positioned for rotation within said tapering central portion of said housing, with the largest one of said propellers being adjacent to said inlet opening and the remainder of said propellers being positioned according to decreasing size between said largest propeller and said upper opening, said diameter dimensions of said propellers being selected to substantially fill said cross-sectional configuration of said housing;
inflow inducing means adapted for causing a large volume of fluid to flow through said inlet opening of said housing and into said wide end of said housing;
at least one debris cutter supported by said drive shaft for rotation and said at least one debris cutter being positioned relative to said propellers so that debris in seawater entering said bottom fluid inlet opening of said housing is ground into smaller pieces before it has an opportunity to slow rotation of said propellers; and
strut means associated with said upper opening in said housing and adapted for securing said distal end of said drive shaft so that the velocity of fluid moving across each successive one of said propellers is increased.