1851 Great Exhibition: Official Catalogue: Class VIII.: Henry Brookes
143. BROOKES, HENRY, 46 Mornington Pl., Hampstead Rd - Proprietor.
Patent canal and river steam-tug, for hauling vessels on canals or narrow rivers, having neither paddles, wheels, nor screw propeller, with a double keel, and a well or trough between them, which may be closed at top or bottom, or both, to form a hollow chamber or tube, inclined from the centre to the bottom at each end. Across this well at the centre are two wooden wheels, one over the other, which are driven by the steam engine. Along the bottom of the canal or river a flexible iron band or rail is laid about two inches and a half wide by one-eighth of an inch thick. This band being raised up into the well and laid between the two wheels, the upper wheel is screwed down and it becomes tightly compressed between them. As these wheels revolve, the band is drawn rapidly through them from stem to stern, when it again sinks to the bottom.