George Beadon
Capt. George Beadon, R.N.
1860 'Captain Beadon's Experimental Steamer—The inventor of the Ichthyon writes that his passage from Bristol Harbour to Keynsham, on Thursday, was highly succesful. He says:- " I left Bristol at 5 p.m., on Thursday last, with only one propeller and one engine, and, against the opinion of engineers and others, the Ichthyon braved the rapid freshes of the Avon, which have been unusually strong for this season of the year during the past four or five days. She reached Keynsham by 9 p.m., against this tremendous current, and has added another plume to the catalogue of her many virtues, that of being perfect double boat, in every sense of the word. With the safety-valve gone of one boiler, and with broken shaft.,' scotched but not killed,' she performed her task.".'[1]
1860 'A Marine Novelty. - A model steam-boat, called the Ichthyon, designed and built by Captain Beadon, R.N., has during the past few days been plying the Serpentine, London. It is upon the principle of the double canoe, and appears admirably adopted for testing the merits the peculiar form of screw and mode of propulsion adopted by the inventor. This twin-boat is, in fact, raised out the water and supported upon two pontoons of cylindrical form two feet in diameter, and 18 feet long. These pontoons or tubes are each fitted with solid conical spiral screw at the stem, driven by a direct centre shaft worked in the usual manner. The propellers are made to act together, or in opposite directions, in such a way that the vessel is driven by one or both, and may turned in a sweep of little more than her own length. This model is only three tons burden, roughly built, and very imperfectly fitted with machinery, and towed two barges from Bristol, laden with 90 tons of stone, in shallow water at the rate of three miles an hour. The Ichthyon was designed rather for the navigation of canals, but the principle of construction appears to secure the steadiness and stability, as well as other advantages necessary to gunboats and larger vessels of war.'[2]
1866 'The Cigar Ship.— ln Vice-Chancellor Wood's Court on Thursday, Capt. Beadon applied for an injunction against Mr. Winans, the constructor of the cigar ship launched early this year, on the ground that the defen- dant had infringed a patent obtained by the plaintiff in 1852 for a contrivance somewhat similar to the conical revolving bow and screw propeller blades, rotating round a shaft moved by internal machinery, which, as our readers are aware, is one peculiarity of Mr. Winans' curious vessel. It seemed that the plaintiff had never made any use of his patent, which was about to expire, and defendant's counsel stated that the cigar ship was constructed as a purely scientific experiment in ignorance of any patent taken out by the plaintiff, who, with full knowledge two years ago of what the defendant was doing, had allowed him to proceed with his experiment. — The Vice-Chancellor said that but for the circumstance that the defendant was about at once to take the ship out of the jurisdiction, a very much more favourable case on behalf of the plaintiff than that which was here shown would be required to induce the Court to grant an injunction anterior to the hearing. Having regard to all the circumstances, to the fact that the defendant had a residence in this country, and that this alleged infringement was not carried out in the way described by the plaintiff, the case was much too vague for the Court to depart from the ordinary practice in patent cases. There would be no order upon the present motion.— Costs to be costs in the cause.'[3]