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 receive my patents. I can say, however, that the boat will be drawn along by suction. On a large vessel the device will extend fifteen or twenty feet in front of the bow and will create a vacuum which the boat must naturally follow.
    “I believe the invention, attached to a warship like the Maryland, now being built at the shipyard, would give her an average speed of thirty or thirty-five knots instead of the twenty knots which she will make. I have tried it on a small boat here in Newport News, and the success of the dial has convinced me that it is entirely practicable. I have had several offers for it, but will not sell. I hope to be able to exhibit the device at the St. Louis fair next year.”

From—The Hawaiian Star. (Honolulu [Oahu]), 08 Oct. 1903. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.