AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF PADDLE WHEEL, AND AN TRROWED MODE OF MOUNTING SUCH WURFIS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF PADDLE WHEEL,
AND AN TRROWED MODE OF MOUNTING SUCH WURFIS
A communication
Sealed the 7th December 1855, and dated the 18th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th September 1855.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF PADDLE
WHEEL, AND AN IMPROVED MODE OF MOUNTING SUCH WHEELS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in making the face of the floats of paddle wheels
concave, while their backs have a plane surface as usual.
The object of the concave face is to concentrate to a focus the force upon
the water when the wheel is used for propelling forward, and by preserving the
plane upon the back of the paddle float, the slip arising from paddles formed
with a concave face and convex back will be avoided when the back action of
the wheels takes place.

page_text: By mounting the wheels upon the crank shaft of the engine, so that the
entrance of the floats of the two wheels into the water may alternate, the shock
or vibratory action upon the engine will be sensibly diminished.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF PADDLE WHEEL, AND AN IMPROVED MODE of
MOUNTING SUCH WHEELS," being a communication from abroad, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,

page_text: consists, first, in making the face of the paddles of paddle wheels concave, in
order to concentrate to a focus the force upon the water when the wheel is
used for propelling forward, and at the same time preserving the plane upon
the back of the paddle, so necessary to prevent the slip arising from paddles
formed with a concave face and convex back.
The Invention relates, secondly, to a mode of mounting the wheels that will
permit the number of paddles in the water being so alternated as sensibly to
relieve the shock upon the engine.
To enable others skilled in the art to construct the paddles and arrange the
paddles of one wheel with respect to its fellow, I will describe the improvement
with reference to the accompanying Drawing.
The paddles (which may be of wood or metal) instead of being planes upon
both sides, or a concave on one side and a corresponding convex on the other,
are made with a concave upon the front side of the paddle, and a plane
upon the rear of each paddle, as shewn best at Fig. 3. By the adoption of
this form (which may be called a plano-concave), the efficient action of the
paddle upon the water is secured, whether a forward or backward motion
is required.
In the adjustment of the wheels upon their axle, it will be seen that the
arms C and C (Fig. 1), which represent respectively the arms of the wheels
on the two opposite sides of the vessel, are so arranged with respect to each
other, that the paddles D', D', of one wheel will be above the water while the
paddle D of the other wheel is at full dip, and that when the paddle D has
arrived at the position shewn at Fig. 2, the paddle D¹ of the other wheel will
be equally acting upon the water. The effect thus produced upon the engine
greatly relieves it from strain, and consequent shock to the vessel.
The plano-concave form of the paddles is the result of experiments instituted
to secure an increase of speed without an increased expenditure of power. I
am aware that a concave with a corresponding convex face of the paddle has
been used, but such form of paddle is liable to the objections before stated.
Having described the improvements in paddle wheels for steam boats, what
I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,
First, giving such form, viz., a plano-concave, to the paddle, that all the
advantages of the concave face are secured without loss of hold upon the water
and slip in backing vessels propelled by wheels.
Second, the alternate arrangement of the paddles or buckets of the two
wheels, so that the engine will only have one bucket of one wheel at full dip,
or such portion of two buckets at half dip, (that is, half bucket of each wheel,)

page_text: as will equal one bucket of one wheel at full dip, thereby equalizing the strain
on the engine, substantially as in manner set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)