IMPROVEMENTS IN WIND MILLS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Vincent Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th February 1871.-A communication from abroad by Addison
Prescott Brown, of the City and State of New York, United States
of America.
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN WIND
MILLS," to be as follows:-
The main object of this Invention is to produce a windmill or wheel,
that while efficient and durable will vary but slightly in velocity under
extreme variations in the force of the wind. To this end the wind
wheel is composed of a series of sails hinged or pivoted to vibrate
around axes that are chord lines or approximately so between radii of
the wheel lying either in the same plane or different planes of motion.
The Invention consists in a combination with a wind wheel having
its sails thus hung of two mechanisms, by the one of which the increased

page_text: pressure of the wind against the sails increases the inclination of their
surfaces to the plane of motion of the wind wheel so as to reduce the
area of sail surface presented to the direct action of the wind, and the
other of which includes weights so connected with said wheel that by
the centrifugal action due to the increased velocity of the wheel, the
angle of the surface of the sails to the plane or planes of motion of the
wind wheel is increased beyond what would be effected by the direct
pressure of the wind alone. By such combination of forces the velocity
of the wheel may be most effectually regulated.
In this relation it may here be observed that this Invention relates
principally to what are termed rosette wind mills, and that to obtain
the greatest practical effect from the wind it is necessary to have all
the surfaces inclined thereto in one direction on the front or impinging
side, while the rear surfaces should so recede as to allow a perfectly
free passage through the slats of the sails or past and behind the latter
when made entire. To insure for the regulating devices of the wheel,
when the latter is constructed to operate upon the principles herein-
before described, the power to act with sufficient expedition and
sensitiveness in sudden variations of wind so as to prevent a perceptible
and injurious increase of velocity, the Invention includes a combination
of independent controlling weights and bars with the sails or sections
of the wheel, likewise a sliding head in concentric relation with the
wheel having its sails hung as described for the purpose of producing
an increased resistance as the sections are turned by the increased
force of the wind. This sliding head is composed in part of stretchers
which are made to pass through chambers or holes formed in the hub
of the wheel. The Invention also consists in a combination of a re-
sistance weight with said independent controlling or centrifugal weights
operating upon the sails hung as described, also the radial arms and
radial slats or sails so bevilled or scarfed off as to cause them to present
the greatest and most perfect propelling surface to the wind with the
least retarding force consistent with practical construction.
Furthermore the Invention includes in combination with the radial
arms of a wind wheel of the class herein described, sail axles or pivot
bars formed with screw gudgeons to provide against shaking of the sails
or to admit of them being tightened as wear renders necessary, also
adjustable slotted pivot boxes to provide for the longitudinal set of

page_text: the sails on the radial arms of the wheel; likewise a combination of
slotted stay bars with the inner ends of the slats when the sails are
composed of slats, said stay bars preferably being made continuous
throughout the width of each sail.
The Invention also includes a method of staying the slats or sails
at their ends with provision for twisting the slats or varying the angles
of the sails, by means of a metal wire or band let into slats in the outer
ends of the latter.