IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Stevens, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MILLS." A communication from abroad by Jean Ellie, of 42, Rue
Laffitte Paris in the Empire of France
Sealed the 5th November 1861, and dated the 16th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Stevens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
May 1861.
I, CHARLES STEVENS, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN MILLS," & that it has been communicated to me from abroad
by Jean Ellie, of 42, Rue Laffitte, Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists of a mechanical arrangement by which leaden or
other weights are made to take the place of the water used to turn the mill
wheel.
The machine is composed of a driving shaft which is put in movement by
one or more horses,-a vertical shaft connected with the driving shaft, working
at its top in bearings, and resting in a socket at its base; this shaft gives
movement to a horizontal shaft by means of a bevel wheel,--a horizontal shaft
furnished at one end with a bevel wheel, and at the other with a drum .or
toothed wheel, over which passes an endless chain of buckets; this shaft rests
on two bearings, an endless chain of buckets passing over the horizontal shaft
and a drum; this chain of buckets receives the weights from a receptacle, into
which they fall from the driving wheel, and raises them to a upper receptacle,
whence they fall on the driving wheel, an upper receptacle to receive the

page_text: weights brought up by the chain of buckets,-a driving wheel made similar to
an overshot water-wheel, it receives the weights by which it is put in move-
ment, it turns on a shaft which gears with the vertical shaft of the mill by
means of a bevel wheel,-a drum which aids in maintaining the weights on
the driving wheel,-a lower-receptacle which receives the weights falling from
the driving-wheel...
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Stevens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
STEVENS, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Stevens, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Stevens,"
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles Stevens, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MILLS," a communication to me from abroad by Jean Ellie, of 42, Rue Laffitte,
Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Charles Stevens, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Stevens, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to certain improvements in mills, by which increase of
power is gained, a saving in the construction is effected, and the mill not

page_text: being worked by either wind or water, may be placed in any desired locality.
The machine driving the mill consists of a driving shaft, which is put in
movement by one or more men or horses, and connected with a vertical shaft
working at its top in bearings, and resting in a socket at its base; the vertical
shaft gives movement by means of a bevel wheel to a horizontal shaft, which
is furnished at one end with a pinion, and at the other with a drum or toothed
wheel, over which an endless chain of buckets passes; this shaft rests on two
bearings, one at its end and the other near the pinion above mentioned. The
endless chain of buckets passes over and gears on the drum of the horizontal
shaft, and receives shot or other small weighty substances from a lower
receptacle, into which it falls from the driving wheel, and raises it to an upper
receptacle, whence they fall on the driving wheel; the upper receptacle for
receiving the shot has a slope of about 20 inches to the 3 feet; the shot is
brought up by the chain of buckets, and falls from the upper receptacle on the
driving wheel in place of water. The driving wheel is made similar to an
overshot water-wheel, and turns on a shaft which gears with the vertical shaft
of the mill by means of a bevel wheel. A drum is adapted and serves to
maintain the weights on the driving wheel till they have descended to the bottom.
A lower receptacle receives the weights falling from the driving wheel, and
conducts them into a division which is separated from the lower receptacle,
and is fed by means of a shovel; the lower receptacle has a slope of 20 inches
to the yard. The substances used to take the place of water in the overshot
wheel are shot or metal of similar size. The vertical shaft of the mill is
furnished with a pinion which gears with a bevel wheel on the shaft of the
driving wheel; the shaft of the driving wheel rests in a bearing at each end.
The vertical shaft works in bearings at its top end, and rests in a socket at the
foot. The vertical shaft last mentioned puts in motion the grinding stones,
which are arranged as in ordinary mills.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is, the mechanical arrangement for giving motion to mills, as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Stevens, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
CHARLES STEVENS. (LS.)