IMPROVEMENTS IN PADDLE WHEELS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Stuart Baker, of Fleet Street, in the City
of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PADDLE WHEELS."-
A communication from abroad by Matthew Augustus Crooker, of the
City of New York, in the County and State of New York, in the United
States of America.
Sealed the 3rd November 1865, and dated the 9th May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Stuart Baker
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th May 1865.
I, CHARLES STUART BAKER, of Fleet Street, in the City of London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PADDLE WHEELS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in arranging the buckets or float boards in an arc
larger than true circles struck from the axis or shaft. The said buckets or
float boards are thereby caused to pass through the water at different depths
or degrees of immersion, beginning at that one having the least dip, and
gradually increasing to that one having the greatest dip, and then receding

page_text: back in like order. In the case of single engines being used, that arc of the
wheel whereon the buckets or float boards have the least depth will be in
the water when the engine is at "the dead points," and that are whereon
the buckets or float boards have the greatest depth will be immersed when
the engine is exercising its greatest power, or is at half stroke. In the case
of double engines the order of arrangement is different, for as the power then
approaches more nearly a constant force, the wheel in that case is divided into
sections, so that while a series of buckets are entering the water successively
deepening their immersion, another set will be entering successively di-
minishing the degree of immersion. By this means the force of the shocks
is reduced to a minimum, while the power of the wheel is equalized.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Stuart Baker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
STUART BAKER, of Fleet Street, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Stuart Baker, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Stuart
Baker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Charles Stuart Baker, 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 PADDLE WHEELS," (a communication to me from abroad
by Matthew Augustus Crooker, of the City of New York, in the County and
State of New York, in the United States of America,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Stuart Baker, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause

page_text: 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 Charles Stuart Baker, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:
The object of this my Invention is the obtaining of the highest co-efficient
in a paddle wheel for the propulsion of steamers, and consists of an improved
plan for arranging the buckets or float boards upon the circumference of the
wheel, whereby the shocks are decreased, and the useful effect of the buckets
while immersed is increased. The principle of my said Invention lies in
securing the buckets to the arms upon curved lines, which are segments of a
circle greater than that struck from the centre or axis of the wheel: Various
attempts have been made to overcome the defects of the ordinary radial paddle
wheel, in which the buckets are affixed upon a circle, the centre of which
is the shaft. In consequence of those defects it is known that the full effect
of the power applied by the engine is not realized. This is occasioned partly
by the action of the engine itself in giving off its power, and partly from the
mode in which the buckets of the wheel act upon the water. In the first place;.
as the resistance to the revolution in the water of a wheel truly circular is a
constant, while the power applied is always variable, the speed at which. the
wheel so propelled moves through the water will likewise we variable; this
arises from the fact that the power of the steam is applied to propel in
the first instance a reciprocating body (viz. the piston), which has to be con-
verted into a rotative one, as is well known. The wheel therefore is made to
turn fastest when the piston is at half stroke, and slowest at the "dead points."
In fact, as at those two points no power whatever is given off, it turns by its
momentum only. Thus the boat so propelled is urged onwards with a series
of thrusts as it were, while there is also a wasteful slip as the engine
approaches its half stroke. The second defect named is now made apparent,
viz., the shock caused by the violent urging of the buckets into the water as
the engine approaches its half stroke. These defects are not remedied, but
only mitigated by the combination of two engines. By my improvement of
arranging the buckets in arcs larger than true circles struck from the axis or
shaft, said buckets are caused to pass through the water at different depths or
degrees of immersion, beginning at that one having the least dip, and gradually
increasing to that one having the greatest dip, and then receding back in like
order. In the case of single engines that arc of the wheel whereon the

page_text: buckets have the least depth will be in the water when the engine is on the
"dead points," and that are whereon the buckets or float boards have the
greatest depth will be immersed when the engine is exercising its greatest
power, or is at half stroke. In the case of double engines the order of
arrangement is different, for as the power then approaches more nearly a
constant force, the wheel in that case is divided into sections, so that while a
series of buckets are entering the water successively deepening their im-
mersion, another set will be entering successively diminishing the degree of
immersion. This arrangement, while it diminishes the force of the shocks to
a minimum at the same time equalizes the power of the wheel. It will thus
be seen that an element of value is obtained in addition to economizing the
power, viz., that of safety, because as we are able to reduce the concussion of
the wheel, so in like proportion is the liability to breakage reduced.
In the Drawing accompanying this Specification I have shown my Inven-
tion as constructed to be impelled with a double engine, and it exhibits two
sets of buckets, forming a sectional wheel, said sections being so placed that
the deepest one of a series of buckets upon one of the ares shall be placed
opposite to one which shall have the least depth upon the arc of the other
section. The dotted circle A is struck from the centre of the wheel shaft,
and is given to show the position of the buckets in relation thereto. The
buckets are arranged upon segments of circles, being arcs struck from the
radii beyond the centre about which the said buckets revolve; such an arc is
shown at (a), its centre being at (c); these buckets set at this portion of the
wheel are represented by the letters (b, c, d, e, f,) the outer edges touching
their boundary curve (a). The relations in which these stand to the circle A
it will now be seen is such as has already been described. Bucket (b) will
project beyond the said circle, (c) will be upon it, (d) will be within it, (e)
upon it, and (f) again beyond it. The same rule will be applied to the other
arcs which go to make up the circumference of the wheel, as well as those
upon
the other sections. An equivalent of this would be changing the areas
of the different buckets; that is to say, cutting down the widths, so that one
edge only would conform to the line of the are so inscribed on a radius greater
than the true centre, while the other edge would remain as if arranged upon
a true circle. Thus the widths would be graduated to the power exerted by
the engine, the least area being immersed while at the "dead points" thereof,
and the greatest at the half stroke.
I claim arranging the floats or buckets of a paddle wheel upon its arms, or
the equivalent thereof, whereby the buckets shall be continuously increasing

page_text: and diminishing their depth in the water as the said wheel revolves, as and for
the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Stuart Baker, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
THOMAS MORGAN,
71, Fleet Street.
CHARLES STUART BAKER. (L.S.)