IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY HYDRAULIC MEANS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Romain Denis Obissier, of Rue St. Francois,
Bordeaux, in the Empire of France, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY HYDRAULIC MEANS."
Sealed the 12th January 1856, and dated the 12th July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Romain Denis Obissier
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th July 1855.
I, ROMAIN DENIS OBISSIER, of Rue St. François, Bordeaux, in the Empire
of France, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY HYDRAULIC MEANS " to be as
follows:-
My improvements in apparatus for obtaining motive power by hydraulic
means consists in the arrangement and combination of a pump or set of pumps
with water wheels, which produce and maintain motive power by raising water
to a certain elevation by the pumps, the water so raised acting on the wheels
in its descent.
The first portion of its fall is exerted on an upper wheel, from whose axis
motion is communicated to work the pumps and raise the water. After leaving
the first and upper wheel the water takes effect on a second and lower wheel,
which is driven thereby, and from which power may be communicated to any
useful purpose.
The water in its descent thus drives two water wheels, and falls into a
receptacle below, from whence it is pumped up by the pumps to act again in

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Romain Denis Obissier in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROMAIN
DENIS OBISSIER, of Rue St. Francois, Bordeaux, in the Empire of France,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July, 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 Romain Denis Obissier, Her special licence that I, the said Romain
Denis Obissier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Romain Denis Obissier, 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 OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY HYDRAULIC MEANS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Romain Denis Obissier, 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 Romain Denis Obissier, 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 Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My improvements in apparatus for obtaining motive power by hydraulic
means consists in the arrangement and combination of a pump or set of pumps
with water wheels and steam engine or other motive power, which produce
and maintain motive power by raising water to a certain elevation by the
pumps, the water so raised acting on the wheels in its descent. The first
portion of its fall is exerted on an upper wheel, from whose axis motion is

page_text: purpose. The water in its descent thus drives two water wheels, and falls into
a receptacle below, from whence it is pumped up by the pump to act again in
the same way; thus a continuous circuit of the water is established, and a
continuous motion of the machine maintained, from which motive power may
be derived.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a side elevation of
the hydraulic apparatus arranged and combined according to my Invention;
Fig. 2, an end elevation of the same. a is the chamber of a pump, drawing
up water from the lower cistern c by means of the lower or suction pipe e, and
filling the upper cistern 6 by means of the upper or delivery pipe f; b is the
upper cistern, continually receiving a supply of water from pipe f; d, wooden
frame supporting the several parts of the machine; 9, the lower cistern from
which the lower or suction pipe e draws water; e, lower or suction pipe of the
pump a; f, upper or forcing pipe of the same, delivering the water into upper
cistern b; g is the outlet spout or pipe, leading the water from the upper
cistern 6 into the buckets h, h, of wheel i; h, h, buckets of water wheel i, into
which the water flowing from the outlet pipe g is introduced; i, wooden wheel,
in which are formed the buckets to receive the water from spout 9; j is a
quadrant spout or case, receiving the water continually flowing from the
buckets h, h, which leads directly to the buckets k, k, by the spout or pipe ²;
k, k, are the buckets of lower water wheel, receiving the water from the spout ³
after it leaves the upper water wheel; l, l, is the wheel in which are formed the
buckets k, k; m, a second quadrant spout, which receives the water continually
flowing from the buckets k, and conducts it into the lower cistern c; n is a
spur wheel of cast iron, fixed on shaft a², and put in motion by the upper
water wheel i; o, a similar cast iron spur wheel, gearing into the wheel n, and
put in motion by the same; p, ring fixed against the spur wheel o, which
carries friction rollers g, g, fitted thereto on stud pins, which rollers alternately
pass into and out of the curved arm r, which has a groove to receive the
friction rollers; r is a curved arm, having a reciprocating motion continuous
with motion of the spur wheels, and giving motion to arms on the fixed
fulcrum at 5. The lever s is connected by the rod t to the piston rod u of the
pump a, to which it imparts an up and down reciprocating motion. v, v, shaft
bearings, on which is placed the horizontal shaft carrying wheels o, o; v', v', the

page_text: shaft bearings of the horizontal shaft x', carrying the upper water wheel i;
v2, v, shaft bearings of the horizontal shaft ; x is the horizontal shaft fitted
to the spur wheel gear o, o; x, horizontal shaft of the water wheel i, and
of the spur wheel gear n, n; x², horizontal shaft fitted to the lower wheel l;
y, y, y, are the screw bolts and nuts connecting the shaft bearings v, vl, v², to
the cross bars t', t, t. Supposing the two cisterns b and c to be nearly filled
with water to start the machine, it is simply necessary to open the sluice of
channel g, and permit the water to flow down that channel into the buckets of
wheel i, when the weight of water will preponderate on one side of that wheel,
and will impart motion thereto. This at the same time communicates motion to
the spur wheel gearing n, o, and the ring or roller carrier p being fixed to o, the
friction rollers will be carried round, and caused to act on the lever arm r. It
will be observed, this arm r consists of a curved channel, into which the rollers
9, 9, 9, enter at the upper part, and after controlling the motion of arm r, pass
out of the channel at r'. Just before the one friction roller leaves at r', another
of the three rollers 9, 9, 9, enters the reverse curve at the upper part, and takes
hold there before the other roller q leaves at 1. By this means a reciprocating
motion is given to arm r, which is transmitted through arm s (the arm and s
being rigidly connected and moving on fulcrum 5) to pump rod u, and so
maintains the reciprocating motion of the pump piston, producing three up and
down strokes of the pump for each revolution of the wheel i, the three strokes
of the pump being calculated to raise nearly half as much water from cistern c
up to cistern b as is required to produce one revolution of wheel i. It will be
observed that there are two pumps a, a, one on either side of the machine,
each worked by corresponding parts, which it is unnecessary to further describe.
The pumps which are fixed are fitted with suitable valves to act as lift and
forcing pumps; being well understood in pump manufacturing, will not require
detailed description. The water on falling from the buckets of wheel i is
received by a spout or channel 72, which is carried up to the breast of the
wheel to prevent the escape of any water. This spout should conduct the
water with as little inclination as possible, in order to loose little of the height
of fall. The spout 2-delivers-the-water-into-buckets of wheel, the weight
of which on one side preponderates, and causes that wheel to revolve con-
tinuously so long as the supply of water is maintained. The quadrant spout m
receives the water from wheel l, and delivers it into the lower cistern c, from
whence it is again pumped up by pumps a, a, into cistern b, and falls on the
wheels i and 1, and so produces continuous rotary motion, as described. As
the power of wheel i is insufficient to pump up all the water required to
maintain the action of the machine, I employ a small steam engine of one or

page_text: two horses power, with which I pump up an additional quantity of water from
cistern c to cistern b, and to supply the deficiency of pumps a, a.
The steam
engine is furnished with separate pumps, pipes, and fittings, which will be
readily understood without special description. A supply of water is thus
lifted to make up also for any waste or loss by evaporation. If a supply of
water equivalent to that lifted by the power of the engine be delivered into the
upper cistern, the engine may be dispensed with. The power gained is to be
derived from the shaft of wheel 7, which otherwise revolves perfectly free by
the impulse of the falling water, which escapes the buckets k, and is delivered
into lower cistern c. Supposing the wheels to be of the requisite diameter,
and supplied with sufficient water to be equal to ten horse power each, the
power of upper wheel i will be expended in driving the pumps to raise the
water, which with two horse power engine will be twelve horse power in all to
lift the water; but as ten horse power will be gained from shaft of wheel
at a cost of two horse power of the steam engine, a clear gain of eight horse
power will be attained. In the same way the power of wheels may be taken
at a hundred horses each if the machine be large enough, while the augmen-
tation of power of the steam engine need be but little, say, for instance, in all
eight or ten horses power, which would be a clear gain of ninety horses power
over the simple use of the steam engine as the motor.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of carrying
the same into practical effect, I wish it understood that I do not confine myself
to the precise details so long as the peculiar features of my Invention be
retained; but that what I claim is, raising water by pumps or other ana-
logous means driven by the water engine, with the addition of a supply raised
by a separate steam engine or other power, or maintained at the level of upper
cistern, for the purpose of driving wheels from whence motive power is obtained,
all as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Romain Denis Obissier, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
W. CLARK, Patent Agent,
53, Chancery Lane, London.
R. D. OBISSIER. (L.S.)