IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Brakell, of the North Moor Foundry,
Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER."
Sealed the 10th May 1870, and dated the 12th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher Brakeli
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th November 1869.
I, CHRISTOPHER BRAKELL, of the North Moor Foundry, Oldham, in
the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE
POWER," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate partly to an Invention for "Certain Im-
provements in Obtaining and Applying Motive Power," for which Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five (Number Sixteen hundred and ninety-three), were
granted to Christian Schiele, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, and to improvements in the same.

page_text: As described in one portion of said Letters Patent, steam, water, or
other fluid acts by its momentum on a wheel with suitably formed
buckets or vanes commonly called a turbine wheel, and imparts motion
to it. As hitherto constructed these turbine wheels consist of a spindle
on which is fixed a cylindrical drum or runner, on the circumference of
which are formed buckets of a double curvature having their apex in
the middle of the surface of the said drum or runner. The turbine
wheel described fits into a cylinder with just as much clearance as is
necessary to insure its revolving freely without contact. In the middle
of the surface of the said cylinder are formed tangential openings or
ports. Around the cylinder is formed a water or fluid chamber. The
steam, water, or other fluid being conducted into the chamber passes
through the ports in the cylinder on to the middle of the surface of the
turbine wheel at the apex of its curved buckets as described, and by its
pressure on the same causes it to revolve, the fluid being divided into
two streams at the apex of the buckets, one portion passing out of the
buckets towards the one side and the other portion towards the other
side of the wheel. In one form of this turbine the water as it leaves
the wheel passes freely away in the tail race, but in another form
commonly known as a suction turbine the water passes from the wheel
to a chamber on each side, from which it can be carried away by piping.
My improvements in the said turbine wheels are as follows:-The
wheels or runners as described have open buckets or vanes, the fluid
being confined therein by the cylinder in which the wheel or runner
revolves, instead of which I enclose the buckets by a cylindrical cover,
with the exception of a space at the apex of the buckets sufficient to
allow of the entrance of the water supply from the ports in the fluid
chamber as before described. This cover I either prepare separately and
securely fix it to the turbine wheel, or I cast it with the wheel and
buckets so that the whole forms one piece.
Another form of my improvements is as follows:-In the turbines as
described the fluid chamber surrounds the turbine wheel, instead of
which I place the said fluid chamber inside the turbine wheel, the fluid
passing from it through suitable ports into the buckets of the wheel at
their apex, where it is divided into two streams and passes towards both
sides of the wheel as in the turbines already described. I sometimes
make the turbine wheel with the buckets open towards the inside, the
buckets being in fact formed on the interior surface of a drum or

page_text: cylinder in the same manner as they have hitherto been formed on the
outside surface; the faces of the buckets revolve outside the cylindrical
fluid chamber with just as much clearance as is. necessary to avoid
contact. I sometimes make the hollow drum or cylinder forming the
turbine wheel itself act as the water or fluid chamber, and in this case I
close the faces of the buckets with the exception of a space at their
apex sufficient to allow of the entrance of the fluid. To guide the fluid
in an efficient manner into the buckets of the wheel I have a cylindrical
ring containing suitably formed water ports, which ring is fixed on a
boss projecting into the interior of the hollow wheel, and its diameter is
such as just to allow of the wheel revolving round it without touching.
The boss referred to will support the spindle of the turbine wheel.
The regulation or adjustment of the supply of water or other fluid or
the power of the turbine wheel I effect in various ways. Sometimes by
slides on the supply ports fitting into dovetailed recesses and raised or
lowered by means of screws or other mechanism.
Another plan of regulation is by making the plates or vanes forming
the ports movable and adjusting them by means of lever cranks so that
the openings may be diminished or enlarged. The said plates or vanes
forming the supply ports may be made flexible by a sort of plate. chain
or latticework covered with leather, india-rubber, or other suitablo
material.
Another plan of regulation is to have the cylinder in which are the
supply ports formed with a blank space and a number of ports alternately,
so that a cylindrical cover is drawn over the ports one after the other,
and when no regulation is required the cover is on the blank spaces.
Instead of letting the water or other fluid enter on the middle of the
circumferential surface of the turbine wheel and pass through the
buckets towards both sides, I sometimes arrange the machines so that
the fluid enters on each side at the point where in the turbine described
the fluid has hitherto left the wheel, and the two streams meet and leave
the wheel at the middle of the wheel's surface. When I construct the
machines on this plan I regulate the water or fluid supply by two
cylindrical rings at the discharge, which I regulate by screws with right
and left-hand threads or other suitable means, so that the said rings
will approach each other or recede and thereby lessen or increase the
discharge opening.

page_text: In one portion of the said Letters Patent (Number Sixteen hundred
and ninety-three), herein-before referred to, is described a turbine wheel
or engine arranged to actuate the propeller of a ship,
My improved turbine wheel or engine I also apply to the same purpose,
and I apply a special kind of a propeller which I construct as follows:→
On each end of a shaft passing across or through the ship I securely fix
a plain flat metal plate, not at right angles to the axis of the shaft but
diagonally across it, the plates being of an oval form, although when
viewed from the end of the shaft they appear circular. These propellers
I either place on each side of the ship as ordinary paddle wheels are
placed, or I place them at the stern of the ship on each side of the
rudder, and I prefer that they be not immersed in the water beyond
their centres. My improved turbine wheel or engine being geared with
the propeller shaft causes it to rotate, and the plates forming the pro-
pellers act by partly pressing down in an oblique or sideway direction
against the water in front of the propeller, and also pressing partly in an
oblique direction upward against the water behind the propeller, their
action being somewhat like that of the tail of a fish, or somewhat similar
to that of a single oar when used over the stern of a boat in propelling
it. This form of propeller is well adapted for the quick speeds of my
improved turbine engine, but it is also equally applicable for any other
description of motive engine.
I also apply my improved turbine wheel or engine for driving centri-
fugal pumps, the wheel and the pump being fixed on one shaft, so that
po gearing is required, and such a combined machine is particularly
valuable as an hydraulic propeller for ships or boats.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Christopher Brakell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER 3
BRAKELL, of the North Moor Foundry, Oldham, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of November, in tho

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Christopher Brakell, Her special
licence that I, the said Christopher Brakell, my executors, administrators,.
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Christopher Brakell, my execu
tors, 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 AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Christopher Brakell, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patènt
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Christopher Brakell, 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 (that is to say) :-
These improvements relate partly to an Invention for "Certain Im-
provements in Obtaining and Applying Motive Power," for which Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five, Number 1693, were granted to Christian Schiele,
of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and to improvements
in the same.
As described in one portion of the Specification of the said Schiele's
Patent, steam, water, or other fluid acts by its momentum on a wheel..
with suitably formed buckets or vanes, commonly called a turbine wheel,
and imparts motion to it. As hitherto constructed these turbine wheels
consist of a spindle on which is fixed a cylindrical drum or runner, on
the circumference of which are formed buckets of a double curvature,
each bucket having its apex in the middle of the surface of the said
drum or runner. The turbine wheel described fits into a cylinder with
just as much clearance as is necessary to insure its revolving freely
without contact. In the middle of the surface of the said cylinder are

page_text: formed tangental openings or parts, and around the cylinder is formed
a water or fluid chamber. The steam, water, or other fluid being
conducted into the chamber passes through the parts in the cylinder on
to the middle of the surface of the turbine wheel at the apses of its
curved buckets, as described, and by its pressure on the same causes it to
revolve, the fluid being divided into two streams at the apses of the
buckets, one portion passing out of the buckets to the one side and the
other portion towards the other side of the wheel. In one form of this
turbine the water as it leaves the wheel passes freely away in the tail race,
but in another form commonly known as a suction turbine the water
passes from the wheel to a chamber on each side, from which it can be
carried away by piping.
My improvements in the said turbine wheels are as follows:-The
wheels or runners before described have open buckets or vanes, the fluids
being confined therein by. the cylinder in which the wheel or runner
revolves. Instead of which I enclose the buckets by a cylindrical cover,
with the exception of a space at the apses of the buckets sufficient to
allow of the entrance of the water supply from the ports in the fluid
chamber as before described. This cover I either prepare separately and
securely fix it to the turbine wheel, or I cast it with the wheel and
buckets so that the whole forms one piece.
Another form of my improvements is as follows:-In the turbines as
described the fluid chamber, surrounds the turbine wheel, instead of
which I place the said fluid chamber inside the turbine wheel, the fluid
passing from it through suitable ports into the buckets of the wheel at
their apses, where it is divided into two streams and passes towards both
sides of the wheel as in the turbines already described. I sometimes
make the turbine wheel with the buckets open towards the inside, the
buckets being in fact formed on the interior surface of a drum or
cylinder in the same manner as they have hitherto been formed on the
outside surface, the faces of the buckets revolving outside the cylindrical
fluid chamber with just as much clearance as is necessary to avoid
contact. I sometimes make the hollow drum or cylinder forming the
turbine wheel itself act as the water or fluid chamber, and in this case I
close the face of the buckets with the exception of a space at their apses
sufficient to allow of the entrance of the fluid. To guide the fluid in an
efficient manner into the buckets of the wheel I have a cylindrical ring
containing suitably formed water ports, which ring is fixed on a boss

page_text: projecting into the interior of the hollow wheel, and its diameter is such-
as just to allow of the wheel revolving round it without touching, and.
the boss referred to supports the spindle of the turbine wheel.
I effect the regulation or adjustment of the supply of water or other
fluid or the power of the turbine wheel in various ways, sometimes by
slides on the supply ports fitting into dovetailed recesses and raised or
lowered by means of screws or other mechanism, or by making the
plates or vanes forming the ports moveable and adjusting them by means"
of lever cranks, so that their openings may be diminished or enlarged.
The said plates or vanes forming the supply ports may be made flexible
by a plate, chain, or lattice work covered with leather, india-rubber, or
other suitable material.
-
Another plan of regulation is to have the cylinder in which are the
supply ports formed with a blank space and a number of ports alternately,
so that a cylindrical cover is drawn over the ports one after the other,
and when no regulation is required the cover is on the blank spaces.
Instead of letting the water or other fluid enter on the middle of the
circumferential surface of the turbine wheel and pass through the
buckets towards both sides, I sometimes arrange the machines so that the
fluid enters on each side at the point where in the turbines described the
fluid has hitherto left the wheel, and the two streams meet and leave the
wheel at the middle of the wheel's surface. When I construct the
machines on this plan I regulate the water or fluid supply by two
cylindrical rings at the discharge, regulated by screws with right and left
hand threads or other suitable means, so that the said rings will approach
cach other or recede and thereby lessen or increase the discharge
opening.
In one portion of the Specification of the said Letters Patent, Number
1693 herein-before referred to, is described a turbine wheel or engine
arranged to actuate the propeller of a ship.
I also apply my improved turbine wheel or engine to the same purpose,
and employ a special kind of propeller constructed as follows:-On each
end of a shaft passing across or through the ship I securely fix a plain
flat metal plate not at right angles to the axis of the shaft but diagonally
across it, the plates being of an oval form, although when viewed from
the end of the shaft they appear circular. I place these propellers either
on each side of the ship as ordinary paddle wheels are placed or at the
stern of the ship on each side of the rudder, and I prefer that they be

page_text: not immersed in the water beyond their centres. My improved turbine
wheel or engine being geared with the propeller shaft causes it to rotate,
and the plates forming the propellers act by partly pressing in an oblique
or sideway direction against the water in front of the propeller, and also
pressing partly in an oblique upward direction against the water behind
the propeller, their action being somewhat like that of the tail of a fish,
or somewhat similar to that of a single oar when used over the stern of
a boat in propelling it. This form of propeller is well adapted for the
quick speeds of my improved turbine engines, but it is also equally
applicable for any other description of motive engine.
I also apply my improved turbine wheel or engine for driving contri.
fugal pumps, the wheel and the pump being fixed on one shaft, so that no
gearing is required, and such a combined machine is particularly valuable
as an hydraulic propeller for ships or boats.
Having now deseribed the nature and particulars of my said Invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I claim,-
First. The formation of the wheels or runners of turbine wheels or
engines with partially closed or covered buckets, instead of as heretofore
with open buckets, whereby a greater effect is obtained and waste or
escape of water, steam, or other fluid is prevented.
Secondly. The formation of the buckets of the said turbine runners
on the interior surface of a drum or cylinder, instead of on the outer
surface as heretofore, and the application of the supply ports and water
chamber inside the turbine wheels instead of as heretofore on the outside
of or surrounding the turbine wheels, whereby a more compact and
efficient machine is obtained at a much lower cost.
Thirdly. The system of letting the fluid enter the buckets of the
turbine wheels or engine at the point where it has hitherto been the
custom to let it be discharged, the fluid leaving the wheels at the point
where it has hitherto entered, whereby in some cases the machine which
will be equally efficient can be made at a less cost.
Fourthly. The methods of regulating the supply of fluid and the
power of the said machines.
Fifthly. The application of the said turbine wheels or engines for
propelling ships, and in the form of propeller whereby a very simple and
compact machine is produced at a very low price.

page_text: And, sixthly. The employment of the said turbine wheels or engines
for driving centrifugal pumps direct by fixing the wheel and the pump
on one spindle, such a combined machine being particularly applicable
as an hydraulic propeller for ships.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Brakell, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord Que thousand eight hundred and seventy.
C. BRAKELL. (L.S.):