AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF PROPELLING VESSELS THROUGH THE WATER, AND FOR WORKING UNDERSHOT WATER MILLS
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM. THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
MOTZ SKENE, of Jermyn Street, Saint James, in the County of Middlesex,
Esquire, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, in the eighth year of His reign, give
and grant unto me, the said Andrew Motz Skene, His especial licence, that I,
the said Andrew Motz Skene, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Andrew Motz Skene, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Ber-
wick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF
PROPELLING VESSELS THROUGH THE WATER, AND FOR WORKING UNDERSHOT WATER
MILLS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the
said Andrew Motz Skene, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Andrew Motz Skene, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion and improvements, and the manner in which the same are to be pro-
duced and carried into effect, are herein-after particularly set forth and
described, reference being had to the explanatory Drawings hereunto annexed
for the purpose of illustrating the same :-
They consist in a new form or arrangement, and manner of fixing and using
the floats or paddle boards that are used and employed around the water
wheels, not only of the greater part of such ship's boats and vessels as are or
have been propelled or moved by the power of steam, or of other power appro-
priated to that purpose, but likewise of the said floats or paddle boards as
used for the construction of water wheels of such water mills as are commonly
known by the name of undershot or groundshot wheels. Figure 1 of the
annexed Drawing represents a side view, and Figure 2 an edge view of a
water wheel upon my aforesaid improved plan; and the detached Figure
marked Y is a separate view of one face of my said in proved paddle when taken
out of wheel, and seen directly in front; the other sido being quite flat or flush
need not be represented. The other detached Figure Z is a side view of the
same paddle, to show its varying thickness and hinge. The water wheel shown
in Figs. 1 and 2 may be made of wood or metal, and consists of the usual
arms or radii, and ring or circumference, mounted upon the used central or
revolving shaft, and to these I therefore lay no claim as forming any part of
my Invention, except so far as they are necessary parts of my new combination
of a water wheel for supporting and carrying my improved floats or paddles
herein-after described. The floats or paddles are shewn at A, B, C, D, E,
and F, in Fig. 1; and Fig. 2 is an edge view of a wheel of similar con-
struction, but in which eight paddles or floats are introduced. The paddles
may be formed of wood, metal, or any suitable material; but metal plates are
preferable, unless when their weight might be considered as detrimental. The
shape and form in which I make them for propelling vessels is clearly shown
by the detached Figures Y and Z; and the following are the particulars to be
attended to in their construction. Each paddle consists of a surface or super-
fices consisting of a semi-circle, and a parallelogram of a length equal to the
diameter of the said semi-circle, and of a width equal to its radius; con-
sequently each paddle or float would be exactly square if the lower corners c, c,
were not cut off by its semi-circular form; and I recommend that no greater
diameter than two feet each be attempted for the floats or paddles of all
wheels to be used for propelling vessels. I cause each paddle to turn freely
upon pivots or center rods, as shown at a, a, and this may be effected either by

page_text: using the fixed stretching rods a, a, as shown in the Figure, and by fixing eyes
or loops b, b, to each paddle or float, so that they can turn or revolve upon the
said fixed rods, or else pivots may be fixed to or cast upon each end of each
float or paddle, or the rods a, a, may be immoveably fixed to them, and in that
case their ends, or the ends of the said pivots, must turn in holes made to
receive them, and properly bushed with brass or other metal in the circum-
ference or rim of the said wheel. The pivots or center rods are to be placed
or fixed upon the said floats or paddles in the direction of the diameter of the
said semi-circular, or so as to leave an equal distance between the central line
upon which they turn and the top and circular bottoms of the said paddles ;
and this must be particularly attended to, as it forins one of the objects of my
aforesaid invention and improvements, and produces great advantage in the
working of my said improved wheels, because the said pivots or center rods so
divide the surface or superfices into unequal parts, which will be found very
nearly proportional to the difference of depth and velocity with which the two
portions of the paddle are resisted in passing through the water. To cause
the paddles to hang downwards, and place themselves in the necessary and
effective positions for work, I load or cover the greater part of the semi-circular
or lower half or surface of each paddle with thick plate-metal, such as wrought
or cast iron, lead or copper, the quantity of which should not be less in weight
than the entire weight of the paddle, which not only gives preponderance but
strength to such lower parts of the paddles; or if they are made of wood I
encompass their lower edges and sides with strong bands or borders of metal
in the nature of tires, which will answer the same purpose of weighting them, and
having hung the said floats or paddles by the means and in the manner before
described between the two rings or sides of the wheel in such manner that
they may be free to swing or move, it is evident that if the water wheel so
formed is hung by its centers in a vertical position, as shown by Figure 1,
that the heaviest or loaded parts of all the paddles would hang downwards,
and put themselves into vertical position, but that the tails or projecting ends
of the paddles d, d, (best seen in Figure Y,) lay hold of and engage with the
arms and insides of the rings of the said wheel, as seen at d, d, d, d, d, the tales
of the paddles A and F, Figure 1, being stopped or engaged with the rim of
the wheel, and those of B, C, and D, with its arms, and they will be held by
the weight of their lower ends in the position there shewn, while the paddle E
hangs vertically and is free, because its tail d has not yet engaged with the
ring of the wheel. The paddle B is likewise shown in that position in which
it has just turned over by its own weight, and transferred the pressure
of its tail from the rim against which it was acting at A to an arm in

page_text: the position B. The wheel moves round in the direction of the arrow drawn
by its side, consequently the paddle C is just about to enter the water,
the surface of which is shown by the line W, R, and in doing so its weighted
end will rise, but will fall again as soon as it is immersed, and the several
paddles in passing through the water will assume the several positions
shown at D and E, which are the most favorable for producing motion to
a vessel in the water. It is scarcely necessary to observe, that in the con-
struction of this kind of wheel the insides of the two rims must be perfectly flat
and smooth to permit of the turning over of the floats without obstruction, and
that the two sides of the wheel must be braced together by transverse bars or
other framing for that particular purpose placed within or between the floats,
but in such situations as will not impede their motion; and likewise that
although six floats only are shown in the Drawings, Figure 1, and eight in
Figure 2, still their number may be increased or diminished at pleasure, pro-
vided they are constructed as above. But the rule which I recommend as the
best for wheels for the purposes of navigation is to use as many floats or paddles
of two feet diameter each as the wheel is feet in diameter; consequently for a six
feet wheel I should use six of such floats, for an eight feet wheel eight of them,
and so on; and if a wheel of greater width than two feet should be required, I
recommend that the same should be made by using three or more rings, with the
axis of the said two feet paddles placed alternately or midway between the first
set, rather than by increasing the length of the said paddles. By thus alternating
the paddles they will be out of each other's way, and the wheel may be made
of any width required. I have, likewise, for the sake of simplicity, described
the tails d, d, of the paddles as being stopped in their proper places by the
arms or in the inside of the ring of the wheel; but such stopping may also be
effected by blocks or projections fixed in proper places, or by stop screws, so as
to adjust the quantity of fall of the said paddles; and whether the same
be stopped by the arms and inside of the wheel, or by any other means, as
above mentioned, I recommend that such stopping takes place through the inter-
vention of springs either fixed to the tails of the said paddles or on to the parts
upon which they strike and stop, or else that such parts be covered with leather,
rope, or other sufficiently elastic padding to break the blows, and prevent
the noise that would otherwise take place in the working of the said wheel.
Lastly, I declare that another of my Inventions and improvements consists in
the application of the flat plates L to each side of the arms of the said wheel,
when it is to be used for the propelling of vessels, which plates may be of iron,
wood, and other materials, and they may either be circular or made polygonal
by extending in right lines from one arm of the wheel to the other, but in either

page_text: case their diameter must be such as to fill up all the space between the center
of the said wheel, and the inner points or edges of the said floats or paddles,
their intention being to confine the water upon which the said floats or paddles
are acting, and thereby to encrease the power produced by the motion of the
said wheel upon the water. When I apply my above described construction
or modification of paddle or float wheel to undershott mills to be acted upon by
the motion of the water for producing rotary motion and power, its paddles
or floats are constructed precisely as before described, except that I make
them narrower in proportion to their length, and their lower edges may be
semi-ellipses instead of semi-circles, as shown in Figure 3 of the annexed
Drawing, or they may be parrallelograms, and I place a greater number of such
swinging or moveable floats round the circumference of the wheel; but if a
wheel of greater width is required I prefer using several rings, and placing the
paddles alternately, as already described in respect to propelling wheels; and
instead of applying the mere side plates L, as recommended for the purpose of
navigation, I form such plates into a hollow and water-tight cylinder of wood
or metal plates by using and adopting a rim to the edges of such plates, which
rim extends from one side of the wheel to the other. The diameter of
the cylinder, like that of the plates, is such that it may almost touch the inner
edges of the said floats whenever they stand in the direction of radii of the
wheel of which they form a part, by which it will be observed that there is
very little space left for the passage of water between the outside of the
said cylinder and the inner edges of the said floats whenever they are in
radial positions. In using the said wheel as a water-mill wheel the water
comes upon the said floats in such manner as still to turn the wheel in
the direction of the arrow drawn in Figure 1, and that water must be brought
or conducted to the said wheel in a sloping or inclined channel of brickwork,
masonary, or other fit material formed in the cross section of its bottom to the
same curve or shape as the outer edges of the said float boards, whether the
same be semi-circular, semi-elliptical, or rectangular, and that same channel
so formed as aforesaid should be continued underneath the said wheel to
beyond its center, to the intent that as little water as possible may escape
underneath the said floats or paddles without imparting its motive force to
them. The hollow cylinder above described will prevent the water from rising
towards the shaft upon which the said water wheel turns; and from the addi-
tional height at which I deliver the water upon the wheel it will be seen that
there is much less chance of such a wheel being dammed or impeded by tail
water then there is in any of the ordinary and usual constructions of water
wheels as heretofore made.

page_text: I am aware that many various forms and constructions of water wheels,
both for the purposes of propelling vessels and for the use of mills, have
been before made with swinging or moveable floats or paddles moved either
by machinery or by their own action in different ways; and the particular
points therefore upon which I rest the merits of my Invention, and for
which I claim the benefit and advantage to arise from my said herein-
before in part recited Patent, are, the construction of floats or paddles
of a shape, form, and proportion, both as to size and weight, of the two
parts on the opposite sides of the pivot on which they turn, which, to the
best of my knowledge and belief, has not been before attempted, but which
shape and proportion produces a better and more effective action in the water
than any other form of float or paddle I am acquainted with, both when
used used for the purposes of propelling vessels or communicating motion
to mill wheels. And I find, likewise, that my herein-before described
Invention is applicable to propelling vessels under water as well as upon its
surface, and I accordingly claim such application thereof.
Secondly, for the use and adoption of the side plates L, for confining the
action of the water within the wheel for the purposes of navigation.
And, lastly, for the use and adoption of the hollow cylinder at the center of
mill wheels for meeting the inner edges of the float boards, and preventing the
water from running detrimentally through the wheel, as herein-before described.
It will also be evident that this Invention is applicable to all other purposes
in which it is desirable to obtain or communicate rotory motion by means of
fluids.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Motz Skene, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-eight
ANDREW MOTZ (L.S.) SKENE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid Andrew Motz Skene came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and twenty-eight.