IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER WHEELS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ashby, of Croydon, in the County of Surrey,
Millwright, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER WHEELS."
Sealed the 3rd November 1857, and dated the 14th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ashby at the
.Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th May 1857.
I, WILLIAM ASHBY, of Croydon, in the County of Surrey, Millwright, 'do
hereby declare-the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER
WHEELS," to be as follows:-
My Invention of improvements in water wheels relates to a novel mode of
constructing or arranging the buckets or floats of these wheels, so that they
will be enabled to hold or retain 'a greater quantity of water, or for a longer
time than water wheels of the ordinary construction. In order to effect. this
object, I elongate or increase the depth of the outer edges of the buckets or float
boards by bending up the edge in the direction of the periphery of the wheel,
or, what will have the same effect, adapting to the outer edge of the buckets
additional lip pieces of any convenient depth, according to thedimensions of
the wheel. This: bent-up edge or additional lip piece will have the effect
of retaining or holding back. the water and preventing it from running away
until the buckets nearly reach the bottom. The consequence of this will
be that the additional weight of. water that will be retained will very greatly

page_text: increase the motive power of the wheel, which of course depends almost
entirely upon the weight of water that can be retained in the buckets during
their descent on the outer side of the wheel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Ashby in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ASHBY, of Croydon, in the County of Surrey, Millwright, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Ashby, Her special license that I, the said William Ashby, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Ashby, 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 WATER
WHEELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Ashby, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Ashby, 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, reference being had to the Drawing. hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
My Invention of "Improvements in. Water Wheels" is: intended to be
applied to that description of water wheel known as the overshot wheels, and
relates to a novel mode of constructing or arranging the buckets or floats of
these wheels, so that they will be enabled to hold or retain a greater quantity
of water, or for a longer time than the buckets of water wheels of the ordinary
construction. In order to effect this object, I elongate or increase the depth of

page_text: the outer edges of the buckets or float boards by bending up the edge in the
direction of the periphery. of the wheel, or, what will have the same effect,
I adapt to the outer edge of the buckets additional lip pieces of any convenient
depth, according to the dimensions of the wheel. This bent-up edge or
additional lip piece will have the effect of retaining or holding back the water,
and preventing it from running away until the buckets nearly reach the bottom.
The consequence of this will be that the additional weight of water that will
be retained will very greatly increase the motive power of the wheel, which
of course depends almost entirely upon the weight of water that can be retained
in the buckets during their descent on the outer side of the wheel.
In order that the nature of my improvements, and the difference between
my improved water wheel and those of the ordinary construction, may be
clearly understood, I have shewn in the accompanying Drawing sectional
views of two overshot water wheels of precisely similar dimensions, and both
having the same number of buckets:. One of the Figures, Fig. 1, is a sectional
view of an overshot wheel of the ordinary construction, while Fig. 2.is a similar
view of an overshot wheel constructed upon my improved plan; the parts
marked a, a, a, a, in both of the Figures, and also in the front view, Fig. 3,
form the ordinary bucket, which is usually constructed of sheet iron, secured
between two rings b, b, of iron or other suitable material, and which form the
sides of the wheel..
In Figures 2 and 3, c, c, are plates or lips, which are bolted, or otherwise
secured on to the upper edge of the buckets, not with the view of increasing
their capacity, but rather to retain the water at that part of the rotation of the
wheel where its weight will be most useful in increasing the motive power. It
will thus be seen that an overshot water wheel, even when constructed in the
ordinary manner, may, without much inconvenience, trouble, or expense, be
converted into one of my improved water wheels.
In constructing a new wheel I however prefer to employ sheets of iron of
greater breadth than are used in constructing such a wheel as that shewn at
Fig. 1, and the upper part of the sheet I bend in, as shewn at Fig. 2, and in
the detached view of one of the plates at Fig. 4, flanges also are formed by
turning up the edges of the plate at the sides and bottom thereof, for the
purpose of securing the plates to the side rings b, b, of the wheel by means of
bolts or screws, as seen in the Figures, while the ends of the bent-up part c, c,
of the plates are secured to the front part or periphery of the side rings b; b, as
shewn in Figures 2 and 3.
By constructing overshot wheels in either of the ways above described, not
only is the power of the wheel increased by retaining the weight of the water

page_text: an extra length. of time in the buckets; but the amount of back or tail water is
lessened, and its interference with the rotation of the wheel is prevented.
Having now described my "Improvements in Water Wheels," and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent, as aforesaid, the mode or modes, herein
described, of constructing water wheels, or any mere. modification thereof,
whereby the water may be retained in the buckets, so that the weight of the
water may be made to act more effectually on the wheel during that : part of
the revolution where such weight is intended to exert its power on the axle or
shaft, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, 'I, the said William Ashby, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
...Witness,
C: J. WINTERSGILL,
66, Chancery Lane..
(L.S.) WILLIAM ASHBY.¨*