A CERTAIN MACHINERY TO BE WORKED BY WATER, APPLICABLE TO THE MOVING OF MILLS AND OTHER MACHINERY OF VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS, OR FOR FORCING OR PUMPING WATER
Year: 1822

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, ELISHA
PECK, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Fourth, did, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster, the
Twenty-second day of February, One thousand eight hundred and twenty-two,
in the third year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Elisha Peck,
my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege,
and authority, that I, the said Elisha Peck, my exors, adññors, and assigns,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, the Invention communicated to me by Ralph Bulkley, a foreigner,
resident in the City of New York, and a citizen of the United States of
America, "A CERTAIN MACHINERY TO BE WORKED BY WATER, APPLICABLE TO THE
MOVING OF MILLS AND OTHER MACHINERY OF VARIOUS DESCRIPTIONS, OR FOR FORCING
OR PUMPING WATER;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso,
that if I, the said Elisha Peck, shall not particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent,
that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever

page_text: thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by
the same, relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Elisha
Peck, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following description
thereof (that is to say):
:-
My said communication doth consist in a water wheel to be used in rivers
or other currents of fresh or salt water, and which acquires its greatest power
when wholly immersed in such water, and the axis of which may be placed
either vertically, horizontally, or at an angle of elevation, as may be best
adapted to the situation in which it is to be used.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 is a perspective elevation of the water wheel with its axis in a hori-
zontal position. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, are eight flaps or shutters, of thin
sheet iron or copper; a metal framework of cross pieces, which I call arms, is
attached to each end of the axis K, similar to those which the paddles of steam
boats are fastened. These flaps or shutters are each hung on an axis, as at
L, M, on which axis they swing freely, and which axis turns in holes or
gudgeons in the ends of the arms. It is evident from this arrangement that
the flaps or shutters would swing over indiscriminately on either side of the
arms to which they hang if it were not for a check chain, as shewn most
clearly at N. It will be seen that one of these chains is fastened by one end
to the front edge of each shutter, and leads thence to the back of the shutter
immediately before it, where the other end of the chain is fastened; this chain
restrains the centrifugal action of the shutter, so that it cannot at any time
make an angle of more than about 135 degrees with the arm on which it is
hung, while it does not interfere in any way with the centrifugal action of the
shutter. If we imagine a current of water (in which this wheel is repre-
sented as placed) running from 0 to P, it is evident that the shutters A and
B will be acted upon directly by the current, while the shutters C and G
will be acted upon obliquely, and not quite so strongly, but all four tending
to turn the wheel in the direction of the arrow R. The shutters D, E, F,
and H will be nearly in an inactive state. That part of the axis marked S
is intended to represent a shaft, by which the machinery intended to be set
in motion by the wheel is to be connected to it. Fig. 2 is a section of
the wheel; Fig. 3 is one of the flaps or shutters seperated from the rest of

page_text: the wheel; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the wheel, where the axis is placed
perpendicularly, and in which situation the wheel need not be wholly immersed
in the water. The letters in Figs. 2, 3, and 4 correspond with those in Fig. 1,
a reference therefore to Fig. 1 will explain the others. Now, the said wheel may
be made of any dimensions, or of any suitable materials, though I prefer cast
or wrought iron. But such a water wheel as is herein-before described, to be
used in rivers or other currents of fresh or salt water, and which requires its
greatest power when wholly immersed in such water, and the axis of which
may be placed either vertically, horizontally, or at an elevation, as may be best
adapted to the situation in which it is to to be used, being, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before practised in these king-
doms, I am desirous to maintain this my exclusive right and privilege to the
same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Elisha Peck, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-two.
Inrolled the First day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-two.