A MACHINE WITH NEW MEANS OF OBTAINING POWER IN MECHANICAL OPERATIONS OF THE NATURE OF A SELF-MOVING POWER OR PERPETUAL MOTION
Year: 1800

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOHNSON, of Widmore, in the Parish of Bromley, in the County of Kent,
Gentleman, do send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Tenth day of June, in the fortieth year of His reign, did give
and grant unto me, the said William Johnson, my exors, adññiors, and assigns,
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, "A MACHINE WITH NEW MEANS OF OBTAINING POWER IN MECHANICAL
OPERATIONS OF THE NATURE OF A SELF-MOVING POWER OR PERPETUAL MOTION;" in
which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said William
Johnson, under my hand and seal, to 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 recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Johnson, in compliance with
the said proviso, do hereby describe the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and declare :-
That the said Machine with New Means of Obtaining Power in Mechanical
Operations of the Nature of a Self-moving Power or Perpetual Motion, consists
in a water wheel (placed in the channel of a reservoir) having a water gate on
each side, the whole constructed that they may be raised or lowered with the

page_text: of
increase or decrease of the water, together or separate, whenever necessary, and
being adapted to render the water, when entering into a bason or reservoir
from the rising of the tides, equally powerful as the falling of the water from
such reservoir when the tide has ebbed, and by means of a surplus power of
water, more than immediately necessary for the manufactory, being admitted
to act on the--water-wheel-a-power-may--be-acquired-and-employed during the
turning of the tides to give the machine perpetual motion and power.
Let a
water wheel be constructed and suspended in a moveable frame or bearing
placed in the channel of a reservoir, at liberty to be raised or depressed accord-
ing to the rise and fall of the tides, having its floats on the plan of the London
Bridge Waterworks, or as the common undershot wheel, but with shrouding
round the wheel on each end_of_the_floats, and.closed at the sole, or to be left
open at the ends, placing the wheel to pass through a frame or sweep (which
rises with it) where the waterfalls, closely fitted to confine the water when
acting on the floats from escaping in any direction too soon; the wheel to be
placed near the water gates according to the stream or fall of water suspended
by its axis upon the moveable frame or bearing of sufficient length more than
the breadth or heighth of the wheel, to support the gates whenever necessary;
the water gates to be fornied on the common construction, and placed to move
within a frame fitted to prevent waste
from anal
fwater; and conveniently, when
nccessary, to be raised or depressed when connected to or separate from the
water wheel. Tlic" raising and lowering of the water wheel and gates may be
effected by a variety of means, by wheel and pinion, by windlass, or other leaver
powers, they may almost constantly be raised or lowered by communicating
power from a wheel in the mill, or (being counterpoised) from the action of
Sinall vessels resting on the water under tlic axis of the water-wheel or its
frame. The form of their situation and a mode of raising them will be more
“clearly explained and understood, "supposing a channel for the passing of the
water and operation of the water wheel and gates be made at the side of the
mill "over which was a building having aafloor for the operation of the wheel
and pinion to raise the wheel and gates, and the floor sufficiently raised to
admit their rising for any y tide expected'; let the water wheel be suspend
e suspended and
firmly supported at each end of its axis upon a moveable frame or bearing,
"each having an upright-bar of proper heighth with cogs, which bars are to be
kept securely in a proper sliding place, to be acted upon by the cogged wheels
and pinion resting above the floor to raise and depress the water wheel; let it
be counterpoised by'a weight (sufficient also for the water when acting upon
it) secured to a chain passing over a wheel and fixed to the cogged bars on the
frame on which the water wheel is suspended, the gates to be also counter-
г
L

page_text: 1
26.1.
poised that they may be conveniently raised or lowered by leaver or by hand,
and, when raised to the heighth required, to give the proper fall of water on the
wheel, to have, the means, by a chain or bolt, of being attached to the frame
or bearing of the water, wheel to be raised or depressed with it, that, they (the
gates) may be always retained at their proper station, with, liberty of being
immediately released when it is necessary to place either of then entirely up
or down. If the cogged wheel and pinion is adopted to be moved by a person
employed nearest the winch to raise and lower the water wheel and gate as the
tides differ in power
er and quickness of their rise and fall, let a gage be placed
on the water to direct, by the filling of the bason or falling of the tide, their
proper station, or from the weight of the water wheel and gate being counter-
poised,
a small vessel or buoy under each extremity of the wheel's axis may.be
placed to give and to regulate after it is set, to work its proper rise and fall
with the tide, without the necessity of attendance until the turning of the tides;
or, by a properly regulated motion in the mill, a power may be communicated
to a wheel fixed on, the winch axis of the wheel and pinion that would give the
proper number of revolutions to raise or depress the water wheel and gate to
their proper station. Different modes may be adopted in the construction of
the gates and in the form of their being raised conveniently or depressed to
the level of low water; they may be raised and depressed in a perpendicular
direction within a frame or case made to a sufficient depth, in the ground, the
frame being made sufficiently spacious to be cleaned or repaired, the bottom of
the gate being fitted to the frame so as to prevent waste of water or interruption
from sediment; or let them be made to lay flat at the bottom of the channel at
3
2
low water, and upon the rising of the. tide, the gate end next the wheel being
balanced by a weight, and inconfined at the other end (except to slide close to
the bottom of the channel), will be easily raised by pressing down the weight by
hand or leaver, and, when raised to the heighth intended to be continued, it
being then attached to the frame of the water wheel, will rise. with it, the
water wheel and gates being fitted conveniently at any time to be raised or
depressed as may be required. Supposing that the first operation of the machine
commences at low water upon the turning of the tide, and that the water has
power immediately to enter the bason, let the gate be now raised according to
the fall of water intended; suppose a fall of water is required of about four feet,
let the gate be placed five feet above the level of low water mark (to check
the rising tide from entering the bason), and attached to the water wheel frame
until the tide had attained that heighth, if the gate is theu let down two feet
and again attached to the frame, there will pass over a large body of water
upon the wheel, having a clear fall of four feet, and which fall will regularly
.....

page_text: continue during the remaining rise of the tide; in consequence of the wheel
and gate being correctly raised by one of the modes before described; when
the tide has nearly or quite attained its heighth, if the gate is then let entirely
down, and the wheel raised a little to let the water freely pass, the bason in the
largest worts being of small dimensions, will be quickly filled by so great a
stream, which may be also assisted by having the channel wider than the wheel
with a common gate; this being done, the gate of the bason will now be raised
to retain the water until the tide has ebbed five feet. This gate being then let
down two feet and attached to the frame of the water wheel, will give an equal
fall of water from the bason as from the rising tide; the wheel and gate being
retained in their proper station by the same mode as when rising will thus
continue the power during the remaining fall of the tide. When the tide has
nearly ebbed, the gate will then be quite let down to empty the bason, and
upon the rising of the tide the gate will be placed with the wheel as first
described. Where it is desirable, as in some manufactories where many hands
are employed, to give constant employment, and it should be required that the
machine should have from its own means a perpetual power, let the bason be
made to receive more water than is immediately necessary for the manufactory
(part of which to be retained within a separate small bason for the service of
the manufactory at the turning of the flood tide, and (part) to cleanse the main
reservoir), which surplus power of water being admitted to act on the water
wheel, let an engine to raise water be attached to the end of the wheel axis
which is unemployed, and as the heighth required to raise the water will be
but little, a sufficient body may (most conveniently, when a powerful steam is not
necessary), be raised into a reservoir which, during the turning of the ebb tide,
may be employed, and conveniently let down by a trough upon the water
wheel (the water engine being disengaged), continuing an equal and perpetual
power. The water wheel in general must have on its axis an upright cogged
or face wheel, acting vertically to communicate the power to a trundle which
conveys motion to every machinery employed, which trundle must rest on the
rising frame which bears up the water wheel to rise and fall with it, and be
made of a sufficient length to pass up and down (whilst acting upon a hori-
zontal wheel of the mill) for every expected rise or fall of the water wheel.
For grinding corn it will be necessary to have the millstones turning always
the same way, in which case let the axis of the water wheel be lengthened to
admit two vertical cogged wheels, one on each side of the trundle, but placed
that they may act alternately on the sliding of the main axis; supposing that
it requires two inches to disengage one of them from acting on the trundle,
upon the axis being moved two inches, one will be removed and the other

page_text: placed to act, in which case, upon the turning of the water wheel either way,
the trundle will continue turning always the same, the sliding of the main axis
to be effected by a winch turning on a screw, or conveniently by the motion of
a leaver, its lower end fitted to receive the least employed end of the water
wheel axis made to turn within it, the fulcrum of the leaver resting on the
bearing or frame of the water wheel and its upper end above the floor
of the building, from the great power it will give (the fulcrum being near
the axis), or by means of another leaver, if necessary, acting upon it), will
conveniently slide the main axis, and be confined (rising with it) in any
station required. To describe nearly what should be the dimensions of
the bason and water wheel equal to the power required, supposed to
grind and dress four hundred bushels of wheat in twenty-four hours, if the
tide is taken at a situation to rise from low water mark at an average
of fifteen feet, and the gates are always placed to give a fall of four feet,
having been raised up five and then let down about two feet (and which
would allow nearly one foot for slope of current over the gate, and sup-
posing it should require so much as twelve thousand cubic feet of water falling
four feet to grind and dress one bushel of wheat (accounts are published that
much less is necessary), it will be found that, from the remaining rise of the
tide of ten feet continuing, a pillar of water on the wheel of the heighth of
four feet, and the power of the tides being repeated four times in twenty-four
hours, that a bason one hundred and sixteen yards square would be sufficient
to give a power to grind and dress four hundred bushels of wheat, and, as
there would be four millions eight hundred and forty-four thousand cubic feet
of water acting with the power of its whole weight falling four feet, this would
raise, according to experiments published, nearly four millions of cubic feet of
water to the same heighth (the bason, it may be observed, may in many situa-
tions, at moderate expence, with the clay which is removed, be paved with
brick, and most conveniently by this means be kept constantly clean), the
water wheel to be about ten or cleven feet in length, giving room for increase
of power of stream, estimating about four hours for the ten feet of water
passing, and two hours' rest at each turn of the tide, the diameter or heighth
to be about eight or nine feet, or any other heighth preferred, as where the
fall of water is constantly near the same, any diameter most convenient and
least expensive may be adopted. If the wheel is made longer than above men-
tioned (and any length necessary may conveniently be adopted, the axis being
supported at the center) a greater fall will be obtained. The fall of water
mentioned is proposed as appeared convenient, not as a necessary rule. If
the fall is adopted of six feet, the remaining rise of tide being eight, in place

page_text: upon
of a fall of four with a rise of ten feet, the advantage would be as forty-eight
to forty, giving a power to perform one fifth more work; and, by this rule, if
the tides were taken at a situation of eighteen feet average rise from low-water
mark, a bason of the size here mentioned would be sufficient in the same
time to give a power to grind and dress seven hundred and twenty bushels of
wheat, which, admitting that five tuns of water falling four feet will raise four
tuns to the same heighth, will be found (from estimates made by the steam
engine) equal to the labor of seventy-two horses, or the power of twenty-four
horses working constantly, the estimated velocity of the water wheel to bear no
rule with the motion of the undershot wheel, the action and effect of the water
them being so different. In the first it confined to act entirely by its
weight on the undershot wheel, the water is employed to such disadvantage
as to require much greater velocity, generally allowed three times that of the
wheel, to act with proper effect; but on the overshot wheel (and they are all
considered of this description where the water cannot descend through a given
space unless the wheel moves with it) a sufficient weight of water is only
required; its 'velocity, therefore, has no rulc, and may be greater. The
velocity of the descent of a body nearly counterpoised will be greatly increased,
with little increase of weight, where it is immaterial which way the water
wheel turns; and if adopted only for raising water (as clearing the fen lands
or service of towns), a crank attached to the water wheel axis may only be
required, the engine barrels for the working of the buckets being made of
sufficient depth for the rising and fall of the water wheel with the tide. For
the first purpose, in particular, the basons may generally be formed con-
veniently for the most powerful effect. A machine (or mill) constructed with
the most perfect form of works described, will be considered of the nature of a
self-moving perpetual power, that is, of a machine which has the principle of
its motion within itself; a wheel perpetually revolving from the artful direction
(without labour) of the pressure of the atmosphere would be of that nature.
A mill on the principles described, without separate reservoirs, would obtain
considerable power almost immediately upon the rise or fall of the tides, and
may be denominated an improved or perpetual tidemill. Other forms of a
machine on these principles, and of water wheels or gates, may be adopted.
The water wheels of the present' mills in general would, from being at liberty
to be raised and depressed, give in any situations additional power when the
streams are overswelled by floods or lessened from drought, or to the present
mills supplied from the tides, whose power from the fall of water is continually
decreasing as the reservoir is emptying. Various modes may be adopted
from which a power may be acquired by employing the water from the
די
J. 2
"I

page_text: rising of the tides whilst passing into a reservoir.
Wherever water is
admitted upon the rising of the tides it may, by the application of a machine
upon the principles described, or by a part of them, be rendered useful. The
annexed particulars contain a description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Johnson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1800, the aforesaid William Johnson came before
our 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 stampt according
to the Statutes made for that purpose.