CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS DESIGNED FOR DRIVING MACHINERY WHICH ARE TO BE IMPELLED BY WATER OR BY WIND, AND WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO PROPELLING BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Jonn
OLDHAM, of the City of Dublin, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Scal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the First day of February, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-seven, in the eighth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Oldham, His
especial licence, that I, the said John Oldham, my exors, adññors, and assigns,
or such others us I, the said John Oldham, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHEELS DESIGNED FOR DRIVING MACHINERY WHICH ARE TO
BE IMPELLED BY WATER OR BY WIND, AND WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE
ALSO APPLICABLE TO PROPELLING BOATS AND OTHER VESSELS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Oldham,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calandar months next and immediately

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Oldham, 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 ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof, that is to say:-
My Improvements in the Construction of Wheels designed for Driving
Machinery which are to be impelled by Water or by Wind, and which said
Improvements are also applicable to Propelling Boats and other Vessels, are
certain additions to and variations of the principles set forth in the Specifi-
cation of my former Patent for rotatory paddles, granted to me the Fifteenth
of January, One thousand eight hundred and twenty.
The present improvements consist in a novel arrangement of machinery, by
which the wheels as they revolve upon their common or main axles cause the
paddles or float boards to turn horizontally upon their respective axles placed
parallel to each other, and to the main axles. These paddles or float boards
are moved in such a manner that if lines were drawn radiating from the point
or top of the vertical diameter line of the wheel, that is, from the axis of the
upper paddles through the centre of all the other paddle axles, these lines
would all be in coincidence with the planes of the float boards or paddles.
These positions or directions tending to the upper point or top of the vertical
line the paddles or float boards invariably assume as the wheel goes round,
whether turning to the right or left, and the intention of which is, that the
paddles or float boards shall always be in a vertical position, or nearly so, in
and near the lower part of the wheel's revolution, and in a horizontal position
at the upper part of its revolution; consequently, whether the float boards or
paddles are acted upon by the water or other fluid for the purpose of moving
machinery, as in windmills and water-wheels, or the paddles themselves are
made to act against the resisting fluid, as in propelling vessels, in both cases
the position of the float boards or paddles at the lower part of the wheel's
revolution will be most favorable to receive or communicate the greatest
mechanical force. My improved method of turning these float boards or
paddles upon their respective axles as the carrier wheel goes round, which
constitutes the subject of my present Invention, will be fully understood by
reference to the Drawings hereto annexed, and following description thereof :-
Fig. 1 is an external view of the wheel with its float boards or paddles
attached and standing in the positions described, their planes tending to a point
at the top of the vertical diameter, that is, to the axis of the upper paddle. I

page_text: recommend to make the rims a, a, of the carrier wheel of cast iron, and to form
the arms or starts b, b, b, of wrought iron to be inserted and key'd into sockets
or mortices in the rims a, a, the outer extremities of these arms being braced
together by wrought iron tension bars c, c, c, in the polygonal form represented,
for the purpose of giving strength and protection, and which may be further
secured by cross bars or bolts connecting the two sides or rims together.
The paddles or float boards d, d, d, are mounted upon wrought iron axles, the
pivots of which are inserted into sockets or journeys in the arms or starts b, b,
and are thereby enabled to revolve upon their respective axles. Connected to
the end of each of the said axles is a wrought iron crank e, e, e, which cranks
are to be connected to the arms of a wheel revolving upon an eccentric axis
about to be described, and which is represented in the first Figure by dots.
Fig. 2 shows the wheel fff, with arms or starts 9, 9, 9, constructed in a
similar manner to that already described. This wheel ƒ is made to revolve
upon a circular crank h, which is mounted upon a socket turning upon the
main axle. The distance between the centre of the circular crank and its
eccentrical center of motion upon the main shaft must be exactly equal to the
length of the paddle cranks e. The pins of the cranks are inserted into
sockets in the arms or starts 9 of the wheel f, as shewn by dots in this
Figure. It will now be seen that if the carrier rims or wheel a and its arms,
and the eccentrically moving wheel fand its arms, be made to revolve with
different velocities, that the paddles which are connected to both by the cranks
will necessarily revolve upon their axles.
Fig. 8 is a side view of the wheels above described, shewn in vertical
sections, with two of the paddles attached thereto. A is the main shaft or
axle to which the rim or wheel a, a, is key'd on in the ordinary way. B is the
socket before mentioned turning upon the main axle, on the outer end
of which is mounted the circular, crank h, that carries the eccentrically
revolving wheel f. c, c, may be supposed to represent a section of the side of
a vessel, through which the main axle and the socket B pass. Upon the
inner extremity of the socket B is affixed the spur wheel D, having 91 teeth;
and upon the main axle A, behind the last-mentioned wheel, is in like manner
affixed another spur wheel E, having 70 teeth. These two spur wheels take
into two other spur wheels F and G, which are bolted together and key'd upon
an auxiliary shaft H, parallel to the main shaft. The wheel F has 89 teeth,
and works into the socket wheel of 91 teeth, and the wheel G of 60 teeth
into the wheel D with 70 on the main shaft. By this novel arrangement and
disposition of the parts described; an actuating power being applied to either of

page_text: the shafts A and H, the required revolving movements of the carrier wheel and
of the paddles upon their respective axles is effected, and may then be applied
to the propelling of vessels on or in water, or by applying the mechanical force
or power of wind or water to the paddles the actuating of machinery may bo
effected.
Having described my improved construction of wheels for the purposes
above stated, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim any novelty in the
individual parts of which this mechanism consists. But I claim to have
invented a new combination of those mechanical parts adapted to effect the
revolving motions of the paddles in the manner and by the means above
set forth and explained. Steam vessels equipped with the ordinary paddle
wheels frequently break loose from their moorings on rapid rivers or tideways
by the resistance the floats make to the running water they are immersed in
when the wheels are not in motion; also when accidents occur to the engines
or other parts of the machinery, which render it necessary to impel the vessel
by wind, through the agency of masts and sails, its course is considerably
retarded by the float boards standing perpendicularly in the water; whereas by
the use of these improved wheels and their appendages the floats or paddles
may be set so as to present their edges to the water, and this service may
readily be accomplished inside the vessel by disengaging the gearing of the
auxiliary shaft in the usual way, and then to reverse the position of the floats
by giving the spur wheels D, D, one quarter of a turn on their sockets, whilst
the main shaft A is kept stationery, and then returning the spur wheels and
auxillary shaft into gear again.
In witness whercof, I, the said John Oldham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal. this 28th day of July. in the year of our Lord One
Signed, sealed, and acknowledged by
the within-named John Oldham,
(being first duly stamped) in the
JOHN OLDHAM. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1827, the aforesaid John Oldham came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery in Ireland, 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 First day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-seven.