IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON- STRUCTION OF WIND ENGINES, AND IN THE STRUCTURE CONTAINING THE SAME, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WINDMILLS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Streather, of Raunds, in the County of
Northampton, Builder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF WIND ENGINES, AND IN THE STRUCTURE CONTAINING THE SAME,
PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WINDMILLS."
Sealed the 11th April 1862, and dated the 18th October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Streather at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
18th October 1861.
I, WILLIAM STREATHER, of Raunds, in the County of Southampton, Builder,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF WIND ENGINES, AND IN THE STRUCTURE CONTAINING THE SAME,
PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WINDMILLS," to be as
follows:-
The object of my Invention is to simplify the construction of wind engines.
and render them applicable to such purposes as the sawing of wood and stone.
the grinding of clay, the thrashing of corn, and the cutting of chaff.
The wind shaft is furnished with a cast-iron head, into which the whips of
the sails are securely fitted and held by bolts; the said wind shaft is made
hollow, and the shaft for working the shutters of the sails is passed through it.

page_text: The flaps of the sails are of thin pine, each is nailed on a batten, and attached
to the whip by wrought-iron jointed connections.
The said flaps are worked by means of a rod hinged to each of the said
battens, which is carried up to the head of the wind shaft and connected by
an arm to a toothed quadrant, gearing into an endless screw on the external
end of a shaft passing through the centre of the wind shaft, and fitted at its
extreme end with a screw gearing into another toothed quadrant connected
to a lever, one end of which is weighted, and the other attached to a rod
passing down the side of a cylinder enclosing the centre shaft, so as to be
within reach for adjusting the sails.
The break is worked by means of another rod, also passing down the side
of the said cylinder. The break wheel works in a pinion on the top of the
central shaft in the usual manner; the bottom of the said shaft is fitted with
a pinion gearing into wheels on the engine shaft, to which it communicates
motion. The engine shaft is furnished with a fly wheel, and with pulleys for
communicating its motion to the different machines required to be actuated.
The tower is constructed in a circular form and of timber, as follows:-A
bottom curb of timber is securely bolted down to a brick or stone foundation;
the framing or uprights of the tower are half dovetailed into the said curb,
and fastened with wedges at the top of the tower; the said framing is. secured
into a cast-iron platform, and bands of iron are passed round the outside of
the framing, the spaces between the same are filled in with segmental pieces
tightened by wedges, and the whole braced firmly together at different heights
The said platform at the top of the tower forms a curb and
tramway, on which the frame resting on rollers carrying the fantail and dome
revolves.
The central shaft is enclosed by a casing of wood, supported, at the bottom
by an iron cylinder working in stays near the base of the tower, and bolted at
the top to a cylinder fixed in the fantail frame, so that the said casing shall
revolve with it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Streather in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STREATHER, of Raunds, in the County of Northampton, Builder, send 3
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters-
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,.
the said William Streather, Her special licence that I, the said William
Streather, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Streather, 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 Bri-
tain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WIND ENGINES, AND IN THE STRUCTURE
CONTAINING THE SAME, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
WINDMILLS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Streather, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly 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 Streather, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
The object of my Invention is to simplify the construction of wind engines
and windmills, and render them applicable to many purposes, such, for instance,
as the sawing of wood and stone, the grinding of clay, thrashing and the cut-
ting of chaff (as well as to the grinding of corn). For these purposes I have
a wind shaft furnished with a cast-iron or suitable head, into which the whips
of the sails are securely fitted and fastened, the said wind shaft being made,
arranged, and acting in the manner hereafter described.
This engine is furnished with a fly wheel, also pulleys for communicating its
motion to the different machines required to be actuated. The structure for
containing the same consists in a tower constructed in a circular or other form,
and of timber by preference, as follows:-A bottom curb of timber is securely
bolted or fastened down to a brick, stone, or other suitable foundation (raised
to such height as may be deemed requisite); the framing of the tower being
alf dovetailed into the curb and fastened with wedges or bolts, or by other
suitable means, at the top of the tower. The said framing is at top secured

page_text: into a platform of cast iron by preference, and bands of iron or other suitable
substance are passed round the outside of the framing, the spaces between the
same are filled in with segmental pieces tightened by wedges, and the whole
braced firmly together at different heights in the tower. The said platform at
the top of the tower forms a curb and tramway, as hereafter described.
The central or "downright" shaft or rod works within another shaft or
arrangement of parts, which, with the other arrangements adopted, will be
better understood by reference to the detailed description hereafter given.
Having thus far described the nature of the said Invention, I will now
describe in what manner the same is to be performed, wherein I shall refer to
the illustrative Drawings accompanying this Specification thereof by the words,
figures, and letters following, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, sectional elevation of tower, with engine and mechanism arranged
Here A denotes the
according to one method of construction adopted by me.
framing, that is, uprights, bracings, and wedges; B, the wood curb; C, the
centre or downright shaft, which may be of wood or iron fixed into iron toothed
wheels D at top and at bottom thereof; E, E, are two uprights of wood (or
moveable shaft) surrounding the said "downright" shaft, and bolted or
fastened at top into a ring cylinder or collar of iron or other suitable material
(E), as shewn at Figure 3. These uprights (or moveable shafts) will rotate
with the top of the mill, and be fixed in another cylinder or collar at F working
in stays, which hold down the top machinery of the mill or engine; G', G³,
are two levers, G' being weighted at its end, and G2 terminating in a handle,
the other ends of which levers are secured to the ends of upright rods attached
to and working at the side of the upright or moveable shaft E, which are
secured at the upper ends, the one G¹ to weighted bell-crank lever G³, one end
of which is secured to a spindle which passes through the wind shaft or axis
of the sails to the point *, where it is provided with a collar or head for acting
on a system of levers in connection with the flaps or vanes of the sails, and
working the same. The lever G is secured to the other upright rod, which
lever is secured to a brake for stopping the mill; II, fly wheel keyed on to
the horizontal shaft for communicating the power to machinery or otherwise.
Figure 2, plan view of top or platform, which is preferred to be made of
cast iron. This view shews how the uprights A are fixed into the said plat
form the ring cylinder or collar marked I in said platform working in the
centre of same to guide the machinery above.
Figure 3 shews the cylinder and how the uprights E are fixed to the same

page_text: and the iron rod K for working the brake and the shutters of sails; L, wheels
for the top to work on, which is worked by a fantail; O is the frame for fixing
the fantail on..
Figure 4 shews the cast-iron crosshead for the sails; such sails to be bolted
in at M, and wedged in at N, the said head to be fixed on the hollow wrought
or cast-iron wind shaft, the small iron rod passing through the same shaft to
work the shutters of sails, which open and shut all at the same time, such
opening and shutting being effected, the shutting by pressing down the
weighted lever G', the weight being shifted so as to hold the sails or flaps in
position; such weight, however, not to be so great as not to allow the sails or
flaps to open out in a pressure of a gale of wind, for the weighted lever draws
down the upright rod K, which brings down the non-weighted end of the bell-
crank lever G³, drawing the ends of the rod passing through the wind shaft,
pulling in the part still further than as shewn by the Drawing (where the
sails or
flaps are supposed to be opened out), which is effected by the reverse
action of pressing up the lever G'.
Figure 5 shews how the tower is fixed together with iron bands and wedges,
so that it can be easily taken down if wanted to be removed and fixed in a
fresh place.
Figure 6 is a section of sail. P shews the back or whip, which is one piece
of wood or other material; Q shews one of the shutters, flaps, or sails as shut
to when at work, and R as when open, standing still. The flaps are, by pre-
ference, made of thin pine, nailed on a piece of yellow deal, which is fixed on
to the back with wrought-iron fastenings, as shewn at S; also a light rod t is
fixed on the said yellow deal for working the flaps or sails, and connected to
the rod that passes through the wind shaft as aforesaid, which is worked by an
angle lever V, as shewn on plan (Figure 4).
Figure 7 shews by front view arrangements for fixing and using another
description of sails which have no flaps, in which all the sails can at one and
the same time be turned or withdrawn from the wind at pleasure. A, A, the
tower and bracings; E, E, uprights, similar to those shewn in the other
Figures, enclosing the downright shaft rod for turning all the sails by one
operation, as above alluded to, at the bottom of which downright shaft rod is a
cog or toothed wheel a, to which is connected a worm a*, turned by a crank
handle, a cog or toothed wheel b being fixed on the downright shaft rod, which
wheel (b) works into another wheel d, on the end of the spindle 6*, said spindle
carrying another toothed wheel; this latter wheel gearing with another toothed
wheelf on the spindle that the endless screw a* is fixed on, to which the
crank handle aforesaid is aflixed, and which toothed wheel ƒ can be drawn up

page_text: out of gear, as it can be raised up in the bearings thereof; to effect which,
there is a lever g, and when raised up, it can be held out of gear by a chain
secured to the stays of the tower; h, h, fly wheels or pulley wheels. At the
top of the said downright shaft rod is a bevil wheel, like the wheel a aforesaid,
gearing into another bevil wheel on the centre C of the sails. By allowing e
and f to be in gear with with each other, the whole of the sails will be turned
into and out of the wind, and by throwing these wheels out of gear and keeping
them so, as described, the whole of the sails will be set to work in one position
so long as left in that position.
These sails will, I consider, require no "unclothing," even in high winds,
and will work like the ordinary fantail. By referring to the accompanying
Drawings, any details of construction not herein-before referred to will be
readily understood by the practical man.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare
that I claim, the construction for working sails or flaps of engines or windmills,
and also the forming the structure for containing the same, herein-before
described, and illustrated by the accompanying Drawings, it being understood
that I do not claim any of the parts taken individually and not combined and
used substantially in manner herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Streather, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness to the signature of said
William Streather,
JOSEPH PARKER COLSON,
Witness.
WILLIAM STREATHER. (L.S.)