IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER TO SEWING MACHINES, TURNING LATHES, AND OTHER LIGHT MACHINERY, ALSO INCLUDING IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION OF WATER WHEELS SUITABLE FOR THIS PURPOSE." COMP SP
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Oscar Jerome Backus and Albert Franklin
Sawyer, of San Francisco, California, and Abram Meyer Loryea, of
East Portland, Oregon, in the United States of America, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER TO
SEWING MACHINES, TURNING LATHES, AND OTHER LIGHT MACHINERY, ALSO
INCLUDING IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION OF WATER
WHEELS SUITABLE FOR THIS PURPOSE."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Oscar Jerome Backus,
Albert Franklin Sawyer, and Abram Meyer Loryea at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition and Declaration,
on the 18th January 1873, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, OSCAR
JEROME BACKUS, and ALBERT FRANKLIN SAWYER, of San Francisco,
California, and ABRAM MEYER LORYEA, of East Portland, Oregon, in the
United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS we are in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE ADDICATION OR MOTIVE POWER TO SEWING MACHINES. TURNING LATHES. AND

page_text: OTHER LIGHT MACHINERY, ALSO INCLUDING IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANICAL
CONSTRUCTION OF WATER WHEELS SUITABLE FOR THIS PURPOSE," and have
petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto us, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patents for the same, and have made
solemn Declaration that we really believe ourselves to be the first and
true Inventors thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, Oscar Jerome Backus, Albert Franklin
Sawyer, and Abram Meyer Loryea, do hereby declare that the following
Complete Specification, under our hands and seals, fully describes the
nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be 1
performed, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists in driving sewing machines, turning lathes,
and other light machinery by means of a water wheel attached directly
to the driving shaft of said machines, so that the two parts so combined
will form one piece of machinery. Water for driving the wheel is
supplied by permanent pipes or temporary tube connections, which
conduct the water from the ordinary water pipes which are provided
in most houses, or from an elevated source of supply, according to
circumstances. We also provide a valve which is operated by a treadle
by means of which the amount of water delivered upon the wheel is
easily and readily regulated.
Our Invention also includes certain improvements in the mechanical
construction of the water wheels to be used for this purpose, by which
economy of construction, strength, and adaptability are combined.
Our Invention is principally useful in connection with sewing
machines, but various small machines can be driven in the same manner
with economy and great facility.
In order to explain our Invention so that others will understand its
construction and application, we refer to the accompanying Drawings,
in which our Invention is represented in connection with a sewing
machine. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a sewing machine with our
improvement; Fig. 2 is an outside view of our wheel case; Fig. 3 is a
section of the wheel case; Fig. 4 is a view of the wheel.
Let A represent a sewing machine. To one end of the table we
attach a suitable case B. The driving shaft C of the machine we extend
or lengthen, so that it passes through the case B, and upon this shaft
inside of the case we secure a water wheel D; any of the ordinary styles
of water wheels can be used, but we prefer what is known as the hurdy

page_text: gurdy or vertical wheel, which receives the force, pressure, or weight of
the water upon buckets around its periphery. A pipe e leads into the case
in the proper position to deliver the water upon the wheel which in most
instances will be at the lower rim of the wheel, but it can be delivered
at any point around its periphery as is most convenient or economical.
The lower part of the case B is properly constructed to free the water
from the wheel as soon as it leaves the buckets and a pipe f leads to a
sink or other waste way.
A pipe or tube (not shown) connects with the pipe e, and leads down
below the table and from thence to the water pipe or main, which
supplies the house with water under pressure, or, in the absence of this
water supply the pipe, can lead to a tank on top of the house or to some
other elevated source. Beneath the table a cock g is connected with the
pipe e from which a horizontal rod h extends parallel with the floor.
A foot board I is secured upon this rod, so that the operator can by
means of the foot regulate the amount of water which passes to the wheel.
An ordinary cock k can also be attached to the pipe e near the case D,
which will serve as a further means of regulating the amount of water
which passes into the case or of shutting it off entirely from the wheel.
Either one or both of these cocks may be used as desired.
For driving an ordinary sewing machine the water wheel can be made
quite small, so as to require but a small case, and a very minute stream
of water, say as much as can be admitted through a nozzle or opening
one-eighth of an inch or less in diameter under a head of forty feet will
be sufficient to drive the machine at an ordinary working speed. Our
improvements in the construction of the wheel herein represented are
simply for the purpose of adapting this one particular class of wheels
for this kind of work in the points of economy and strength. J repre-
sents the hub of the wheel and K, K, the arms or spokes. These arms
or spokes are simply pieces of wire of the required size and length. A
groove is first made around the middle of the hub and one end of each
one of the spokes placed in the groove in their proper positions, solder
is then run into the groove until it is filled, and thus the spokes are
firmly secured to the hub. The outer rim in which the buckets are
placed consists of two annular pieces of metal 1, 1.j
These pieces of metal can either be spun into the proper shape or
struck up in a die by a drop press. The shape which we give to them
leaves their inner edges m projecting towards the center while the outer
edges are bent outwards and upwards, so that when the two inner

page_text: edges m are placed together, the two upper oppositely flaring edges
form a groove or channel entirely around the wheel.
At the proper
points to receive the outer ends of the spokes K, K, a semicircular
channel o is formed on the inner side of each of the edges m, and
opposite each other, so that when the two edges are placed together,
round radial poles will be formed, into which the ends of the spokes
will be received. These edges are then secured together by solder or
otherwise. The buckets S are made in separate pieces and soldered or
otherwise secured in their proper positions in the channel between the
two flaring sides.
Having thus described our Invention what we claim and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is,―
First. The water wheel D in combination with the sewing machine A,
and the pipes or hose e and f with the regulating cock or cocks g
and k one or both, substantially as and for the purpose above described.
Second. In combination with the water wheel D and pipe e we claim
the cock g operated by a footboard I, substantially as and for the
purpose above described.
Third. The two annular plates 1, 1, with their inward projecting
edges or flanges m, and opposite flaring edges 1, 1, with their corresponding
semicircular radial channels i, i, in combination with the spokes K
and hub J, united together as described for the purpose specified.
Fourth. As a new article of manufacture a water wheel constructed
substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Oscar Jerome Backus, and Albert
Franklin Sawyer, of San Francisco, California, and Abram Meyer
Loryea, of Oregon, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witnesses,
JOHN L. BOONE,
THEO. GIDLEY.
CARME DAVA
(L.S.)
ALBERT FRANKLIN SAWYER. (L.S.)
ABRAM MEYER LORYEA.
(L.S.)