A PADDLE WHEEL UPON A NEW OR IMPROVED PRINCIPLE FOR PROPELLING STEAM PACKETS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
STEAD, of Gildersome, in the County of York, Millwright and Machine
Maker, and JAMES STEAD, of Doncaster, in the same County, Wood Valuer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Ilis present Majesty King George the Fourth, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of December now
last past, did give and grant unto us, the said William Stead and James Stead,
ITis especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said
William Stead and James Stead, our executors, andministrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said William Stead and James Stead, our executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter 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, our Invention of
"A PADDLE WHEEL UPON A NEW OR IMPROVED PRINCIPLE FOR PROPELLING STEAM
PACKETS AND OTHER VESSELS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso, obliging us, the said William Stead and James Stead, or one of us,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of our said
nvention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
William Stead and James Stead, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is
particularly described and ascertained by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
the following description thereof, that is to say :-
In the Drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a wheel, ten feet diameter
and five in breadth, having sixteen paddles or half paddles, for when closed in
the propelling position they are only equal to eight. But the number of
paddles must be increased or decreased according to the diameter of the
wheels or the depth they are intended to work in the water, as they will
work at any depth; or if the whole wheel be immersed, they will have the
same power of propelling as if on partially immersed, and which power is
obtained by the movement of the paddles as hereafter stated. The paddles
marked A and a, in the Drawing, Fig. 1, are the paddles supposed to be in
the water and in a propelling form, and the paddle marked B is in the act of
closing, and all the other paddles marked C have their edges vertical in the
planes parallel to the rim of the wheel. When the wheel is put in motion,
the paddle marked B will assume the position shewn at A. and a will assume
the position shewn at C, with its edge vertical and its plane parallel to the
rim, by which means it discharges the water that hinders the propelling
power and progress of the vessel, and also evades the swell caused by the
common paddles. As the wheels revolve, C, C, assume the position shewn
at B, and so on in successive motion. When it is found necessary to turn
the wheels the contrary way to that we have been supposing, then all the
paddles revolve and take the same position for propelling a vessel backwards
as they had done to propel it forwards, as they work well either way. The
wheels are fixed in the side of the vessel by the axle passing through the
wheels in the same manner as the common ones, or they may be immersed
under water, or in any other direction that may be thought best.
We will now explain the paddle and its movements, which we claim as our
Invention. Each half paddle turns upon its axis parallel to the arms of the
wheel in two cross bars, which are fastened to the opposite arms of the wheel;
it also passes through another bar, which is fixed about a foot from the centre
of the wheel, and which is broad enough to join and screw to the next bar, so
as to form, when all completed, an octagon column about the axle of the wheel,
as shewn in Figure 2, which is a section of the wheel, and which bars are

page_text: bolted and screwed to the arms and also to the bosses marked D in Figure 1.
The shaft of the paddle having passed through the above bar has a crank
fastened to its end of three inches radius, but must be increased or decreased
according to the diameter of the wheels. The end of the crank is of a
globular shape of three inches diameter, and which is made to move in a
groove, as may be seen in the section Fig. 2, and marked E. The groove is
made in a round boss or collar formed for the purpose, and in the form of the
diagram, Fig. 3. The two bosses so constructed for each paddle are fastened
on a tube marked F in the section, which tube commences at the inner side of
the boss of the wheel marked D in Fig. 1, and passes through the opposite
boss about three inches, to which tube a catch is fixed to correspond with a
like catch fixed to the inside of the frame in which the wheel works. The
use of the catch is to hold the tube stationary, on which the two grooved
bosses or collars are fixed, so that when the wheel is put in motion the tube
remains fixed. The cranks on the ends of the paddle shafts revolve with the
wheels, and the globular part formed on the end of each, being in the grooves
of the bosses or collars fixed on the tube, will cause the cranks to turn
obliquely by passing in the grooves from 1 to 2, sec Fig. 3; for while the end
of the crank is in the part of the groove marked 1, the paddles are vertical
and their planes parallel to the rim of the wheel; but when the ends of the
crank pass into the part of the groove seen at 2, then the paddles will be placed
at right angles to the position before named, and in a propelling position. By
the passage of the cranks in the grooves before described, and which is caused
by the revolution of the wheel, the position of the paddles are changed with
great facility. If the wheel be made to turn the contrary way to what we
are now supposing, the catch upon the tube turns with the wheels till it meet
the catch on the frame, when immediately the paddles are thrown in notion
and act in the same manner for propelling as when turning the other way.
The axle marked G in the section Fig. 2, is fixed firmly in that boss next to
the vessel's side, and passing through the tube rests upon the outer frame.
The paddles and shafts may be made of metal, or partly of wood and partly
of metal, according to the power they have to resist. The paddles rest when
in the water against the arms of the wheel, and also a stay in the middle of
the cross bars. It will be necessary to brace the wheels from one cross bar
to the other when strength is wanted, but which brace forming no part of our
Invention, is omitted in the Drawing. The diagram Fig. 3 represents the
trace of the groove, as if the groove was placed round the boss
upon the tube.
And we fix a small roller in two of the angles of the oblique part of the groove,
which will cause the paddles to work better. When the motion is changed

page_text: for the purpose of propelling backwards, the place of these rollers is seen in
the diagram.
And we further declare, that our Invention consists in so constructing and
combining the paddles of the wheel with the cranks and grooved collars or
bosses shewn above, as to cause them to rise in a vertical plane parallel to the
sides of the wheel after performing their office of propelling, and again adapt
themselves in succession every time the wheel revolves to the performance of
that office.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Stead, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine.
WILLIAM (L.S.) STEAD.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Ninth day of January, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Stead came before our Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.
Terrelled the Wistanuth den of Tonua in the weak above written