A CERTAIN INSTRUMENT OR ENGINE POSSESSING A POWER TO WORK ENGINES OR MACHINES WHETHER ON WATER OR LAND, OR FOR OTHER PURPOSES TO WHICH THE SAME CAN BE APPLIED
Year: 1801

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARK BROWNE,
late of Newtown, in that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland, but now
of Cooper's Row, Tower Hill, London, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirty-first day of July last, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, did give and grant unto me, the said Mark Browne, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority that I, the said Mark Browne,
my executors, adininistrators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and
themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants, or agents, or such
others as I, the said Mark Browne, my 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, my Invention of "A CERTAIN INSTRUMENT OR ENGINE
POSSESSING A POWER TO WORK ENGINES OR MACHINES WHETHER ON WATER OR LAND,
OR FOR OTHER PURPOSES TO WHICH THE SAME CAN BE APPLIED;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Mark Browne,
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 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Mark Browne, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, and to what uses and purposes my
said invention may be applied; and I, the said Mark Browne, do declare
that my invention is a certain engine constructed upon and possessing prin-
ciples so as to have mobility in itself when immersed in any moving fluid,
particularly wind or water, and may be applied to various other purposes when
modified to the respective instruments to which it is meant to give action, as,
viz, to work wind or water mills for grinding and dressing corn or other
grain, and for working of mine shafts and all kinds of engines to which the
same can be applied, and in what manner the same is to be performed by the
Plan or Drawing in the margin hereof, and as hereafter particularly described,
(that is to say):
Fig. 1 shews a frame a, a, a, a; within that frame is an upright shaft b, at
each end of which is fixed a cross in the form of Fig. 2, a, a, a, a ;. d, d, d, d, in
Fig. 1, represent the four sails or flies which move on axis's as shown in
Fig. 2, by the Numbers 1, 2; 3 and 4; e in Fig. 2 represents the direction of
a current of any fluid, wind or water; I do say a current in that direction
causes the sails or flys to form such angles with the arms or cross in Fig. 2 as
the Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent. It is evident that such current of wind
or water as runs.in the direction of the dart, must bear with great force upon
three of the sails or flys represented in Fig. 1 and also in Fig. 2, and the fourth
sail or fly being by the effect of such current made to form a right angle with
the arm that its axis works in, it of course presents one of the edges to the
current, not its side, by which it has no force to counteract the power the
current has on the other three sails or flys, 1, 2, and 3, consequently the
engine is forced to turn and yield to the power of the current, and by so
turning the sail or fly d, Number 4, advances through the current of water
or wind until it reaches the place of Number -1, then Number 1 takes the
place of Number 2, and Number 2 takes the place of Number 3, and in succes-
sion moves to the place of the numbers that follow it, until at the end of one
revolution of the engine, it reaches its first position at Number 1; from this
view it is evident that three sails or flys are 'always in force by means of the
current, and they alternately lose power when they arrive at the place of
Number 4, and on the contrary they alternately gain power or force 'when
they reach Number 1. Thus is the round motion of the engine caused by the
force of the current, whether wind or water, and by such motion and force is an
engine of this kind capable to work such engines or machines as are placed in
contact with the wheel on the lower end of the upright shaft in Fig. 1, letter f

page_text: Observe that the upright shaft has a pointed axis or center, one at the upper
end of the shaft, and one at the lower end, which axis's work in brass sockets fixed
in the upper and lower bars of the frame a; Fig. 3 shews how and by what
means the sails or flys are attached to the arms b, b, b, b, and are at the same time
constrained to form those obtuse or intuse angles shewn in Fig. 2, by the Numbers
1, 2, 3, 4. One prong of this staple (there must be eight of them in use, four
above and four below,) is drawn through a hole near the point of the arm A
in Fig. 2, one being through the arm, the other is outside of it on the side
or direction of the letter b, in Fig. 2; both prongs are then drove into the upright
fly or sail frame (if canvass is used, as better suited to wind, there must be a
light frame made to carry the sail, which must be nailed on the frame,) and
drove so far as just to give freedom to the flys or sails to work, from the
directions of Numbers 1, 2, and 3 to 4 in Fig. 2. Each sail or fly, being bound
and held to the points or arms, a, a, a, a, by those staples or arms, both above
and below,. must be checked by the outer prong of the staple, which cannot pass
the arm outwards or inwards. And thus is the whole mechanical power of this
engine obtained and secured by the operation of the eight staples, as above de-
scribed. If it is intended to work engines or machines by wind under the operation
of this mechanical principle of my invention, a machinery resembling Fig. 1 must
be erected over the house or building it is to work in, similar to the present
manner of fixing telegraphs, that is, with a square frame; one half of the up-
right shaft (more or less) passes through the roof, and within the roof or
building the engine or machines to be worked will bo placed in a proper
mechanical manner in contact with the wheel f, Fig. 1. By the power of this
wheel, threshing mills, corn, and other mills can be worked in almost all sitúa-
tions by wind, or where it may be more convenient to work such engines or
machines by water, all that is necessary is to reverse Fig. 1, and turn it.upside
down, so that the sails or flys, be made of wood or materials better suited
for the purpose, must be placed in the water, and the wheel f, Fig. 1, above the
water. In the river Thames, or other large rivers, two lighters may be placed
and fixed by proper timbers at a distance of eight feet from each other, or more;
between those lighters the frame and fly, Fig. 1, may be let into the water,
observing that the frame, a, a, a, a, is in the line of the current, and fixed or
framed to those timbers that may be found necessary to fasten the lighters to
each other; over those timbers a platform may be made, on which the necessary
machinery for mills can be erected, and so placed and constructed as to be
worked by the wheel f, Fig. 1, by means of the power of the water on the flys,
Fig. 1, d, d, d, d. The height or diameter of this engine may be of any magni-
tude, and the number of sails or flys may be encreased in proportion to the

page_text: enlarged diameter of the engine. Eight, twelve, or sixteen sails or flys may be
applied. I would recommend even numbers, because three fourths will be
always in power and one fourth out of power, and they will alternately in every
revolution of the engine or gain or lose force as above mentioned or described.
And in order to render the construction of my Invention or engine as simple as
possible, I have, by reference in the said Drawing, explained cach particular
which composes the same. The advantages that will attend this invention arc
many, the costs of erecting it will be small, and they may be set up in situations
under circumstances where, without it, mills or engines could not be erected.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth
day of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred