NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FROM FLUID CURRENTS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Imray, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings,, in the
County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FROM FLUID CURRENTS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Imray at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th January 1881.
:
JOHN IMRAY, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex.
"NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FROM FLUID
CURRENTS."
When a turbine of ordinary construction is employed for obtaining motive
power from a fluid current it is necessary, in order to obtain good efficiency, that
the turbine should revolve at a speed properly proportioned to the velocity of the
current which acts on it. When the current is very rapid, as in the case of steam
or other elastic fluid under pressure, it is inconvenient or dangerous to work a
turbine at the high velocity necessary to utilise fully the force of the current. It
has been proposed to employ in such cases successive turbines, the fluid after
working one being conducted by suitable guide channels to work the next, and so
on successively, but owing to the complexity of the mechanism, the extent of the
passages, and other causes, satisfactory results have not been thus obtained.
According to my Invention, instead of employing successive turbine wheels in the
manner referred to above, I employ successive blades or channels of one wheel to
receive and utilise a succession of impulses from a fluid current acting upon them,
the current giving up in each case a portion of its velocity, so that after acting on
a number of blades or passages it may leave the apparatus at a comparatively low
speed. As each blade or passage of the wheel is thus made to take up only a
portion of the velocity of the current, the wheel itself may revolve at a moderate
speed and yet receive and utilise a large proportion of the power derivable from a
very rapid fluid current. The blades and guides of apparatus operating in this
manner may be arranged in various forms corresponding with the known forms of
parallel flow and radial flow turbines, or with intermediate forms in which the
flow is partly radial and partly parallel to the axis of the wheel. For the sake of

page_text: simplicity in the construction and arrangement of the passages I prefer to employ
apparatus corresponding in some respects with that described in the Specification
of a Patent granted to W. Froude on the 24th March 1877, No. 1163. The
apparatus described in the said Specification was contrived for the purpose of
imparting to fluid a high vortical velocity and employing its resistance as a brake
or dynamometer. I so far modify its construction that I can apply a fluid current
of high velocity to give motion at moderate speed to the wheel of the apparatus,
as I will now explain. The apparatus in the form which I prefer consists of two
parts, a cylindrical wheel mounted on an axis. working in bearings and a stationary
annular casing surrounding the periphery of the wheel. In the outer edge of the
wheel, and in the inner edge of its annular casing, there are hollowed out a number
of cells, each inclined to a radius so that the partitions between them resemble
thin ratchet teeth, the mouths of the cells in the wheel being directed towards the
mouths of those in the casing. Each cell has the shape of a semi-circular or nearly
semi-circular hollow. One of the cells of the casing is covered all but a small
aperture or slit close to one side of it, and to this cell there is a passage for supply
of the working fluid. Another cell of the casing is in like manner covered all
but a considerable aperture or slit on its opposite side, and from this cell there is a
passage for discharge of the working fluid. The action is as follows:-The fluid
issuing tangentially from the slit in the casing sweeps round the inclined semi-circular
cell of the wheel presented to it, it then sweeps round a cell of the casing, and, so
on, passing from cell to cell successively until it finally reaches the outlet cell;
whence it is discharged. In sweeping round each cell the direction of the current
is reversed, and thus, a pressure is produced which acting obliquely to the radius
causes the wheel to revolve. It is of advantage to make the apparatus with two
inlets and two outlets diametrically opposite in order to balance the pressure of the
fluid, which would otherwise subject the axis to a lateral strain. The cells instead
of being formed respectively on the outer and inner peripheries of a cylindrical wheel
and annular casing may be made in the face of a disc wheel and casing placed side by
side, the cells being in that case inclined to; the plane of the wheel and casing
respectively; or the wheel and casing may be of conical form, intermediate between
the cylinder and disc forms. It is of advantage to make the cells of the wheel and
casing not respectively parallel but sloped so that their planes cross each other
obliquely, the obliquity being so arranged that the current sweeping round a cell of
the wheel is directed into a cell of the casing farther in advance, confusion of
currents being thus avoided. Both the wheel and the casing may be made with
several sets of cells in successive planes when the apparatus is of cylindrical form,
or at successive radial distances when it is of disc form, the currents in this case
being directed from cells of the one set to cells of the next in order, and in this
manner by increasing the dimensions of the cells of the successive sets allowance
may be made for increase of volume when an elastic fluid is employed as the
working fluid.
t

page_text: "
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Imray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th July
1881.
JOHN IMRAY, of No. 28, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex.
NEW OR IMPROVED MEANS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FROM FLUID
CURRENTS."
When a turbine of ordinary construction is employed for obtaining motive
power from a fluid current, it is necessary, in order to obtain good efficiency, that
the turbine should revolve at a speed properly proportioned to the velocity
of the current which acts on it. When the current very rapid, as in the case
of steam or other elastic fluid under pressure, it is inconvenient or dangerous to.
work a turbine at the high velocity necessary to utilise fully the force of the
current. It has been proposed to employ in such cases successive turbines, the
fluid after working one being conducted by suitable guide channels to work the
next, and so on successively; but, owing to the complexity of the' mechanism,
the extent of the passages and other causes, satisfactory results have not been thus
obtained. According to my Invention, instead of employing successive turbine
wheels in the manner referred to above, I employ successive blades or channels of
one wheel to receive and utilise a succession of impulses from a fluid current acting
upon them, the current giving up in each case a portion of its velocity, so that
after acting on a number of blades or passages it may leave the apparatus at a
comparatively low speed. As each blade or passage of the wheel is thus made to
take up only a portion of the velocity of the current, the wheel itself may revolve
at a moderate speed, and yet receive and utilise a large proportion of the power
derivable from a very rapid fluid current. The blades and guides of apparatus
operating in this manner may be arranged in various forms corresponding with
the known forms of parallel flow and radial flow turbines, or with intermediate
forms in which the flow is partly radial and partly parallel to the axis of the
wheel. For the sake of simplicity in the construction and arrangement of the
passages, I prefer to employ apparatus corresponding in some respects with that
described in the Specification of a Patent granted to W. Froude on the 24th March
1877, No. 1163. The apparatus described in the said Specification was contrived
for the purpose of imparting to fluid á high vortical velocity, and employing its
resistance as a brake or dynamometer. I so far modify its construction that I can
apply a fluid current of high velocity to give motion at moderate speed to the
wheel of the apparatus, as I will now explain. The apparatus in the form which
I prefer consists of two parts, a cylindrical wheel mounted on an axis working in
bearings, and a stationary annular casing surrounding the periphery of the wheel.
In the outer edge of the wheel, and in the inner edge of its annular casing, there
are hollowed out a number of cells, each inclined to a radius, so that the partitions
between them resemble thin ratchet teeth, the mouths of the cells in the wheel
being directed towards the mouths of those in the casing. Each cell has the shape
of a semi-circular or nearly semi-circular hollow. One of the cells of the casing
is covered all but a small aperture or slit close to one side of it, and to this cell
there is a passage for supply of the working fluid. Another cell of the casing is in
like manner covered all but a considerable aperture or slit on its opposite side, and
from this cell there is a passage for discharge of the working fluid. The action is
as follows:-The fluid issuing tangentially from the slit in the casing sweeps
round the inclined semi-circular cell of the wheel presented to it, it then sweeps
round a cell of the casing, and so on, passing from cell to cell successively until it
finally reaches the outlet cell whence it is discharged. In sweeping round each

page_text: .
.
cell the direction of the current is reversed, and thus a pressure is produced which,
acting obliquely to the radius, causes the wheel to revolve. It is of advantage to
make the apparatus with two inlets and two outlets diametrically opposite in order
to balance the pressure of the fluid, which would otherwise subject the axis to a
lateral strain. The cells instead of being formed respectively on the outer and
inner peripheries of a cylindrical wheel and annular casing, may be made in the
face of a disc wheel and casing placed side by side, the cells being in that case
inclined to the plane of the wheel and casing respectively. Or the wheel and
casing may be of conical form, intermediate between the cylinder and disc forms.
It is of advantage to make the cells of the wheel and casing not respectively
parallel but sloped, so that their planes cross each other obliquely, the obliquity
being so arranged that the current sweeping round a cell of the wheel is directed
into a cell of the casing farther in advance, confusion of currents being thus avoided.
Both the wheel and the casing may be made with several sets of cells in successive
planes when the apparatus is of cylindrical form, or at successive radial distances
when it is of disc form, the currents in this case being directed from cells of the
one set to cells of the next in order, and in this manner, by increasing the
dimensions of the cells of the successive sets, allowance may be made for increase
of volume when an elastic fluid is employed as the working fluid.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a side view, partly in section, of apparatus according to my Invention
for obtaining motive power from fluid currents; Fig. 2 is a vertical section through
the axis; Fig. 3 is a plan shewing half the interior of the casing as it would appear
if developed or straightened out, and Fig. 4 is a part section of the outer periphery
of the wheel and inner periphery of the casing taken on the plane of a pair of the
blades which form the partitions between the cells, as indicated by the dotted lines
of projection. A is the wheel fixed on a shaft B which revolves in external
bearings C, C. The casing consists of the ring D and the two side covers E, E, to
which the bearings C, C, may be fixed, or they may be cast on the side covers, as
shewn. The wheel A is fitted loosely within the casing, so that it can freely
revolve therein without friction. In the outer periphery of the wheel A and in
the inner periphery of the ring D are formed semi-elliptical grooves, and these
grooves are cut obliquely across as by a saw, and blades a and d are inserted in the
cuts and secured therein by soldering or otherwise. The form of the semi-elliptical
grooves and the obliquity of the blades a and d are such that the face of each
blade projected on its own plane is semicircular or nearly so, a pair of the blades a
and d forming together on their own plane a complete circle, as shewn in Fig. 4.
In a recess formed in the ring D is fixed a mouth piece L, having through it an
oblique tapering hole e in communication with a pipe F supplying the steam or
other working fluid. The hole e is so situated and inclined as to direct a jet of the
fluid into one of the cells of the wheel at its one side tangentially to the interior
periphery of the cell. The fluid current sweeping round this cell has the direction
of its movement reversed, exerting a certain pressure which tends to propel the
wheel in the direction of the arrow. The current issuing from the opposite side of
the cell of the wheel enters a cell of the casing ring D, and sweeping round it finds
its way again tangentially into a cell of the wheel, and so on through. successive
cells, in each case exerting a pressure tending to turn the wheel. In order to
balance the force of the fluid I provide two jet nozzles e, the one opposite to the
other, and I prefer to make the wheel with an odd number of cells, so that when a
cell partition faces the jet nozzle on one side of the wheel the middle of a cell faces
the jet nozzle on the other side. The working fluid, after passing as above
described through the successive cells of half the circumference of the casing ring,
issues as exhaust by passages G, G, opening from the cells of the ring next to the
mouth pieces L, L. The partitions a of the wheel are preferably in planes parallel
to the axis of the wheel, so that there is no tendency to press the wheel towards

page_text: either side of the casing. The partitions d of the casing ring may also be in planes
parallel to the axis, but preferably some of them. next to the nozzles e are somewhat
inclined, as shewn in Fig. 4. The object of this inclination is that the current
issuing from e, after sweeping round one cell of the wheel, shall find its way into a
cell of the casing ring and thence into a cell of the wheel somewhat in advance.
The partitions a and d are preferably sharpened at the edges so as to offer little
opposition to the ingress of the fluid current into the cells.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I claim,―
First. The use for obtaining motive power from fluid currents of apparatus
consisting of a wheel and casing having inclined semicircular cells, through which
successively the fluid current sweeps causing the wheel to revolve, substantially as
herein described.
Second. The construction of apparatus for obtaining motive power from fluid
currents, as herein described with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Imray, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Second day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one.