AN IMPROVED WIND ENGINE OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Horton Plowright and
William Plowright at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 19th July 1870.
We, CHARLES HORTON PLOWRIGHT and WILLIAM PLOWRIGHT, both of
Deeping St. Nicholas, in the County of Lincoln, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED WIND ENGINE OR APPARATUS
FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
r
This Invention has been designed for the purpose of obtaining and
efficiently applying or transmitting motion to any kind of machinery,
for example, such as that employed for grinding corn, cutting chaff,
pumping or raising water, sawing or cutting wood, stone, or other
material, or for propelling vessels, yachts, or the like, in fact, wherever
a similar motive power is required.
Our improved engine or apparatus, which is set in motion by the
action of the wind, is circular in form, has a rotatory motion, and
consists principally of an upper and lower circular plate of wood or
metal, which plates are supported or connected together by stays to keep
the plates at suitable distances apart. A vertical shaft is passed through
.

page_text: both plates at the centre and under the lower plate, a cog or friction
wheel is provided for the purpose of transmitting motion to the
machinery or apparatus requiring it. The interior of the engine or
apparatus consists of a solid or hollow centre or shaft made of wood or
metal, having series of strips or vanes of wood or metal attached or
secured to the centre, each strip or vane being set at an angle to the
centre, one end of each strip being set one-fourth part further from the
centre than the other, the centre and strips being one-fourth of the
diameter of the plates; next to these strips there is a vacant space,
which is one twenty-fourth part of the diameter of the plates. There are
then arranged five fixed metallic or wooden vanes or paddles, the width
of each of which is equal to one-tenth the proportion of the outside
circle in which they are placed, and they are fixed in a space which is
one-twentieth part of such circle, and these vanes or paddles are fixed or
attached in a vertical position to the top and bottom plates above
named; there is then another vacant space which is one-sixteenth of the
diameter of the top and bottom plates, next to which are placed five
more fixed vanes or paddles, the width being one-tenth part of the outer
circle in which they stand, and are placed each in one-twentieth of the
space of the inner circle, there is again another vacant space the width of
which is one twenty-fourth part of the diameter of the said plates.
Outside all these are twenty movable shutters or vanes made of metal,
wood, or other suitable material, to which are fastened or secured
vertical rods which work through the outer edge of the top and bottom
plates; they are set at equal distances from each other, and when closed
occupy the whole of the exterior circumference of the engine or apparatus.
These movable shutters or vanes are each worked by a crank fastened on
to the vertical rod of each shutter or vane, under the bottom plate on
the end of each crank is a movable block with two, pivots, to which is
attached a rod which connects each to a movable collar on the central
vertical shaft under the bottom plate of the apparatus. The shutters or
vanes are opened and closed by a forked lever working in a groove in
the movable collar to which is connected a pair of governors for
regulating the speed. The engine or apparatus is stopped by closing all
the shutters or vanes at once by means of the forked lever which is
then fastened down, in addition to which there is a break on the vertical
shaft which is worked by a lever to stop the apparatus in case of accident
or need.

page_text: The body of the apparatus may be suitably weighted or ballasted to
keep up the momentum of the engine when in motion.
It will be evident that the proportions of the several parts of this
improved wind engine or apparatus will vary according to the size and
power of the apparatus required.