Improvements in and connected with Apparatus for Utilising the Ebb and Flow of the Tide.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 13th July, 1895-Accepted, 17th Aug., 1895 ·.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
Improvements in and connected with Apparatus for Utilising the
Ebb and Flow of the Tide. ·
We, ADOLF THIESING, of Wilhelmshaven, and THEODOR MAROTZKE and :
FRITZ KELLER, both of 21, Bernburgerstrasse, Berlin, in the Empire of
Germany, Gentleman, Engineer, and Merchant respectively do hereby declare the. ;
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawing is a longitudinal section of the improved":
machine, Fig. 2 is a cross section and Fig..3 is a top plan view.
Figs. 4 and 5 show an entire arrangement embodying my invention, that is to
Bay, the intersection of the mainland dam by means of a preliminary flood sewer
with a wheel chamber and a machine room thereover. The adjustment of the
height of the swimming machine, or the highest and a lower condition of the water
is explained by Figs. 1 and 2.
"T
1" 13. 7
The machine or apparatus requisite for this invention consists essentially of a
formation corresponding to a pontoon and which.formation is provided' on the front
side with a fixed, open or divided gutter and below this gutter there is an opening
which can be opened or closed as required with a suitable, for example a flexible,
bottom. In the pontoon, which may be compared to a swimming dock, there is a
suitable water wheel which is placed in rotation after each direction of the current
and closing or opening of the halves of the bottom which are underneath fixed
inlet channels. This rotation can be, for example, by means of the driving gear
which is capable of being thrown in and out of gear, and is fitted to the pontoon,
and which engages with the toothed water wheel on its two front sides, further
alternately transmitted according as the wheel turns. For carrying out the working
of a water wheel of the kind mentioned, a gutter is arranged for the conduit of
the flow and ebb water, and which gutter is provided with suitable damming"
appliances, and creates a connection between the sea and a basin separated there-
from, which serves for collecting the incoming water at tide time. Inside such a
dam or brake there is a chamber or wheel house, in which the pontoon can move
up and down in suitable guides according to the different heights of water, the
pontoon being a swimming adjunct to the wheel. For obtaining continuous working
there is a second basin, separate from the first, which may be put in communication
with the water by means of a second gutter, so that there are then two gutters, one
having a wheel house and water wheel with damming appliances whilst the other.
gutter is only provided with damming appliances.
Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying drawings, a pontoon a which
is formed out of hollow chambers in such a way that it forms two side walls
connected together by means of a bottom, has on each of the front sides a divided
or open gutter b 6, and this continues with the side walls as far as the water
wheel r fitted in the middle of the pontoon, but without in any way hindering its
O rotation. The water wheel is fastened on a shaft which latter is seated in
bearings in the side walls of the pontoon. In order to create a current necessary
for setting the wheel in motion and which current stands deeper on the one side
than the inlet channels, e.g. b, Fig. 1, opposite thereto, the middle of the
bottom of the channels b b¹, under the water wheel r, are broken for this purpose.
5 This broken portion e f, or the free space under the wheel r, is alternately opened
and closed from the channel b to channel b', by means of two flexible bottoms e d

page_text: These flexible bottoms are in the middle of the wheel rand, they are fastened
underneath the same, to the side walls or upon the bottom of the pontoon, or they
may swing around this point. The closure of the aforesaid opening ef by means
of the bottoms c d is effected by windlasses which serve for raising or lowering
the chains, or the like, fastened to the bottoms and guided over rollers, m. For the
better balancing of the pontoon a the same is provided with a water pump or with
a water inlet valve. For preventing friction on the walls of the wheel house w,
Figs. 2 and 4, the pontoon is provided on its side walls in any suitable manner with
guide rollers h. The transmission of the rotation of the water wheel may be effected:
in a corresponding manner, for instance, and as in Fig. 2, there can be arranged on
both the front sides of the water wheel and above, that is to say, upon the pontoon,
the movement t which can be thrown into and out of gear, and this movement
according to whichever way the wheel turns only the one part will engage with
the gear wheels applied to the circumference of the wheel r, that is to say, the i
rotation is thus transmitted.
For working the foregoing machine or apparatus, there are arranged two basins,
separated from the sea and from one another, so that the same are in connection
with the sea by means of a sluice.
The principal basin has a sluice and the adjoining or reserve basin has two
sluices which are provided with suitable damming contrivances, sluices, or the
like. It is, however, only the sluice of the principal basin and one of the ones of
the reserve basin which have a wheel house, that is to say, space for, the
variation in the height of the pontoon, but against that, the second sluice of the
reserve basin has no wheel house. Above the wheel house w there is a suitable
machine space q.
The apparatus works in the following manner:
с
Before the commencement of the flood or during the same, the damming
appliances, e.g. as in Fig. 1, are shut according to requirements, and the flexible
bottom c is let down so that the water enters by the channel 6'; works upon the
wheel r, and can escape to the before mentioned basin below the channel b, that
is to say, above the folding bottom c situated thereunder. When the flood. has
abated the damming appliances upon the one side i are opened, they are shut upon
the other sidek, Fig. 1, and the bottom f is let down. The water will then
subsequently flow off over the chaunel to the sea in a reverse direction as soon
as the state of the sea water has become lower than that of the basin.
* :
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
An
apparatus for the utilization of the ebb and flow of the tide characterised by
having in a gutter or channel, connecting the sea with the dam basin, a floating.
pontoon a, rising and sinking with the state of the water, and which carries a water
wheel r, the inlet channels 6 of which form, with the flexible two part bottom cd,
a closed gutter (b, c, d,), regulated by means of damming appliances i, whereby
it is of no importance whether the highest state of the water prevails in the sea; or
in the dam basin.
Dated this Twelfth day of July 1805