AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF FEATHERING PADDLE WHEEL
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Draughtsman, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF FEATHERING PADDLE WHEEL."
-A communication from abroad by Byron. Densmore, of Brockport, in
the County of Monroe and State of New York, in the United States of
America.
Sealed the 12th April 1861, and dated the 13th November, 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
. at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, an
the 13th November 1860.
I, ALFRED VINCENT. NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF FEATHERING.
PADDLE WHEEL," to be as follows:-
:
This Invention relates to paddle wheels in. which a rotating excentric is
used for controlling the operation of the floats. The wheel may be made, with:
two or three bosses; and sets of: radial arms and coupling rings, as may be
desirable, secured to the propeller shaft in the usual manner,. with as many.
arms in each set: as there are floats in the wheel. To the radial arms cast
iron brackets for carrying. the floats are secured; to these brackets the floats
are respectively attached by means of hinge joints. The object of the brackets
or their equivalent is to hold the floats so far off from the radial. line. of the

page_text: arms as to prevent their feathering movements from being interfered with by
the arms. The rotary excentric is composed of an inner and outer ring, con-
nected together by slotted arms or their equivalents, the number of which
correspond with the number of floats. The centre of the excentric is arranged
directly over the axis of the propeller shaft, and to keep it in this position its
inner ring is hung in grooves in the peripheries of two grooved rollers, which
are arranged to turn freely on fixed axles secured to the vessel, and it is
prevented being displaced in an upward direction by its only just clearing the
bottom of the paddle shaft. Or the rotating. excentric may be fitted to a
stationary excentric secured to the side of the vessel. The excentric is caused
to rotate by and with the wheel at the same velocity through the agency of
rods or links, which connect the inner ring of the excentric with the adjacent
ring of the wheel. The rotating excentric effects and controls the feathering
operation of the floats through the agency of rods rigidly attached at one end
to the floats, and at the other to sliding blocks which work in the slotted
radial arms before mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 13th May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
"
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent. Newton, Her special license, that. I, the said, Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others from time to time, and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed; should and lawfully.
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and: Isle of Man, an Invention for.
"AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF FEATHERING PADDLE WHEEL," being a communi
cation from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
.

page_text: particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months, next and immediately,
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the; said: Alfred,Vincent Newton;.do. hereby
declare the nature, of the said Invention, and in what manner, the same is.to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings, hereunto annexed;
and to the letters and figures, marked thereon (that is to say):
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, relates
to paddle wheels in which a rotating excentric is used for controlling the
operation of the floats. It consists in a novel construction of such excentrio
and mode of applying the same in combination with the floats and with the
vessel, also in a novel mode of applying the floats in combination with the
arms of the wheel.
ז'
In the accompanying Drawings which form part of this Specification Fig. 1
is a side view of a feathering paddle wheel; and Fig. 2 is a vertical' section of
the principal parts of the same taken in a plane parallel with and near the axis
of the shaft. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both
Figures.
The wheel may be made with two or three bosses A, A, and sets of arms
B, B, and rings C, C, and C', C', as may be desirable, secured to the propeller
shaft D in the usual manner, with as many arms in each set as there are floats
in the wheel. The arms may be constructed of wood or wrought iron. If of
wood they should be straight, but if of iron they may be bent, as shewn at a, a,
in Fig. 1, for convenience of securing the cast-iron brackets E, E, by which
the floats are carried, the said brackets, of which there is one secured to each
arm, being provided with recesses to fit to the arms and being bolted thereto.
The floats F, F, which may be of wood or sheet iron, are attached to the
brackets E, E, by means of hinge joints formed by shoes G, G, of cast iron, which
are bolted or rivetted to the backs of the floats and pins b, b, passing through
the said shoes and through the brackets which are received in grooves provided
in the said shoes. Instead of using brackets E, E, the iron arms inay be so
much bent at a, a, as to obviate the necessity of such brackets, the object:of
which is to hold the floats so far off from the straight portions of the arms as
to prevent their feathering movements from being interfered with by the arms.
The advantage of attaching the floats to the arms by means of the shoes.and
brackets or their equivalents as described, consists in the provision it affords
for their attachment at points at suitable distances from their ends, whereby..

page_text: they are enabled to be made-stiff enough without being made objectionably.
heavy, and in the convenience it affords for replacing the wearing parts. The
cast-iron shoes serve to stiffen the floats so well that the latter may be made
of light sheet iron.
:
The rotary excentric is composed of an inner ring I and outer ring J
connected: together by slotted arms H, H, the number of which arms corre
spond with the number of floats employed. Each arm H may be composed of
two parallel: straight bars of wrought iron, and may be united with the two
rings which are made of the same material by bolts or rivets. The internal
diameter of the inner ring I is equal to or very slightly more than twice the
distance between the centre of the excentric' and that of the paddle' shaft, with
half the diameter of that shaft added. The excentric may be arranged on the
inner side of the wheel next the body of the vessel, or on the outer side thereof
next the guard or sponson, but it is preferable to arrange it on the inner side
thereof next the body of the vessel. The centre of the excentric is arranged
directly over the axis of the propeller shaft D, and to keep it in this position
its inner ring I is hung in grooves in the' peripheries of two grooved rollers or
small wheels K, K, which are arranged to turn freely on fixed axles c, c,
secured to the vessel; and it is prevented from being displaced in an upward
direction by its only just clearing the bottom of the paddle shaft. Instead of
the rotating excentric being thus supported its inner ring may be fitted to a
stationary excentric secured to the side of the vessel.
The rotary excentric revolves with the wheel at the same velocity through
the agency of 'connecting rods or links d, d, d, of which there should not be
less than three. These rods d, d, d, connect the ring I of the excentric with
the adjacent ring C¹ of the wheel, being attached to the ring I by pins i, i,
and to the ring C¹ by pins j, j, the said pins i, i, being at equal distances apart.
The rotating excentric effects and controls the feathering operation of the
floats through the agency of rods e rigidly attached to the adjacent ends of the
floats, one to: each float, and sliding blocks f, f, fitted to oscillate on wrist
pins g, g, attached to the rods and to slide in the slots h, h, of the arms H, H;
which slots are radial to the centre of the excentric. Rotary motion being
given to the wheel by the application of the driving power to the shaft D in
the usual manner the connecting rods d, d, cause the excentric to rotate at a
velocity uniform with the wheel, and during such rotation of the wheel and
excentric the blocks f, f, are caused to slide back and forth in the slots h, h, of
the arms of the excentric, and the rods e, e, are thereby caused to impart to
the floats an oscillating motion upon the pins b, b, causing the faces of the
floats to have an inclination when their respective arms B, B, are in horizontal

page_text: positions, but to occupy vertical positions when their arms are vertical, as
shown in Fig. 1. As the arms B, B, in their descent pass their horizontal
positions, their respective floats gradually move toward a vertical position,
entering the water at such an angle as is about sufficient to compensate for
the relative backward movement of the water when the vessel is in motion,
and arriving at the vertical position when below the centre of the wheel, after
passing which they begin to assume an inclined position, leaving the water at
an angle corresponding with that at which they entered, but not sufficient to
produce any back lift. The inclination of the floats at the time of the hori-
zontal position of their respective arms, and also at the time of entering and
leaving the water, depends on the degree of excentricity of the rotating excen-
tric, a greater degree of excentricity bringing the floats nearer to a vertical
position, and vice versa, at those stages of their revolution.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Construction of Feathering Paddle Wheel," as communicated to me from
abroad, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish
it to be understood that, under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I
claim the arrangement of parts above described for supporting and regulating
the positions of the floats of feathering paddle wheels.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of May, in the year
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
5.
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.B.)