Means for Producing Motive Power from the Rise and Fall of the Tides.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Feb., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Nov, 1894-Accepted, 22nd Dec., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Means for Producing Motive Power from the Rise and Fall of
the Tides.
1, THOMAS LILLEY Builder of 5 Gladstone Terrace Ramsey Isle of Man, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to means, for producing motive power from the rise and
fall of the tides, the details may be varied, but the following description will suffice
for the understanding of the invention.
For the purposes of this invention, a lock, or dock, is constructed close to low
water mark, or if desirable it may be made further inland, and connected with the
tide by a suitable channel leading therefrom.
This said lock or dock contains a floating stage, supported on pontoons held
together by suitable girders, and covering the whole of the available space with
the exception of a narrow margin around its outer extremity, to which is affixed
friction wheels, or rollers, in order to insure steadiness in rising or falling with the
action of the tide.
The aforesaid lock or dock, is sunk to a sufficient depth below low water mark to
allow stage to be constantly floating.
In the retaining wall of this lock or dock, and on the side nearest to the tide,
a number of sluicegates are fixed, a corresponding number being also fixed on the
opposite side, these sluicegates are carried down below the bed of channel, or low
water mark, and fit into sheaths, or cases, sunk to a sufficient depth to receive
them, for the said sluicegates to move in when rising or falling, the object of these
sheaths being to prevent the tidal water from entering or leaving the lock or dock,
except through the aperture in the sluicegate provided for that purpose.
Attached to these said sluicegates and coinciding with an aperture cut through
same; (at a sufficient depth from the top of sluicegate to prevent overflow of
whatever head of water there is being used) flumes or penstocks, are per-
manently fixed to stage and sluicegate, preferably rectangular in section but not
necessarily so.
These said flumes or penstocks, which may be made of iron or any other suitable
material, may be placed under stage resting on top of pontoons, or they may be
carried through inside, or by the side of pontoons, to suit construction of stage,
and in order that they may be placed at lowest point consistent with efficiency in
working.
These said flumes or penstocks, convey the water to the motors determined upon,
preferably turbines, or other water wheels may be employed, the said motors being
also fixed to floating stage.
Behind the lock or dock and adjoining its furthest extremity from the tide, a
lake is constructed, this lake is for the purpose of storing the surplus water, after
being used by the said water motors, and its capacity is determined by the amount
of water passing through the said motors in a given time.
Close to each entrance and exit of these flumes or penstocks, two gates are
provided, one fixed transversely, for admitting water to the flume, the other
longitudinally to allow the surplus water to escape into the lake or tide, according
to whichever side is being used.

page_text: :
Instead of these longitudinal gates, special floodgates may be provided near
bottom of lock or dock if desired.
The apparatus works in the following manner, at low water, the water in the
lock or dock containing the floating stage, will correspond with level of water
outside. When sufficient head of water has risen in the tide, the transverse gate
nearest tide is opened, the adjacent longitudinal gate being closed, whilst this
arrangement of gates at opposite end of flume is reversed, the transverse gate being
closed and the longitudinal gate left open.
The water is thus admitted into the flumes and from thence to the motors, and
after passing through turbines, escapes through longitudinal gate of flume, or by
special floodgate as before mentioned into the lake.
The amount of water admitted through turbines, is calculated to correspond
with the capacity of lock and lake combined, in order that the floating stage shall
rise at the same rate of progression as the tide, and thus retain the head of water
being used, up to near about high water, according to whatever head of water there
is being used.
Before the tide commences to recede, the water in lock and lake will have
attained the same level as the tide, the transverse gate in flume adjoining tide is
now closed, and the adjacent longitudinal gate, or special floodgate is opened thus
allowing the water in the lock to fall with the tide and carrying the stage with it,
and as soon as the necessary head of water from the lake is obtained, the transverse
gate on the lake side is opened admitting water to the motors, and so on to low
water when the above process is repeated.
In order to transmit the power acquired to machinery situated on land, a
number of turbines having vertical shafts, may be geared on to a central vertical
shaft having its bearing on stage, the upper portion of said central shaft is
corrugated or fluted in section, and is connected by bevel gearing to horizontal
shafts, having their bearing on land, the central bevel wheel is fitted loose on
shaft, allowing said shaft to slide through as it rises or falls with the motion of
the stage, and owing to its being corrugated or fluted it will at the same time carry
the wheel around with it.
If the lock or dock is made sufficiently large enough, turbines with horizontal
shafts, or other water wheels can be employed to transmit power to machinery
situated on deck of floating stage.
Dated this 3rd day of February 1894
THOMAS LILLEY
Means for Producing Motive Power from the Rise and Fall of
the Tides.
I, THOMAS LILLEY of No. 5 Gladstone Terrace Ramsey Isle of Man, Builder
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:-
This invention relates to the utilization of the tides for obtaining motive power,
its object being to enable there rise and fall to be used in such a manner as to
render them a source of power.
The details may be varied but the following description will suffice for the
understanding of the invention.
In accordance with this invention a lock or dock (into which the tide has no
access excepting through apertures specially provided for that purpose and which
will be described hereinafter) is constructed at or about low water mark, but if
desirable it may be made on the same level further inland and connected with the

page_text: tide by a suitable channel leading therefrom, or it may be constructed at the
entrance to existing disused docks, tidal harbours, or locks on the sea coast and
such like convenient places.
This said lock or dock, contains a floating stage, supported by pontoons held
together by suitable girders and covering the whole of the available space, with
the exception of a narrow margin around its outer extremity to which are affixed
friction wheels or rollers, in order to ensure steadiness in rising or falling with the
action of the tide.
The aforesaid lock or dock is sunk to a sufficient depth below low water mark
to allow the stage to be constantly floating.
In the retaining wall of this lock or dock, on the side nearest to the tide, a
number of sluicevalves or gates are fixed, a corresponding number being also fixed on
the opposite side, these sluicevalves slide in watertight grooves and are carried
down below the bed of channel or low water mark, and fit into sheaths or cases,
sunk to a sufficient depth in the ground to receive them, for the said sluicevalves to
move in when rising or falling, the object of these sheaths or cases being to prevent
the tidal water from entering the lock or dock, excepting through the aperture in
the sluicevalve provided for that purpose.
Attached to these said sluicevalves and coinciding with an aperture cut through
same (at a sufficient depth from the top of sluicevalve to prevent overflow of
whatever head of water there is being used) flumes or penstocks are per-
manently fixed to stage and sluicevalve preferably rectangular in section but not
necessarily so.
These said flumes or penstocks which may be made of iron or any other suitable
material, may be placed under stage resting on top of pontoons as shown in
drawings, or, they may be carried through inside or by the side of pontoons, or in
any position that best suits construction of stage, and in order that they may be
placed at the lowest point consistent with efficiency in working.
These said flumes or penstocks are the channels for conveying the water to the
motors determined upon, preferably turbines, but there are several varieties of
water motors, suitable for the purposes of this invention, and for some purposes,
for instance, raising water to a higher level hydraulic rams could be used, whatever
the motor or motors used they are mounted on the floating stage.
It will be understood that any number of sluicevalves, turbines, or other motors
may be employed according to the area of the space available and the power
required.
Behind the lock or dock and adjoining its furthest extremity from the tide, a
Jake or reservoir is constructed, this lake or reservoir is for the purpose of storing
the water after being used by the said water motors on a rising tide, to be
again passed through said motors on the next falling tide, and its capacity is
determined by the amount of water passing through the said motors in a given
time.
Close to each entrance and exit of the aforesaid flumes or penstocks two gates
are provided, one fixed transversely for admitting water to the flume, the other
longitudinally to allow the surplus water to escape into the reservoir or tide
according to whichever side is being used.
Instead of these longitudinal gates (which are not shown on sectional drawing)
special floodgates may be provided near bottom of lock if desirable.
The apparatus works in the following manner :-At low water, the water in the
lock containing the floating stage and motors will correspond with level of water
outside, supposing all gates closed, whenever sufficient head of water has risen in
the tide, the transverse gate nearest tide is opened, the adjacent longitudinal gate
being closed, whilst this arrangement of gates at opposite end of flume is reversed,
the transverse gate being closed and the longitudinal gate left open. The water is
thus admitted into the flumes and from thence to the motors, and after passing
through turbines, escapes through longitudinal gate of flume, or by special
floodgate as before mentioned into the lake or reservoir.

page_text: The amount of water admitted through turbines is calculated to correspond with
the capacity of lock and reservoir combined, in order that the floating stage shall
rise and fall at the same rate of progression as the tide, and thus retain the relative
level in regard to the head at which the work started, up to near about high, or low
water, according to whatever head of water there is being used.
Before the tide commences to recede the water in lock and reservoir will have
attained the same level as the tide, the transverse gate in flume adjoining tide is
now closed, and the adjacent longitudinal gate, or special floodgate is opened thus
allowing the water in the lock to fall with the tide and carrying the stage with
it, and as soon as the tide has fallen sufficiently to allow the necessary head of
water to be obtained from the reservoir the transverse gate on the reservoir side
is opened, thus admitting water to the motors, which continue working until about
low water, when the above operation is repeated.
In some cases there will be a rise and fall of over thirty feet, in which case the
tidal force will be available during nearly the whole period of both rise and fall.
Assuming that the total rise and fall of the tide is thirty feet; this would mean
that the tide would rise or fall (during the six hours which it usually takes to do
60) at the rate of one foot in twelve minutes, and assuming we were content to
work with a head of five feet, the loss of time during which we were waiting for
the tide to rise or fall the necessary five feet would be exactly one hour, so that
we could practically work almost five hours during each rise and fall of the tide, or
in other words nearly twenty out of every twenty-four hours, with a tide of twenty
feet we could work the same time under a three feet four inches, head.
Of course it will be understood that during the hour before high, and low water
the average available head would be diminished by half.
In order to transmit the power acquired to machinery situated on land, a number
of turbines having vertical shafts can be geared on to a central vertical shaft
having its bearing on floating stage, the upper portion of said central shaft is
corrugated or fluted, or similarly recessed in section, and is connected by bevel
gearing to horizontal shafts having their bearing on land, the central bevel wheel
is fitted loose on shaft, allowing said shaft to slide through as it rises or falls with
the motion of the stage, and owing to its being corrugated or fluted it will at the
same time impart a rotary motion to the said wheel.
If the lock or dock is made sufficiently large enough, turbines with horizontal
shafts or other water motors can be employed to supply power to machinery situated
on deck of floating stage. Under this arrangement the power could be transmitted
by means of belts or other equivalent device, from shafting placed under deck of
floating stage, and would be suitable for floating factories, mills and workshops of
almost every description requiring motive power. It could also be advantageously
employed in compressing air, generating and storing electricity for public lighting
and other purposes.
And in order that my invention may be more fully understood and carried into
practice I will now proceed to describe the same with reference to the accompanying
two sheets of drawings of which
Fig. 1 is a plan view of the lock or dock constructed in accordance with this
invention, as herein before described.
Fig. 2. is a plan view of a reservoir or lake L. and may be of any capacity or
formation suitable for the requirements of the undertaking.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken through A. B. Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 shows method of transmitting power to machinery situated on land as
bereinbefore described.
Like letters represent like parts throughout the drawings.
In Fig. 1. will be seen plan of floating stage with the deck removed. P are the
pontoons or watertight tanks, connected with girders as shown, F are the flumes or
penstocks which convey the water to the motors T. These flumes are connected
with the sluicevalves S which rise and fall with the stage. The transverse flumes
convey water to additional motors, should they be required. G are the longi-

page_text: tudinal gates for allowing water to escape into the tide or reservoir, G₁ are the
transverse gates for admitting or shutting off water from the flumes, W are the
friction wheels or rollers to insure steadiness in rising or falling.
In Fig. 3. are shown two turbines T having vertical shafts geared to a central
vertical shaft as hereinbefore described, G' shows position of transverse gates, the
longitudinal gates are not shown in section.
S₁ shows position of sheaths or cases sunk in the ground for sluicevalves to
move in.
Fig. 4. shows method of transmitting power to machinery situated on land
the central bevel wheel C. is fitted loose upon corrugated shaft as hereinbefore
lescribed.
The height of water at full tide is shown at H. and at low tide at L.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1st. In a tide mill, the employment of sluicevalves having an aperture through
same for admitting water to motors, and permanently fixed to floating stage,
whereby said sluicevalves rises or falls automatically with the motion of said stage,
consequently keeping the inlet of water to the said motors at a uniform distance
from the head of water at which the work started, up to nearly about high or low
water according to whatever head the work first started with, substantially as
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2nd. In a tide mill, the employment of flumes or penstocks, substantially as
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
3rd. In a tide mill, the combination of sluicevalves attached to flumes or
penstocks, situated on a floating stage and capable of rising or falling with the
tide, substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
4th. In a tide mill, the use of a series of turbines, hydraulic rams, or similar
apparatus arranged on a floating stage capable of rising or falling with the tide,
substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
5th. The construction and arrangement of reservoirs and locks, and the
apparatus in connexion therewith whereby the aforesaid water motors can be kept
at a uniform distance from the head of water in the tide or reservoir, and the
maximum available force of such water is rendered available for working said
motors with equal facility on either a rising on a falling tide, substantially as
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
6th. In a tide mill, the employment of corrugated, fluted, or similar shafting as
a means for transmitting power to machinery situated on land, substantially as
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 31st day of October 1894.
THOMAS LILLEY.