CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER WHEELS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Charles Henderson, of No. 31, Charing Cross,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER WHEELS."-A communication from abroad by
Eugène Romestin of Paris, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 20th October 1865, and dated the 28th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Charles Henderson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th April 1865.
I, ARTHUR CHARLES HENDERSON, of No. 31, Charing Cross, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER WHEELS," a communication
to me from abroad by Eugène Romestin, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
to be as follows:-
The present Invention has for its object certain improvements in water
wheels whereby considerable increase of power is obtained with only a small
water supply.
The arrangement I adopt is extremely simple and consists of a large wheel
furnished with an endless chain of buckets, the length of chain, number and
capacity of the buckets varying according to the force required; connected
with the driving shaft of the wheel above mentioned is a pump of sufficient

page_text: power to force water either to the top bucket of the endless chain or to a
reservoir placed at a convenient level for the purpose of feeding a second set
of buckets connected with and set in motion by the large wheel; this second
set of buckets, considerably less in number than on the endless chain above
mentioned, is for the purpose of supplying the first or highest bucket of the
endless chain as it descends, the quantity of water being so regulated as to
exactly meet the supply required for this purpose. Thus arranged the wheel
is set in motion by forcing up sufficient water by pumps or otherwise to
supply all the descending buckets on the endless chain, which we will say
are thirty in number, the power thus obtained would of course be sufficient
to force up 'by pumps or otherwise sufficient water to fill the top bucket
as the lower one empties itself, leaving a considerable amount of power which
may be employed for driving machinery; all that is requisite being a free
escape of water from the lowest bucket on the endless chain and the filling
the descending buckets when first setting in motion the wheel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Arthur Charles Henderson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
CHARLES HENDERSON, of No. 31, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Arthur Charles Henderson, Her special licence that I, the said Arthur
Charles Henderson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Arthur Charles Henderson, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER WHEELS," a communication to me
from abroad, by Eugène Romestin, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the
condition (amongst others) 'that I, the said Arthur Charles Henderson, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,

page_text: or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Arthur Charles Henderson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
The present Invention has for its object certain improvements in water
wheels whereby considerable increase of power is obtained with only a small
water supply.
The arrangement I adopt is extremely simple, it consists of a large wheel
furnished with an endless chain of buckets, the length of chain, number and
capacity of the buckets varying according to the force required; connected
with the driving shaft of the wheel above mentioned is a pump of sufficient
power to force water either to the top bucket of the endless chain or to a
reservior placed at a convenient level for the purpose of feeding a second set
of buckets connected with and set in motion by the large wheel, this second
set of buckets considerably less in number than on the endless chain above
mentioned is for the purpose of supplying the first or highest bucket of the
endless chain as it descends, the quantity of water being so regulated as to
exactly meet the supply required for this purpose. Thus arranged the wheel
is set in motion by forcing up sufficient water to supply all the descending
buckets on the endless chain, which we will say are thirty in number, the
power thus obtained would of course be sufficient to force up by pumps or
otherwise sufficient water to fill the top bucket as the lower one empties
itself, leaving a considerable amount of power which can be employed for
driving machinery, all that is requisite being a free escape for the water
from the lowest bucket on the endless chain and the filling the buckets when
first setting the wheel in motion. This will be the more readily understood
reference being made to the accompanying Drawings, of which Fig. 1 is a
front view. A is a water wheel having 6 buckets B, this wheel as will be
seen by the Drawings is of sufficient width to furnish support to an endless
chain of buckets of any suitable capacity and number; B, fixed buckets on
the water wheel; C, descending buckets filled with water and attached to
the endless chain; D, buckets ascending empty; E, pump forcing up water
to the upper reservoir; F, upper reservoir; G, lower reservoir; H, endless
band and driving wheel for communicating motion; I, trough conveying

page_text: water to the buckets at J; K, multiplying wheel working the feeding pump E;
L, supports; M, separation piece of the upper and lower reservoirs; N, stop
bolt.
Fig. 2 represents a water wheel, the various letters corresponding to the
parts described in Fig. 1, the only difference being that in Fig. 2 a natural
supply of water is shown by letters E and K, by which the upper reservoir is
supplied and the fixed buckets B partially so...
Fig. 3 shows a like arrangement to Fig. 1; A being the water wheel; B,
trough supplying the water to the buckets from the pump; C, buckets. filled
descending; D, empty buckets ascending; E, pump forcing up the water;
F, multiplying pulley working the pump; G, driving wheel; H, stop bolt
or key; J, lower reservoir; K, supports.
It will thus be seen that the power is obtained from the endless chain of
buckets, the size and number of which can be regulated to meet the force
required, the machine being first set in motion by filling the .buckets C, their
weight being sufficient to raise water to supply. the top bucket as the lower
one empties itself, a surplus of power remaining to drive a machine..
By means of my system a small water supply can be. made as serviceable
as a powerful running stream, the only outlay required being for the con-
struction of the machine.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is, the herein-before set forth arrangement of water wheel
also represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Charles Henderson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
A. C. HENDERSON.
(L.S.).