An Improved Paddle or Water Wheel.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Oct., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 25th July, 1889-Accepted, 31st Aug., 1889
An Improved Paddle or Water Wheel.
I ROBERT BALLS HUGHES of 90 Oxford Gardens, Notting Hill, London, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to an improved construction of paddle wheel applicable also for
use as a water wheel.
The object of the invention is to simplify the construction and to enable the wheel
to work equally well either forwards or backwards, to enter and leave the water
quietly and freely without the use of the ordinary feathering gear and thereby to
economise power.
The invention consists in constructing the wheel with a continuous float or blade
running circularly around the wheel in an undulating or sinuous direction from side
to side of the wheel which is constructed of two or more circular side frames connected
together by diagonal and cross bars, the sinuous or undulating float or blade
extending to and fro from side to side between and being fixed to the said frames.
Dated this 25th day of October 1888.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Paddle or Water Wheel.
I, ROBERT BALLS HUGHES, of 90, Oxford Gardens, Notting Hill, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, 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:-
My Invention relates to an improved construction of paddle wheel, and has for its
object to enable the wheel to work under better conditions and particularly to ensure
a quieter entry and exit of the blade or float into and from the water and consequently
a decrease of vibration without the use of feathering gear, the operation of the paddle
being precisely the same when the action is reversed.
The Invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming part of this
specification; wherein figure 1 is a perspective view, figure 2 a face view, and
figure 3 an edge view, of the wheel, from which a general idea of the construction
may be formed.
This improved construction, which is also applicable to a water-wheel, consists in
substituting for the ordinary radial transverse floats or blades, a continuous annular
radial float or blade A running circularly around the wheel in an undulating or
sinuous direction, the undulations extending from one side of the wheel to the other,
or a lesser distance, according as the framework of the wheel is constructed of two
or more circular frames B fixed on the shaft C and connected together by suitable
diagonal and cross bars or bracings which are not shown in the drawing.
The sinuous or undulating float or blade may be constructed of metal, or wood
upon metal frames, and is bolted to the circular frames B between which it extends to
and fro, and it is suitably stayed at intermediate points by short stay rods bolted to it
and to the side frames B, or by a circumferential ring connecting all the undulations
together.
The wheel may comprise three or more frames B with two or more blades A
between them, the undulations of the blades preferably running in opposite directions
so as to act towards opposite sides, and by balancing each other, avoid lateral thrust
on the wheel

page_text: cularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is ;-
The herein described construction of a paddle or water wheel with one or more
continuous circular undulating blades or floats, the undulations extending to and fro
in the direction of the width of the wheel, as specified.
Dated this 24th day of July 1889.
R. B. HUGHES.