An Improved Adjustable Lock and Weir.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Apr., 1889
Complete Specification Left. 27th Sept., 1889-Accepted, 2nd Nov., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Adjustable Lock and Weir.
I, ALEXANDER FARQUHARSON FOWLER, of 1 Melbourne Street, York, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
The object of my invention is the canalisation of rivers or the retention of water
in docks or reservoirs.
I employ a series of shutters hinged to a suitable fixture in the river bed, supported
on the upper side by girders which are supported, adjusted and manipulated at the
ends by chains from hydraulic rams, engines, or other motive power, the end of the
girders working in a groove or grove in the masonry of the abutments, the lines of
shutters being in two series placed at suitable distances apart for the purpose of
passing vessels through, the shutters can be lowered and raised as required and are
adjustable to any height.
Culverts are provided for the purpose of filling or emptying the intermediate space
between the shutters.
Or the shutters may be operated from a shaft fixed to masonry at the bottom of the
river.
JOHN E. WALSH,
Royal Exchange Chambers, Boar Lane, Leeds, Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Adjustable Lock and Weir.
I, ALEXANDER FARQUHARSON FOWLER, of 1 Melbourne Street York, Civil
Engineer, 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 :-―
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"
Fig. 1, is an elevation of abutments showing my invention applied.
Fig. 2, is a view of casting employed for maintaining the girder normal to the
shutters.
Fig. 3, is an elevation of steel frame or rib showing planks bolted thereto.
Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are detail views.
In carrying out the object of my invention I employ two series of shutters formed
of grooved and tongued timber planks A, or other suitable materials such as wrought
iron, cast iron or steel plates. The aforementioned timber planks being, preferably,
of pine wood, or of oak, or the lower classes of material or timber may be substituted
therefor, provided that such have been subjected to some preserving process such as
Creosoting," in order to better enable them to withstand the action of the water.
The said timber planks or other materials as aforesaid are bolted on to upright
frames or ribs B made of steel, iron, or of such wood as before mentioned. The
frames or ribs B are hinged at the bottom C to suitable castings D fixed to the
apron or floor E, and the said frames or ribs B are supported at or towards the upper
extremity by a girder F composed of steel or iron plates or bars, or wooden trusses
and iron tie rods.
The said girder F is hinged on to each frame or rib by means of attachments or

page_text: hinges made of steel, wrought or cast iron, and which are bolted or rivetted on to
the top boom or top of the girder, and when operated work similar to an ordinary
hinge.
The aforesaid girder F is guided at the extremities by means of an iron casting G
recessed into the stonework of the abutments H. The said casting being in the form
of a circular groove J and of a radius described from the centre C of the foot-
castings D, and is intended to maintain the girder normal to the face of the shutters
whatever the inclination of the latter may be.
The casting G is also fitted with a number of steel keys K attached to a wrought
iron or steel rod L, by turning the said rod the keys are thrown in or out of
corresponding grooves M in the casting and afford the means of supporting the
girder against the pressure of the shutters. The girders F are lifted at each end
by means of swivelling bars N connected to the top of the end frames of the girder
and fitted at the other end with an iron or steel pulley P round which the lifting
chains or ropes R are passed from lifting pulleys S and T.
The improved lock or weir further consists of two abutments of masonry, concrete
or wood, placed at suitable intervals apart and provided with culverts V by means of
which the level of the waters between the shutters can be raised or lowered.
Further. To provide additional or alternative means of holding the shutters against
the pressure of the water, steel or iron rods or chains W are fixed at one end of the
upstream side of the vertical steel frames or ribs and are passed under and round iron
or steel pulleys X holted on to the masonry of the apron E. One chain is fastened
to every frame or every alternate frame and these series of chains are in turn fixed
to a main chain running parallel with the shutters and manipulated by winch power
or other motor on the abutments.
The following is the nature and order of the operations necessary in using the lock
or weir.
To pass a vessel downstream.
The downstream shutter only is in a vertical position. The vessel is swung into
the space formed by the two shutters and securely moored across the stream to
moorings on the abutments.
The upstream shutter is then raised by means of the lifting chains and secured in
the required position by the keys in the circular groove.
The culverts are opened and the water between the shutters lowered to the level of
the downstream water, the downstream shutters are then let down to the river bed
and the vessel passed out.
In passing a vessel upstream the operation is simply reversed.
The purposes of my said invention is to canalize a river without the necessity of
using a lock and ordinary weir, to be an improved method of weir where locks are
already provided, and further, to be an improved method of retaining the water in
docks, reservoirs or locks.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The construction or arrangement of lock and weir substantially as and for the
purposes shown and described.
2. The combination of the shutters, girders F and castings G substantially as and
for the purposes shown and described.
Dated this 12th day of September 1889.
JOHN E. WALSH,
Royal Exchange Chambers, Boar Lane, Leeds, Agent for the Applicant.