IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING POWER BY WATER
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Waller Burrell, of Fareham, in the County
of Hants, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING POWER BY WATER."-A communication from
12
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PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Waller Burrell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st March 1856.
I, THOMAS WALLER BURRELL, of Fareham, in the County of Hants, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING POWER BY WATER," to be as follows:-
Ever since attention has been paid to the construction of overshot horizontal
water wheels, used as a motive power, called turbines, many endeavors have
been made to establish the system of regulating the openings for the flow and
stoppage of water through them, which is a matter of the greatest importance,
owing to the varying ebbs and flows of streams; but of all the arrangements
which have been brought forward up to the present time, there are, it is
believed, none that can fulfil this indispensable condition. By the present
Invention this problem is solved in the most complete and satisfactory manner.
The principle on which the new system is founded consists in opening or
shutting the various compartments of the water escapements independently of

page_text: each other, hence as many openings may be closed as may be considered
Decessary to correspond with the volume of water to be supplied, and at any
time a greater or less number can be closed. The mechanism by which it is
proposed to work these valves or stoppages is of a construction extremely
simple and very economical, and has the merit of being able to be used with
great facility. The openings of the wheel have a greater width than the
supply openings, in order to leave a free passage for air. The number of
escapements is greater than the number of openings of the revolving wheel;
thus, for a turbine which is intended to have thirty or thirty-two openings,
forty or forty-four divisions are made for the escapements. This arrangement
has the merit of distributing better the volume of water over the whole cir-
cumference of the turbine, and of obtaining, in consequence, a more useful
effect. The stops or valves are adjusted against the vertical sides of the
several openings or escapements in open grooves, so as to slide up and down,
and are provided each with an ear fastened to upright rods, which are each.
fixed to a rim by means of a nut on the under side, and a pin on the upper
surface, which pin cap be taken out and put in at pleasure. By this arrange-
ment any of the several openings may be closed by taking out one or several
of the pins. The rim to which the valve rods are connected is raised or
lowered for stopping or setting the turbine in motion by means of mechanism,
consisting of screw shafts, which work through female screws in the rim, and
the several screw shafts are put into action simultaneously by an endless chain
and chain wheels on the screws; hence, by giving motion to one screw axis
by a crank handle and suitable gearing; motion is given equally to all the
screw shafts, and the rim is raised or lowered as required, together with all
the valve rods for the time attached thereto.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Waller Burrell in the Great Seal Patent Office on'
the 30th September 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL, COME, I, THOMAS S
COM
WALLER BURRELL, of Fareham, in the County of Hants, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight, hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her. 85

page_text: .reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Waller Burrell, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Waller Burrell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
.I, the said Thomas Waller Burrell, 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
." IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING POWER BY WATER," a communi-
cation from Messrs. Mesuier and Cheneval, of Pontoise, France, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Waller Burrell, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
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 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 Thomas Waller Burrell, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
Ever since attention has been paid to the construction of overshot horizontal
water wheels, used as a motive power, called turbines, many endeavours have
been made to establish the system of regulating the openings for the flow and
stoppage of water through them, which is a matter of the greatest importance,
owing to the varying ebbs and flows of streams; but of all the arrangements
which have been brought forward up to the present time, there are, it is
believed, none that can fulfil this indispensable condition. By the present
Invention this problem is solved in the most complete and satisfactory manner.
The principle on which the new system is founded consists in opening or
shutting the various compartments of the water escapements independently
of each other, hence as many openings may be closed as may be considered
necessary to correspond with the volume of water to be supplied, and at any
time a greater or less number can be closed. The mechanism by which it is
proposed to work these valves or stoppages is of a construction extremely
simple and very economical, and has the merit of being able to be used with
great facility. The openings of the wheel have a greater width than the supply
openings, in order to leave a free passage for air. The number of escapements
is greater than the number of openings of the revolving wheel; thus, for a

page_text: turbine which is intended to have thirty or thirty-two openings, forty or forty-
four divisions are made for the escapements. This arrangement has the merit
of distributing better the volume of water over the whole circumference of the
turbine, and of obtaining, in consequence, a more useful effect. The stops or
valves are adjusted against the vertical sides of the several openings or escape-
ments in open grooves, so as to slide up and down, and are provided each with
an ear fastened to upright rods, which are each fixed to a rim by means of a
nut on the under side and a pin on the upper surface, which pin can be taken
out and put in at pleasure. By this arrangement any of the several openings
may be closed by taking out one or several of the pins. The rim to which
the valve rods are connected is raised or lowered for stopping or setting the
turbine in motion by means of mechanism, consisting of screw shafts, which
work through female screws in the rim, and the several screw shafts are put
into action simultaneously by an endless chain and chain wheels on the screws;
hence, by giving motion to one screw axis by a crank handle and suitable
gearing, motion is given equally to all the screw shafts, and the rim is raised
or lowered as required, together with all the valve rods for the time attached
thereto.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a plan of a turbine with the upper parts removed; Figure 2
shows a plan of the upper parts of the apparatus used for acting on the
slides, valves, or stops; Figure 3 is a vertical section of the whole apparatus;
Figure 4 shows a vertical section of part of the turbine, with valves, slides,
or stops, on a larger scale; and Figures 5 and 6 show a vertical 'section and
plan of the apparatus on a larger scale, the several parts in the Figures being
marked with the same letters of reference.
K, K, is the revolving wheel of the turbine, having numerous passages
through it, as is clearly shown at Figure 4; the partitions which divide the
circumference of the wheel into passages being curved at their upper parts and
inclined at their lower parts; and these passages or escapements through the
circumference K are, as before stated, more numerous than the passages into
them. C is a fixed ring, with passages or openings, by which the water is
permitted to pass into the wheel K. The fixed ring C is divided by inclined
partitions, as shown at Figure 4, to each of which there is a valve, slide, or
stop A, which closes or regulates the quantity of opening for the passage of
water into the revolving wheel. In Figure 4 the slide or valve 1 is lifted to

page_text: its highest position, and consequently the water passage at that point is fully
open to the escapement passages in the wheel K. The valves or stops 2, 3,
are shown to be closed, and the valves or stops 4, 5, 6, are partially open.
Each valve or stop has its rod F, the upper end of which passes through the
rim D, and such upper end of each rod is formed with a screw, and has a
screw nut, by means of which when the rim D is lifted the rods F are lifted;
and the rods F have also each a pin through them over the rim D, hence
when the rim is lowered the whole of the valves or stops are pressed down-
wards in their guiding grooves, formed in the sides of the ring or circular
opening C. The revolving wheel K is fixed to the hollow axle L, which, by
its connexion with the upper part N, rests on and turns in the hollow at the
top of the upright shaft or axis M, as is shown by the Drawings. The hollow
shaft L works within a hollow fixed casing Q, Q, which is made water-tight
to protect the revolving shaft L. The rim D is raised and lowered by the
mechanism at the upper part, which is put in motion by the crank handle E,
by means of the pinion E¹, on its axis taking into and driving the wheel G, on
the axis of which is a chain wheel, by which an endless chain T is put in
motion, and such chain gives motion to two other chain wheels. B, B, are
the frames carrying the axes of the chain wheels, and these axes at their lower
parts are formed into screws, which take into female screws formed in blocks
or nuts on the rim D.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the precise details; but what
I claim is the combination herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Waller Burrell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
o Witness,
WILL F. BURRELL,
THOMAS WALLER BURRELL. (L.S.)
Sol, Gosport, Hants.