CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PADDLE WHEELS
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
VINT, of Lexden, in the Borough of Colchester, in the County of Essex,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Ninth day of July, (One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
five,) in the sixth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Vint, His especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry Vint, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Vint, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PADDLE
WHEELS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the
said Henry Vint, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled
in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Vint, do hereby declare that the nature of my said invented improve-
ments in paddle wheels consists in the employment of moveable float boards,
each turning on a separate axis, so placed that there shall always be a larger
portion of the float board on one side of the axis than on the other, and in
the attaching of certain shackle bars or bridle rods to the said float boards,
by which united means the float boards shall always enter, pass through, and
emerge from water in those positions best suited to the obtaining of a pro-
pulsive force therefrom, and with very little disturbance at the same time of
the floating medium. And I declare that the manner in which the said
improvements are to be performed is fully shown in the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and by the following description thereof (that is to say):-
Figure 1 represents a side sectional view, and Figure 2 a transverse section,
of a paddle wheel constructed according to the aforesaid improvements, and
which, from the peculiar nature thereof, I propose to designate the bridle paddle
wheel. A is a framework of the usual form; B, the main shaft, also of the
usual form; C, C, are float boards, which swing loosely on the minor shafts b, b,
by means of the collars D, D, which collars are placed at points distant about
one-third from the outer ends of the said float boards; E, E, are the shackle
bars or bridle rods herein-before alluded to. Each of these consists of five
parts, joined together by means of coupling links of any of the ordinary
forms. At one end it is attached by a pin joint to one of the arms of the
wheel, which are without any corresponding float boards, and at the other end
by a pin joint also to the inner extremity of the nearest adjacent float board.
The former of the pin joints must be placed at such a distance from the outer
periphery of the wheel, that when the shackle bar or bridle rod attached to it
is in a full state of tension, the float board which it governs shall as it is about
to enter the water form an angle with the centre of the main axis not
exceeding twenty-five degrees. Each of the coupling joints, as also each of
the end pin joints, must be of such dimensions as to allow of the parts of the
shackle bar or bridle rod playing freely therein. When a wheel thus con-
structed is made to revolve in the direction of the arrows, Figure 1, the float
boards continue at the angle at which they enter the water till they arrive
at the point of deepest immersion, or nearly so, when they are of course in
or near a vertical position; immediately after passing which the downward
pressure of the water on the larger and heavier portion of each float board
causes it to tilt over and emerge end wise from the water with the smaller end
uppermost. And though I have in the Drawings hereto annexed and before

page_text: described, represented the float boards as each swinging on an axis placed at
about a distance of one-third from the outer extremity thereof, I declare I
do not confine myself to that particular distance, but that the same may be
hung at any distance less than one half, which will produce the preponderating
effect before described.
And I also declare, that, instead of shackle bars or bridle rods, such as are
shown in the said Drawings, consisting of five parts, shackle bars of any
number of parts, as also chains, cables, and other analogous mechanical
expedients, may be made use of, though the former are what I consider to be
the moss eligible means of accomplishing the object of my said invented
improvements.
And I further declare that I do not claim any of the parts of the paddle
wheel represented in the annexed Drawings and herein-before described which
are already known or in common use, except in so far as the same are nearly
combined, and in their new combination or combinations productive of a useful
result.
And what I particularly claim as my said Invention is, the hanging of the
float boards of paddle wheels from axes placed at unequal distances from the
extremities thereof, in conjunction with the mode of controuling and regu-
lating the motion of the float boards, by attaching to the said float boards
shackle bars or bridle rods, both as fully shewn in the Drawings and description
aforesaid.
And such my invented improvements being, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, entirely new, and never before used within that part of His said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His
said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe that this
my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or
disguise with the said proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Vint, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
HENRY (L.S.) VINT.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid Henry Vint came before our said Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute mad for that purpose.
Land One thousand