CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON PADDLE WHEELS
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ELIJAH
GALLOWAY, of Carter Street, Walworth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster;
the Seventeenth day of January, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
two, in the second year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Elijah Galloway, my exors, admors, and assigns, His special licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Elijah Galloway, my
exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all the British
Colonies, "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON PADDLE WHEELS;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said Elijah Galloway,
shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said
Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same,
relation 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
Elijah Galloway, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in constructing paddle wheels on two axes or shafts,
such axes or shafts being set at an angle to each other, whereby the float
boards or paddles (which are set at an angle to their respective axes) are made
to approach each other as they enter the water and come into action for
propelling, and at the same time those paddles or float boards which are going
out of action recede from each other, and permit the water to pass between
them and leave the water edgewise.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood and carried into effect,
I will now describe the Drawing hereunto annexed, in which the same letters
of reference indicate similar parts in each of the Figures.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a side view of two paddle wheels placed on two axes
set at an angle to each other, according to my improvements. Figure 2 is an
edge view thereof, and Figure 3 shews the universal joint separately, which
connects the two shafts or axes of the paddle wheels. a and b are the two
paddle wheels. The axes or shaft c of the wheel a turns in bearings affixed
on the beam A, running from end to end of the paddle box; and the shaft
or axes d of the wheel 6 turns in bearings affixed to the beams f, f, also
running from end to end of the paddle box. I have not thought it necessary
to shew any part of the vessel to which these paddle wheels are to be affixed,
there being no variation from those already in use, excepting the additional
beams ff, which carry the second wheel b. The main shaft c, which carries
the wheel a, is that which receivos motion from the engine, and such motion
is communicated to the axes or shaft d by means of the universal joint which
connects the shafts c and d, and thus are the wheels a and b caused to turn
in the same direction, and there being the same number of paddles or float
boards on each of the paddle wheels, and their edges being opposite each other
when at the lowest point of the circle, the revolution of the wheels causes the
corresponding edges of the paddles or float boards on the wheels a and b to
approach each other as they enter the water and form two sides of a triangle
which hold the whole or greater portion of the water during the time they
are in a condition to give a beneficial propelling action; but when they would

page_text: tend to lift the water, the float boards recede from each other, and permit the
water to pass between them, and they of course at the same time leave
the water in a feathered or edgewise position, by being so fixed on the arms
of the wheel. The paddle wheels a and b are strongly affixed to their
respective shafts in a similar manner to those already in use in steam boats,
and the construction of the paddle wheels varies only from those most
generally used, inasmuch as the paddles or float boards are set at an angle.
to their respective axes or shafts; and the angle which I prefer for setting
the paddles or float boards, and also the angle for setting the shafts or
axes c and d, will be seen in the Drawing, though I do not confine myself to
those angles, as the same may be varied without departing from my Inven-
tion. Figure 3 shows the universal joint separately, by which its action will
be readily understood, and consequently the means of producing rotatory
motion to the shaft or axes d from the shaft or axes c, and a similar action
to the paddle wheels a and b. The connection or universal joint consists
of the arms or cross heads i, i, which are keyed to the end of the axes
or shaft d which carries the wheel b, and by means of the connecting
pieces or links j, j, which are connected (but allowed to turn) to the shaft c
by the pins k, k, which pass through the connecting piece j, j, at k, k, and the
connecting pieces j, j, are connected to the arms i, i, by the upper part of that
arm passing through the pieces j,j, at l, l, as shewn in the Drawing; by this
means, whatever motion is communicated to the axes or shafts c will at the
same time be communicated to the shaft or axes d, and the two wheels will
revolve in the same direction, and the edges of the corresponding float board
or paddles on the two wheels will be thereby brought to approach each other
as they enter the water, and recede from each other as they leave the water, as
above described, and thus each pair of corresponding float boards when they
are brought edge to edge act as one float board, and hold the water to produce
the propelling action, and afterwards, as they go out of action by receding from
each other, permit the water to pass between them, and come out edgewisc,
thus producing a feathering action, as above described.
I would observe that I am aware that paddles having the float boards or
paddles curved and set at an angle to the axes or shaft have been before used.
I do not, therefore, lay any claim as a novel Invention in using such paddle
wheels; but I do hereby declare my Invention to consist in applying two such
paddle wheels on two axes or shafts set at an angle to each other, whereby the
edges of the float boards or paddles are made to approach each other in
coming into action for propelling, and are caused to recede from each other as