AN IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Mills, of Theale House, Slinfold, Horsham, in the
County of Sussex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Mills at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th June 1877.
ROBERT MILLS, of Theale House, Slinfold, near Horsham, in the County of
Sussex. "AN IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE."
According to this Invention I arrange a water tank, say, capable of holding five
hundred gallons of water, against the upper part of a water wheel, and under the
latter I place another tank. From the aforesaid wheel I actuate a chain or
bucket pump, or other water-lifting appliance, which raises the water again from
the lower tank to the upper one.
By the above means with a flow of water of, say, of two hundred and fifty gallons
per minute, and a water wheel of 27 feet in diameter, motive power equal to that
given by a 27 horse-power engine can be obtained.
The power necessary to raise such an amount of water from the lower tank to
the upper one will be under five-horse power.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Robert Mills in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th December
1877.
ROBERT MILLS, of Theale House, Slinfold, near Horsham, in the County of
Sussex. IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE."
"
According to this Invention I arrange a water tank, say, capable of holding 500
gallons of water, against the upper part of a water wheel, and under the latter I
place another tank. From the aforesaid wheel I actuate a chain or bucket pump,
or other water-lifting appliance, which raises the water from the lower tank to the
upper one.
By the above means with a flow of water of, say, eighteen hundred gallons per
minute, and a water wheel 27 feet in diameter, motive power equal to that given by
a 27 horse-power engine can be obtained.
The power necessary to raise such an amount of water from the lower tank to
the upper one will be about 18 horse power.
And in order to explain my Invention more fully I will now proceed to describe
the same with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is an elevation of a machine constructed according to my said Invention.
Figure 2, a plan of the upper tank.
A represents the water-lifting apparatus having an endless chain a, to which is
attached buckets b; B, C, are tanks, that marked B being fixed above the water
wheel D, and that marked C below the same; c is a band passing round the
pulleys d, c, for driving the intermediate shaft E; e¹ is a band driving the pulley F
on the upper shaft G; and fis another band passing round the pulley g to the shaft
that it is desired to work.
The action of a machineconstructed as above is as follows:-The upper tank B
being first filled with water, which will pass out by the trough h and work the
water wheel, and by the intervention of the pulleys d, e, will raise the buckets b
filled with water from the lower tank C and discharge themselves into the upper
tank at i, thus keeping the said tank continually supplied with water so as to keep
the water wheel in motion.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention for "An Improved Motive-
power Engine" and the means of carrying the same into effect, I would remark in
conclusion that what I claim as my Invention and desire to secure by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is the general arrangement of water-lifting
apparatus in combination with a water wheel for obtaining motive power, substan-
tially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Mills, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven
ROBT. MILLS. (L.S.)