IMPROVEMENTS IN TURBINE WATER WHEELS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
-
Lake & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TURBINE WATER WHEELS." — A
communication from abroad by Elisha Pierpont Hayden Capron, of
Hudson New York United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th April 1871.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TURBINE WATER
WHEELS," a communication, to be as follows:—
This Invention relates to certain improvements in turbine water
wheels of the kind known as the inward flow turbine wheel, in which
the water is admitted through a neck or inlet on one side of the case,
or scroll which encloses the wheel, and after having exerted its pro-.

page_text: pelling action upon the buckets or floats of the wheel, is discharged
through an opening or outlet at the centre of the wheel, the latter being
placed in a horizontal position and secured to a vertical shaft.
In the particular form of turbine wheel to which my improvements
are chiefly applicable and are intended to be applied, the shaft to which
the wheel is secured is without a hub, that is to say, it is without any
covering on that portion thereof which passes through the wheel, its
lower end is supported by and rotates upon a step located underneath
the case or scroll which encloses the wheel, and secured to the frame
and pillars which support the said case or scroll, the wheel consists of
two circular discs of equal diameter, secured to the vertical shafts by
means of tripods or spiders which are keyed to the shafts; between
these discs are located and secured the buckets or floats, at the centre of
each of these discs is a circular opening through which the water is
discharged after having spent its force, the diameter of each opening being
about one-third of the diameter of each disc.
My improvements are thrcc in number, and, as before stated, arc
intended to be applied to a wheel of the kind above described.
The first of these improvements, consists in making the buckets or
floats separate from the discs, and detachable for the purpose of allowing
them to be polished before being inserted in the wheel, so as to reduce
or diminish friction, and also for the purpose of allowing them to be
removed from the wheel and replaced by others, in case they should be
accidently broken.
Hitherto the ordinary method of constructing the discs and buckets of
turbine wheel of this description has been to cast the buckets either
solid with the discs or clse in sections, one half of the buckets being
cast with the upper disc, and the other half with the lower disc, in
which case the buckets could not be polished, and if one of such buckets
should be broken the disc to which it was attached together with all
the other buckets forming that section were rendered useless and must
be replaced.
But by my improved method of constructing the buckets and
attaching them to the wheel, they may be polished before being inserted
into the wheel, by which means a considerable amount of friction is
avoided, and a corresponding economy of power is effected, and in case
one of them should be accidently broken it may be readily and easily.

page_text: replaced by another, without rendering it necessary to discard any of the
other buckets or either of the discs.
According to my improved method of constructing the buckets, each
of them is provided, both on its upper and also on its lower edge with
a V-shaped flange or head, which flanges fit into corresponding grooves
made to receive them on the upper and lower discs, and the said buckets
are secured in their position in the wheel by means of screw bolts
passing through the discs into the bucket. These buckets are polished
upon that side on which the water impinges for the purpose of reducing
the friction occasioned by the water impinging on their surface.
The second of these improvements consists in the combination with
the gate and inlet to the scroll of the moveable or detachable cap or
cover to the inlet of the scroll, for the purpose of securing ready and
convenient access to the gate, and so that the gate may be removed
when it needs repairs, and after having been repaired may be fitted in
again, or a new gate may be fitted in, without either removing the
wheel from the case, or detaching the case from the water box or
flume.
Another advantage of this improvement is that obstructions such as
sticks or pieces of grass or the like, which may find their way into the
case or scroll may be easily removed therefrom without loss of time, and
without detaching any of the adjuncts of the wheel, except the detach-
able cover which may readily be removed, at it is fastened to the case
by means of screw bolts.
The third of these improvements consists in the combination with
the buckets of a turbine wheel having no hub on its shaft, of semi-
conical hollow flanges, corresponding in number to the number of
buckets in the wheel, and made in the form of an half dome.. These
flanges are located near the inner periphery of the upper and lower
disc, that is to say, on that portion of the wheel where the water is
discharged after having spent its force, and they are for the purpose
of continuing the propelling action of the water after it, leaves the
buckets, and also for the purpose of assisting the free escape. or discharge
of the water immediately after it has spent its force. In order to do
this two of these flanges, one upon the upper disc and the other upon
the lower disc, are located at the inner end of each bucket, so that they
receive the water into their base as it leaves the bucket, and thus the
propelling action of the water is continued after 'it leaves the bucket;

page_text: by reason of its impinging on the sides of the said flanges. And these
flanges in connection with the shaft having no hub also serve to insure
the free discharge of the water from the wheel as soon as its propelling
action has ceased.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrec
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, usc,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN TURBINE WATER WHEELS," a communication to me from
abroad by Elisha Pierpont Hayden Capron, of Hudson, New York,
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said. William Robert Lake, 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings and to the letters and Figures marked thereon, that is to
say :-
The said Invention relates to certain improvements in turbine water
wheels of the kind known as the inward flow turbine wheel in which the
water is admitted through a neck or inlet on one side of the case or
scroll which encloses the wheel, and after having spent or exerted
its propelling action upon the buckets or floats of the wheel is dis-
charged through an opening or outlet in the centre of the wheel, the
latter being placed in a horizontal position and secured to a vertical
shaft.
In the particular form of turbine wheel to which my improvements
are chiefly applicable, and are intended to be applied, the shaft to which
the wheel is secured is without a hub, that is to say, it is without
any covering on that portion thereof which passes through the wheel,
and its lower end is supported by and rotates upon a step located under-
neath the case or scroll which encloses the wheel, and secured to the
frame and pillars which support the said case or scroll, and the wheel
consists of two circular discs of equal diameter secured to the vertical
shaft before mentioned by means of tripods or spiders which are keyed
to the said shaft, and between these discs are located and secured the
buckets or floats. At the centre of each of these discs is a circular
opening through which the water is discharged after having spent its
force, the diameter of cach opening being about one-third of the diameter
of each disc.
My improvements are three in number, and as before stated, are
intended to be applied to a wheel of the kind above described.
The first of these improvements consists in making the buckets or
floats separate from the discs and detachable for the purpose of their
admitting of being polished before being inserted into the wheel, so as to
reduce or diminish friction, and also for the purpose of their admitting
of being removed from the wheel and replaced by others in case they
should be accidentally broken.
Hitherto the ordinary method of constructing the discs and buckets of
a wheel of this description has been to cast the buckets either solid with
the discs or else in sections, one half of the bucket being cast with the
upper disc, and the other half with the lower disc, in which case the
buckets could not be polished, and if one of such buckets should bo

page_text: broken the disc to which it was attached, together with all the other
buckets forming that section, were rendered useless and must be re-
placed.
But by my improved method of constructing the buckets and
attaching them to the wheel they may be polished before being inserted
into the wheel, by which means a considerable amount of friction is
avoided, and a corresponding economy of power is effected, and in case
one of them should be accidentally broken it may be readily and easily
replaced by another without rendering it necessary to discard any of the
other buckets, or either of the discs.
According to my improved method of constructing the buckets cach
of them is provided both in its upper and also on its lower edge with a
flange or bead, which said flanges fit into corresponding grooves made
to receive them on the upper and lower discs, and the said buckets are
secured in their position in the wheel by means of tap screw bolts
which pass through the discs into the edges of the buckets. These
buckets are polished on that side upon which the water impinges, for the
purpose of reducing the friction occasioned by the water impinging on
their surface.
The second of these improvements consists in the combination with
the gate and inlet to the scroll of a movable or detachable cap or cover
to the inlet to the scroll for the purpose of securing ready and con-
venient access to the gate, and so that the gate may be removed when it
needs repairs, and after having been repaired may be fitted in again or a
new gate may be fitted in without either removing the wheel from the
case or detaching the case from the water box or flume.
And another advantage of this improvement is that obstructions such
as sticks, or pieces, or grass, or similar obstructions which may find their
way into the case or scroll may be easily removed therefrom without loss
of time and without detaching any of the adjuncts of the wheel, except
the movable cover, which latter may be readily removed as it is fastened
to the case by means of screw bolts,
The third of these improvements consists in the combination with the
buckets of a turbine wheel having no hub on its shaft of" semi-conical
hollow flanges corresponding in number to the number of buckets in
the wheel and made in the form of a half dome. These flanges are
located upon
the inner periphery of the upper and lower discs, that is to
say, on that portion of the wheel where the water is discharged after

page_text: having spent its force, and are for the purpose of continuing the pro-
pelling action of the water after it leaves the buckets, and also for the
purpose of assisting the free escape or discharge of the water immediately
after it has spent its force. In order to accomplish this a pair of these
flanges, one upon the upper disc and the other upon the lower disc, are
located at the inner end of each bucket, so that they receive the water
into their base as it leaves the bucket, and thus the propelling action
of the water is continued after it leaves the bucket by reason of its
impinging on the sides of the said flanges. And these flanges, in con-
nection with the shaft, having no hub also serve to insure the free
discharge of the water from the wheel as soon as its propelling action
upon the same has ceased.
In order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose 1
shall refer to the several Figures in the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
throughout all the Figures.
Fig. 1 of the Drawings represents a plan view of my improved
wheel with the detachable cover removed; Fig. 2 is a transverse
vertical section of the same; Fig: 3 is a plan view of the detachable
cover; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the upper side of the lower disc showing
the upper edges of the buckets; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the under side
of the upper disc; Fig. 6 is a side clevation of one of the buckets,
showing the side upon which the water impinges, and Fig. 7 is an
elevation of the reverse side of the same.
A in the Drawings represents the case or scroll within which is fitted
and works the wheel B. This case is made in the ordinary manner,
excepts as regards the neck or inlet, and is supported and held in position
by the columns C, C. The wheel proper B consists of two circular
discs E and E, and the buckets or floats D, D, D, which latter are
secured in a vertical position between the said discs in manner hercin-
after described. At the centre of each disc is a circular opening for
discharging the water, whose diameter is about one-third of that of the
disc. These discs are secured to the vertical shaft F by means of curved
arms or spiders G, G, G, which are keyed to the shaft F, and on the
inner periphery of cach disc at the discharge I provide hollow semi-
conical flanges b, b, b, made in the form of a half dome, and corresponding
in number to the number of buckets, which said flanges receive the

page_text: water as it leaves the inner ends of the buckets D, so that the water is
caused to continue its propelling action upon the wheel after it leaves
the buckets and up to the moment that it is discharged by reason of its
impinging upon the sides of the said flanges, and as the shaft F has no
hub no obstruction is presented to the free and immediate discharge of
the water as soon as it has spent its force. H represents the neck or
inlet to the scroll through which the water is conducted to the wheel,
near the outer end of which is located and secured the gate I, which
latter is for the purpose of regulating the flow of water to the wheel, and
is secured to the vertical shaft J by means of which the said gate is
opened and closed. The upper-portion H₁of the said neck immediately
over the gate I make separate and detachable, so as to secure ready and
convenient access to the gate and to the interior of the scroll for the
purposes herein-before mentioned. This detachable cover H' is fitted
closely to the neck or inlet, and held in position by means of screw bolts,
so that it may be readily removed if the gate needs repairs or obstructions
find their way into the scroll. The buckets or floats D, as already stated,
I make separate from the discs and detachable, and both on the upper
and lower edge of each I provide a V shaped flange or bead c, cither
continuous throughout the length of the bucket or otherwise in sections.
These flanges c fit closely into the grooves d, d, d, on the upper and
lower discs, and the buckets are secured in position by means of screw
bolts which pass through the discs and into the edges of the buckets,
and prevent the latter working longitudinally. On the upper and
lower edges of the buckets are fillets f,ff, for the purpose of avoiding
friction incident to sharp angles. K is a step upon which the shaft F is
supported and rotates; L is the spider or tripod that supports the shaft
above the case; m, m, m, represent bolt holes in the discs through
which the ends of the bolts pass that hold the buckets in position,
and n, n, n, represent, the holes in the edges of the buckets into which
the said bolts enter.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
soid Invantion and the mannow in which the come in an may be comial

page_text: that the said buckets may be readily put in position or removed,
substantially as herein shown and described and for the purposes set
forth.
Secondly. The moveable or detachable cap H' in combination with
the gate I, and neck or inlet to the scroll H, substantially as hercin
shown and described and for the purposes herein set forth.
Thirdly. The hollow flanges b in combination with the buckets D of a
turbine wheel having no hub on its shaft, substantially as herein shown
and described and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whercof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
one.
5 Witness,
EDWARD C. JACKSON.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)