IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER MILL MACHINERY
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 16, Castle
Street, Holborn (City), London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER MILL MACHINERY."-A communication.
Sealed the 12th December 1854, and dated the 17th June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th June 1854.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn
(City), London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER MILL MACHINERY" to be as follows:-
My improved water mill consists of two endless chains carrying buckets or
paddles. These endless chains roll on a suitable number of sprocket or toothed
wheels, turning on shafts, which act as driving shafts; the buckets being acted
upon by a stream or fall of water, or else in any suitable way, and the power
thus obtained being transmitted by universal joints, bevel gear, or by any other
suitable means. When the machinery is driven by a river it has to be carried
on boats, anchored by the side of and secured to each other, so as to leave
sufficient space for the chain to pass.
One or more of the wheels carrying the chain may also be put in motion by
a common water wheel, for the purpose of taking the strain off the chain.

page_text: The paddles or buckets roll also, by means of suitable brackets and rollers,
on railways, fixed along the chains on the top and under side, so as to carry
part of the weight, and prevent the paddles from being made to incline by the
impulse of the water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 12th December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. I. AUGUSTE
EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn (City), London,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, Her special licence that I, the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my execu-
tors, 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 WATER MILL MACHINERY,"
a communication, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
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:-
This improved water mill machinery relates to the parts for taking up the
motive power
from the water in motion, and consists of two or more parallel
endless chains carrying buckets or paddles. These endless chains receive a

page_text: longitudinal motion, by means of sprocket or toothed wheels keyed on shafts,
that act as driving shafts to the mill, the buckets being acted upon by a
stream or fall of water. When the improved machinery is driven by a river,
it has to be carried on boats, anchored by the side of and secured to each
other, so as to leave sufficient space between them for the chains and
paddles to pass. One or more of the wheels carrying the chains may also
be set in motion by a common water wheel, for the purpose of taking the
strain off.
The paddles or buckets also roll, by means of suitable brackets and rollers,
on railways, fixed along the chains at the top and lower edge of the boats, so
as to carry part of the weight, and prevent the paddles from being made to
incline by the impulse of the water. The improved water-mill machinery is
represented in longitudinal elevation at Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawing,
and in plan (partly broken) at Fig. 2. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are detached views of
details of construction. The same letters of reference stand for like parts on
this Drawing. A, A, are endless and flexible chains, of metal or any other
suitable substance; these chains are parallel, and carry the buckets or paddles
B, B, fixed perpendicular on them. D, D, D, are three shafts, over which the
chains do pass; E, E, E, are wheels, having projections or teeth on which the
chains A, A, look; F, F, F, are the bearings for the shafts D, D, D, which are
laid down across two boats, pontoons, or caissons G, G, that are connected by
two or more stays H, H, and are moored, so as to resist the current of water,
by means of anchors or other fastenings. This current, by acting on the
paddles B, B, imparts to the chains a progressive motion, which, by means of
the toothed wheels E, is communicated to the shafts D. The motive power
that is thus taken up may be transmitted by any of the mechanical means
known, such as by a Hooke's universal joint, as shewn at Fig. 3, and thus
flour mills, spinning mills, or any other factories may be driven. I, I, Figs. 1
& 2, are paddle wheels that are fixed on the middle shaft; these wheels are
intended to facilitate the motion of the chain. Fig. 4 shews a piece of wood
K, which carries a railway for supporting the weight of the chain, by means of
rolling casters. Fig. 5 shews iron pieces L, which carry two rollers, fixed to
the paddles, for preventing them being thrown back by the pressure of the
water. It is obvious that the chains may be made longer or shorter, as
circumstances may require. This machinery may also be used under a water-
fall, or with a mill-race, the same as in a river.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be or may be performed, I wish it to be understood that
what I claim as being novel, and secured to me by the herein-before in part

page_text: recited Letters Patent is, the application of flexible chains or cables set with
paddles of any suitable shape to giving motion-to-water-mill machinery, sub-
stantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of December, in the
year of our Lord 1854.
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)