A NEW METHOD OF IMPELLING MACHINERY WITHOUT THE AID OF STEAM, WATER, WIND, AIR, OR FIRE
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LINTON, of Gloucester Street, Queen Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Mechanist, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George 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 Twenty-second day of December, One thousand eight hundred and twenty-
one, in the second year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said George
Linton, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said George Linton, my exors, admors,
and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF IMPELLING MACHINERY
WITHOUT THE AID OF STEAM, WATER, WIND, AIR, OR FIRE;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said George Linton,
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 inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six 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, shall 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
George Linton, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion by the following description thereof, and a manner in which the same may
be performed, by the Drawings and Figures annexed (that is to say):-
My said Invention doth consist in a vertical wheel moving by the laws of
gravity alone, such wheel being fixed on an axis, which axis is made to turn
easily in gudgeons for that purpose, and the periphery of which wheel is provided
with levers so constructed that by the mere revolution of the wheel they ex-
tend themselves to their greatest length, and obtain their greatest acting power
successively as they arrive by the rotative motion of the wheel at that position
where they become situated at the upper part of the lower quadrant of the
descending side of the wheel, and in which said last-mentioned position they
charge themselves with a weight at that extremity farthest from the axis; and
which said levers also cease to act as levers the moment they have passed
the lower part of the said quodrant, and being, carried up in an inactive state
with the ascending side of the wheel discharge the said weight when the said
weight arrives at some point above the level of the axis. And my said Inven-
tion doth also consist in causing the said weight, and others so discharged, to
return, by the laws of gravity alone, to the situation whence they were taken by
the levers before mentioned.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Before I proceed to describe the Figures in detail I will observe generally,
that the principle of my Invention being applicable to a series of vertical
wheels on one axis, as well as to a single vertical wheel, and a series of vertical
wheels being in my opinion preferable for the purpose of practically applying
my said Invention, I have in the Drawings annexed described the principles of my
said Invention, as applying to such a series as aforesaid. Fig. 1 is an end view
of a series of five vertical wheels; but the wheels being of the same size the
rim or periphery of one only is seen, while the levers attached to the whole are
visible. It will be necessary to explain Fig. 2 before the whole of Fig. 1 will
be clearly understood; but as the action of the levers will be best understood
by Fig. 1, I will proceed to explain that first, and this will perhaps be best done
by a reference to the lever A, which is represented in the act of falling from the
periphery of the wheel into a right line. The lever is composed of a series of
flat rods connected by ruler joints, which said ruler joints are provided with
a stop or joggle to prevent their collapting at any time more than will bring
any one of the rods which compose the levers at a right angle with the
rod next to it. This lever is attached to the periphery of the wheel by the

page_text: hinge joint b, being provided with the shoulder c, to prevent its falling into
any other than a right line from the centre of the circumference of the wheel.
From this arrangement it will be seen that when, by the rotary progress of the
wheel in the direction of the arrow R, the lever A has arrived at the situation
of the lever B, it will have obtained its greatest length from the axis of the
wheel, and consequently its greatest leverage power; as soon as the lever A has
arrived at the situation of the lever D the shoulder will cease to act against
the periphery of the wheel, and from the nature of the hinge joint by which it
is suspended will hang in a perpendicular position till it arrives at the situation
of the lever E, after which, from the nature and situation of the ruler joints
which unite the pieces of which it is formed, it will continue to fall in upon
the periphery of the wheel till it assumes the position of the lever F, and in
which position it will remain till it is carried round to that point, whence it
will again slip off the periphery of the wheel, in which act it is represented in
this Figure. The levers are furnished at their outer extremity with a bucket
or receiver, the bottom of which is sufficiently broad to retain the ball G;
at h is a small roller to. facilitate the delivery of the ball. The manner of
receiving this ball into the bucket and discharging it again shall now be
described. Immediately by the side of the wheel, and above the axis, is an
inclined plane supported on a framework, as represented by the light blue
lines; a number of balls are placed on this inclined plane, and kept from rolling.
off the end of the inclined plane H by means of a catch, herein-after described.
This catch is provided with a trigger, and the small point J on the lever
striking this trigger as it passes the end of the inclined plane, lifts up the catch
long enough to allow one ball to roll off into the bucket, when the catch falls
again, and prevents any more from following it till the next lever comes
round and strikes the trigger in like manner. The ball remains in the bucket
till the lever comes into the position of the lever F, when it will roll out of the
bucket on to the inclined plane, and by its own gravity roll to the balls at the
other end of the inclined plane, ready to be again taken into a bucket..
It should be observed here, that the stage. which supports the inclined plane
should not have any connection with the axis...Before I quit Fig. 1, I should
observe, that the uprights which supports the axis and the bearings in which the
ends of it work, are omitted,. in order not to confuse the Drawing, there being
nothing peculiar in their construction.
Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a series of five vertical wheels fixed on one
common axis; as before described. It will be.observed that the three centre
wheels are twice as broad as the two outer ones, the three centre wheels having
a double sett of levers; the buckets of one sett projecting to the right, and those

page_text: of the other sett to the left. K, K, K, K, are the inclined planes, being a kind.
of double trough, supported by the framework L, L, L, L, which in the
Drawing is not carried below the machinery for fear of confusing the Drawing..
M is a toothed wheel, to show at what point my Invention may be applied
practically to give motion to other machinery. N, N, N, are some of the
catches before mentioned, which move on a joint at P, and the weight of
which falling over and upon a part of the ball are sufficient to retain the ball
from rolling off the end of the inclined plane till the point J on the bucket, in
passing round, touches the trigger S, below the point P, which raises the catch,
aud the ball escapes, as before described, into the bucket. I have not deemed
it requisite to shew the catches to all the inclined planes, as it might have
confused the Drawing. Fig. 3 is a larger Drawing of the catch and trigger,
and represents the catch as lifted up by the point J, which is formed on to or
fixed to the bucket. Fig. 4 is a plan of my Invention, as represented by Fig. 2.
The number of balls should be sufficient to fill all the buckets, and indeed it
would be well always to keep a few more by way of surplus on the inclined
planes. The same letters refer to the same parts in all the Figures.
By way of general observation I will state, that to make my Invention work
with more delicacy and minuteness it would be well to introduce friction rollers
at every ruler joit, such friction rollers to roll on the surface of the perippery of
the vertical wheel, as also to have a slight spring under the first or innermost
joint of each lever to press it upwards, and thereby induce it the more ready to
be thrown off the vertical wheel when in the position of the lever A, Fig. 1.
It now only remains for me to describe how the vertical wheel or series of
wheels is to be set in motion. In the first place, then, I would observe, that if
none of the levers are purposely confined or obstructed in their action there
will always be a certain sett found in the positions represented in Fig. 1, or
nearly so. The vertical wheel or wheels must be restrained from turning
round; the inclined plane or planes must be charged with the balls, as before
described, and the laws of gravity being then allowed their natural course, by all
restraint being withdrawn from the vertical wheel or wheels, a continuous
motion will forthwith take place. Now my said Invention may be made of
any dimensions and of various proportions; it may be made also of metal or
wood, or any combination of such and the like substances as may be deemed
most expedient by the manufacturer. But such a vertical wheel as aforesaid
moving by the laws of gravity alone, and provided with levers which by the
mere revolution of the wheel extend themselves, act, and cease to act, as befor
described, charge themselves with and discharge weights, as herein-befor
also described; and which said weights, so discharged, return, by the laws o

page_text: GEORGE (L.S.) LINTON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of June,
in the year of our Lord 1822, the aforesaid George Linton 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 made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty coound der of June in the rear of our Lord O