CONSTRUCTING AND WORKING OF MILLS ON A PRINCIPLE AND IN A MANNER HITHERTO UNATTEMPTED IN THIS COUNTRY, AND AT MUCH LESS EXPENCE THAN ANY NOW IN USE; WITH THIS PECULIAR ADVANTAGE, THAT THE SITUATION FOR SUCH MILLS NEED NOT BE CONFINED TO ANY PARTICULAR SPOT
Year: 1794

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BRUCE DUNN, of the City of Dublin, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of June, in the thirty-fourth year of His
reign, did give and grant unto me, the said William Bruce Dunn, His
especial licence that I, the said William Bruce Dunn, 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 His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my art or Invention of
"CONSTRUCTING AND WORKING OF MILLS ON A PRINCIPLE AND IN A MANNER
HITHERTO UNATTEMPTED IN THIS COUNTRY, AND AT MUCH LESS EXPENCE THAN ANY
NOW IN USE; WITH THIS PECULIAR ADVANTAGE, THAT THE SITUATION FOR SUCH MILLS
NEED NOT BE CONFINED TO ANY PARTICULAR SPOT;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said William Bruce Dunn, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and scal, to cause a particular.description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within three
calendar months after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Bruce Dunn, do hereby declare that my said art or Invention of
working mills, &c, is described in manner following, that is to say :-
I moor or make fast in the stream; current, or tide, a flat, float, ship, or
vessel of the dimensions best suited to the work to be done in them. I put
one or two water wheels on each side of the flat, float, ship, or vessel so
anchored, moored, or made fast, of the diameter and breadth calculated to give
the greatest power and do the most work with the stream, current, or tide
there may be in the place. I join the wheels on the opposite sides by a
common axis, or each wheel may turn its own axis, for which purpose each
wheel has a distinct axis; but I join them together by a coupling box, so as to
make them a common axis and unite the powers; and to give steadiness, force,
and velocity to that power, I occasionally make the coupling boxes the center
of a loaded fly wheel, or I put on a fly wheel at the end of the axis of each
water wheel, leaving room for the coupling box. The water boards of the
water wheels may be set on the rim of the wheels, so as to let them at the
same moment touch the water and get into the current; but I prefer fixing
the water wheels on the axis, so as to make the water boards alternately dip
into the current; the motion will be more uniform. and steady, beside they
will. be easier brought out of the dead water by it; but I propose to get them
out of the dead water in a manner, I believe, hitherto anywhere unattempted.
Instead of fixing or nailing the water boards to supporters, as is now the prac-
tice, I fix them only to the rim of the water wheel by hinges of metal, leather,
or any other kind of substance, so that they rest on the supporters only when
in the current in the act of giving power. The moment they are out of the
current, and can give no more power, (on the contrary, take away from the
power of the boards that are in it by the dead or back water acting on them,)
but the moment it begins to act, they will play with it and get out of the
water without taking away any power, and when they have passed through it
will remain lying upon the rim of the wheel till they. begin to descend, when
they will fall down on their supporters. As the falling of the water boards on
their supporters may be attended with noise, to prevent it the supporters may
be muffled, or what is better, the water boards may be kept in. their proper
position by cords or chains from the rim of the wheel, or by hinges without
supporters, that will let them play in an angle of 45 degrees, or even as
much as 90 degrees; and if these boards are made in shape of a wedge, so
that when they fall over, the gravity acting upon the outer circle will
¿serve as a lever, and the water acting upon a greater surface at the end
of the boards, which is the extremity of the lever, what an acquisition is hereby

page_text: made. In river mills hitherto, the larger the wheels were and the more they
were sunk in the water, the less was their power, owing to the power of the
back water opposing itself to the power of the current; but that objection
being removed, the larger the wheel is, the more power I obtain, and the
deeper it is put into the water, the more also, by gaining fresh currents that
act continually on the extremity of my water boards. The great matter to be
considered here is, that, according to the diameter of my wheel and the number
of my water boards, I must so contrive the depth of the boards that one will
not take away the current from another; for if I make them too deep, or to
come too.near the axis, that part of the board that is nearest the axis, and.
consequently has less power, will take away the currents from the extreme
point of a board below it. Suppose the boards two feet deep, then if I take
away the power of the current acting upon a lever near two feet longer I lose
great power. It is evident that by removing the retarding force of back water
I make the current serve every purpose of a fall of water; for if I immerge.
my wheels two feet in the water, the power of the back water being destroyed,
I gain a power equal to a two-feet fall; if three feet, equal to three feet fall;
if six feet, equal to six feet fall, and so on; the axis of the water wheels,
supported by the sides of the vessel or nearer the centre, which must depend
on the breadth of the vessel, and turning on rollers so as to destroy as much
friction as possible. The stream of rivers or the influx and reflux of the tide
turns the wheels and sets the machinery within the vessel at work. I put into
these vessels every kind of mill work to grind and dress corn of all kinds, split
beans, pease, &c, crushed seeds, raise water, pump ships, drive piles, drudge
ballast, deepen rivers, remove sand banks, and every kind of machinery for
manufacturers and callanders of all kinds, and every species for the manu-
facture of gunpowder; they are invaluable, as it may be made in small vessels
that cost little at such a distance from one another that one cannot injure the
other, and therefore the risque of making it is nothing. I immerge my wheels
more or less in water, as I may find it necessary to gain a certain power, by
adding or diminishing. ballast. By putting in ballast, I sink the vessel, con-
sequently the wheels, to what depth I please. By diminishing my ballast, I
raise the vessel and bring the wheels out of the water when necessary, or I raise
the wheels out of the water by screwing up the box that contains the rollers.
In dead water, such as lakes or rivers, where there is little current, or in the
sea, by putting sails to the vessel I drive her forward, which will turn the
wheels and set the machinery at work; I pump her also at the same time, and
by putting horizontal wheels or upright cylinders at her sides, the current
passing by will turn. the wheels or cylinders and the machinery within, (which

page_text: is that now used for measuring distances by land with a little alteration,) so
that she grinds any kind of grain, pumps herself, keeps her own reckoner,
hawls in her anchor, boat, &c, loads and unloads by this power.
After obtaining the greatest natural power possible by adopting the cir-
cumference and breadth of the wheels to the current, and by immerging them
to their proper depth, I go on to get the greatest possible natural power in
this clement. First natural power: one water wheel between two vessels.
Second power: two water wheels, one on each side a vessel turning on
common axis. Third power: three water wheels; two vessels joined together,
one wheel between them and two on the opposite sides, all turning the same
axis. Fourth power: four water wheels; two on each side a vessel, or three
vessels joined together, a wheel between each, and two exterior wheels. Fifth
power five water wheels; four vessels joined together, a wheel between each,
and two exterior wheels. Sixth power: six water wheels; five vessels joined
together, one wheel between each, and two exterior wheels; in this manner I
proceed to get the greatest natural power. As a common axis in these cases
would be expensive and difficult, I make every water wheel depend on its
own axis, with coupling boxes to each, so that I can unite or disunite the whole
powers whenever I please; and as in some cases I make my coupling box
a loaded wheel, I give velocity, steadiness, and power to the whole. The first
power without my improvements in the water wheels, &c, is really worth
nothing; it will not pay the expence of erecting except in a torrent; but by my
improvements it may be made truly valuable. The second power is the one
on which the water mills on the Seine in Paris are constructed; it is both an
useful and a profitable one, and is that from which I took my idea. They
use flats about 16 feet broad, without a mast, and 60 feet long, with common
water wheel from 4 feet to 6 feet diameter and 3 feet broad; the current that
drives them runs from 4 to 5 miles an hour; they are not stationary, but seek
the strongest current. When they are improved by friction rollers, fly wheels,
and my improvements in the water wheels, they will be doubly valuable even
without my other improvements. In deep and rapid rivers, where the navi-
gation cannot be injured, old hulks of vessels that may be had for a trifle will
make excellent mills, and give room sufficient for any manufacture which is
.wanting in a single flat. This has been the groundwork of my plan. The other
powers are only enlarging on them, so as to give room for manufactures, and
to arrive at tho greatest possible natural power in this one element.
Having thus procured the greatest and cheapest of natural power in one
element, I proceed to get the cheapest and greatest natural power in another,
which is air, and by combining them together get the greatest possible power

page_text: these elements of air and water will yield. For this purpose I convert the mast
of my vessel into a flying one, and let it turn in a socket on rollers at the
bottom of the vessel, also in the ceiling, according to the weight of the mast
and the power I want to procure. I fix four or more yard arms round the
top of it, and the same quantity at a sufficient height above the deck, so that
in their revolution no injury can be done, and as the power I want to obtain
must depend on the length of these yard arms, I adapt them also to it accord-
ing to the length of the yard arms. I have stay cords in sufficient number to
prevent the sails flying through, running from the lower to the upper yard arm,
or, what may be better, a netting of sufficient breadth for my sails to rest on.
I run my sails on cords from one yard arm to the other; they need not exceed
the breadth of the canvas, nor need they be so wide, or the sails may run
along the yard so as to fall down and flap one over the other. The number of
sails on each yard must depend on the quantity of wind and the power I
want to obtain; they may be one, two, three, or more. Their number must
depend on the number of arms I have round the mast, their length and the.
breadth of themselves, so that the sail of one arm will not take away the
wind from any of the sails of another; they may be hung by rings on cords
from the lower to the upper yard of the arms, and need not exceed the breadth
of the canvas, nor be so broad. According to their breadth the cords on which
they run must be put at such a distance from each other, that when the sails
are in the wind one may touch or flap over the other; the narrower my sails
are the more can I vary and regulate my power. If I draw them out along
my arms, I begin drawing out the sails that hangs immediately above the
lower yard, so on, till I come to the one that hangs from the upper yard, that
they may touch or flap one over the other when in the wind, and when against
it be free to blow out at once. Their number in this case in each arm must
depend on the height of the arm, which is the distance the upper yard is from
the lower one, also on the breadth of the sails; I draw them out at the same
time, having the cords all hanging down round the mast, and turning round
with it below at the miller's hand, so that he sets it at work, varies its powers,
and stops it when he pleases; also makes it work to his right or left hand by
hawling the right or left hand cords and sails to the windward of the netting.
When the sails are made to flap one over the other the netting may be saved;
a few stay cords will do. Suppose the wind north, and I want my mast to turn
to the west or right-about, my four arms being fixed round the mast at the
north, west, south, and east points, I begin by running my sails up or out on
the west arm, so that the sails will bear against the netting, and carry this
arm round to the south with great force; the north arm will now be in the

page_text: west, and the sails run up or out in the same way. It will be carried round to
the south with great force, because the west arm that was in the south pre-
sented the netting to the wind; the sails having no stay or resting place fly out
with the wind, and cannot hold any, and are therefore without any power
except that of their own specific gravity, which is not worth reckoning, as
their breadth does not exceed that of the canvas. When I have an upper and
lower yard arm, and run the sails from the one to the other, they will still
hold less wind, in fact none at all, as they will play on the cords with the wind,
and will have no gravity to bear against it; the east arm will now be in the
west, its sails are hauled up or out; they will be full in the wind while the
sails of the opposite arms (east) are out of the wind. The south arm has
now arrived at the west; its sails are displayed. All the arms of the mast are
now completely rigged and have their proper force; two arms and their sails
are continually in the wind, carrying round the mast to the right with all their
force, and two arms, their sails floating with the wind, are coming round
against it without taking away power, except that of the yard arm's netting and
cords on which the sails run. If I want any mast to go to the left east about,
I hawl up my sails on the east arm between the wind and the netting, which
will carry it to the south; the same way with the north arm arrived at the
east point, so also with the west and south, when my mast will turn round by
the left with all its force. It is easy to draw out all the sails at the same
time; when I want them to go to the right I draw them up on the left side of
the arm and netting; when to the left, on the right side of the arm and
netting. The great advantage of this is, that I can have two different
mills, one working to the right, the other to the left, when it is necessary.
It is no matter from what point the wind blows, it will equally turn
the mast to the right or left just as I fix my sails; as two sails are con-
tinually in the wind and two out of it, the power of these in the wind depends
on the quantity of wind, the length of the arms, the sails being in the wind
at the extremity of the arms, and the distance between the lower and upper
yards, in fact on the quantity of canvas that plays as near the extremity of the
arms as possible. If I want to diminish my power, I have only to draw in
part of the sails, thereby diminishing the quantity of canyas on which the
wind acts. Suppose I have three breadths of canvas on each arm running
from one yard arm to the other, then can I draw in by degrees one of the
breadths or sails of this arm, and afterwards the other sails, till it is left with-
out power or force, or I can diminish the power by hauling the netting and
sails by degrees nearer and nearer the mast. I can encrease this power and
make it more forcible by hanging a shifting weight on the yard arm; in pro-

page_text: portion as I shift it from the mast to the end of the arm its power will
encrease in the proportion so well known that it is useless to mention it.
Instead of having an upper and lower yard to each arm, I need only have one
top yard. Two cords or chains may fall down, one from the extremity of the
yard or arm, the other at a distance nearer the mast, equal to the breadth and
number of my sails, which in general need not be more than three. Between
these cords and fastened to them must be the netting to support the sails,
also the cords on which the sails run (in this case the sails must run up to the
arm or down from it); at the bottom I put a piece of wood or iron rod to
keep them at their proper distance, and hang a sufficient weight to the end of
them so as to prevent them and the sails giving way to the wind when they
are in the wind. After gaining the greatest possible power in this way that
a mast with four, six, or eight, &c³, arms can produce by the height of my
mast, the length of its arms, the distance between the upper and lower yards
that form an arm, the running as many breadths or canvas or sails as the mast
and arms will bear, beginning to run up my sails at the extremity of the arms,
and so on, till I come to the point near the mast, that by running up another
sail I would becalm the most powerful sail of the arm that is to the leeward;
by doing so, I would lose an astonishing deal of power. Suppose the point
that would becalm the leeward sails to be one-third of the length of the arms,
then would I apply a power to a lever one-third the length of the arms; then
would I apply a power to a lever only one-third the length, and deprive
myself the same power acting upon a lever of one-third longer. When I
have only four arms, I may cover the whole of the arms with sails. When
I have eight arms, can only cover one-third of the arms with sails; or
what is nearer the fact, if the arm is 10 feet long my sails may be three
feet on the arms; if 20, six feet on the arms.
so suddenly, and come in gusts that would
or mast, if the sails were fixed it can have no
mill going the faster; the resistance will be the power it is in the act of
turning. I have also a power that never was had before, that of having two
sets of machinery working in opposition to each other, one to the right, the other
to the left hand; so that I have a power to draw out any kind of substance,
or of working different ways. If I want to up against the stream, current,
tide, or even against the wind, and then, by putting two common water wheels,
made in the form of coach wheels, so as to prevent the water splashing into
the boat or vessel, this natural power will do it. When I want to sail my
vessel I have only to screw my mast by coupling boxes to the bottom and
ceiling of the vessel, and can fix my arms in any point of the compass I
Let the wind change ever
carry away the yards arms
other effect than setting the

page_text: please. If the wind is quite fair, then I have two arms full in it; but as the
sails of these arms are now one to the windward, the other to the leeward, of
the netting or stay cords, I haul the leeward sails to the windward of the
netting and sail on without danger, as I can now defy every sudden gust of
wind, as in a moment, by drawing in one or more cords, I take in as many
reefs or sails as I please. If the squall takes me aback, instead of carrying
away yards, arms, or mast, as is now the case, it only blows open my sails and
passes through without damage. If I want to sail close to the wind I fix my
mast, so that my arms will hold as much wind as possible to carry me my
course. If I am afraid of oversetting, I can have a partition at midship run
clean from head to stern sufficiently strong and waterproof, so that even should
she overset she can't sink, but must come to rights again; this every vessel
ought to have, if for no other reason than to save her cargo from shifting, by
which, and going too near the wind in squally weather, so many are lost. I
now come to disunite these powers, and look at their value separately. I have
calculated that five river mills of my second power, working at different places
in the Thames where the current is strong, or on any other river, need not
cost above three thousand pounds, and will do as much work as the Albion
mills, that cost seventy thousand pounds, and. three thousand pounds a year for
coals. The cost of making of flour I would not value at more than two per
cent. when by the present steam engines, tide mills, &c, it cannot be afforded
to be made under eight per cent. Here is a saving of six per cent. on that
great necessary of life; and it may be made still cheaper in old hulks of
vessels in the rivers Mersey, Medway, and other great rivers where there is
plenty of room, with a strong tide and current; every other manufacture pro-
portionally cheap. Mills for crushing seeds and making oil I simplify, and
need not use millstones as the axis. Between the two water wheels, I make
a cylinder,, and fix one, two, three, or more cylinders round it, each diminishing
in diameter, so that any seed can be crushed as fine as powder; the largest
of the surrounding ones to be at the top to take in the whole seed or grain,
the others below it, around the axis cylinder, crushing finer and finer the seed.
This is also the safest, cheapest, and simplest way to pulverise the substances
to make gunpowder. For making oil, the cylinders may be heated to what
degree necessary, being hollow within instead of stampers to express the oil;
the bags with the crushed seed and their apparatus may pass between two
heated cylinders. To enumerate all the advantages of them would be endless.
I now come to disunite these great powers. I take my mast, and according
to the power I want to obtain, diminish or encrease its dimensions, and can
have it on any house, warehouse, brewery, distillery, sugar house, or manufac-

page_text: tory of
any kind. It will serve every purpose where power is wanting, and
every manufacture must be improved by it; its value is in its simplicity and
cheapness. The cultivator of the earth can cut down a tree of what size be
pleases, fix four arms round it, either with one or two yards to each, put it in
a socket in which it will turn, fix steady cord or netting on the arms, stand
with his back to the wind if he wants to let it turn to the right, draw up as
many breadths of canvas as he pleases, so that they may touch or flap one.
over the other on the right-hand arm; the other arms of themselves in their:
turn will come to him to have their sails drawn; they will go with every.
wind that can blow till the sails are hauled down. If he wants them to turn.
to the left-about he draws his sails on the left hand of his mast, and they will
go to the left-about, while his wood, sails, and cords remain together. He can.
have them in his fields to raise water, to water them, and make the earth.
productive; on his barns to thrash and grind his corn, or anywhere he
pleases, as he can remove them from one place to another.
He will be
rendered independent of millers and monopolizers; the poor will have their
bread cheaper, and the earth will be more productive, and he happier.
Their cost is only the value of the timber, cord, and canvas. Anybody.
can make them from the descriptions I have given, so that my water wheels
are perpetually working in the waters with every stream, current, or tide that
flows, and my flying mast is perpetually working on the earth, giving every
power that is useful to mankind with every air or wind that blows. I now tako
my water wheel, (diminish or enlarge its dimensions to the greatest degree, so
that it will carry from the smallest to the greatest power); set it upon the
earth, in the air it becomes an horizontal mill, and may be made the most
powerful in nature. They both go and give force for the same reason, because
the opposite opposing power is removed in both elements, so that the same
wheel has the same effect equally in air and water of giving a perpetual motion
in both elements on the principle that when in the water the opposing power
is removed, by the water boards giving way to it; in the air, by the opposite
opposing power being also removed from the water boards, now air boards or
sails giving way to it; therefore, as this wheel goes in air, as long as the wind
continues to blow, and that there is a breath of air in the heavens,―in the
waters, as long as the rivers continue to run or the tide to flow, it is a perpetual
motion, giving every power on the earth and on the waters that is necessary
for mankind. When I discovered this new power, I was so struck with its
simplicity and natural power, that I poured forth my soul in thankfulness to
the God of all Nature, the only true and living God: Simple, natural, great,
and all-powerful are thy works, Lord God Almighty; may mankind henceforth

page_text: study only Nature and glorify Thee. I vainly thought that by raising this
wheel out of the water it would go of itself in a close place where there was
not a breath of air, but was disappointed in it; but it was not made agreeable
to my direction for this purpose. My Invention was to have made the water
boards in the form of angle of 45 degrees, or in that of a triangle, so that the
great weight would act as an additional power on the end of the arm coming
down, and intended to try them at one-third and one-half the length of the
arm or outer circle, so that the gravity acting on the opposite arm that was
coming up would be or hang down from one-third to one-half this arm nearer
the axis, which would give a great power to the arm coming down. I intended
also to load the end of my water boards, to see if it would answer the purpose
of giving this perpetual motion, but as I don't see its value without it can
give great power and be of some use to mankind, and its being a subject the
human mind can't long rest on, and not having an opportunity to make these
experiments, instead of a segment of a circle to have a straight line from the
point, I hinged the boards on, so that they would lie closer coming up, and
their weight would rest nearer the axis, or to let the weight of the boards rest
on springs that would open as the power was taken off them, and throw over
when it began to descend. When this last is done, this perpetual motion will
be got. I lamented having wasted three months in this enquiry without being
able to make the experiments.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bruce Dunn, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of September, One
thousand seven hundred and ninety-four.
W. BRUCE
UNN. (L.8.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-seventh day of
September, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Bruce Dunn
came before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.