CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ON WINDMILLS, WHICH IMPROVE- MENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HALE, of Colchester, in the County of Essex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the fifth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Hale, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Hale, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Hale, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN OR ON WINDMILLS, WHICH IMPROVE-
MENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said William Bale, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hale, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained in

page_text: and by the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that isto say:-
My Invention consists,-
First, in supporting the shafts, which each carry two sails or vanes midway
or at the centre of resistance, whereby the wind or water, pressing respectively
on the two sails, one on each side of the bearing or axis, the shaft will be
equally pressed on both sides.
Secondly, in supporting such windmill on a fixed and stationary post, as will
be hereafter fully described.
And I would here remark, that though I intend to confine my description
principally to windmills, it will be found, on examination of this my Specification,
that the mill constructed in the manner hereafter described will also be highly
useful as a tide or stream mill, by merely forming the vanes of wood or metal
in place of canvas.
Having thus generally pointed out the nature of my Invention, I will
proceed to describe it more in detail by reference to the Drawing. The
horizontal wind or water mill to which my improvements are applicable
consists of sails, vanes, or surfaces hung or suspended in one moveable frame,
which frame is supported in the centre upon a fixed and stationary post or shaft,
and is free to be carried round with the sails or vanes. There is also wheel-
work or other mechanical means attached to the frame, and connected with
the sails, for the purpose of producing a resisting surface on one side of the
frame, and on the other side a non-resisting surface, in effecting which each
sail is made to move half round on its own axis in every revolution of the frame;
but the manner in which the same is to be performed and carried into
effect is more particularly described in the following description of the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
Figure 1 is a plan of the frame, sails, and wheelwork. A the fixed or
stationary mill post or shaft; B, B, B, B, the frame, which is composed of
four arms, strongly braced or trussed together; C, the centre wheel, made
free to turn on the shaft A, in which the wheels d, d, d, d, work. The shafts
e, e, e, e, run in plummer blocks or bearings, and serve to connect the wheels
d to the pinions f.f.f.f. The pinions f work in the wheels 9, 9, 9. g, which
are made fast to the shaft or axis of the sails h, h, h, h. The shafts or axes
of the sails (see Figure 2) pass through near the extremity of the arms or
levers of the frame, and are suspended about midway by a collar and bushing,
or by any other known and efficient mode, so that half the said shaft is above
and half below the arms of the frame. The sails, which may be made of
sail cloth, wood, or any other suitable material, or equally extended right and
left from their axis, so that the point of suspension is the centre of resistance

page_text: in each of the sails. The driving wheel I, or it may be a rigger or drum,
is made fast to the frame, by brackets, braces, or stays, or by any other
sufficient fastening, so as to connect the power of the mill to the machinery
or purposes for which the mill is intended.
Having thus described my machine, it will be evident, if the wheels
d are half the diameter of C, and the pinions f one fourth the diameter
of the wheels g, that if the wheel C remains stationary the sails will be
moved half round on their own axis in the same time the frame describes
one revolution, and it will also be evident that if the wind blow in the
direction of the arrow the sails x, y, z, will offer a resistance to give
motion to the mill in one direction, while the sail w presents only its
edge to the wind. Although I have described four sails, I claim the right
of using a greater or less number, as circumstances may require. Also, the
sails, which are shewn in the Drawings as made of sail cloth, may be drawn up
to the shaft by cords (as sails are drawn up to a mast on board a vessel), when
it is required to reduce the power of the wind, or to take in the sails. That
the mill may always go one way, and the sails stand fair for the wind, I fix
an arm or lever to the wheel C, at the end of which arm I fix a sail
or vane, for the purpose of moving the wheel C, as the wind may change; for,
it must be observed, that the sails are shifted by the moving of the wheel C,
and therefore as the wind changes the wheel C will be moved in the same
degree, and be retained sufficiently fixed that the wheels d, d, in turning
round, will be caused to turn by the wheel C, though I do not confine myself
to this manner of moving the wheel C, as the same may be turned by hand,
and fixed on the shaft A, from time to time as the wind changes; and I claim
the right of using any of the methods that are used in the present windmill for
turning them to the wind as being sufficient to answer the same purpose.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
applying my improvements, I would have it understood that what I claim as
my Invention are,―
First, the supporting the shafts or axes f.f, midway, or at the centre of
resistance of the sails or vanes, as above described, whereby the pressure on the
bearings or axes will be equal on each end of the shaft.
Secondly, I claim the placing such description of mill on a fixed or stationary
post A, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hale, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
WILLIAM
(L.B.) HALE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight bundred and thirty-five, the
aforesaid William Hale 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-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.