IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCKS FOR RIVERS AND CANALS AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER.
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Nepomuc Moerath at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th November 1882.
JOHN NEPOMUC MOERATH of Rome in the Kingdom of Italy, temporarily of
Finsbury Pavement in the City of London, Civil Engineer "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOCKS FOR RIVERS AND CANALS AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH FOR
OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER.'
"
This invention relates to a novel construction of locks for rivers and canals
whereby the ordinary thickness of the walls is rendered available for the passage
of the whole or part of the water flowing through the river or canal, and to a
novel arrangement of floating water wheels or their equivalent within the passages
between or at the sides of the said locks for obtaining motive power for lighting,
pumping, or other purposes.
The improvements may be readily applied to existing locks without narrowing
the water way of the lock proper; thereby enabling them to be adapted to the
production of motive power in an economical manner.
According to my invention I construct the walls of the lock of a series of hollow
iron castings which interlock watertight at their ends and edges and form
continuous narrow waterways from end to end, and within these waterways I
arrange a series of floating water wheels, alternately connected by ropes, or by
bands of rubber or their equivalent, so that the water will act powerfully on the
entire series of coupled wheels. From one of these floating wheels I take the
motive power by suitable gearing and use it to pump water for storage in reservoirs
or towers during the day so that it may be warmed and softened before use for
irrigation and other purposes, or I may use the motive power thus derived from the
series of floating water wheels to drive dynamo or magneto-electric machines, for
the production of light or the transmission of energy to a distance for ploughing or
other purposes.
To provide for the variation in the level of the water flowing through the hollow
walls of the lock, I arrange the axles of the floating wheels to move vertically in
guides formed in or on the inner sides of the hollow walls of the lock.
The floating water wheels I fill with cork or make them of hollow closed drums
with radial blades.

page_text: The interlocking hollow castings of my improved walls for locks may be fitted
with rope soaked in marine glue, or be rebated to receive a filling of rubber or other
waterproof substance,
To facilitate the filling and emptying of the locks I propose in some cases to
adapt to the hollow walls thereof constructed as above described, hatches or
paddles to be operated in any convenient and well known manner, so that water
may be rapidly admitted to or withdrawn from the lock, through both sides of the
lock simultaneously and the machinery for operating the said batches or paddles
may be worked by hydraulic power stored up by the action of the floating water
wheels within the walls of the lock.
The invention will require slight. modifications to suit varying conditions but its
main features will be the same in all cases.