US10299A - Overshot water-wheel - Google Patents

Description

JOHN E. WHITEMOREQ, lor .-oLmT, ILLINoIs ovERsno'r WATERFWHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 10,299, dated December 6, 1853.

T0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN E. WHrr-EMORE, of Joliet, in the county of Will and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Overshot VVater-Vheels;v

and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of the wheel, having a port-ion of the shrouding removed rto show the construction of the buckets. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same showing the operation of the levers on the face of the wheel upon the bolt rods.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures refer to the same part of the machine.

My invention relates to an improvement in overshot water wheels, and consists in so constructing the buckets, that after receiving the impulsion of the water they are closed by its action, and the covers fastened down by means of springs and levers o-n the face of the wheel, which latter by striking an exterior cam, throw forward the bolt rods connected with them, permitting the catches of the covers to descend, when the spring beneath the lever draws the bolt into the catch and secures the cover; thus confining the water, and allowing its weight to act until the bottom of the wheel is reached, when another cam striking the lever attached to the bolt rod, releases the catch from the bolt and permits the confined water to throw open the door, and fall from the wheel, contributing by its reactive power on leaving the bucket to the propulsion of the wheel; the cover hanging loose during the remainder of its revolution, and presenting an open bucket to the action of the water when by the revolution of the wheel it comes under the stream.

Inthe drawing A and B are the shrouds of the wheel, between which are the buckets C constructed as shown in Fig. l, and having each the cover D movable about the hinges a, and 'secured when down by the bolts b and catches 0. The bolt rods F are attached to the levers d on theface of the wheel, movable about the fulcrum e and pressed out by the springs f, yso that the natural tendency of the bolts is to secure the covers.

The'operation of my improved wheel is as follows: The buckets when they first Y come under the influence of the water and receive the percussion, are open as seen at m Fig. l: as the bucket advances the water strikes the edge of the cover D and revolves it about the hinges a, closing the bucket; the upper surface of the cover then receives the impulsion while the water contained in the bucket acts by its weight. As the wheel revolves the extremity of the lever dpresses against the cam G, pushing forward the bar F and permitting the catch e to descend its full extent, so that the bolt b shoots into it by the action of the spring f when the cam G is passed and 'the pressure on the lever .d removed. The .bucket continues locked, allowing the water to act by its weight, until the lever d reaches the lower cam P, which pushing back the bar F as before, releases the boltk b from the catch @allowing the water confined in the bucket to throw open the door D and fall from thewheel, assisting by its reaction the rotation` of the wheel. The bucket thus opened, con-` tinues so during the remainder of the revolution, when'it is again acted upon as above described. This arrangement causes the y water received in the buckets, to act by its" weight to favor the rotation asl long as ity can be eEect-ual, when by removing the bolt and allowing its escape its' reaction on leav-v ing contributes in a great degree to that end: Vthus forming a wheel by which the water is made to expend its whole power in contributing to the desired result; acting first by percussion, then by its'weight to the latest moment when it can be effective and finally byy reaction on leaving the bucket, thus combining advantages which require no enumeration to be appreciated.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The construction of the buckets with the covers D, operating substantially in the manner and .for the purposes specified; Y

also, the levers a?, springs f, and bolt rods signed my name before tWo subscribing Wit- F as described, in combination with the cams nesses.

G and P or their equivalents for closing and opening'the buckets substantially in JOHN EWHITEMORE' E the manner and for the purposes herein Witnesses:

fully set forth. GEO. PATTEN,

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto ,y JN0. OBER.

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