US126996A - Improvement in water-wheels - Google Patents

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PATENT @Prion WILLIAM A. TERRY, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT. I

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER=WHEELS.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. TERRY, of Bristol, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Water-Wheels, of ,whichV the following is a specification:

My invention consists of the peculiar construction, arrangement, and combination of the parts as hereafter described.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a plan or top view'of a water-wheel and gates embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a horizontal section of the same on line m w of Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a central vertical section of the. Wheel; Fig. 5, a detached view of parts of the same.

A designates the wheel proper, and B is the shaft. Surrounding the wheel A are the ordinary case C and its chutes a. b designates a rin g-gate divided into sections, the two smallest of which are each wide enough to cut oft' the water in one chute only, and the larger sections being slotted immediately opposite or above the guide-curves or chute-walls, and wide enough to out off the water in two or more of said chutes. These sections of the gate b are arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the wheel, and connected to each other by the bars c c c, so that either pair of the dit'- ferent-sized sections may be operated inde-V i pendently of the other sections. In the drawing (exceptin Fig. 6) the gate b raises and lowers, so as to close the discharge-end of the chutes by sliding across the same. u p

When desired to use only a small amount of water upon the wheel, the bar-c (to which is attached the two smallest sections of the gate b) is raised, which will fully open a single chute upon opposite sides of the wheel. As the chutes used are fully opened, the water passing through the same will ll the buckets of the wheel, and consequently will be nearly as effective in proportion to the amount of water used as if all the chutes were fully opened at the same time. In order to open two chutes upon opposite sides, the bar c (to which is attached sections large enough to cover two chutes each) may be raised; for three, the bar c, having the two largest sections, one upon each end; for four, the bars c and c; for five, the bars c and c, and for six,

the bars c, c', and c, which includes the whole of the gate.

By the arrangement of the gate b in unequal sections, I am enabled to open any num ber of chutes from one to six pair, with only three connectingbars. The number of chutes covered by each pair of sections will be varied according to the number of chutes in the.

wheel-case used. By afxin g the two opposite equal sections of gate b iirmly upon the rigid Vbar-the said sections being placed at right of said chute-walls, to connect the central andouter portions of the top plate of the wheel, so that a ring-gate may be used with atop plate over the wheel, which is formed in a single piece, while the chute-walls lill the slots when the gate is lowered, so that ythe gate, al-` though slotted, serves every purpose of a solid ring-gate.

In the drawing the bar c and its sections of the ring gate are raised, while all the others a-re closed. The gate b is placed close to the wheel, or at the inner edge of the wheelcase C, so that when a part or parts ofthe gate are opened, the remaining sections and the ends ofthe guides form a continuous wall upon opposite sides of the wheel and prevent the closed chutes from forming a water-chamber, as they would do if the gate was remote from the wheel, as shown in certain wheels in which the water plays back and forth into said water-chambers and impede-s the progress and power of the wheel.

d designates the buckets, which are secured to the disk c, and for the purpose of adding greater strength to the wheel may be connected at the bottom by the rim f. The wheel A runs upon a step, g, in the ordinary manner. The buckets d consist of a portion of a hollow sphere. A bucket so formed will have the same curve through all its parts, andwhen taken in any direction. In the drawing, (Figs. 3, 4, and 5,) about one quarter of a sphere is used for each bucket; but a larger portionless than half-may be used if desired. This form is considered the best adapted to obtain the most power, as it gives thc most resistance to the water, and throws it back in nearly the direct-ion from which it strikes the buckets; also, that pressure in any direction upon any point inside of the bucket will tend to give a forward motion to the wheel.

The buckets d have a circular discharge, the same being formed by the remaining portion ofthe edge of the divided portion ofthe hollow sphere, and may be made larger or smaller by using more or less of the sphere for each bucket. In all cases it is necessary to form the bucket ot' less than half a sphere, as a portion of va hemisphere must be cut away in order to combine the buckets with the chute-case C, so as to admit the water therefrom `into the buckets.

1n Fig. 5, C is an edge view of a portion of the wheel A, and D is a vertical section ot a portion of the same on a radiant line. In this figure h is the mouth or inlet of the bucket, andi is its discharge. By making the dischargeon the edge of the hemisphere, as described, I am enabled to elongate the discharge z', whereby its area may be made about equal to the area of the mouth h of the buckets d, and therefore the buckets will readily discharge all the water they can receive without clogging the Water in said buckets.

In most of the ordinary turbine-wheels the gates open the chutes simultaneously, and therefore the amount of water to be discharged upon the wheel can only be diminished by partially closing each chute, when none of' them will discharge a sufficient amount ot' water to lill the buckets, and consequently the water thus used will not yield near the same proportion ot' power that it does at a full gate.

I claim as my invention- 1. The buckets d, constructed in the form of a portion ot' a hollow sphere, less than half, attached to the crown-plate and the peripheral rim of the wheel, and adapted to receive thewater from the chute-case C, substantially as described.

2. A series of sliding gates, b, arranged singly and in groups, edge to edge, in the form of a circle, so as to constitute the divided ringgate herein shown, in combination with a series of chutes, and operated substantially as described.

3. A chute-case in which part of the chutes open independent of the others, and when a part only of said chutes are opened for use, the section of the inner edge ot' the chute-case immediately in advance of the open chutes is closed by a solid wall, substantially as described and shown in Fig. 3.

4. The graduated sections in unequal sizes of the ring-gate b, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. The arrangement of two opposite equal sections of the gate b, rmly secured upon the rigid bar c, substantially as and for the purpose described.

WILLIAM A. TERRY,

lVitnesses:

J AMES SHEPARD, C. A. SHEPARD.

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