US40455A - Improved paddle-wheel - Google Patents

Description

embrace closely their ends.

Nrrnn STATES PATENT. OFrIcn-.1ij- I ALONZO r. BOON, OF GALEsBUBG, iLLiNois.

IMPROVED PADnl l-z-Wl-IEEI..y

speeincanon formingpart of Letters PatentNanoAs. dated Novembergsca To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALONZO T. BOON, of Galesburg, in the county of Knox, in the State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Paddle-Wheels for Steamers; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and of which'- Figure 1 is atop View of my improved feathering paddle-wheel; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same, showing the positions of the several buckets A A A therein in the revolutions ofthe wheel; Fig. 4, a side view of one ofthe buckets A 5 Fig. 3, a detached rear view, and showing more clearly the manner of combining the same with the arms B B ofthe wheel.

Similar letters indicate like parts in each of the drawings.

The nature of my invention consists in a simple and novel mode of causing the paddles to feather as they enter and leave the water, thereby saving an unnecessary expenditure of power in their action, and alsoin animproved manner of securing the buckets to the arms of the wheels, by means of which they can be readily detached therefrom for the purpose of repair or replacement.

The buckets A A of my improved wheel are constructed in two pieces, a and b, arranged between metallic side plates, c c, Figs. 3 and 4. The inner sides or portions, a, of the buck ets are rigidly retained at a suitable angle (from thirty to forty degrees) relative to a plane tangential to the circumference of the wheel, by means of parallel flanges d d and d d', Figs. l and 3, formed upon the side plates, c c. The stationary pieces a a of the buckets are slipped down between these flanges,which The outer pieces or iioats, b b, of the buckets are made wider than the stationary pieces a a, and are pivoted at each end between the metallicside plates,

c c, by means of suitable pivot-pins, which are received within bearing-apertures in the said plates. The revolution of these pivoted sides or iioats b b of the buckets upon their axis in one direction is arrested by means of stops e e, Figs. l and 3, formed upon the side plates, cc, and in the other by striking the outer edges of the inner stationary sides, a ce, of the buckets, forming therewith, when in contact, an angle more or less obtuse.. The inner edges of these pivoted sides and the outer edges of the staltionary sides of the buckets are each (and if made of wood) so beveled as to form a close joint when thus brought in contact with each other.

The side plates, c c, are furnished with outwardly-projecting ears g g at either end thereof, forming loops to embrace the arms B B of the wheel, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The loops thus formed are closed by means of small bolts or rivets o o, Figs. 3 and 4, and are tightened and held securely upon the arms B B of the wheel by the use of metallic elastic strips E E, Figs. 3 and4, leaving Wedges s s formed upon either end with their points turned inwardly. These strips E E are of such a length as that when placed loosely upon the outer edges of the arms B B,between the projecting ears g g of the side plates, c c, the wedges will just enter under the rivets c o, which unite the ears and close the loops formed thereby. When, therefore, the center of the strips is bent outwardly by means of set-screws D D, the Wedges s s are made to slide inwardly, and thus bind and clamp the arms iirmly under these rivets o o in the loops. the screws D D the wedges s s are readily loosened, so that theloops and side plates,with the attached buckets, may be readily slipped off the arms B B.

In order to causethe pivoted sides or floats v b b of my improved buckets Av A to enter the water in an active position, and to leave the same without lifting the water against which it has been impelled, I attach to the inner.

edges of each otl these iloatsb b projecting pins m m, Figs. l and 2, so that in the revolutions of the wheel they will, as the buckets enter the water, strike against a suitable curved surface, G,.Fig. 2, formed upon the side of the boat, either by means of a curved rod, as illustrated in the drawings, or other suitable device.

results attained are powerful and effective.

As the bucket descends the pin m striking against this curved surface G will cause the iioat b to turn gradually upon its pivot, thus maintaining it in a vertical position to enter the water edge foremost instead of striking it flatly with its broad surface. So soon, however, as the bucket is immersed, the iioat is By a reverse movement of The action thus produced-is simple and the released, and its entire broad surface is, by the revolution of` the wheel, brought to bear fully in connection With'the stationary side of the bucket upon the water before it until, as`

it begins again to ascend, the projecting pin m will again strike the curved rod G, and by keeping the oat in a nearly vertical position cause it to feather inleaving the water.

Having thus fully described my improve ment in paddle-wheels,what I claim therein as as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

l. The combination of the double -sided buckets A A with the arms B B of my improved paddle-wheel by means of the metallic side plates, c c, embracing-loops g g, and

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