US584367A

US584367A - keller

Info

Publication number: US584367A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1897-06-15
Anticipated expiration: 1914-06-15

Description

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheem 1. F. KELLER. APPARATUS FOR UTILIZING EBB AND PLOW OF THE TIDE.

No. 584,367. Patented June 15,1897.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. P. KELLER. APPARATUS FOR UTILIZING BBB AND FLOW OF THE TIDE. No. 584,367.

Patented June 15, 1897.

ilniirnn Snares FRITZ KELLER, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

APPARATUS FOR UTILIZING EBB AND FLOW OF THE TIDE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 584,367, dated June 15, 1897.

Application filed March 7,1896. $erial No. 582,264. (No model.) Patented in Germany March 9, 1895, No. 86,027, and in England August 17,1895, No. 13,512.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRITZ KELLER, a subject of the German Emperor, residing at Berlin, German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in and Connected with Apparatus for Utilizing the Ebb and Flow of the Tide, of which the following is a specification.

The invention has been patented in Germany, No. 85,027, dated March 9, 1895, and in England, No. 13,512, dated August 17, 1895.

In annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section, Fig. 2 a cross-section, and Fig. 3 a plan view, of the apparatus. Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate the whole of the arrangement namely, the break through the mainland-dike by means of a sluice provided with a Wheelbox and engine-room located on top thereof.

The adjusting of the elevation of the floating wheel-box with its wheel for the highest and lowest water-levels is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 in full and dotted lines.

The machine consists, essentially, of a pontoon of suitable shape provided at the front side with a stationary open or divided channel, and having an opening below the channel or below each of these channels which can be closed or opened by means of a suitable devicefor instance, by a flexible bottom. A suitable water-wheel is located in the pontoon carried by a wheel-boX adjustable vertically. This wheel revolves according to the direction of the water current and according to the manner in which the wheel is adjusted and as to whether it is flood or ebb tide.

For letting in and letting out the water for operating the water-wheel a sluice is constructed provided with suitable gates, establishing a communication between the sea and a reservoir at a distance therefrom intended for collecting the water running in and past the water-wheel during the floodtide. Inside of this sluice a chamber or wheel-boX is located in which a pontoon forming a floating support for the wheel moves up and down in suitable guides, according to the height of the water.

A pontoon a, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, is constructed of vacuum-chambers, Fig. 2, in such a manner that it forms two side walls connected by one bottom and is provided at the front part each with a divided or open channel Z) Z),

I which together with the side walls lead to the water-wheel r at the center of the pontoon. The water-wheel r is fixed upon a shaft 7', journaled in bearings supported in the side walls of the pontoon. In order that the channel for conveying the water past the wheel be adjusted to have the proper fall for the water-as, for instance, from the inlet Z) to the point 75 in Fig. 1 the center bottoms of the channels Z) Z) are cut out at e f, and the free space from the channel Z) to the channel b below the wheel r is alternately opened or closed by means of two flexible bottoms c d. These flexible bottoms are arranged in the center of the wheel 1' and below the same in the side walls upon the bottom of the pontoon and swing around this point. The opening or closing of the free spaces of by the bottoms c d is caused by means of windlasses l, which raise or lower chains or the like fixed to the bottoms and led around rollers m.

In order to prevent friction at the sides of the wheel-box, Figs. 2 and 4L, the pontoon is suitably provided with sliding rollers h at its sides. The transmission of the movement of the water-wheel can occur in any suitable manner.

For actuating the above-described machine two reservoirs are made at a distance from each other and at a distance from the sea, which communicate therewith by means of sluices. The main reservoir has one sluice, the other two sluices, all provided with suitable gates. Yet only the sluice of the main reservoir and one of the sluices of the other reservoir are provided with a wheel-box or a channel for the adjustability as to elevation of the pontoon, while the second sluice of the second reservoir has no wheel-box.

The machine works as follows: Before the commencing of the flood-tide, or during the time the same is coming up, the gates 1'', Fig. 1, are closed and the flexible bottom 0 is let down, so that the water can run in through the channel Z) and turn the wheel 1", after which it flows into the reservoir above mentioned below the channel Z), that is over the level end of the bottom 0. After the fioodtide is over the gates e' are opened and those on the opposite side, Fig. 1, are closed and the bottom 0 is raised or closed and the bottom cl let down. Then the water Will How in the opposite direction along the channel I) and toward the seathat is, as soon as the level of the sea gets lower than that of the reservoir.

I olain1 1. A tide-motor consisting of a wheel, the sluice containing the same, the channels b, b, at opposite ends of the wheel, the gates for closing the sluice below the channels and a bottom under the water-wheel adjustably supported and arranged to connect either