US78879A - Improvement in water-wheels - Google Patents

Description

NITED S'IA'riis PATENT FFICE.,

` THOMAS LEFFEL, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND v HENRY C. BARNETT, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 78,879, dated J une 16,1863.

declare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure lis an elevation 5 Fig. 2, aplan, partly in section; Fig. 3, a perspective view of one of the gates Fig. 4, an elevation of the wheel; Fig. 5, an elevation of one side of one of the oats Fig. 6, an elevation ofthe opposite side of the same; Fig. 7, an elevation, showing the end of one of the same.

The same letters in all the figures indicate Vthe same parts.

My invention relates to that class of waterwheels in which the water is received horizontally, and, passing through a series of gates, (which perform also the functions of guides for giving proper' direction to the water,) is discharged upon the periphery of the wheel, and escapes through the center of the wheel.

My improvements consist, first, in a novel form of bucket or float 5 second, in the mnn- 11er of attaching said float.

In the annexed drawing, A is the cylinder, which is composed of a vertical tube, a, large enough to receive the wheel, and a horizontal flange, a'. This tube is intended to be set in the bottom of a flume or fore-bay, and it may be connected with the tail-Water by an airtight tubular extension of any required length. The horizontal ange a' rests on the door, and sustains the weight of the casing and wheel. B is a metallic ring, consisting of a tubular portion, b', and a horizontal ilange, b. The diameter of the tube is sufficient to permit the wheel to be passed therethrough. These dan ges are connected by bolts A', passing through tubular columns, on which the upper tlange is supported and maintained in a position parallel with the, plane of the lower flange a'. The open space thus left between the anges is lled by a series of oscillating gates, D, which Iprefer to form substantially as shown. These gates, turning upon bolts D', passing through lugs thereon, serve both to shut oli or regulate the supply of water, and to control the direction thereof. -The levers or arms D" are rigidly attached to the gates at their center of oscillation, and extend outwardly radially to the wheel, where they are connected by pins or bolts, on which they turn, to the ring E. This is a metallic ring, concentric with the wheel and casing, and having bearings, as shown, against the edge of the flange b. It rests on the levers D", and is caused to revolve far enough to open and close the gates by means of the rack E' thereon, meshing into the pinion F attached to said flange. The shaft of said pinion may be conducted to such place as is most convenient for operating the gates. As the ring is turned the levers D" will be moved with it, so that, turning on their fulcrums D', they shall open or close the gate D. The dome G rests on the tube b', being united thereto by bolts passing through lugs on the tube. This dome covers the wheel,'and on top of it is cast a bush, G', inclosing the shaft H, and iitted to receive follower-blocks in the ordinary manner, the only peculiarity being that this bush is cast with, and forms a part of, the dome, instead of being supported therefrom on collars, arms, or in other manner. The lower end of the wheel-shaft rests on a bridge-tree, I, which, instead of bolting to the cylinder A, as is ordinarily done, I propose to cast in 011e piece therewith., the construction of the dome Gr and the tubular case B being such as to allow the Wheel to be introduced into, or withdrawn from, the casin g from above. The case herein described may be used with any of the class of water-wheels alluded to. I prefer, however, a wheel of the following peculiar `construction K is the wheel. It is secured to the shaft which passes through acentral hub. From this hub there are radial arms K', supporting a ring, K", to which thel floats L are attached in the following inanner: The float is constructed with a central longitudinal iin, l, which is received into acorresponding groove on the periphery of the ring K". The iioat is then secured by bolts passing through the ring K" into the oat. The float is of the peculiar form shown. On the edge it has a parabolic curve. It has a central longitudinal ridge, and the sides are turned outward to form two diverging issues from the point to the aperture of discharge.

Th e water, enterin g through the gates, presses against the floats, forcing them forward in the direction ot' its current, while the water, having transferred its moving force to the wheel, falls behind, and, passing through the apertures formed above and below the ring, between the point of one bucket and the heel of theone on which it has been acting, escapes into the center of the wheel, thence falling through the cylinder A into the tail-race.

As both the upper and lower sides of the Wheel are precisely alike, the Wheel may be used to run either to the right or left, as may be desired, by simply reversing it on the shaft. The guides, ofcourse, will require to be adapted to the direction in which the wheel is to run. The points in which this wheel and casing are distinguished't'rom all others are, the peculiar form of the bucket, and the mode of attaching it to the ring K, so that the water pressing against thebucketsball be discharged, both below and above the ring, into the center of the wheel, iiowing through the space between the point of one bucket or 11o-at and the heel of the float against which it has 'act-f ed, there being no other obstruction to its discharge into the center ofthe wheel than that caused by the narrow ring to which the floats are attached.

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

1. A wheel formed ot' a series ot' single floats, the faces of which are constructed in the form described, and which are centrally attached to a-ring, K", and arranged to receive and discharge the water substantially in the manner set forth.

2. The combination of the floats L and ring K, when respectively constructed and connected substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereot'I have signed my name to this speeitication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS LEFFEL.

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