IMPROVED WATER-WHEEL - United States Patent 695

United States Patent Office.

JOHN R. WHEELER, OF SENECA FALLS, NEW YORK. IMPROVED WATER-WHEEL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 695, dated April
14, 1838.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, John R. Wheeler, of Seneca Falls, in the
county of Seneca and State of New York, have invented a new and
useful Cast-Iron Horizontal Centrifugal Water-Wheel with
Cast-iron Chutes or Issues, which is described as follows,
reference being had to the annexed drawings of the same, making
part of this specification.

I make a rim, A, Figures 1 and 4, of cast-iron, four feet in
diameter and eight inches high, with a flange B on the top
projecting outward six inches, which makes the top of the wheel
five feet in diameter. I then make the buckets C, Figs. 1 and 6,
which are five inches wide at the top, with a flange I, Fig. 6,
on the face side to fasten them to the upper rim or flange B by
bolts; also, with flanges H on the inner edge to fasten that edge
to the rim A, first spoken of, also by means of bolts. The first
five inches of the buckets from the upper rim downward is to
increase in width one and a half inches and to have one-fourth of
an inch concavity. The remaining part of the bucket is to have
half an inch concavity, making three-fourths of an inch concavity
in the length of the bucket, which reaches across the
first-mentioned rim of eight inches. The upper end of the bucket
from the inner rim to the outer edge is to be concave
three-eighths of an inch and the lower end five-eighths of an
inch concave, the buckets being of an irregular concave both in
length and breadth. (See Fig. 6, which represents the form of one
of said buckets, all of which are made alike.) For such a wheel I
make sixteen buckets; but the number may be varied to suit the
head of water and force required. I fasten them equidistant on
the first-mentioned rim by bolting through the flanges on the
inner edge and face side of the buckets and also to the flange of
said rim through the flanges on the upper end of the buckets. I
then make a rim D, Figs. 1, 3, and 4, three inches high, of
cast-iron, with a flange E projecting outward two inches. This
rim I put on the outside of the buckets, the lower side being
even with them and the flange up. To this rim I fasten the outer
edge of all the buckets by bolting through the flange J, Fig. 6,
on the outside edge and back side of the bucket.

To hang the wheel on the shaft, I make a cast-iron hub K, Fig. 4,
about six inches square on the inside one and one-fourth of an
inch thick and nine inches high, with an arm L to extend from
each corner to the outer edge of the wheel and of sufficient
strength to support it, which is fastened to them by bolting
through the upper rim or flange. To hang it true I put two screws
M M through each side of the hub to operate on the shaft within
it, which I make of iron. The hub and arms are to be on the upper
side of the wheel.

To form the chutes or issues for letting the water upon the
wheel, I make two rims F F, Figs. 2 and 3, of cast-iron, about
five inches wide, the upper rim one-fourth of an inch thick on
the outer edge and half an inch on the inner edge, which
encircles the upper rim of the wheel. The lower rim I make of the
same diameter and three-eighths of an inch thick. Both rims are
to have sixteen grooves, so shaped as to cross at right angles a
line drawn from the center to the circumference and calculated to
receive cast-iron plates, which form the chutes or issues. I make
said cast-iron plates G to put in these grooves about four inches
wide and one-fourth of an inch thick till it is within three
inches of the inner end, where it is about three-quarters of an
inch thick, and then becomes thinner to the inner end, where it
comes to an edge. The rims are three and a half inches apart, and
the water passes between them and the plates put in the grooves
and strikes the buckets of the wheel at right angles, and as the
wheel turns the water is discharged under the wheel, and from the
curvature of the buckets the water inclines from the center. The
rims containing the grooves and plates which form the chutes or
issues are made fast and the wheel turns within the same.

For high heads of water a circular trunk P, Fig. 5, for receiving
the water through a single opening or two openings Q Q in the
periphery thereof, is constructed around the issues G, formed
around the inner circumference of said circular trunk, and at the
bottom thereof, the water-wheel turning inside said circle of
issues, as many of which being left open as may be required, the
rest being closed.

The great advantages of wheels and chutes or issues of water on
this plan are, first, their durability; second, their form is
such that the water is made to act on the wheel at right angles
and is so confined by the concave of the bucket, by the chutes or
issues of water, and by the rim of the wheel on the outside of
the buckets to which they are fastened that its whole force is
applied to the extremity of the wheel without flying off or
clogging it until it has performed its office, when it falls off
centrifugally; third, it is not liable to get out of repair, and,
fourth, the form of the wheel and chutes is such that the water
will pass through and operate upon them with but little friction.

The size of the wheel is to be varied according to the head and
quantity of water and the force it is necessary to apply, and,
also, the curvature of the buckets and depth of the wheel may be
varied.

The invention claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent
consists—

In the combination of the circular or other trunk with the
revolving bucket-wheel constructed in the manner herein set
forth, the circular or other trunk having issues near its bottom
or inner side, which issues direct the water onto the curved
buckets of the waterwheel, formed and operating in the particular
manner above described—that is to say, as represented in Figs. 1
and 6.

JOHN R. WHEELER.

Witnesses: Wm. P. Elliot, W. Bishop.