Propeller of Machinery to be used in Currents. Page: 2 of 3
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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
JAMES HARDIE, OF VICTORIA, TEXAS.
PROPELLER OF MACHINERY TO BE USED IN CURRENTS.
Specification of Letters Patent No. 8,525, dated November 18, 1851.To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, JAMES HARDIE, of Vic-
toria, in the county of Victoria and State of
Texas, hive invented a new and Improved
5 Machine for Employing the Currents of
Rivers as a Motive Power; and I do hereby
declare that the following is a full, clear,
and exact description of the construction
and operation of the same, reference being
10 had to the annexed drawings, making a part
of this specification, in which--
Figure 1 is a side elevation. Fig. 2 is a
plan or bird's eye view.
Similar letters of reference indicate corre-
15 sponding parts in each of the figures.
The nature of my invention consists in at-
taching one or more levers at about their
centers to a suitable frame overhanging a
river or stream, said frame being properly
20 secured on the bank, in any suitable way, the
levers are attached to the frame by universal
joints. To the outer ends of the levers floats
or blades are attached against which the
current acts in a manner which will be here-
25 after described.
The frame above mentioned is hung upon
pivots so that it may be raised or lowered
by a windlass or otherwise, and the floats
or blades of the levers be at all times prop-
30 erly submerged in the stream. The other or
inner ends of the levers are attached to
cranks or connected with toothed wheels in
such a manner that power may be applied
to any machine designed to be operated.
35 To enable others skilled in the art to make
and use my invention, I will proceed to de-
scribe its construction and operation.
A A' represents the levers, and B B the
floats or blades attached to the outer ends.
40 C C are the universal joints by which the
levers are attached to the cross piece (a) on
the end of the frame D, these universal
joints are of ordinary construction and will
be readily understood by the following de-
45 scription. Each lever A sets between two
plates (b) (b). These plates extend up on
the sides of the levers and are united under
the lever forming a sort of clasp. A hole is
drilled through the plates and lever, through
50 which a bolt (c) passes. They are thus al-
lowed to vibrate vertically. A rod (d) is
attached to the plate underneath the lever
and projects downward into the cross piece
(a) of the frame D and the levers are thus
55 allowed to vibrate horizontally.
(e) (e) are pivots on which the frame Dis hung loosely and it will be seen by the
drawings that the frame D is hung to an
outer or stationary frame E which is to be
firmly attached to the shore or banks of the 6o
stream which is represented by H. On this
stationary frame E is placed the windlass F
around which ropes or- chains G pass that
are attached to the movable frame D and by
this means the frame D is raised or lowered 65
as the height of the stream varies and the
floats or blades B B at all times properly
submerged.
I, I, are cranks to which the ends of the
levers A A are attached, pins (f) (f) on the 70
levers passing through the ends of the
cranks as seen more particularly in Fig. 2.
These cranks are attached to and form part
of the shafts J, J, to the ends of which the
toothed wheels K K are affixed. The shafts 75
J, J, have their bearings on the cross pieces
and other parts of the frame D, as seen in
fig. 2.
L, L, are pinions hung on the shaft M,
said pinions meshing into the toothed 80
wheels K, K.
N, is a fly wheel also attached to the
shaft M.
It will be seen that the gearing just de-
scribed as well as the levers are all attached 85
to and move with the frame D, when it is
raised or lowered.
The operation is simple. The frame D is
properly adjusted by means of the windlass
F and the floats or blades B, B, submerged. 90
Fig. 1 shows about the position of the frame
D and levers A A when the inachine is
ready for operation, the dotted line X X
representing the water line. We will sup-
pose the current of a river running in the 95
direction indicated by the arrow fig. 2, it
acts upon the blade of the lever A' till the
crank I' is brought around to the position
shown by the dotted lines making half a
revolution, the current then acts upon the 100
blade of the lever A which also makes half
a revolution and brings back the lever A'
above the surface of the water to its original
position ready to be again acted upon by the
current, it will be seen that the fly wheel N 105
is necessary to carry the cranks past their
centers, and if one lever is only used the fly
wheel by its momentum would throw the
lever back the half revolution of the crank
after being moved forward by the current. 110
The shafts J J and toothed wheels K K be-
ing made to revolve by the alternate motion
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Hardie, James. Propeller of Machinery to be used in Currents., patent, November 18, 1851; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth165033/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed June 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.