Balanced Water Motor

1885 Scientific American  
The city of Brooklyn is now building a. sewer, hav ing an area equal to that of a circle 12 feet in diameter, from the junction of Knickerbocker and Johnson Avenues, through Johnson Avenue and South 5th Street, to the East River. The necessity for the work is apparent from the fact that the present outlet sewer for this section of the city, which drains an area of about 2,800 acres, some of which is very low and flooded by every rain, is discharged upon the low lands at the head of Newtown
more » ... , making a nuisance greatly detrimental to public health and damaging to valuable property in the vicinity .. Frequent com plaints from people living near this outlet and by the Department of Health rendered the construction of #t new outlet absolutely necessary. Although there is nothing new either in the sewer itself or the duty it is designed to perform, the method of building one section of about three'quarters of./{· mile in length is certainly unique and interesting. Owing to the depth of the grade lines of the sewer be low the street surface, in the greater portion of section one (next the river), and the danger to heavy buildings on both sides of South 5th Street, it was thought bet· tel' to prosecute the work by means of tunneling rather than by open trench. Our frontispiece is composed of views showing the manner of prosecuting the work, both in the tunnel and in the open cuts. The section of the sewer for almost its entire length is circular, 12 feet in diameter inside; and where it has been essentialto alter this form, the sectional area has been made the same. The sewer is built of brick laid in cement, and the minimum thickness is 12 inches. At some points a foundation was made of transverse and longitudinal timbers, and the brick invert was re duced in thickness to 8 inches, between which and the timber was a bed of concrete. Where necessary, re· taining walls, 3 feet thick at the bottom, 2 feet thick at the top, and extending II. short distance above the center line of the se wer, were built. For the greater part of the tunnel section, the work passes through sand, and the sewer is a simple ring of brick. At each crossing street is a manhole, 3 feet in diameter, where it joins the arch, 2 feet in diameter at the surface, and in height varying with the depth of the sewer be· low the street. The outer end of the outfall is 18 feet in width and 6� feet in height, measured from the center of the invert, the curve of which has � radius the river. The pilot is 5� feet in diameter, and is of securing the twine over the wire by stretching the made up of interchangeable flanged iron plates, elastic button, 3, and 9' the top view of the bottle when bolted together. It is kept as near as possible in the the operation is completed. center of the tunnel, and is extended some distance When the cork is being driven into the bottle, the ahead of the finished masonry, the advance being made rubber button is turned over on the twine and tag, as 373 BALANCED WATER MOTOR. At the Inventions Exhibition, London, Sealey Allin, Queen Victoria Street; shows a patent balanced float water motor, with which he claims to obtain a work ing efficiency of over 90 per cent. Our illustration is from the Engineer. It consists of a series of feathering floats, hinged to a ('hain which works over a pair of drums, the floats on the descending side being inclosed in a casing, so as to form a series of moving chambers, which are successively filled with water as they enter the casing. A cross s�ction of the casing is shown in the annexed sketch. A A are planed grooves, in which Rlide pro jecting pieces forced on each link of the chain, the clearance being limite d to one sixty-fourth of an inch. The clearance of the floats themselves can, therefore, be made very small, and the inventor states that in this way he has been able to reduce the loss from leak age to a comparatively insignificant amount. The feathering of the floats is automatic, and is.regulated by the level of the tail water; for so long as the pres sure of water behind is greater than the resistance in front, the chain is pushed forward. As soon, however, as the resistance exceeds the pressure, the floats fall away from the chain, and rise nearly vertically out of the water. '1'he power is taken off from the top drum, which is provided with specially formed teeth, which take each link 'of the chain as it passes over. The speed of the chain is about 180 feet per minute. As suming that the difficulties of construction have been overcome, there seems no reason to doubt that the efficiency of such a motor as this will he much greater than that of even the best waterwheels, as a greater percentage of the faU can· be utilized. by removing the rear plates, carrying them forward, . shown in 10, to protect them from injury. The button ALLIN'S WATER MOTOR. and bolting them to those already in place. The for-is then rever8ed, one loop of the twine passed under ward end of the pilot being in undisturbed ground, the wire hook on one side, and by stretching the:rubber It must not, however, be forgotten that hitherto, in and the rear end being firmly held by radiating struts button the other loop secured on the opposite hook. the majority of cases where waterwheels have been resting against the masonry, there is formed a rigid The process of unbottling is shown in our last figure. applied, 'economy of water has been a secondary con center or hub from which the work can be braced. The tag is grasped, and by an upward twist the cap-sideration, and there is, after all, something very fas· In the heading, the earth at the crown is removed and sule is torn ·open. The twine is disengaged from the cinating in the simplicity of a waterwheel. What it an iron plate inserted; this plate is bolted to the one wires, and, by passing the first and second fingers may be in the future is, of course, a different matter. {tlready in, and is held by a strut against the pilot. through the loop, the cork can be readily drawn. This Probably, if any serious attempt is made to take ad These plates, unless the earth is very treacherous, are system does away with the corkscrew entirely, each vantage of the power to be derived from natural falls only carried about half way down each side. After the cork carrying its own means of release. It is applica. 1 of water, or, as Mr. Allin proposes, of the rise and fall plates have been put in far enough, the section next the ble for any liquids, medicines, liquors, inks, etc., and of the tide, more attention will be paid to efficiency; masonry is cleared, and a portion of the brickwork built. as the corks are not injured they·may' be used a num· and if, as is stated, abollt 93 per cent of the actual This method of tunneling not only gives an exact bel' of .timeB. Mr. A. B COhu, 197 Water Street, New energy can be given off in use. ful work, there maybe a. idea of the nature of the material in advance o(the 'York City, has the agency for this attachment. considerable field for Mr. Allin'a inventiQn.
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican12121885-373b fatcat:axv6wzbthra4dczr55ie5rfstq