160 Mr J. G. Stuart on the Turbine Water- Wheel 



The walls are carried up two feet above the highest water- 

 point; and there, four beams again cross, leaving an opening 

 of about 2 feet square in the centre, in which is fixed the sus- 

 pending-pipe and neck-collar of the upright shaft. I will only- 

 further remark, regarding this reservoir, that if I were erect- 

 ing a turbine on a high fall, with a small supply of water, I 

 should probably construct this of plates of cast or malleable 

 iron. 



The step is of cast-iron, about 8 cwt., and contains the 

 brass for the bottom of the upright shaft working in. It is 

 firmly bolted to the lower beams by strong bolts in the four 

 paws of it. 



The shaft is of cast-iron (cast on its end), about 16 feet 

 long, 9 in. diameter at the smallest part, and swelled a little 

 towards the centre. It is steeled at the lower end, where it 

 works in the brass of the steps, and has a gudgeon of 8| in. 

 diameter, working 18 in. from the top. Above this journal 

 is hung the spur-wheel, from which motion is taken off by- 

 pinion in the usual way. 



The wheel is a saucer-shaped disc of cast-iron, keyed on 

 the shaft below the flooring of the wheelhouse. The saucer- 

 shaped part is 6 ft. 8 in. diameter, and then there is a flat cir- 

 cumference of 1 ft. 2 in., making the whole diameter 9 feet. 

 Upon this flat circumference are erected the curves or buckets 

 of the wheel. They are made of the best boiler-plate, and 

 are 9 in. high. On the top of them is fitted another circum- 

 ference of cast-iron, 1 ft. 2 in. across. These circumferences 

 are thus fastened together by means of the curves which are 

 bolted into each, and a compact wheel thus formed, weighing 

 in all about 45 cwt., and having 32 curved openings for vent- 

 ing the water through. 



The pipe serves the double purpose of keeping the shaft 

 from the water, and of sustaining in its place the centre disc. 

 It is furnished with a square collar, w^ith four paws, by which 

 it is suspended from the four top-beams. It is also stayed 

 and kept in its place by four rods from the four sides of the 

 wheelhouse to a flange cast on it, rather more than half way 

 down. 



The centre disc is shaped so as to lie above the saucer- 

 fthaped ^nti^rior of the wheel, and is about \ of an inch less 



