TUEBINE 



1043 



wheel, which is placed within the chamber, and which almost entirely fills it, is 

 divided by thin partitions into a great number of radiating passages. Through these 

 passages the water must flow in its course towards the centre ; and, in doing so, it 

 imparts its own rotatory motion to the wheel. The whirlpool of water, acting within 

 the wheel-chamber, being one 

 principal feature of this tur- 2064 



bine, leads to the name 

 Vortex, as a suitable desig- 

 nation for the machine as a 

 whole. 



The vortex admits of seve- 

 ral modes of construction ; 

 but the two principal forms 

 are the one adapted for high 

 falls, and the one for low 

 falls. The former may be 

 called the high-pressxiro 

 vortex, and tho latter tho 

 low-pressure vortex. An ex- 

 ample of each of these two 

 kinds is delineated in the 

 accompanying figures. 



Figs. 2064 and 2065 are 

 respectively a vertical sec- 

 tion and a plan of a vortex constructed for employing a very high fall near Belfast 

 to drive a flax-mill. 1 A A is the water-wheel. It is fixed on the upright shaft B, 

 which conveys away the power to the machinery to be driven. The water-wheel 

 occupies the central part of the upper division of a strong cast-iron case c c. This 

 part of the case is called the wheel-chamber. D D is the lower division of the case, and 

 is called the supply-chamber. It receives the water directly from the supply pipe, 

 of which the lower extremity is shown at E, and delivers it into the outer part of 

 the upper division by four large openings F, in the partition between the two divisions. 

 This outer part of the upper division is called the guide-blade chamber, from its con- 

 taining four guide-blades, G, which direct the water tangentially into the wheel- 

 chamber. Immediately after being injected into the wheel-chamber, the water is 

 received by the curved radiating passages of the wheel, which are partly to be seen 

 in Jiff. 2065, at a place where both the cover of the wheel-chamber and the upper plate 

 of the wheel are broken away 

 for the purpose of exposing 

 the interior to view. The 

 water on reaching the inner 

 ends of these curved passages, 

 having already done its work, 

 is allowed to make its exit 

 by two large central orifices, 

 shown distinctly on the figures 

 at or adjacent to the letters 

 L L, the one leading upwards 

 and the other downwards. 

 Close joints between the case 

 and the wheel, to hinder the 

 escape of water otherwiso 

 than through the radiating 

 passages, are made by means 

 of two annular pieces L, L, 

 called joint-rings, fitting to 

 the central orifices of the case, and capable of being adjusted, by means of studs 

 and nuts, so as to come close to the wheel without impeding its motion by friction. 

 The four openings H, H, fig. 2065, through which the water flows into the wheel- 

 chamber, each situated between the point or edge of one guide-blade and tho middle 

 of the next, determine, by their width, the quantity of water admitted, and conse- 

 quently the power of the wheel. To render this power capable of being varied at 

 pleasure, the guide-blades are made moveable round gudgeons or centres near their 

 points ; and a spindle K> worked by a handle in any convenient position, is connected 



1 In these figure?, as also in figs. 2066, 2067, some unimportant modifications are made for the pnr- 

 pose of simplifying the drawings, and rendering them more easily understood than they would 

 otherwise be. 



3x2 



2065 



