PUTTING WAVES TO WORK.

Grey River Argus, 27 April 1910, Page 3

PUTTING WAVES TO WORK.

Twice . each day millions of tons of ishipping in New York harbour are jkfted to a height of over four feet ;and dropped the same distance by the tide. This same work i;, done in every port to, a' greater, or lefts degree. Many p. man has enviously ..considered this enormous expenditure of; power and racked his brains for a means of putting it toi valuable service. However, .■the work done by the tides & enormous, only because of its vast extent, and herein lies the delusion . which many an investor has failed to discover until he has , devoted much thought anil time on evolving a tide motor. The work done on raiding the Lus'lttania, for instance, which weighs 40.000 tons, represents an expenditure of energy of only sixteen horse-power, this being due to the fact that the tide acts very slowly, taking six hour* to raise the vesrpl to a height of four fe«t. ;••■ Howeyer, there is another form of energy displayed by the ocean which is far more powerful than that of the tides,' and here there appears to -be more opportunity for capturing a portion of this power, land devoting it to practcal use. The waye^ of the tie* can are not so deliberate as the tides, and the chief ' difficulty with which the investor must contend is that in time of storm they develop entirely too much energy, and are apt to wreck his machine, . . . ' . We proceed to describe some recent constructions which have been derisad for the purpose of obtaining power from the waves. The first consists of i large square float?, on which the prin•inal mechanism is mounted. Hfriged to this float are four auxiliary floats, and the rocking motion between the auxiliaries; and the main. float that is utilised to operate a series of pistons pumping air. into a compressed air tank. The compressed air tank and four pairs of cylinders are mounted on the main float. The piston rode are connected at their outer ends to the four floats, and when these floats are rocked by the waves they serve to reciprocate the pistons and pum^ the air. The action takes place regardless of the. direction in which the waves ara travelling because the auxiliary I floats extend in four directions. An entirely different method of utilising the force of? the waves consists of a large crib placed in the water and having one end open so that the Avaves will wash up over the floor of the crib as they doj on an ocean beach. At the back of the crib are a ttfiir o( curved reflecting walls, before which k placed a triangular casing provided with a series of swinging doors or vanes. When the waves wash up on the floor of the crib they* close the vanes aganst the casing and divided by the prow of the casing are directed againct tne reflecting walls. The rear of the triangular' casing .is opened, permitting, the water to now through' as the waves recede and strike against the rear luce's of the vanes, opening them. • The vanes are geared to a series of ■piston rodo. which >crate the cylinders to fill a compressair chamber. The latter, by means of a pair of air motors, ' operates a dynamo and generates electricity whith may be conveyed to any desired spot and utilised . The third is a construction similar to the first, making use of the rociting of two ' floats. The floats are hinged to each other and one carries a rack adapted to engage k pinion mounted" on the other boat. As the floats rock to and fro the pinion is rotated firstin.' one direction, and then the other, and this motion" serves to pump air into a tank. The air from the tank opera teg a pneumatic motor, which in ; turn drives a dynamo ana generates electricity. In order: to permit the floats to swing about in any direction without . danger of fouling the anchor lines one of the floats is mounted on a '■; swivel which is securely anchored. By means of contact wheels engaging contact rings on the swivel the electricity generated is conveyed to a pair •of cables which extend, to the shore. Tfie. construction of the fourth depends for its operation on an entirely different principle. It is well known that the wave disturbance of the ocean does not extend to any great depth, and it is the relative motion of the snrfac watflar Witt respect to tho water at a considerable depth that jis madp use of in this case to generate power. A float is provided from the centne of which projects a shaft fitted as its 'lower end with a set of radial fins. When the' float is rocked by the waves the shaft"* tends to remain vertical 'owing 4> these fins. Mounted on the float are a series of cylinders provided , with the usual pistons which are connected ,to an extension of the vertical, shaft just referred to, and while the pistons ■ remain vitually fixed the cylinders are reciprocated upon them by the • roqking of the float. The pistons serve to circulate oil through a rotary engine which in turn drives a dynamo and thus generates electricity. When c tho wave motion becomes too violent an electrically-operated by-pass per mils a portion of the oil to circulate without passing through the motor and thus an excessive speed is prevented.