Waterwheel driven electrical generator

Abstract

An electrical generator system including a waterwheel apparatus as a prime mover. The waterwheel apparatus as a plurality of pivoted buckets mounted in circumferentially spaced relation around a central hub and having an outer rim provided with a ring gear driving a pinion gear on the generator shaft for obtaining a high rotational speed in a generator from a relatively slow turning waterwheel. The waterwheel buckets each fold outwardly to hold a maximum quantity of water as the bucket reaches approximately the horizontal center line of the wheel on the downwardly moving side of the wheel while each bucket empties at the vertical center line of the wheel as the bucket passes the bottom side and thereafter folds inwardly as the bucket moves upwardly and over the top of the wheel.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.