Vertical-axis composite swinging-blade water wheel

An apparatus to convert a kinetic energy of a substantially horizontal stream into a torque, comprising:

• (a) two parallel horizontal retaining plates, said plates being fixed at a predetermined vertical distance from one another by means of a plurality of spacer bolts, thereby forming a frame;
• (b) a vertical output shaft at the center of said frame;
• (c) at least a pair of vertical-axis swinging-blade water wheels disposed symmetrically with respect to the axis of the output shaft, each of said water wheels further comprising a vertical water wheel shaft mounted between said retaining plates, shroud discs attached to said water wheel shaft coaxially therewith at a predetermined vertical distance from one another and capable of rotating in a body with said water wheel shaft, a plurality of vertical swinging blades pivotably attached to and between said shroud discs at points equiangularly spaced along the circumference of circles of the shroud discs with the axis of said water wheel shaft as the center, and vertical stop pins arranged on each shroud disc at positions away from said pivotal points over a distance a little shorter than the width of the blade along the radii extending between said respective pivotal points and the axis of the water wheel shaft;
• and (d) means for converting the rotations of the respective water wheel shafts into a rotation in one direction and transmitting the resultant torque to said output shaft.