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Nathan Smith, of Berwick City, La., has invented a paddle wheel which is intended for stern-wheel boats, and the invention consists in fitting the two hubs carrying the two sets of arms of a paddle wheel to their shaft, and the attachment of the buckets to the arms of the wheel, in such a manner as to permit, at the pleasure of the pilot or other person, either hub and its attached arms to be turned on the shaft by the pressure of the buckets against the water, to enable the buckets to assume oblique positions, to exert a pressure on the water either in a direction laterally to the boat for the purpose of changing the course of the boat in either direction. There are also certain contrivances for the purpose of enabling the hubs to be released from the shaft, so that they may be capable of turning therein to change the position of the buckets, by the pilot or other person. It was patented this week.
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