(232.)
Fig. 136.
The spokes, which are bolted to cast-iron flanges, are of wood. These flanges, to which they are so bolted, are keyed upon the paddle shaft. The outer extremities of the spokes are attached to circular bands or hoops of iron, surrounding the wheel; and the paddle boards, which are formed of hard wood, are bolted to the spokes. The wheels thus constructed, sometimes consist of three, and not unfrequently four, independent circles of paddle boards, placed one beside the other, and so adjusted in their position, that the boards of no two divisions shall correspond.
The great magnitude of the paddle-wheels, and the circumstance of the navigation being carried on, for the most part, in smooth water, have rendered unnecessary, in America, the adoption of any of those expedients for neutralising the effects of the oblique action of the paddles, which have been tried, but hitherto with so little success, in Europe.