Patent GB-190603869-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Rotary Engines.
Inventor: SLEE JOHN
Filed: 1906-02-16
Granted: 1907-02-14
Abstract: 3869. Slee, J. Feb. 16. Movable-abutment type. -The engine has several pistons arranged in separate cylinders, and mounted on one shaft, and steam-actuated valves and gear are described by means of which all the cylinders can either r e c e i v e high - pressure steam or be worked on the compound principle as desired. The engine is quickly reversed and the abutments pressed to the piston by steam-actuated valves. The pistons 2 are somewhat oval in shape, and are packed as shown in Fig. 7 by a bar 53 and side pieces 54, which are attached to a spring strip 50 secured to the piston by screws 51 ; the whole is thrown outwards by centrifugal force and forms a tight joint. The pieces 54 carry the abutments 8 over the bar 53 without shock. For a short distance on each side of the packing-pieces, the piston surface has cut in it serrations 7, against which steam issuing from the ports 6, almost tangential to the piston periphery, impinges. The abutments 8 are connected by links 12 to pistons 10, 21, the former of which receives steam from the chest 13 and moves the abutment 8, and the latter is provided with grooves 14 which, at intervals, connect the chest 13 and passage 6. By altering the length of the link 12, the period of admission of steam, due to the to-and-fro motion of the piston 10, can be varied, and some steam from the piston 21 condenses in the space 24 and forms a cushion for this piston. The abutments 8, in addition to being steamactuated, may be given a positive movement by a lever 25 which acts upon projections 27 on the pistons 10. The spindle 26, to which the levers 25 are fixed, runs the whole length of the engine, and is rotated by an arm 28 engaging with a double piston 30 working in the cylinder 31. When the slide valve 17 is shifted to reverse the engine, steam enters the chests 13 by the pipes 15, and the casings of the slide valves 36 by the passages 20, 38. These slide valves are band-actuated through a handle 42, spindle 41, finger 40, and recess 39, and are connected by rods 37, and their position determines to which end of the cylinders 31 steam shall be admitted. Pipes 45 convey, if desired, additional steam to the pistons 21, 30. The steam from the first set of cylinders exhausts into the space 43, from which it passes through the pipe 35 to a central valve the position of which determines whether the steam shall flow to the second set of cylinders or direct to exhaust. The central valve shown in section in Figs. 4 and 5 is so constructed that, when it is in the position shown in Fig. 5, steam flows direct from the pipe 35 to the exhaust pipe 57, but if it is rotated, steam from the pipe 35 enters the ports 64, flows axially towards the middle of the valve, and leaves by the pipe 56 for the second set of cylinders. The steam is sent through the pipe 56 by slide valves 66, 68, the upper one 68 being closed and the lower open. These valves are worked by the central valve in such a manner that, when the latter is in a certain position, highpressure steam flows from the pipe 69 to each of the cylinders. The central valve has an arm 70 which is actuated by pistons in the cylinder 71 in a similar manner to the arm 28, Fig. 2, the slide valve being controlled by the handle 72, steam entering by the pipe 73 and exhausting by the pipe 74. The admission valves 17, Fig. 2, are all actuated simultaneously by a shaft 79 through arms 78 and links 77 The shaft 79 is actuated by a device 81, similar to those for actuating the arms 70, 28, and is controlled by the lever 82. Two sets of three cylinders are shown in Fig. 1, but there may be three sets of three, or four low-pressure and two high-pressure pistons may be employed. The exhaust chamber 43 is common to the cylinders of one set, but is distinct from the exhaust of any other set.