Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-11-27
A NOVEL DOMESTIC MOTOR.

Captain John Ericsson, the veteran in
ventor, has just brought out an ingenious
aud admirable caloric pnmping-e engine,
| adapted chiefly for domestic uses. The
| principle upon which it is founded is that
OF the alternate expansion and contraction
OF given amount of air confined in cyl
inder and subjected to rapid alterations OF
| high and low temperature. The cylinder,
cast IN single piece, is lnounted Oh d solid
stand, III vertical nosition. TIE bottom
OF the cylinder receives the heat either
! from small fire of Goals of from several
gas Jets ttnree tVe-ioot burners answer the
purpose), where these are available. The
upper part OF the cylinder is provided with
water jacket for cooling the expanded
and heated air, III q manner to be shortly
| described. The top of the cylinder is open.
Into this cylinder is fitted piston whose
| stroke is confined TO the space surrounded
by the above-naned water Jacket. There
IS also provided a solid pluuger, of slightly
smaller diameter than that of the cylinder,
which IS operated from rod which passes
| through the piston aud its rod. The
mechanism by which the relative motions
OF the piston and the plunger are controlled
Is of a highly ingenious though simple
| nature. 1t consists of walking beam,
to which the piston-rod is attached by
means Of suitable links; and which con-
verts the motion OF the beam into circular
motion by means of connecting rod and
crank, connected with a balance wheel
The plunger Is operated by bell crank
and link from the connecting rod.
It's motion is the reverse of that
OF the piston: as this rises, the plunger
falls, aud vice versa. It's function is
simply that of displscing the confined air
body from direct contact with the heated
bottom of the cylinder during each stroke.
A feed pump operated from the end of the
beam supplies the water jacket with a
regular supply of cold water. The action
is as follows The confined air in the
cylinder, being heated from the gas or coal
flame, expands and forces the piston up
suddenly to the top Of the cylinder. AS
this occurs, the heated air is exposed to the
continually increasing cooling surface of
the jacket, and at the same time the solid
plunger, actuated in the direction opposite
to the piston, has descended and interposes
itself between the air aud the source of
heat In consequence, the air is cooled by
the water jacket, and contracts as quickly
as it had previously expanded. The pis-
ton, which is exposed on the whole of it's
upper surface to the atmosphere, is forced
down by atmospheric pressure, thus max
ing one complete revolution of the crank
and wheel. The lowest point reached
by the piston is about one third
the distance from the top of
the cylinder. where the water. jacket
terminates, so that it is cushioned on the
confined air The descent of the piston is
accompanied by the rise of the plunger;
this displaces the air and exposes it again
to the source of heat it expands, forcing
the piston up, and repeating the operation
we have just described indefinitely. This
apparatus, therefore, has no valves or air.
pump, but uses confined body of air over
and over again. It occupies floor space
of about 24x30 inches and is about 4 feet
high, and with six inch cylinder, consum-
ing a scuttle of coal per day. or Is cubic
feet of gas per hour, will pump 200 gallons
of water per hour to the hight of so feet.
The engine IS entirely automatic, requiring
no attention after starting, and is perfectly
free from liability TO explosion.