AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR WORKING AIR ENGINES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR
WORKING AIR ENGINES." -A communication from abroad by John
Bowman Atwater, of Chicago, State of Illinois, United States of
America.
Sealed the 8th May 1866, and dated the 6th March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th March 1866.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND
APPARATUS FOR WORKING AIR ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of treating atmospheric air, and
of introducing such air into a reheating or rarefying chamber, to be
expanded and afterwards employed as a motive agent for driving engines.
Under certain circumstances atmospheric air will not readily commingle
with steam, hence air may be rapidly forced out of or compressed into a

page_text: chamber by means of steam introduced into the chamber so as to act or
impinge directly upon the air therein. This fact it is proposed to take
advantage of for the purpose of forcing air into a rarefying chamber, where
it is to be subjected to a high degree of heat, and then conducted off and
employed for driving engines. Steam, besides being used as a means for
compressing air into a rarefying chamber where it is to be highly expanded,
is also made to impart moisture and a certain degree of heat to the air
thus furnished to the rarefying chamber.
In carrying out the object of this Invention a steam boiler, made by
preference in the form of the frustum of a cone, is used. An opening
through the centre of this boiler forms the fire chamber, the heated gas
and products of combustion escaping at the upper end of which impinge
upon a chamber of hemispherical or other form in which air for working a
motive-power engine is to be heated. The boiler communicates at certain
times with cells or chambers formed in a revolving cylinder and commu-
nicating at certain times with the rarefying vessel. This cylinder has
three cells or chambers through it, which are at equal distances apart and
equal distance from the axis of the cylinder, and it is mounted between
and works air-tight against two stationary discs which form bearings for its
shaft. The cylinder shaft carries a pulley over which a belt passes for
transmitting motion to the cylinder from the main shaft of the engine to
be driven. Through both fixed discs corresponding openings are made of
equal diameter to that of the chambers made through the cylinder, so that
when either one of the chambers in the cylinder is brought opposite these
openings air will rush into it at both ends. Another opening is made
through one disc in the path of the chambers of the rotating cylinder, into
which is screwed a pipe leading to the boiler, and directly opposite this
opening a corresponding opening is made through the other disc and fitted
with a pipe which leads to the rarefying chamber. When the chambers in
the revolving cylinder are arranged so that one of them is receiving air,
the other chamber above it will be brought in a line coincident with the
two openings in which the pipes are fitted, and the chamber below it will
be brought opposite an opening into which a pipe is screwed that conducts
off the exhausted steam from the chambers as they are successively
brought opposite that opening. The rarefying chamber is provided with
a safety valve, and it has a pipe which leads to the valve chest of a high-
pressure engine. Supposing now steam to be generated in the boiler
under a pressure of one pound to the square inch, more or less, above the
atmospheric pressure, air in the rarefying chamber will also be highly

page_text: heated as before explained. During this heating up of the parts the stop-
cock in the hot-air supply pipe is closed, but it is now opened to form a
communication with the engine. Steam from the boiler is conveyed to
the rotating cylinder, where it forces the air out of the chambers as they
successively come into position, compelling the air by the impact of the
steam to pass into the pipe leading to the rarefying chamber. The steam
will also communicate a certain degree of heat to the air, and also certain
qualities of moisture, which moisture prevents the injurious effect con-
sequent upon working heated dry air upon metallic surfaces. Hot air will
now by the action of the slide valve of the engine be admitted to the
cylinder, and caused to act upon the piston in the usual manner, and impart
rotary motion to the driving shaft. Instead of employing a rotating
chambered cylinder for bringing air under the influence of steam as above
set forth, other contrivances operating upon the same principle may be
employed, such, for instance, as an oscillating or vibrating segment having
suitable chambers in it. The rotating or oscillating air chambers
may be
used in connection with any of the well-known steam engines by suitably
applying the said chambers to the pipe leading from the boiler to the
steam chest of the engine cylinder and dispensing with the rarefying
chamber. In this case the air will be expanded by the caloric in the
steam, the pressure from the boiler being cut off during this operation as
described when the rarefying chamber is used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence that
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my

page_text: executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF AND APPARATUS FOR WORKING AIR ENGINES," being a communication to me
from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to
be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent. ..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of treating atmospheric air, and
of introducing such air into a reheating or rarefying chamber, to be
expanded and afterwards employed as a motive agent for driving engines.
Under certain circumstances atmospheric air will not readily commingle
with steam,
hence air may be rapidly forced out of or compressed into a
chamber by means of steam introduced into the chamber so as to act or
impinge directly upon the air therein. This fact is taken advantage of
for the purposes of this Invention, air being forced into a rarefying
chamber, where it is subjected to a high degree of heat, and then con-
ducted off and employed for driving engines. Steam is, according to this
Invention, used for two purposes; first, as a means for compressing air
into a rarefying chamber where it is to be highly expanded; and, secondly,
for imparting moisture and also a certain degree of heat to the air thus
furnished to the rarefying chamber.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a plan view of the
improved apparatus for obtaining motive power by the combined action of
steam and air; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the engine; Fig. 3 is a side
elevation of the apparatus for generating steam and heating air; Fig. 4
(Sheet II.) is a vertical central section through the rarefyer; Fig. 5 is a
vertical section through the boiler; Fig. 6 is a top view of the rarefyer;

page_text: Fig. 7 is a top view of the boiler; Fig. 8 is a vertical section through the
rotary air and steam cylinder; Fig. 9 is a view of that side of the face
plate of the rotary cylinder through which steam is introduced; Figures
10 and 11 show the two ends of the rotary cylinder. Similar letters of
reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A is a steam boiler, which may be made in the form of the frustum of a
cone or of any other suitable form; B is an opening through the centre
of this boiler, in which the fire chamber may be suitably arranged so that
the heated gas and products of combustion will escape at the upper end
of the opening and impinge upon a chamber C, in which air for working a
motive-power engine is to be heated. The object of constructing the
boiler A of the form above mentioned is to obtain an economy of fuel and
heat by employing the waste heat for heating the chamber C; other
modes of effecting this object may be employed. The rarefying chamber
C may
be constructed of the hemispherical form shown in the Drawings,
and it should be made strong and tight. The boiler A communicates at
certain times with cells or chambers which are formed in a revolving
cylinder D, and these cells or chambers communicate at certain times with
the rarefying vessel C. This cylinder has three cells or chambers a, b, c,
through it, which are at equal distances apart and at an equal distance
from the axis of the cylinder, as shown in Figures 10 and 11, Sheet II.
The shaft D', to which this cylinder D is keyed, has its bearings in two
stationary discs E, E¹, which are suitably secured to pillars F, F. The
shaft D¹ passes through the centres of the discs and the cylinder, and pro-
jects out from the disc E¹, so as to carry a pulley G, over which a belt
passes
for transmitting motion to the cylinder D from the main shaft G¹ of
an engine H, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The flat faces of the cylinder
D and impinging faces of the discs E, E¹, are properly smoothed and
ground together so as to form tightly fitting joints to prevent the escape of
air or steam. The disc E has an opening d through it, which is equal in
diameter to that of the chambers formed in the cylinder D; and directly
opposite to this opening dan opening d', corresponding in size to d, is
made through the disc E', so that when either one of the chambers in the
cylinder D is brought opposite these openings d, d', air will rush into it at
both ends. Another opening e is made through the disc E, into which is
screwed a pipe A¹, which leads to the boiler A, as shown in Figures 1
and 3, Sheet. I., and Fig. 8, Sheet II., and directly opposite the opening e
a corresponding opening e' is made through the disc E', shown in Figures

page_text: 8 and 10. Into this opening e¹ a pipe C is screwed, which leads to the
rarefying chamber C. When the chambers in the revolving cylinder D
are arranged so that one of them is receiving air through the ports d, d',
the other chamber above it will be brought in a line coincident with the-
two openings or ports e, e', and the chamber below it will be brought
opposite the opening f, into which a pipe J is screwed that conducts off
the exhausted steam from the chambers a, b, c, as they are successively.
brought opposite the opening f. The rarefying chamber C is provided
with a safety valve H¹, and also with a pipe I, which latter leads off to the
slide valve chest g of the engine cylinder, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2 of
Sheet I:
The engine shewn in the Drawings is constructed in every essential
particular like an ordinary high-pressure steam engine, and does not there-
fore require a particular description. The air after having expended its
force upon the piston escapes through the exhaust pipe h; the piston
rod operates by means of a crank to rotate the main shaft G', which
shaft transmits motion to the chambered cylinder D as above described.
The slide valve in the chest g receives its movements from the main shaft
G¹ by means of the excentric g¹. Almost, if not all, of the well-known
kinds of engines which can be driven by steam may be employed in carry-
ing out the Invention, highly heated air being used as the motive agent
instead of steam.
The manner of treating atmospheric air by the apparatus above
described preparatory to the admission of the air into the valve chest of
the engine is as follows:-Steam is generated in the boiler A under a
pressure of one pound to the square inch, more or less, above the atmo-
spheric pressure. At the same time that the water in the boiler is being
heated the rarefying chamber is also being highly heated, as before
explained. During this heating up of the parts the stop-cock S is closed;
it is now open so as to form a communication with the engine. The
steam from the boiler is conveyed through the pipe A¹ to the rotating
cylinder D, where the steam forces the air out of the chambers a, b, c, as
they successively come opposite the openings e, e', in the discs E, E¹, com-
pelling the air by the impact of the steam to pass into the pipe leading to
the rarefying chamber C. The steam will also communicate a certain
degree of heat to the air, and also certain qualities of moisture, which
-moisture prevents the injurious, effect consequent upon working heated dry
air upon metallic surfaces..

page_text: :
To explain more fully the mode of operation of the cylinder D, suppose
the chamber a to be opposite the inlet ports d, d', for receiving air, the.
chamber to be coincident to the ports e, e¹, and the chamber c to be
opposite the exhaust portf, the relative motion of the rotating cylinder D
and that of the engine will be such that the period of opening and closing
of the valves of the engine will correspond with the opening and closing
of the cavities in the rotating cylinder, so that the air, when once it is
introduced into the rarefying chamber. C, cannot escape back, the rotating
cylinder acting at certain times as a check valve, but the air must find its
exit through the exhaust pipe J of the engine cylinder. The cylinder D
is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figures 1, 2, and 10,
and the chamber a containing air is thus brought opposite the openings e, e¹,
when the air will be forced into the rarefying chamber C by the action of
the steam from the boiler. While this takes place the steam which was
left in the chamber 6 will exhaust through the opening f, and air will be
rushing into the chamber c. At the next change the chamber c will be
brought in line with the openings e, e', the chamber a in line with the
opening f, and the chamber in line with the air. ports. During the.
passage of the chambers a, b, c, from one opening in the discs to another,
the air which was forced into the chamber C will be quickly expanded*
and caused to act upon one side or the other of the engine piston; this
takes place when the cylinder D acts as a cut off between the boiler. and'
rarefying chamber. The rotating cylinder D being driven by means of a
chain belt or gearing connected in any suitable manner with the main
shaft of the engine H, it will be very easy to preserve the proper relative
movements of the said cylinder and valve or valves of the engine; the
number of revolutions of the rotating cylinder D will be regulated by the
number of cavities or chambers in this cylinder.
Instead of employing a rotating chambered cylinder for bringing air
under the influence of steam as above set forth, other contrivances
operating upon the same principle may be employed, such, for instance, as
an oscillating or vibrating segment having suitable chambers in it. The
rotating or oscillating air chambers may be used in connection with any of
the well-known steam engines by suitably applying the chambers to the
pipe leading from the boiler to the steam chest of the engine cylinder, and
dispensing with the rarefying chamber C shewn in the Drawings. In this
case the air will be expanded by the caloric in the steam, the pressure from
the boiler being cut off during this operation as described when the
rarefving chamber is used.
:

page_text: By the use of this Invention the danger of boilers exploding is avoided,
for the reason that the steam used in conjunction with the reheating
chamber or rarefier need never exceed a pressure of one pound to the
square inch. Stean) generated at two hundred and twelve degrees of heat
is one atmosphere, and one pound pressure to the square inch will instan-
taneously expel air from cavities or chambers. A saving of all fuel over
and above the quantity necessary for raising steam to a higher pressure
than one pound to the square inch is obtained, and the waste heat which
ordinarily escapes up the 'smoke stack is used to expand the air in the
rarefying chamber C.
In carrying out the Invention it is important to preserve a certain
relation between the speed of the slide valve, if a slide valve engine be
used, and the speed of the cylinder D. This may be done by varying the
size of the driving pulley on the main shaft of the engine according to the
diameter of the cylinder and positions of the chambers therein. The
cylinder D must make one revolution to that of the engine shaft, or it
must make two, three, or more revolutions to one of the engine shaft.
Whatever number is determined upon such relative speed must be
preserved.
When the rarefyer is not used the air and steam will both pass to the
engine under a high pressure, but when the rarefyer is used air alone is
conducted to the engine.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An improved
Mode of and Apparatus for Working Air Engines," and explained the
manner of carrying the same into practical operation, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,―
First, working engines by the combined action of steam and air
substantially as described.
Second, the employment of steam acting directly upon atmospheric
air for the purpose of compressing the air into a rarefying chamber which
communicates with the valve chest of an engine substantially as described.
Third, heating and expanding air and communicating to it certain
qualities of moisture by means of steam acting directly upon the air, and
then further rarefying the air thus treated for the purpose of employing it
as a motive agent, substantially as described.
Fourth, the combination of a chambered cylinder D with the ported
plates E, E', and a steam generator, said cylinder operating substantially as
described.
Fifth. the combination of air-supplving chambers constructed and

page_text: operating substantially as described with a rarefying chamber C, or its
equivalent, and a steam generator substantially as described.
Sixth, arranging the air rarefying chamber C in such relation to the
steam generator that the same fire will heat both, substantially as described.
Seventh, communicating motion, either rotatory or oscillatory, to the
chambered air supplyer D from the engine in such manner that the rela-
tive motions of said supplyer D and of the engine will be such that the
periods of opening and closing the valves of the engine will correspond
with the opening and closing of the cavities in the air supplier D, substan-
tially as described.
In witness whereof, I the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
5 Witness,
J. W. MOFfatt,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.s.)