IMPROVE- 'MENTS IN COMBINED STEAM AND AIR ENGINES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Julian Augustus Hayden Hasbrouck, of the City and State
of New York, in the United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
'MENTS IN COMBINED STEAM AND AIR ENGINES." A communication from
William Mont Storm, a person residing in New York City, in the United
States of America.
Sealed the 13th October 1877, and dated the 20th June 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Julian Augustus Hayden
Hasbrouck at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th June
1877.
„Julian AugusTUS 'HAYDEN HASBROUCK, of the City and State of New York, in
the United States of America. “IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBINED STEAM AND AIR
ENGINES." A communication from William Mont Storm, a person residing in New
York City, in the United States of America.
.2
The Invention embraces, in combination with a steam engine, the employment of
an air pump, single or double acting, actuated by a cam or other device, so that its
movement shall be accelerated or made intermittent in degree of piston speed as
compared with the stroke of the engine at certain portions.
Also in combination with the air pump and engine of an air check valve, whose
opening can be restrained notwithstanding the exposure of its surface next to the
air pump to a greater pressure than that on its opposite surface next to the engine,
by which means the, pump itself is made, during a portion of its stroke, to serve as
a resevoir of compressed air that is to supply, combined with steam, the enginë
proper on its next stroke.
:
Also actuating engines such as are now usually driven by steam by means of a
quantity of air, previously compressed, and having its tension due to such compres-
sion highly increased and augmented by the jetting or flashing into or co-mixture
with it of any heated liquid or vapour, as steam, said jetting of the steam into the
air, or vice versa, the air into the steam and their co-mixture-being affected previous
to or during the process of acting upon the piston, the whole operation being carried
out by means-of-any convenient mechanism.

page_text: Also the employment of a simple or single auxiliary cut-off, between which and
the cut-off' next to the conduits of the cylinder the air is to be injected direct from
the pump and admixed with the steain.
The employment of lenses in the cylinder heads and a reflector on the piston,
both as reflectors of heat.
And lastly, electrically insulating or partially insulating the cylinder and its
immediate adjuncts.
The various parts, such as the air pump, cam for actuating same, the air check
valve, and the apparatus for injecting steam or air, together with the cut-off
mechanism, may be of the ordinary kinds now in use, or slightly modified to suit
the purposes intended.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Julian Augustus Hayden Hasbrouck in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th December 1877.
.
JULIAN AUGUSTUS HAYDEN HASBROUCK, of the City and State of New York, in
the United States of America. IMPROVEMENTS IN COMBINED STEAM AND AIR
ENGINES." A communication from William Mont Storm, a person residing in New
York, in the United States of America.
The Invention consists in certain new and useful devices to be applied in
combination with steam engines for the purpose of controlling to the best effect the
conversion of the ordinary steam into vesicular vapour, similar to natural clouds, by
which such engines may be actuated with far greater economy of fuel than is
attained under the present practice with the use of steam simply.
The improvement consists in the combination of an air pump, either single or
.double acting, actuated by a suitable cam or other device, so that its movement
shall be accelerated or made intermittent in degree of piston speed as compared
with the stroke of the engine at certain portions with the steam cylinder of a non-
condensing steam engine, and so arranged as to admit the air at the commencement
of the stroke, or when there is a. vacuum in the steam cylinder, or at the same time
when the steam is admitted into the same.
And, further, in the peculiar manner of electrically insulating or partially
insulating the cylinder and its immediate adjuncts to prevent the condensation of
the vesicular vapours.
In order to explain the Invention as completely as possible I now proceed to
describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical
effect, reference being had to the illustrated Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the numerical figures and letters of reference marked thereon respectively as
follows:-
.
In the accompanying Drawing,—
Fig. I is a vertical longitudinal section of a steam cylinder for a horizontal
engine, representing only such portions as are necessary to be shown.
Fig. II. represents an independent single-acting upright air pump to be con-
nected with the engine.
Fig.,III. represents a balanced air check valve in section.
In the steam cylinder F the piston A is represented at seven-eighths of its stroke;

page_text: the air pump is shown to be connected with the engine by chain and pulleys B and B¹,
the chain pulley B being on the crank shaft B¹¹ of the engine, that the pump, (being
single-acting), shall be driven two strokes for one of the engine, and so adjusted that
its piston C shall be, say, set one-half of its forcing stroke when the piston A of the
engine shall have travelled, say, seven-eights of its stroke. At this point the way
valve H admitting the admixed steam and air to the engine shall have just closed
and cut off, (say, by lap, in a slide valve, as shown on the Drawing,) so, that the
compressed air now in the pump, at the pressure of about two atmospheres, may
pass through a check valve D into the chest of the way valve H without passing
into the cylinder until after the engine turns the centre, when the valve opens,
permitting it to do so, thus relieving the back pressure on the pump, which, however,
just previously would probably not have much exceeded that of the exhaust, for it
is being forced into a space containing little more than that, since its communication
with the cylinder has been open till the latter portion of the stroke. On its being
closed the air begins to enter, and as we will assume that the steam cut-off valve Ġ
closes at one-quarter of the stroke or less, according to the pressure of the steam
used, so that the engine may work on the expansion principle, the pressure resisting
the entrance of the air has been correspondingly reduced, as will be understood.
The steam cut-off should always open when the air pump has completed its forcing
stroke, but the cut-off may be made adjustable as regards its point of closing, even
while the engine is running, if necessary.
In applying my system to an engine already built, if, the way valve H did not
cut off by itself it should be made to do so, or a cut-off be applied to act with it,
and this independently of the auxiliary cut-off G between the air receiving space
and the steam generator.
As the auxiliary cut-off G opens, permitting the steam to enter suddenly among
the air now occupying the space between it and the piston, there will be such an
instant and great increase of tension beyond that in the steam pipe and boiler that
the combined air and steam would flash back, so to speak, through the still open
cut-off into the former, thus wasting force that should have been exerted on the
piston. To prevent this I combine with the cut-off a check valve E just above it,
as shown. Of course this check valve will re-open as soon as the pressure in the
cylinder becomes less than that in the steam pipe.
The air pump, as near as I have found by trial so far, should be of about one-
quarter the contents of the cylinder, irrespective of the steam pressure carried, for
it would seem that the greater the density of the steam the less air in proportion is
required, other things equal, to produce the desired result, at least in the main.
The stroke of the pump, however, can be made adjustable by a large margin
either way.
By this arrangement of a pump working two strokes for one of the engine or
otherwise, of a pump, the movement of whose piston bears such a relation, as
described herein, to that of the engine, there is no difficulty in getting the air into
the latter in the early part of its stroke, as explained, dispencing with special valves
to admit and cut it off, as also with a reservoir, both of which would be necessary
if the pistons of the pump and of the engine were alike in their mode of movement
during their respective strokes.
A double-acting air pump, working stroke for stroke with the engine, may be
employed and still serve the purposes I have explained if it is moved by a cam or
other suitable device, so that while it should not accumulate too much tension
within it too early, as will be understood; the latter portion of its stroke shall be
accelerated to catch up, so to speak, with the movement of the engine piston and
complete its stroke, and the delivery of its air early on the return stroke of the
former.
I would prefer, however, in many cases the single-acting pump working two
strokes for one of the engine, and having the latter portion of its stroke accelerated
by a cam or other device, as shewn in Fig. II., by which it is feasible, among other
things, to get the air all in as the engine turns its center. But so far as that is-

page_text: concerned I prefer, for the sake of an easier forcing motion, to let the air pump
complete its stroke when the engine piston has traveled one thirty-second of its
stroke.
To the end of preventing the air pump overheating when working at high
speed it may be made with a water-tight outer jacket for the circulation of cold
water.
In cases where steam would be expanded to a less pressure in the cylinder of an
engine than fifteen pounds to a square inch, plus the atmosphere, before the piston
of the air pump had traveled half its forcing stroke to produce such pressure (or
unless the way valve H had previously closed by having a correspondingly greater
lap), then, unless a weighted air-check valve D between the pump and engine was
employed, the air, now compressed to supply the next stroke, could pass in at the
latter end of the current stroke on what-would be about to become the exhaust
side of the piston, and the result would be little, if any, better than .running the
engine by steam simply, as will be understood.
I prefer to a simple weighted air valve a balanced or quasi-balanced check valve,
as represented in Fig. III., so weighted that a pressure of not less than fifteen
pounds to the square inch, plus the atmosphere, on the air side shall lift it on the
opposite side, but, being balanced, even if there was a greater pressure than fifteen
pounds, for example, on the steam side, fifteen pounds. on the air side would open'
it, and steam could rush back into the air pipe were not the supplementary check
valve J arranged to prevent this. This check valve D had best be located as close
to the entrance of the air into the engine as conveniently may be.
Instead of discharging the air from the pump into the chest of the way valve, so
as to pass with the steam through the same into the steam cylinder, a double-acting
air pump, operated by a cam or otherwise, and the movement of whose piston bears
such a relation to that of the engine, as herein described, may be arranged parallel
to the cylinder and made to discharge the compressed air directly into the ends of
the cylinder. An air check valve, similar to the one above described, must in that
case be applied in each connection.
Isolated clouds (vesicular vapors) do not condense under the influence of mere
cold, like steam, and so we see them floating high in the air in the coldest weather,
though they may at times be gradually absorbed and diffused into adjoining
atmospheric stratums.
To condense clouds it is necessary that their electricity should be drawn off or
discharged into some contiguous cloud or the earth, and to the extent that this
takes place it disenables them correspondingly to support in a medium a thousand
times lighter than itself the water of which their vesicules are forined. To prevent
this condensation therefore in a cloud engine I insulate it. This is easily done in
building a new engine, and also in applying this part (inclusive) of my Invention
to an engine already built, as will be seen by refering to Fig. I., where K is the
bed frame, with proper hearings for the foot flanges K, but in lieu of bolting the
two together in metallic contact, I interpose between them a layer of thickly
varnished hard wood or thick india-rubber canvas K".
"
The holes through which the holding-down bolts Z are to pass are made much
larger than the bolts themselves, and the holes are then to be bushed to fit the bolts
with lignum vitre or some other suitable non-conductor of electricity Z. Under
the heads and the nuts of the bolts. and under their usual washers are placed
broader washers of similar material or of varnished rubber canvas. Thus the
cylinder is, as far as conveniently may be, insulated from the bed frame. Around
the cylinder, but not in contact with it, is "lagging" or a sheet metal jacket.c
supported at each end by a circumferential rib inside. The jacket is insulated from
the cylinder. The piston rod is insulated in the cross head L substantially in the
saine manner. The connecting rod is crotched where it takes on the cross head, so
as to span its central boss L. The metallic continuity of the rods m and m³ is
intercepted opposite these letters by a rigid non-conducting joint of lignum vitæ or
glass, as.shown. The direct metallic connection of the stean pipe with the chamber

page_text: containing the auxiliary cut-off and the steam check valve is intercepted by a non-
conducting joint N. This joint is constructed of a section of the steam pipe O,
made of glass, embraced by the seperated flanges P and P¹ on the metallic portions
of the pipe. The upper and lower edges of the glass section O are packed to prevent
leak, as will be understood, and clamped between the metallic portions P, P¹, by
bolts, whose heads and nuts are fitted with non-conducting washers, &c., all substan-
tially in the manner described as relating to the bolting of the cylinder to the bed
frame. The section.O should be thoroughly jacketed to prevent the condensation
of the steam passing through it, as the adhering water would tend to destroy or
greatly vitiate the attempted insulation. . A similar joint is inderposed between the
air pipe and the air check valve.
I have frequently observed that in the early morning, even before sunrise, when
the air was clear except from from certain isolated clouds, that the latter would visibly
swell in dimensions and continue to do so for some considerable time, even such as
were near the opposite horizon, and hence as yet not exposed to the more direct rays
of the sun. I cannot therefore believe that this is the effect of heat, but that it is
some effect of light, consequently I purpose in building cloud engines to make the
heads of the cylinders in part of glass, or to insert into them lenses of as large
diameter as may be practically convenient, and perhaps in the piston also, but I
prefer facing each side of the piston with some sheet metal that will be a good
reflector both of light and heat, the latter measurably to prevent the transmission
of heat from the steam side to the exhaust side of the piston. In any case the
lenses and reflectors would facilitate at all times, even in the ordinary steam engine,
especially when it was cold or when the inner surfaces of the lenses were not much
dimmed by moisture, the examination of the condition of the interior without
taking off the cylinder heads. In the Drawing the lenses are indicated by Q, and
the double lines R indicate the sheet metal reflectors on the piston.
Having now fully described and set forth the Invention as communicated to me
by the above-mentioned William Mont Storm, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,―
First. In combination with a steam engine the employment of an air pump, (single
or double-acting,) actuated by a cam or other devise, so that its movement shall be
accelerated or made intermittent in degree of piston speed as compared with the
stroke of the engine at certain portions, substantially as and for the reason
explained.
Second. In combination with the air pump and engine the air check valve D,
whose opening is restrained by means such as described, notwithstanding the
exposure of its surface next to the air pump to a greater pressure than that on its
opposite surface next to the engine, by which I make the pump itself, during a portion
of its stroke, serve as a reservoir of compressed air that is to supply, combined with
steam, the engine proper on its next stroke, and attain other advantages explained.
Third. Actuating an engine, such as are now usually driven by steam, by means
of a quantity of air previously compressed, and having its tension, due to such
compression, highly increased and augmented by the jetting or flashing into, or
co-mixture with it, of a heated liquid or vapor, as steam, said jetting of the steam'
into the air, or vise versa, the air into the steam, which I claim as equivalent, and
their co-mixture being effected previous to or during the process of acting upon the
piston, the whole operation being carried out by means of mechanism in substance
such as represented, or any more fitting mechanism that shall effect the same in the
manner described.
Fourth. The employment of the simple or single auxiliary cut-off, between which
and the cut-off next to the conduits of the cylinder the air is to be injected direct
from the pump and admixed with the steam, all arranged and operating together
substantially in the manner and for the purpose explained.
Fifth. In combination with the auxiliary cut-off, the steam check valve for the
purpose explained.

page_text: Sixth. The employment of the lenses in the cylinder heads for the purpose
-explained.
Seventh. The reflector on the piston, both as reflectors' of heat and as auxiliary
to the purpose of 'the' lenses, as set forth.
Eighth. Electrically insulating or partially insulating the 'cylinder and its imme-
diate adjunts, substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth and
+described.
'In witness whereof, I, the said Julian Augustus Hayden Hasbrouck, have
'hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of December, in the year of
our Lord'One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
TONDATTAT
'Witness,
JULIAN AUGU RUDHAIDER ADDIW
HENRY JE. ROEDER,
1302, Broadway,
New York,
América.
מי
(CUT)