AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF APPLYING AS MOTIVE POWER HEATED AIR COMBINED WITH THE VAPOR OF ETHER, OR OF ANY OTHER LIQUID EASILY VAPORIZED
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF
APPLYING AS MOTIVE POWER HEATED AIR COMBINED WITH THE VAPOR OF
ETHER, OR OF ANY OTHER LIQUID EASILY VAPORIZED."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comto
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 7th February 1855.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comite DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, & 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE
OF APPLYING AS MOTIVE POWER HEATED AIR COMBINED WITH THE VAPOR OF ETHEE,
OR OF ANY OTHER LIQUID EASILY VAFORISED," to be as follows, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the construction of a machine
put in motion by the combination of heated air with vapor from sulphuric
ether, or with vapor from any other liquid easily vaporised. It is composed
of four cylinders, two large & two small, forming two coupled engines; each
small piston is keyed to a rod crossed by a cross bar carrying two guides; two
connecting rods for each couple of cylinders are keyed to the cross bar & to
the shaft by handles; cach couple of cylinders is provided with an air and an
cther slide.
A blowing-out apparatus, composed of a cast-iron 'cylinder, furnished with

page_text: double action valves, is used to aliment the boiler with air, which it causes to
ingress at first into a recipient placed on the boiler for that purpose. Two
pumps are employed; one for cold water for the water of condensation, the
other with ether, to replace the ether condensed in the evaporator.
An apparatus, intended to take possession of the heat of the dilated air
after it has ceased acting in the cylinders, is furnished internally with a
large quantity of copper needles, which cross each other, similarly to card
fillettings, & envelope themselves around the chamber, forming the apparatus,
& form a range of nearly 50 feet.
An apparatus to vaporise ether is composed of a spiral with double chamber
turning round a hollow axis; the double chamber contains the sulphuric ether
as well as the axis, & the heated air, having acted expansively within the
large cylinder, enters between these chambers by turning round the axis, until
arriving at the top of the cylinder it enters into the heat reservoir, where it
deposits the caloric, after having vaporised the ether by running over the lower
part of the chambers.
Lastly, an apparatus to condense ether, which may be of the same con-
struction as that herein described for the evaporator, substituting, however,
cold water for heated air; or constructed by means of a large number of small
tubes surrounded with cold water, for the mere purpose of presenting thin
layers of liquids & large cooling surfaces.
The boiler is of the ordinary tubular system, with two fire-places, & upon
which the engine is set, as shewn in the accompanying Drawing, but it would
be better to separate it, to avoid any accident arising from the inflammatory
nature of ether; any kind of boiler, however, can be employed. The
escape of the ether vapors is rendered impossible by the disposition of the
engine, as they act only on that side of the cylinders which is opposito to
the stuffing box, & which is entirely closed.
The piston carries a double system of spring segments placed upon each of
its faces, & between these segments thero are eight grooves, into which the
steam will be made to expand (supposing the steam could escape from the first
spring segments), & the steam which may have passed thro' them would
have to escape to pass also thro' the second sets of segments. The escapes
of steam through the side valve has been obviated by placing the rod which
puts it in motion in the interior of the box which only communicates with
the condenser, & the cam which sets the slide valve in motion is also placed in
the interior of that part of the box.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 7th August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special
license, that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my 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 of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODE OF APPLYING AS MOTIVE
POWER HEATED AIR COMBINED WITH THE VAPOR OF ETHER, OR OF ANY OTHER LIQUID
EASILY VAPORIZED," communicated to me from a foreigner residing abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand le
Comte de Fontaine Moreau, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing bereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked there on
that is to say:-
My improved apparatus consists, firstly, of four cylinders, forming two
coupled machines, two large A², A, and two small A', A¹
Each small piston is attached to a cross bar B, working upon two guides
C, C. Two connecting rods D, D, for each pair of cylinders are also attached
to the cross bar B, and motion is given to the driving shaft E by the con-

page_text: Each pair of cylinders is
An air pump, composed
necting rods D, D', attached to the cranks F, F.
provided with air and ether slide valve boxes G, G.
of a cast cylinder, mounted with double-action valves, serves to supply tho
boiler or heater 1 with air, which enters first into the receiver H, placed upon
the boiler 1. Two pumps, the one l' for the cold condensing water, and the
other P for the ether, serve to return the condensed ether to the vaporiser.
Secondly, of an apparatus to collect the heat of the expanded air after it has
ceased to act in the cylinders, consists of a chamber, furnished in the interior
with a large quantity of sheets of wire gauze placed round the chamber, so as
to form a surface of upwards of forty-nine fect.
Thirdly, of an apparatus for evaporating the ether, which is composed of a
hollow screw J, revolving on a hollow core or cylinder K.. This apparatus
contains sulphuric ether, and the air heated by the furnace M, after having
performed its expansion in the large cylinder, passes between these partitions
round the core, for the purpose of evaporating the ether until it arrives at the
top of the cylinder; it then passes into the heating chamber L, where it
escapes.
Lastly, of an ether condenser, which can be constructed on the same prin-
ciple as that described for the evaporator, substituting cold water for the hot
air, or constructed with a number of small tubes surrounded by cold water,
the object being to present small portions of liquid to extensive condensing
surfaces. The boiler or heater contains the heated air, which passes round the
hollow screw and core of the evaporator. The loss of ether vapor is prevented
by the construction of the machine, which only allows ether vapors to act in the
cylinders on the side opposite to the stuffing boxes, and which side is perfectly
ether-tight. The pistons N, N, N, N, are composed of a double system of
segmental springs; between these segments are eight grooves; supposing the
vapour capable of passing the first segmental springs it must traverse the
second series of spring segments before it can escape. The loss of vapor by
the slide valves is prevented by placing the piston rod in the part of the slide
box which communicates with the condenser only, and I have placed the cam
which sets it in motion in the interior of that part of the slide box which
communicates with the condenser alone. The different movements of tho
machine take place in the following manner-The atmospheric air is (in the
first place) forced a hand pump into the reservoir destined for its reception;
by means of a stop-cock this air is placed in communication with the boiler
or heater, where it expands by the heat of the furnace; it then passes into the
small cylinders through the slide valves; then the ether which has been brought
in contact with the hot air of the boiler is vaporised, and passes into the ether

page_text: vapour distributing box, where it finds the slide valve in a position which
permits it to pass under the small pistons to recommence its course in an
opposite direction; the expanded air expelled from the opposite end of the
cylinder repasses by the sliding valve, provided with a double bottom, and
enters a canal, which opens a communication with the large cylinder, where it
expands, thus doubling the power of the machine.
The ether expands also by the same means in the large cylinder at the
side opposite to the piston rods, afterwards passing to the condenser, and
the air, after having become heated, is placed in communication with the
ether apparatus, thus producing the evaporation alluded to; after which it
passes to the heat-condensing chamber, where it leaves its remaining caloric.
The cold air by the air pump O is forced to traverse the same heating chamber,
where it again takes up the caloric left by the expanded air; it is then forced
back into the reservoir prepared for its reception.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I
do not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down; but what
I claim is,
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery for obtaining
motive power as herein-before described, and referred to in the accompanying
Drawing.
Second, the combination of caloric and ether apparatus, in the manner and
for the purpose herein-before explained, and represented in the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of
August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five.
L DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)