NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FROM CARBONIC ACID OR FROM ANY FLUID OR BODY HAVING SIMILAR PROPERTIES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmond Geisenberger. and Gabriel Cherpit, both
of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Engineers, for the
Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE
POWER FROM CARBONIC ACID OR FROM ANY FLUID OR BODY HAVING SIMILAR
PROPERTIES”
Sealed the 7th May 1872, and dated the 18th November 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmond Geisenberger
and Gabriel Cherpit at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 13th November 1871.
We, EDMOND GEISENBERGER and GABRIEL CHERPIT, both of Brussels,
in the Kingdom of Belgium, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING
MOTIVE POWER FROM CARBONIC ACID OR FROM ANY FLUID OR BODY HAVING
SIMILAR PROPERTIES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to new or improved apparatus for obtaining
motive power from carbonic acid, or any other fluid or body having

page_text: properties similar to those of carbonic acid; being capable of evaporating
and liquefying or changing state under the influence of a comparative
vacuum, or a change of temperature, or both. Such properties are
possessed in a higher or less degree by ammonia, arseniated hydrogen,
sulphurous acid, protoxide of nitrogen, alcohol, ether, chlorine, spirits
of turpentine, sulphuret of carbon, muriatic acid, and other bodies and
fluids having similar properties.
"
For simplicity of description we will suppose the body or fluid
employed for obtaining motive power according to our Invention to be
liquid carbonic acid condensed to the ordinary temperature of the air,
say about 59 degrees Fahrenheit, requiring a pressure of from 40 to 50
atmospheres to keep it in a liquid state. Should the pressure be reduced
or the temperature raised, the said carbonic acid will pass from a liquid
to a gaseous state. The carbonic acid is placed in a receiver, or tubular
worm, or coiled pipe, which we call the "generator which is closed by
a suitable cock or stopper. A second receiver or tubular worm which we
call the heater is made to communicate at one end with the said
generator, and at its other end by means of a suitable pipe with the
engine to be driven by the motive power; which engine may be in all
respects similar to a steam engine of any ordinary construction. In a
third receiver, or tubular worm, or coiled pipe, is placed a body or fluid
capable of changing its state under the influence of a comparative
vacuum or a change of temperature or both, but by preference changing
state under the influence of a smaller change of temperature or of
pressure than would influence in the same degree the body or fluid
contained in the generator; and in any case it is preferable that it
should contain more latent heat than the latter body or fluid. Such
properties are possessed by sulphurous acid at the ordinary temperature
of the air, say 59 degrees Fahrenheit, when it will be liquid under a
pressure of 2½, atmospheres. Under a lower pressure or at a higher
temperature such sulphurous acid will evaporate. We prefer to use
sulphurous acid in the third receiver when carbonic acid is used in the
generator, but any other body or fluid having similar properties will also
answer the purpose.

page_text: the same temperature as the circumambient air, the generator being
placed at the upper part of the said vessel, the third receiver within
the generator, and extending down to the bottom of the said vessel, and
the heater or second receiver placed round the third receiver and
extending from the bottom of the containing vessel up to within a short
distance of the bottom of the generator with which it communicates;
but the said generator and heater and third receiver may if preferred
be placed directly in the body or fluid selected for communicating heat.
A second closed tank or vessel, which we call the condenser," com-
municates by means of a suitable pipe with the exhaust of the engine.
In the said condenser is a spiral coil of tubing communicating at its
lower end by a suitable pipe with the receiver containing the sulphurous
acid or other fluid or body as described, and at its upper end the said
spiral tube communicates with an air pump or other exhausting and
forcing apparatus as herein-after described. The said condenser is at its
lower end connected by a suitable pipe with a force pump worked from
the main shaft of the engine, and capable of forcing the condensed
matter from the condenser back into the generator.
The air pump or other exhausting and forcing apparatus in connection
with the tubular worm in the condenser may be of any suitable ordinary
construction, and may receive motion from the driving shaft of the
engine; and when an ordinary cylindrical air pump is used, in order to
prevent the fluid drawn from the tubular worm of the condenser from
being partially wasted by portions thereof remaining free to expand
and be compressed in those parts of the pump which cannot be entirely
cleaned by the action of the piston, we prefer that the said pumps
should act indirectly upon the said fluid by connecting the pump with a
closed double reservoir composed of two chambers or compartments,
which chambers are connected by pipes one with the top of the pump,
and the other with the lower part of the said pump. The two chambers
contain water or other liquid, and by the action of the pump the liquid
of one or other of the chambers is alternately drawn into the pump and
forced back into the said chambers, thus creating alternately in each
chamber a vacuum to draw in the fluid from the worm of the condenser,
and replenishing the said chamber to force the fluid back into the third
receiver containing the supply from which it was originally drawn; and
the said chambers are both connected by suitable pipes provided with
valve boxes opening inwards, with the tubular coil in the condenser and

page_text: by a suitable pipe provided with a valve box opening outwards; the said
chambers are connected with the third receiver or tubular worm
containing the sulphurous acid or other body or fluid herein-before
described; thus the action of the pump draws the fluid from the third
receiver into the tubular worm in the condenser, and then from the said 5
tubular worm into each chamber of the reservoir alternately, and forces
it back into the third receiver, from which it was first drawn.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-Supposing liquid carbonic
acid to have been placed in the generator, and sulphurous acid to have
been placed in the receiver, herein-before termed the third receiver, and 1
the tank or vessel inclosing the “generator,” “heater," and third receiver
to be filled with water or any fluid of the temperature of the circum-
ambient air the communication between the said generator and the
heater is opened by means of a cock or stopper of the said generator.
The carbonic acid being no longer under pressure and having been 1
partially heated by the surrounding fluid, evaporates and passes into the
heater, in traversing which heater it absorbs further heat from the
surrounding liquid and from the sulphurous acid contained in the third
receiver, and passes into the engine which it is intended to actuate.
Having given motion to the said engine it escapes into the condenser,
where it expands; and after expanding it is condensed and assumes its
previous state, and from thence it is forced back into the generator by
the force pump above mentioned. During its passage from the
condenser to the generator it absorbs from the circumambient air, or
from the body above mentioned which surrounds it, the heat necessary
to impart to it the same temperature it had when first in the said
generator; the condensation is effected by the sulphurous acid which is
drawn by the action of the air pump from the third receiver into the
tubular worm in the condenser, where it becomes rarefied, producing a
relative vacuum, and absorbing the heat contained in the carbonic acid
in the condenser sufficiently to cause the said carbonic acid to return to
its former state, previously to its being pumped back into the generator.
The sulphurous acid is drawn by the air pump into the double
reservoir above described, and from thence it is forced back into the
third receiver, and by being compressed it resumes its former state
which causes it to change its state; heat is then evolved and forms part

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edmond Geisenberger and Gabriel Cherpit in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th May 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMOND
GEISENBERGER and GABRIEL CHERPIT, both of Brussels, in the King-
dom of Belgium, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Edmond Geisenberger and Gabriel
Cherpit, Her special licence that we, the said Edmond Geisenberger
and Gabriel Cherpit, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Edmond Geisenberger and Gabriel Cherpit, our
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
"NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FROM CARBONIC
ACID OR FROM ANY FLUID OR BODY HAVING SIMILAR PROPERTIES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Edmond Geisenberger
and Gabriel Cherpit, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Edmond Geisenberger and Gabriel
Cherpit, 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 thereof,
that is to say :—
This Invention relates to new or improved apparatus for obtaining
motive power from carbonic acid or any other fluid or body having
properties similar to those of carbonic acid, being capable of evaporating
and liquefying or changing state under the influence of a comparative
vacuum, or a change of temperature, or both. Such properties are
possessed in a higher or less degree by ammonia, arseniated hydrogen,
sulphurous acid, protoxide of nitrogen, alcohol, ether, chlorine, spirits of
turpentine, sulphuret of carbon, muriatic acid, and other bodies and
fluids having similar properties.
For simplicity of description we will suppose the body or fluid
employed for obtaining motive power according to our Invention to be
liquid carbonic acid condensed to the ordinary temperature of the air,
say about 59 degrees Fahrenheit, requiring a pressure of from 40 to 50
atmospheres to keep it in a liquid state. Should the pressure be reduced,
or the temperature raised, the said carbonic acid will pass from a liquid
to a gaseous state. The carbonic acid is placed in a receiver or tubular
worm or coiled pipe which we call the "generator," which is closed by
a suitable cock or stopper. A second receiver or tubular worm which
we call the heater is made to communicate at one end with the said
generator, and at its other end by means of a suitable pipe with the
engine to be driven by the motive power, which engine may be in all
respects similar to a steam engine of any ordinary construction. In a
third receiver or tubular worm or coiled pipe is placed a body or fluid
capable of changing its state under the influence of a comparative
vacuum or a change of temperature, or both, but by preference chang-
ing state under the influence of a smaller change of temperature or of
pressure than would influence in the same degree the body or fluid
contained in the generator, and in any case it is preferable that it should
contain more latent heat than the latter body or fluid. Such properties
are possessed by sulphurous acid at the ordinary temperature of the air,
say 59 degrees Fahrenheit, when it will be liquid under a pressure of
2, atmospheres. Under a lower pressure or at a higher temperature
such sulphurous acid will evaporate. We prefer to use sulphurous acid

page_text: in the third receiver when carbonic acid is used in the generator, but
any other body or fluid having similar properties will also answer the
purpose.
We prefer that the three receivers, that is to say, the "generator,"
the "heater," and the third receiver above described should be enclosed
in a tank or vessel filled with water or air, or any body capable of
having the same temperature as the circumambient air, the generator
being placed at the upper part of the said vessel, the third receiver
within the generator, and extending down to the bottom of the said
vessel, and the heater or second receiver placed round the third receiver,
and extending from the bottom of the containing vessel up to within a
short distance of the bottom of the generator with which it com-
municates, but the said generator and heater and third receiver may if
preferred be placed directly in the body or fluid selected for com-
municating heat. A second closed tank or vessel, which we call the
"condenser," communicates by means of a suitable pipe with the
exhaust of the engine. In the said condenser is a spiral coil of tubing
communicating at its lower end by a suitable pipe with the receiver
containing the sulphurous acid or other fluid or body as described, and
at its upper end the said spiral tube communicates with an air pump or
other exhausting and forcing apparatus as herein-after described. The
said condenser is at its lower end connected by a suitable pipe with a
force pump worked from the main shaft of the engine and capable of
forcing the condensed matter from the condenser back into the
generator.
The air pump or other exhausting and forcing apparatus in connection
with the tubular worm in the condenser may be of any suitable ordinary
construction, and may receive motion from the driving shaft of the
engine, and when an ordinary cylindrical air pump is used in order to
prevent the fluid drawn from the tubular worm of the condenser from
being partially wasted by portions thereof remaining free to expand and
be compressed in those parts of the pump which cannot be entirely
cleaned by the action of the piston, we prefer that the said pump should
act indirectly upon the said fluid by connecting the pump with a closed
double reservoir composed of two chambers or compartments, which
chambers are connected by pipes, one with the top of the pump, and
the other with the lower part of the said pump. The two chambers
contain water or another liquid, and by the action of the pump the liquid

page_text: of one or other of the chambers is alternately drawn into the pump
and forced back into the said chambers, thus creating alternately in each
chamber a vacuum to draw in the fluid from the worm of the condenser,
and replenishing the said chamber to force the fluid back into the third
receiver containing the supply from which it was originally drawn, and
the said chambers are both connected by suitable pipes provided with
valve boxes opening inwards with the tubular coil in the condenser, and
'by a suitable pipe provided with a valve box opening outwards, the said
chambers are connected with the third receiver or tubular worm con-
taining the sulphurous acid or other body or fluid herein-before described.
Thus the action of the pump draws the fluid from the third receiver into
the tubular worm in the condenser, and then from the said tubular worm
into each chamber of the reservoir alternately, and forces it back into the
third receiver from which it was first drawn.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, we will proceed to
describe means pursued by us in carrying the same into effect, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawing which represents a sectional
view of apparatus constructed according to our Invention.
"
a, a, is the tubular worm or coiled pipe or receiver, which we call the
"generator," in which is placed the carbonic acid or other fluid or body
employed for obtaining motive power; c, c, is the second receiver or
tubular worm which we call the "heater," in which the said carbonic
acid or other body or fluid employed in the generator a changes its
state; b, b, is the third receiver or tubular worm or coiled pipe in which
is placed the sulphurous acid or other fluid or body used for the
condensation of the carbonic acid or other fluid or body used in the
generator a, a. The generator a, the "heater o, and the worm Ỗ are
contained in a tank or vessel A filled with water or air, or another
body capable of having the same temperature as the circumambient air.
The generator a communicates with the outside of the tank A by means
of a pipe a¹ as herein-after described, and the said generator a com-
municates with the heater c by means of a pipe a², which communication
between the generator and the heater may be opened or closed by a
cock, or tap, or valve a³, to which motion is imparted when required
by a hand wheel at. The heater c, c, extends from near the bottom of
the tank A to within a short distance of the receiver a, and at its lower
end the said heater c communicates by means of a pipe d with the
engine B, which the motive power generated in the coils or worms a, c,

page_text: is intended to actuate. The engine B may be in all respects similar to an
ordinary steam engine. In the Drawing we have represented an ordinary
expansion engine, which engine by means of a connecting rod B' gives
rotatory motion to the crank shaft C through the crank C'. The shaft C
is supported in suitable bearings by the frame D, D'. The third receiver
or worm 6 in the tank A communicates at its upper end with a pipe h³
herein-after referred to by means of a pipe 6¹, and at its lower end the
said worm 6 is connected by a pipe b³ with the coil g in the condenser E,
which condenser is a closed tank or reservoir connected by a pipe e with
the exhaust of the engine B, and by a pipe f with the force pump F
herein-after described. In the condenser E is a tubular worm 9, 9,
connected with the worm 6 in the tank A by the pipe 6º above
mentioned, which pipe 63 may be opened or closed by a cock or tap g¹
affixed to the condenser E. The coil 9 communicates also with the
closed reservoir G by means of a pipe 9³, or if preferred it might be
connected directly with the pump H. F is a force pump worked from
the main shaft of the engine. The said pump F draws the condensed
matter from the condenser through the pipe f, and forces the said matter
through the pipes f¹ and a' back into the generator a. f³, f³, are stop-
cocks for opening and closing at pleasure the communication between
the pump F and the pipes fand f¹. H is an air pump actuated from
the main shaft c of the engine; if preferred the said air pump might
be actuated in any other suitable manner. The said air pump H is
intended to draw out the matter or fluid contained in the worm g, and
force it back into the worm 6 in the tank A. Any other suitable
exhausting and forcing apparatus might be substituted for the said air
pump H, and in order to prevent the fluid drawn from the worm g
in the condenser F from being partially wasted by portions thereof
remaining free to expand and be compressed in those parts of the said
pump H which cannot be entirely cleared by the action of the piston,
we prefer that the said pump should act indirectly upon the said fluid
by connecting the said pump, as shown in the Drawing, with a closed
reservoir G composed of two chambers or compartments h, h¹, which
chambers are connected by pipes i, , with the pump H, the pipe i
connecting the chamber with the top part of the pump, and the pipe
connecting the chamber h¹ with the lower part of the said pump. The
two chambers h, h³, contain water or another liquid, and by the action
of the pump the liquid in the chamber h' is alternately drawn into
the pump above the piston and forced back into the said chamber h, and

page_text: the liquid in the chamber h¹ is alternately drawn into the pump H below
the piston and forced back into the said chamber h¹, thus creating
alternately in each of the said chambers h, h¹, a vacuum to draw in the
fluid from the worm g, and replenishing the said chamber to force the
said fluid through the pipes h³ and b' back into the worm b; j, j, are
valve boxes opening outwards for the fluid to be forced through from
the chambers h, h¹; and k, k, are valve boxes opening inwards for the
fluid from the pipe g³ to enter the said chambers.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-Supposing liquid carbonic
acid to have been placed in the generator a and sulphurous acid to have
been placed in the coil b, and the tank or vessel A. to be filled with
water or another fluid having the temperature of the circumambent air
and capable of being replaced as it becomes cooled; the stop-cock a³
is opened by means of the hand wheel a'; the carbonic acid in the
worm a being no longer under pressure, evaporates and passes into the
worm c through the pipe a³, and in traversing the said worm or heater c
it absorbs heat from the surrounding liquid and passes through the
piped into the engine B to which it gives motion. Having given
motion to the said engine it escapes through the pipe e into the con-
denser E where it expands, and after expanding it is condensed by:
contact with the worm g, and when condensed it is forced back through
the pipes f¹ and a¹ into the worm or generator a by the action of the
force pump F. The condensation in the condenser E is effected by the
sulphurous acid from the worm b, which sulphurous acid is drawn by
the action of the pump H (or other exhausting and forcing apparatus
used in connection with the worm g) into the worm g (where it changes
its state) producing a relative vacuum, and absorbing the heat contained
in the carbonic acid in the condenser E sufficiently to cause the said
carbonic acid to return to its former state previously to its being pumped
back into the generator. The air pump H draws the sulphurous acid
into the double reservoir G and forces it back into the worm b, and by
being compressed it resumes its former state. Heat is then evolved and
forms part of the heat which the body or fluid
absorbs whilst evaporating. In place of the
pipes herein-before described any other receiver might be used, and the
condenser E might be placed in any required position nearer or farther
from the tank A, or upon it if preferred. The exhaust from the engine
B might escape into tubular worms or pipes, and the cold produced
by the change of state of the sulphurous acid or other fluid used for
leaving the generator a
tubular worms or coiled

page_text: the same purpose might be brought in contact with the said exhaust
by any suitable means or in any vessel suitable for the purpose.
Having now described the nature of our Invention and means pursued
by us in carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be understood
that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of our Invention ;
but we claim as of our Invention, the adaptation or combination of
means forming new or improved apparatus for obtaining motive power
from carbonic acid or from any fluid or body having similar properties
acting in manner substantially as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edmond Geisenberger and Gabriel
Cherpit, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Tenth day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-two.