A NEW OR IMPROVED GAS MOTOR ENGINE
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Fernando Harry Whitehead Livesey of No: 9 Victoria
Chambers Westminster in the county of Middlesex for an Invention of
" A NEW OR IMPROVED GAS MOTOR ENGINE"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Fernando Harry Whitehead
Livesey at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th June
1883.
FERNANDO HARRY WHITEHEAD LIVESEY of N° 9 Victoria Chambers West-
minster in the County of Middlesex
"A NEW OR IMPROVED GAS-MOTOR
ENGINE
"
My invention relates to the construction and arrangement of engine worked
by the combustion of inflammable gas or vapour, without explosive action, and
without involving the waste of heat that results from the use of water or other
cooling medium that is ordinarily employed to keep the working parts cool.
I provide a single acting working cylinder fitted with a piston connected to a
crank in the usual way. In free communication with the end of this cylinder is
the upper end of a vertical cylindrical chamber in which works a deep piston.
This piston does not need to be accurately fitted to the chamber as it has to operate
merely as a displacer. It is also arranged as a regenerator, being charged with
materials presenting extended surfaces with numerous interstices for passage of
air. A single acting air compressing pump discharges into the lower part of the
chamber. The working cylinder is provided with an exhaust valve which is open
while the piston makes about half its back stroke, but is closed during the remainder
of the back stroke. I also provide a pump for supplying the inflammable gas or
vapour mixed with a proportion of air insufficient for combustion. The main
piston, the pistons of the air and gas pumps and the displacing piston are timed to
operate in the following manner. While the main piston makes its back stroke
the piston of the air pump makes its instroke and the displacing piston its upstroke.
During about half of this stroke the exhaust valve is open, and part of the contents
of the cylinder and chamber escape while air from the pump is delivered into the

page_text: lower part of the chamber following up the displacer as it ascends. During the
remainder of this stroke the contents of the chamber are compressed by the
continued movement of the main and the pump pistons. While the displacer is
moving slowly during its change of motion at the upper extreme of its stroke, a
jet of the mixed gas or vapour and air is directed through a lateral hole into it
and ignited.
The combustion heats the air in the chamber and also heats the
material of the displacer. The contents of the chamber, having their pressure
raised by the heat, cause the main piston to make its outstroke, and as the displacer
descends, the air from the lower part of the chamber becomes heated in passing
through the interstices. The air pump having also made its outstroke the parts
are again in condition for repeating the action as above described. When the
material of the displacer has become sufficiently heated by repeated combustions in
it, the supply of gas may be cut off for a time, and this may be subject to the
regulation of a governor.
The engine may obviously be made double acting by employing a double acting
main cylinder and air and gas pumps and duplicating the chamber.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Fernando Harry Whitehead Livesey in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th December 1883.
FERNANDO HARRY WHITEHEAD LIVESEY of N° 9 Victoria Chambers, West-
minster in the county of Middlesex "A NEW OR IMPROVED GAS MOTOR
ENGINE
»
My invention relates to the construction and arrangement of engine worked by
the combustion of inflammable gas or vapour, without explosive action, and
without involving the waste of heat, that results from the use of water or other
cooling medium that is ordinarily employed to keep the working parts cool.
I provide a single acting working cylinder fitted with a piston connected to a
crank in the usual way. In free communication with the end of this cylinder is a
cylindrical chamber in which works a deep piston. This piston does not need to
be accurately fitted to the chamber, as it has to operate merely as a displacer. A
space communicating with the displacing cylinder is arranged as a regenerator,
being charged with materials presenting extended surfaces with numerous inter-
stices for passage of air. A single acting air compressing pump discharges into
the chamber. The working cylinder is provided with an exhaust valve which is
open while the piston makes about half its backstroke, but is closed during the
remainder of the backstroke. I also provide a pump for supplying the inflammable
gas or vapour which may be mixed with a proportion of air insufficient for
combustion. The main piston, the pistons of the air and gas pumps and the
displacing piston are timed to operate in the following manner. While the main
piston makes its backstroke, the piston of the air pump makes its instroke, and
the displacing piston its outstroke. During about half of this stroke, the exhaust
valve is open, and part of the contents of the cylinder and chamber escape, while
air from the pump is delivered into the chamber following up the displacer.
During the remainder of this stroke, the contents of the chamber are compressed
by the continued movement of the main and the pump pistons. While the
displacer is moving slowly during its change of motion at the outer extreme of its
stroke, the mixed gas or vapor and air is ignited. The combustion heats the air
in the chamber and also heats the material of the regenerator. The contents of
the chamber, having their pressure raised by the heat, cause the main piston to
make its outstroke, and as the displacer moves inwards, the air is caused to pass
through the combustion chamber and the interstices of the regenerator. The air
pump having also made its outstroke, the parts are again in condition for repeating
the action as above described. When the material of the regenerator has become
sufficiently heated by repeated combustions in it, the supply of gas may be cut off
for a time, and this may be subject to the regulation of a governor.
The engine may obviously be made double acting by employing a double acting
main cylinder and air and gas pumps and duplicating the chamber.
The accompanying drawing is a sectional plan of a gas motor engine arranged
to operate as above described. A is the working cylinder, the piston of which is
connected to a crank on the shaft B. On the same shaft, another crank having the
same direction works the piston of the air compressing pump C. An intermediate
crank opposite to the other two, or a little in advance, works the displacing piston D.
An eccentric E on the shaft B works the piston of the gas pump F, which piston
also serves as the ignition slide. These parts are timed so as to operate as follows:
the piston of the pump C, by its outstroke, draws in air by a valve c, and by its
instroke, compresses the air and forces it through a discharge valve d into the

page_text: displacer cylinder under the displacing piston D and partly into the combustion
space G. After the downstroke of the piston of C, the gas pump F delivers a
charge of gas into the space G where it mingles with the air therein, and about the
middle of the instroke of the piston of F it presents a passage f in which there is
a flame, and this flame is communicated to the mixture in G. The displacing
piston D making its instroke continues a flow of air into the space G while the
gas pump is also delivering gas through the valve g into the space. The expanded
contents of G pass by the passage a into the cylinder A and propel its piston. It
is of advantage to fill a compartment G' with refractory fragments, through the
interstices of which the flame has to pass. After the working fluid has expanded
in A, the exhaust valve H is opened by the movement of an eccentric h, and the
contents of the cylinder escape, whereupon the action is repeated. In order to
provide for the igniting flame in the piston of F, a small passage i admits to a
cavity in the piston a portion of the combustible gaseous mixture in G, and the
contents of this cavity are ignited by communication from an external flame at I
while the piston of F is making its instroke. The pressure on both sides of the
piston D is equalised by a communicating passage from the cylinder A
Having thus described the nature of my invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, I claim :-
The construction of gas motor engine arranged and operating substantially as
herein described.
In Witness whereof, I the said Fernando Harry Whitehead Livesey have
hereunto set my hand and seal this eleventh day of December in the year of
our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and eighty-three.