IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES TO BE WORKED BY WATER
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Barr, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Plumber and Hydraulic Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES TO BE WORKED
BY WATER."
Sealed the 6th May 1873, and dated the 11th November 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Barr at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th November 1872.
I, ALEXANDER BARR, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Plumber and Hydraulic Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES TO BE
WORKED BY WATER," to be as follows, that is to say :-

page_text: The improved engines comprise a pair of cylinders connected to crank
pins at right angles to each other. Each cylinder is mounted on
trunnions so as to oscillate, and the trunnions are made hollow and fitted
with stuffing boxes to form tight joints for stationary pipes for the
entrance and egress of the water. The water has access by a pipe com-
municating with an air vessel placed centrally between the two cylinders,
and from beneath the air vessel branch pipes extend in opposite directions
in through the two inner trunnions. Each cylinder has formed on its
side a valve casing with the usual passages and port face. The port face
is by preference of brass, and a valve acting like an ordinary slide valve,
and which is made by preference of lignum vitæ, is held by an arm
fixed to the inner end of the inlet branch pipe. The valve is thus
stationary, whilst the oscillating motion of the cylinder gives the requisite
relative motion between the valve and the ports. The exhaust takes
place through the outer trunnions. The cylinder is made of or lined
with brass, and the piston, which is of brass, is made somewhat elon-
gated, and is packed by means of a band of leather held in its place by
copper wire. The leather band is held in a rebate formed in the circum-
ferential part of the piston, and beneath the middle of the band a still
deeper rebate is formed in the piston, in which deeper rebate there is
placed one or more rings of vulcanised rubber, which whilst keeping
the middle of the band sufficiently distended, still allow it to swell more
or less, as it is apt to do, without becoming too tight.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Barr in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 9th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
BARR, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Plumber
and Hydraulic Engineer, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her a
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Barr, Her special licence

page_text: that I, the said Alexander Barr, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Barr, 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 for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES TO BE WORKED BY WATER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Barr, my executors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or onc
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 Alexander Barr, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its objects simplicity and economy in con-
struction, together with efficiency and durability in use.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing a
hydraulic motor embodying my improvements. In these Drawings the
same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever
they are repeated.
Figure 1 is a back elevation partly in section, and Figure 2 is a vertical
section as at right angles to Figure 1. Figures 3 and 4 are detached
views of one of the port faces and of one of the valves.
My improved engines comprise a pair of cylinders 1, 2, connected to
crank pins 3, on a shaft 4, from which the power is transmitted by means
The crank
of a belt and pulleys or in any other convenient manner.
5 shaft 4 is carried in bearings on two standards 5, cast on a base plate 6,

page_text: on which there are also cast four standards 7, 8, 7, 8, for carrying the
cylinders 1, 2. Each cylinder is mounted on trunnions 9, 10, so as to
oscillate; and the trunnions are made hollow, those 9 on the inlet sides
being fitted with stuffing boxes 11 to form tight joints with stationary
branch pipes 12 for the entrance of the water. The water has access by
a pipe 13 communicating with an air vessel 14 and leading into the
branches 12. Each cylinder 1, 2, has formed or fixed on its side a valve
casing 15, with the usual port face 16 and passages 17, 18, 19. The
port face 16 is by preference of brass, and a valve 20 acting like an
ordinary slide valve, and which is made by preference of lignum vitae,
is held by an arm or small frame 21 fixed on the inner end of the inlet
branch pipe 12, but so that the pressure can move it into close contact
with the port face. The valve 20 is thus stationary, whilst the oscillating
motion of the cylinder 1 or 2 gives the requisite relative motion between
the valve and the ports 17, 18, 19. The exhaust takes place by the
passage 18 and through the outer trunnions 10, which last may have
stuffing box connections like the inlet trunnions. I however prefer to
make the bearing part of the trunnion with a shoulder, which works
against a brass ring 22, the joint being kept sufficiently tight by the
pressure of the water on the inlet side, tending to force the cylinders
towards the outer standards 8. The cylinders 1, 2, are made of or lined
with brass, and the piston 23, which is of brass, is made somewhat
elongated, and is packed by means of a band 24 of leather, held in its
place by copper wire. The leather band 24 is held in a rebate formed
in the circumferential part of the piston, and beneath the middle of the
band a still deeper rebate is formed in the piston, in which deeper rebate
there is placed one or more rings 25 of vulcanised rubber, which whilst
keeping the middle of the band 24 sufficiently distended still allow it to
swell more or less, as it is apt to do, without becoming too tight.
The apparatus may be made with a single cylinder, provided that there
is a fly wheel on the crank shaft or on a shaft in gear therewith.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described or delineated; but that what I believe
to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is the combining of the

page_text: parts of motive-power engines to be driven by water, substantially in
the improved manner herein described and delineated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Barr, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
ALEX. BARR. (L.S.)