IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL DISCS REVOLVING IN AIR WATER, AND OTHER FLUIDS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER BY SUCH DISCS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Webster Rammell, of No. 6, Victoria
Street, Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL DISCS REVOLVING IN AIR
WATER, AND OTHER FLUIDS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER BY
SUCH DISCS."
Sealed the 30th April 1861, and dated the 6th November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Webster Rammell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th November 1860.
I, THOMAS WEBSTER RAMMELL, of No. 6, Victoria Street, Westminster, in
the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Inver tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRIFUGAL DISCS REVOLVING IN AIR,
WATER, AND OTHER FLUIDS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER BY SUCH
DISCS," to be as follows:-
One of my Inventions consists of an improvement in the construction of a
centrifugal disc for creating by its rotation, either a draught or current of air
towards the machine, or a blast or current of air from the machine (according
to the mode of construction adopted) by which it is made to act in a more
steady and equable manner, with greater effect and with less loss of power than
in the common fan blower or any present improvement or modification

page_text: My centrifugal disc consists of a flat hollow circular wheel or case made to
revolve upon an axis passing throughits centre. The disc is thicker or broader
at the centre,and diminishes graduallyin its thickness or breadth towards the
circumference, so that its section is a sort of double triangle, with straight or
curved outer sides. The disc is divided into passages or compartments by
internal partitions extending to or towards the centre. The air is admitted
into the disc either on one or both sides through an aperture at the centre
communicating with all the compartments, the disc is made to revolve with
more or less velocity, and by the centrifugal force thus generated, the air flows
in at and is drawn from the centreinto and through each passage or compart-
ment, and so driven out at the rim or edge of the disc which is left open or
uncovered. The improvements in the construction consist in the disc contain-
ing within and affixed to itself the vanes or divisions and the whole disc
and vanes, or divisions moving as one body instead of the vanes or divisions
moving inside the disc, whilst the disc itself is stationary; and further,
in constructing the internal passages or compartments of the disc of such shape
that each compartment shall be of the same or nearly the same transverse
area throughout, at whatever distance from the centre a section be taken, and
that the sum of the transverse areas of all the compartments may be equal or
nearly equal to that of the aperture at the centre through which the air is
admitted. The centrifugal disc as thus constructed may be applied for all
purposes where a draught or current of air towards the machine is to be pro-
duced and kept up, such as the ventilation of mines, buildings, and ships, the
blasts of furnaces & forges by drawing the current through the fire, and the
like, and may also be applied to the more or less perfect exhaustion or rare-
faction of the air in a chamber or receptacle of any shape or size, or in a
tunnel or tube; but where the machine is to be used for the purpose of pro-
ducing a blast or current of air from the machine, it is necessary that the air
should flow or be expelled from the circular disc, not freelyintothe surrounding
air, but into a closed chamber or receptacle, which I call a pressure chamber,
and so out of the pressure chamber through one or more apertures.
Andanother of my Inventions consists in constructing this pressurechamber
of considerably larger dimensions than the circular disc, by which means the
air within the pressure chamber will be comparatively at rest, and the blast or
current will be more steady and equable. In either case great advantage will
be derived from constructing the circular disc with a large radius.
Another of my improvements consists in the applying a centrifugal disc, as
above described to the propelling of ships or vessels. The centrifugal disc
constructed in accordance with the manner described in my first Invention,is

page_text: placed in the middle of the vessel, and with its centre or axis below the level
of the water. The surrounding water is admitted by a channel or tube from
the fore part of the vessel, and is drawn or allowed to flow into the disc
through an aperture in its centre. The disc is made to revolve in a vertical
plane, and by the operation of the centrifugal force the water is discharged at
its circumference in the same manner as the air in the case before described, a
pressure chamber is constructed around the centrifugal disc in accordance with
the manner described in my second Invention, and from this pressure chamber
the water passes or is drawn through one or more apertures into one or more
channels or tubes leading towards the stern of the vessel, and so flows out of
the vessel in that direction. By this means a regular, steady, and equable stream
or current of water, into, through, and from the vessel, will be established and
maintained; and the effect will be that the vessel will move through the water
at a rate proportionate to the velocity and quantity of the stream of water
admitted and discharged.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Webster Rammell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, THOMAS
WEBSTER RAMMELL, of No. 6, Victoria Street, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Webster Rammell, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Webster Rammell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas Webster Rammell, 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 CENTRIFUGAL DISCS REVOLVING IN AIR, WATER,
AND OTHER FLUIDS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER BY SUCH DISCS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I,the said Thomas Webster Rammell,
my executors or administrators, by au instrument in writing under my, or

page_text: their, or one 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 Thomas Webster Rammell, 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, that is to say :-
In the ordinary rotating fan or blower as used for producing a blast or
current of air from the machine, the effect produced is due partly to momentum,
communicated by vanes or blades to air drawn into the machine at the centre,
and driven out at the circumference, or what is termed "centrifugal force,"
and partly to the beating of the vanes or blades against the air at the circum-
ference, which latter action is accompanied with disagreeable noise and much
loss of power.
One of my Inventions consists in an improvement in the construction of a
rotating wheel or disc (which I call a centrifugal disc), so that the effect
produced shall be due solely to centrifugal force, and by the construction
adopted the noise and loss of power are avoided, and the disc acts in a more
steady and equable manner and with greater effect. This improved centrifugal
disc may be applied with some variation of construction, as herein-after
explained, either to the producing a draught or current of air towards the
machine, or to the producing a blast or current of air from the machine, or
simultaneously to both these purposes, or to the raising, drawing, forcing, or
throwing of water or other liquids.
My centrifugal disc consists of a flat hollow circular wheel or case made to
revolve upon an axis passing through its centre. The disc is thicker or
broader at the centre, and diminishes gradually in thickness or breadth
towards the circumference, so that its section is wedge-shaped. The disc is
divided into passages or compartments by internal partitions fixed to and
forming part of it, aud moving round with it, which extend from the circum-
ference to or towards the centre, and is left open or uncovered at the rim or
edge.
The disc and the internal passages or ducts formed by the divisions are
to be constructed of such a shape that their sectional areas may be the same
or nearly the same at all distances from the centre, and that the sum of the
transverse areas of all the passages or ducts may be the same or nearly the
same as that of the apertures at the centre, through which the air is admitted,

page_text: and I prefer also slightly to contract the width of the openings of the passages
at the rim or outer edge of the disc.
In Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 is a cross section taken
through the centre of the centrifugal disc, in the direction of the axis; and
Figure 2 is a sectional elevation at right angles to the axis, shewing the
internal construction of the disc.
In these Figures A, A', represents the axis or shaft upon which the disc is
fitted, and which is connected with the steam engine or other motive power
employed in any convenient manner; B, B', is a flat circular disc or plate
fixed centrically to the shaft A, A', and of less diameter than the complete
disc; C,C', are hollow pieces, constituting the central portion of the disc, each
divided by the ribs a, a, a, into a number of radiating passages or ducts b,b, b.
These pieces are also fixed upon the shaft, and serve both to hold the middle
plate B, B', in position, and as mouthpieces for admitting the air on either
side; d,d,d, are radiating ribs, in any convenient number, extending from the
circumference of the disc to or towards the central pieces on either side, and
forming the passages or ducts b., b', b; they are bolted together in pairs, and
to the middle plate as far as it extends; E, E', , are thin metal plates screwed
to the radiating ribs, and forming the outer sides of the disc.
When the machine is to be applied to the producing and maintaining a
draught or current of air towards or into the machine, the central openings on
either side are connected by means of hollow trunks G, G, and the necessary
intervening pipeage, or by other convenient means, with the chamber or place
from which the air is to be drawn or exhausted, and the disc is made to
revolve with more or less velocity, when the air flows or is drawn into the
machine and through the ducts or passages b, b, b, b', b, b, and is driven out
all round the circumference of the disc at the open rim or edge. The disc as
thus constructed may be applied for all purposes where a draught or current
of air towards the machine is to be produced and kept up, such as the ventila-
tion of mines, buildings, and ships, and the blasts of furnaces and forges, by
drawing the current of air through the fire, and the like, and may also be
applied to the more or less perfect exhaustion or rarefaction of the air in a
chamber or receptacle of any shape or size, or in a tunnel or tube.
When the machine is to be applied to the producing a blast or current of
air from the machine, it is necessary that the air should flow or be expelled
from the circular disc, not freely into the surrounding air, but into a closed
chamber or receptacle, which I call a "pressure chamber," and so out of the
pressure chamber by one or more apertures, and this pressure chamber I
prefer to construct of large capacity.

page_text: In Sheet 1, Figs. 1 and 2 show the centrifugal disc within the pressure
chamber H, H', which may be of any convenient shape, and which has a pipe
or pipes I, I, leading out of it, and conducting the blast or current of air to
the desired point or points.
When the machine is to be applied only to the producing a blast, the
trunks G, G', shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, with the intervening pipeage and valves
are not required, but where the machine is to be used for the double purpose
of producing and maintaining both a draught and a blast, they must be used
in combination with the pressure chamber and pipe or pipes I, I', above
described.
For all the above purposes I prefer to make the disc of diameter so large
as to admit of the effect desired being attained by direct action from the engine
employed, that is to say, by simple crank movement, as in the case of a
driving wheel of a locomotive engine, or with as little intermediate gearing as
possible.
When the machine is to be applied to the raising, drawing, forcing, or
throwing of water, the same general construction s to be adopted, but in this
case it is requisite to use a disc of much smaller diameter than in the former
cases, although in this case also I prefer so to proportion the disc that it may
be worked by direct action. In this case I always use a pressure chamber;
and as it is desirable that the disc should revolve or rotate wholly, or as nearly
so as may be in air, I admit or force air into the pressure chamber in such
quantity as will effect this object, which is attended with this further
advantage that the compressed air within the pressure chamber causes the
water or other liquid to issue or be ejected from the machine more steadily
and equably than would otherwise be the case.
In Sheet 1 Figure 3 is a longitudinal section, Fig. 4 is a transverse section,
and Figure 5 is an enlarged transverse section of the centrifugal disc, as
applied to the raising, drawing, forcing, or throwing of water.
A, A, A, is the disc, which in this case it would be preferable to construct
entirely of metal, rotating in a vertical plane upon the horizontal shaft B,B',B";
C, C', C", is the external case or pressure chamber, which may be of any
form, but which I prefer to make of the form shown, and more capacious in
the lower than in the upper part, and with the prolonged part D, D', at one
end; E, E', E", are air-tight collars, fitted round the mouth of the disc on
either side, and working upon plane surfaces inside the case, against which
they are pressed; F, F', is the suction pipe from a well, communicating
through the branches G, G', with the mouth of the disc; H, H', is the
discharge pipe, of any required height; and I, I', is an inlet pipe for air,

page_text: through which the air may be admitted or forced into the pressure chamber in
any convenient manner, and from time to time as occasion may require.
Another of myimprovements consistsinan application of a centrifugal disc,
as last described, to the propelling of ships or vessels. The centrifugal disc
as so constructed, and with a pressure chamber containing compressed air, as
above described, is placed in the middle of the vessel, with its centre or axis if
practicable below the level of the water, and is made to revolve in a vertical
plane. The surrounding water is admitted by a channel or tube from the
fore part of the vessel, is drawn or allowed to flow into the disc through an
aperture in its centre, and passes or is driven out of the machine through ove
or more apertures into one or more channels or tubes leading towards the stern
of the vessel, and so flows out of the vessel in that direction. By this means
a regular, steady, and equable stream or current of water into, through, and
from the vessel will be established and maintained, and the effect will be that
the vessel will move through the water at a rate proportionate to the velocity
and quantity of the stream of water drawn in and discharged.
In Sheet II. Fig. 1 is an elevation, Fig. 2 a plan, Fig. 3 a longitudinal
section, and Fig. 4 a transverse section of the disc as applied to this purpose;
and Fig. 5 is a plan, and Fig. 6 a section, on a smaller scale, showing the disc
placed within a vessel, and a convenient arrangement of tubes for propulsion
in any direction.
"
A, A, is the suction tube (the mouth protected by a grating) which may
be carried forward, in order to draw from a part of the entrance of the vessel,
as shewn at B, B, or carried down almost immediately to draw from the
bottom of the vessel, as shewn at C, C', or to the sides of the vessel, as shewn
at D, D', in Figs. 5 and 6; E, E', are discharge tubes proceeding from the
prolonged portion of the pressure chamber, and carried to the after sides or
run of the vessel, intended for giving a forward motion; and F, F', discharge
tubes from the same part of the chamber to the sides, for giving a backward
motion to the vessel e, e'; f,f', are valves upon the respective tubes, by means
of which the discharge may be wholly or in part turned through any one or
more of the tubes at pleasure, and the vessel propelled in the direction desired.
Thus if the discharge be made entirely and equally through E and E', the
vessel will be propelled directly forwards, and if entirely through these tubes
but unequally through each, the motion of the vessel will be still onwards, but
with a correspondin divergence from the direct line, and similarly a backward
motion will be produced by the tubes F, F, while by discharging at the same
time through E and F or through E' and F', a lateral motion will be obtained,
an through E and F' or E and F a circular or rotatory motion,

page_text: Having now described my Invention, I wish it to be understood that I do
not claim as my Invention the using or applying a centrifugal wheel or disc,
of whatever construction or description, either to the producing a draught of
air or a blast, or to the raising, drawing, forcing, or throwing of water, or to
the propelling of vessels, as these have been done previously; but what I claim
as my Invention is,―
1. The construction of an improved centrifugal disc,as above described, for
producing and maintaining a draught or current of air towards the machine.
2. The construction of an improved centrifugal disc with a pressure
chamber, as above described, for producing and maintaining a blast or current.
of air from the machine, or for raising or throwing water or any other liquid,
in the manner above described.
3. The construction and use of a pressure chamber containing compressed
air, as above described, in combination, as above described with any centrifugal
wheel or disc, of any shape or description, for raising, drawing, forcing, or
throwing water or other liquid.
4. The application of an improved centrifugal disc, as above described
to the propelling of ships or vessels in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Webster Rammell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the
, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
day of