Improvements in Means for Utilizing the Heat of the Sun for Industrial Purposes.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Nov., 1893-Accepted, 17th Feb., 1894
COME LEIE DI MOTT
Improvements in Means for Utilizing the Heat of the Sun for
Industrial Purposes.
I, HALBERT ELEAZER PAINE of No. 1335 Connecticut Avenue, City of
Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America, Lawyer, do hereby
declare the nature of my invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My invention relates to improved means for utilizing solar heat for industrial
purposes, wherein is employed a group, or assemblage, of mirrors adapted to move
in the arc of a circle and in a horizontal, or proximately horizontal plane, the heat-
receiver being at, or near, the centre of the circle.
The invention consists of a novel combination and arrangement of parts,
substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.
Figure 1 represents the mirror-car at the middle point of the arc of rotation,
which point is due north or south of the heat-receiver, the rails, stringers and
cross-ties being shown in section.
Figure 2 is a top view of the track, showing the cable, drums, car and heat-
receiver. The track appears narrowest at the middle of the arc of rotation because
its outward radial inclination is greatest at that point.
Figure 3 is a front view of the clock-work used to effect and regulate the
rotation of the mirror-car around the heat-receiver.
Figure 4 is a portion of the track showing the rails stringers and cross-ties.
Figure 5 is a side view of the mechanism by which the vertical inclination of the
of mirrors is adjusted.
group
Figure 6 is a perspective view of the mirror-holder.
Figure 7 shows the top of one of the horizontal mirror-axes, with a mirror-
holder pivoted to a stud bolted to the mirror-axis.
Figure 8 is a front view of the mirror-frame, containing several mirrors.
Figure 9 is a plan of the track and of the clock-work geared to the windlass.
The mirror-holder represented in Figures 6 and 7 of the drawings, is also
represented in Figure 9 of the drawings of another application for Letters Patent
filed by me on even date herewith, No. 22839 of 1893 and, less in detail, in
Figures 4 and 9 of still another application for Letters Patent filed by me on even
date herewith (Case A) No. 22836 of 1893.
I do not, in this Application, or in my said Application No. 22836 of 1893 claim
this mirror-holder, as a distinct invention, but only as an element of the combinations
described as containing it. I do claim it, as a distinct invention, in my said
Application No. 22839 of 1893.
In Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, D D¹ is the horizon; the position of
the sun A, at sun-rise, is on the prolongation of D D'; B is the sun at mid-day;
C is the heat-receiver, on the prolongation of D D'; K a cross-tie of the track in
section ; K stringers in section; L the platform of the car in its position at
mid-day; M the mirror-frame in its position at mid-day; N the iron or steel
rails;
N the cross-bar in section; R, O the car-wheels, moving on the upper
surfaces of the two rails; P the wheel moving on the interior edge of the interior
rail; the wheel moving on the lower surface of the interior rail. F G is a line
bisecting the angle A Z B. HI is parallel to F G; and the mirror-frame M is
perpendicular to F G. The inclination of the cross-tie K to the horizon is half
that of the sun's rays,

page_text: In Figure 2, which is a plan of the track, K, represents the bed of the track;
N, the interior and exterior rails; C is the heat-receiver; A¹ the position of the
device for effecting and regulating the movement of the mirror-car; U the
windlass; S the cable; v, w, and a, the drums, on which the cable moves; and
L the platform of the car, in its position at mid-day.
In Figure 3, L, M, N', and O' represent the weights, and a', b', 'c¹ and d¹³ the
barrels on which the weights are suspended; e, f, glare temporary supports;
,, are sliding detents, to which are attached cords passing over the
pulleys n', o, pl. These cords are made fast to the levers H', 'I' and K. E' is
the pendulum D the crutch; A* the escapement; B* the balance wheel; f the
shaft to which the escapement and the crutch are attached.
In Figure 4, K³, are the stringers, or longitudinal supports, of the rails; K, are
cross-ties; N, are rails with arms; N', are cross-bars, bolted to the interior and
exterior rails, and, with them, to the cross-ties, and to the longitudinal supports of
the rails.
In Figure 5, M is the side of the mirror-frame; L the platform of the mirror-
car; p a crank operating the gear-wheel n, which meshes with the gear-wheel ¹;
and m a crank-lever rigidly attached to the wheel i'. This crank-lever raises and
depresses the rod O'. To the rod O' are pivoted the arms S³, which arms are
rigidly attached to the horizontal axes of the several tiers of mirrors. By means
of the crank p, a slight daily change of inclination is given to each mirror,
corresponding with the daily change occurring in the apparent altitude of the sun, as
it moves to and fro between the tropics. By means of this crank also the focus is
transferred from one of the openings in the fire-box to another.
In Figure 6, Q', are the arms of the mirror-holder; t¹ is the bolt by which the.
mirror-holder is attached to its stud; r¹ are screw-holes, through which.
-pass set-
screws; counter-acting set-screws, not shown in the drawings, pass through the
arms opposite to these screws. The screws and counteracting screws are used to
effect slight adjustments, for the correction of defects of workmanship. All the
clasps at the extremities of the arms, except the upper one, are rigidly attached to
the arms.
The upper clasp is movable. It is removed to admit the mirror, and is
afterwards fastened to the arms by screws St.
In Figure 7, u¹ represents the stud by which the mirror-holder is attached to the
horizontal axis c; is the part which passes through the axis, terminating in the
screw which enters the nut, whereby the stud is rigidly attached to the axis ;
Qrepresents the arms of the mirror-holder; f', the screws, and f, the counter-
acting screws, by which slight adjustments of the mirror are effected; w¹ is the
front extremity of the stud; the rear extremity of the part of the mirror-holder
which is pivoted to the stud, at St.
.
In Figure 8, M is the mirror-frame; the horizontal axis which, in order to be
light and stiff may be hollow; g the reflectors, each held by four clasps, a part of
the mirrors being removed to show the screw-bolts u.
In Figure 9, N represents the track; K the bed of the track; S the cables;
a, w, v, rollers; C the heat-receiver; A, the top of the frame of the clock-work;
a, b, c, d, the drum; U the windlass; B' the gearing connecting the clock-work
with the windlass; and E the pendulum.
In the practice of my invention, I provide a curved track N, whose rails are laid
upon a suitable bed K; a car L, carrying the mirror-frame M, with its mirrors or
reflectors, and travelling upon said rails; and a heat-receiver C, arranged with
relation to said track as shown, being at or near the centre of the circle of which
the track is an arc.
Having fixed the position of the heat-receiver, and determined the distance of the
track therefrom, I lay out the curve of the track upon a horizontal or proximately
horizontal surface, as follows: I ascertain at what points, on the horizon, the sun rises
and sets, at the seat of the proposed operations, at the time of the summer solstice,
and determine the length, in degrees, and minutes, of the arc of the horizon included
between these two points, and then lay out, for the track, an aro. of the same number

page_text: of degrees and minutes, with a radius equal to the distance of the track from
the heat-receiver, the middle of this are being its most northerly point in the
northern hemisphere, and its most southerly point in the southern hemisphere.
At the terminal points of the are the track is made level,-that is to say, the ends
of the two opposite rails are laid, at those points, in the same horizontal plane.
Every change in the vertical angle made by the sun's rays with the horizon,
involves a change, in the inclination of the reflectors to the horizon, equal to one
half of the angular change in the sun's position, as shown in Figure 1. Therefore,
at the middle point of the arc of rotation, I lay the exterior or outer rail of the
track so much lower than the interior rail that a radial line, drawn across the upper
surfaces of the two rails, at that point, makes with the horizon an angle equal to one
half of the vertical angle made by the sun's rays with the horizon at mid-day, at the
summer solstice, in the latitude of the place where the track is constructed.
I make the angle formed with the horizon, by the radial line crossing the upper
surfaces of the rails, gradually and regularly increase from the initial point of the
arc of movement, where this line is horizontal and the angle nothing, to the middle
point of the arc, where the angle is greatest, being equal to half of the angle
formed with the horizon by the rays of the sun, at midday, at the summer solstice.
In like manner I make this angle uniformly decrease from the middle to the end of
the arc of movement.
The rails of the track N are secured upon sleepers or stringers K³ and connected
together by cross-bars No, and upon the track travels a car L, whose wheels R, O,
may be held thereto by a wheel P travelling against the inner edge of the inner
rail N, and a wheel bearing against the underside of the same rail, or by any
other suitable means or method. The wheels P, Q are carried by a right angled
extension of one end of the axle c which carries the wheels O R.
The reflector-frame M is so arranged upon the cat L that, at the initial point of
the arc of rotation, the sun's rays make a predetermined vertical angle with the
plane of the reflector-frame, when the central reflector reflects the sun's image upon
the heat-receiver. If several reflector-frames are used, they are so disposed that
the sun's rays make this prescribed vertical angle with the plane of the middle
frame, when reflected upon the heat-receiver by the central reflector of the middle
frame.
If the movement of the car, on its track, corresponds with the apparent diurnal
motion of the sun around the earth, the sun's rays will fall upon the central
reflector, from sun-rise until sun-set, in such direction that their angle of incidence,
upon the central reflector, and their angle of reflection, upon the heat-receiver, will
be constantly.equal.
While the movement of the car, corresponding with that of the sun, continues,
all the individual reflectors are so adjusted that they reflect images of the sun
upon the heat-receiver. Except in the event of accidental disarrangement, no
further adjustment of the parts will ever be necessary, beyond making the slight
changes, in the vertical inclination of the mirrors, required to meet the changes in
the altitude of the sun resulting from its apparent movement to and fro between
the tropics. The mechanism for effecting these slight changes will be hereinafter
described.
The relations between changes in the altitude of the sun and changes in the
vertical inclination of the mirrors is illustrated diagraphically in Figure 1.
F G is a line bisecting the angle A Z B; H 1 is parallel to F G; and the mirror
frame M is perpendicular to FG: The inclination of the cross-bar N to the
horizon is half that of the sun's rays thereto.
The car may be moved by any suitable motor,-by hand, through a train of
gearing, or automatically by steam, water, electric or other power, regulated
by clock-work or by hand. It may be moved by the following described
mechanism :—
Upon a suitable frame work, or support, is arranged a series of drums or
bartels, a¹ b' c¹ d¹, Fig. 3 whose shaft is suitably journalled therein -and carries a

page_text: balance wheel B4, engaged by an escapement A', whose shaft also has secured to
it a crutch D', through the lower end of which passes a pendulum E*, depending
from the frame-work or support A¹.
The shaft or axis of the drums is put into suitable operative connection with a
windlass U, which drives the cable S and moves the car L and the compassing
rolls or wheels r, w, a, on the bed of the track.
Around the drums or barrels are wound cords suspending weights, L, M, N, O,
the latter three of which are temporarily supported upon shelves e, f, g' hinged
at one end, to uprights of the frame-work A, while, at their opposite ends they
rest upon slides,,, arranged, respectively, in openings in said uprights, and
connected by cords to levers H, I, K¹, hinged or pivoted to uprights of the frame-
work, in alignment with the weights.
The weights L, M, N¹ therefore, as they successively descend to their lowest
points, actuate successively the levers H, I, K, successively withdrawing the
slides h¹, ¹, k¹, from under the free ends of the shelves or supports e, f, g, and
thus providing for the rotation of the shaft bearing the barrels or drums a, b, c, d,
by each of the weights L', M¹, N¹, O' in succession, the purpose to which is
obvious.
To provide for the simultaneous elevation or depression of all the reflectors
in each frame, I secure to the series of axes, bearing the reflectors, crank-
arms S³, Fig. 5, connecting the latter with rods o¹, o', and provide one of said axes
with a gear-wheel ¹, and gear therewith a pinion n, suitably journalled upon the
mirror-frame and actuated by a crank p. By means of this device all the mirrors
are made to reflect images of the sun upon the heat-receiver in the morning; and
they continue to do so during the day.
To commence work, upon the completion of the apparatus, or to resume it,
after a temporary suspension, it is necessary (after the summer solstice) to depress
the rods o¹, o¹, by means of the crank p, until all the mirrors reflect images of the
sun upon the heat-receiver.
Qis a (preferably four-armed) mirror-holder, fastened by a screw t¹ to a short
stud w, Figs. 7, shouldered, as at w¹, and rounded at its free end as at a', and
fitting and pivoted in the socketed end of a screw-bolt u', this screw-bolt being
also shouldered, as at v', and held by a nut to a horizontal axis carried by the
mirror-frame. This short stud w turns on its pivot St.
The pivot, S, is the vertical or proximately vertical axis of the reflector, each
reflector having its own separate vertical or proximately vertical axis. To each
of the horizontal axes a tier of reflectors is attached, by the screw-bolts u¹. The
horizontal axes may, if of considerable length, be hollow tubes of iron, aluminium,
or other metal, and may be supported at intervals, by cross-supports extending
from the upper to the lower part of the mirror-frame.
:
The mirror-holder Q' has three of its arms bent at their outer ends, to form
clasps, and the fourth arm provided, at its outer end, with a removable bent plate
forming therewith also a clasp, which, with the other clasps, receives the mirror;
and within these clasps the mirror is held by set screws . Additional screws f³,
counteracting the screws f, are employed to rectify the position of the mirror in
its holder. The removable bent plate, connected by screws S', to the arm of the
holder Q¹, carrying it, permits the insertion of the mirror into the clasps.
Suppose the exterior rails of the track to be respectively arcs of a circle
measuring, say, six feet in length on their exterior edges, and the interior rails to
be arcs of a concentric circle having their extremities bounded by the same radii
which bound the extremities of the exterior rails. Then one pattern will suffice
for casting all the exterior rails required between the initial point of the arc of
movement and the middle point of that arc. And one pattern will suffice for
casting all the interior rails required between the initial point and middle of the
are of motion. In like manner one pattern will suffice for all the exterior rails,
and one for all the interior rails, required between the middle and the end of the
arc of motion.
: 4

page_text: These patterns may be made of metal, with a close approximation to absolute
mechanical accuracy and if they are so made, and the cross-ties are accurately
inclined and bedded, sufficient exactness of workmanship, in the construction of
the track, may be easily attained.
Suppose the base of operations to be on a parallel of latitude where the sun's
rays, at the summer solstice, make with the horizon, at midday, an angle of A°,
and the arc of the horizon included between the points where the sun rises and
sets, at the summer solstice, to be two thirds of the circle of the horizon. The
inclination of the track, at the middle of the arc of rotation, will be A°. And
if the radius of the arc of rotation is, for example, 50 feet, the entire circumference
of the circle will be 314.16 feet, and one half of the arc of rotation will be, in
length, one third of 314-16 feet, that is to say, 104.72 feet. The increment of
inclination, for each foot of the arc, is therefore A° divided by 104.72, and, for
six feet, A° divided by 17.45. It follows that each rail six feet in length will,
at its extremity nearest the middle of the arc of motion, have an outward radial
inclination to the horizon greater, by this latter increment, than at the extremity
farthest from the middle of the arc of motion.
It will be understood that I make no specific or separate claim herein, to the
means for effecting .the movement of the car, or for adjusting the reflectors
individually or collectively, or to a heat-receiver.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In mechanism for utilizing solar heat for industrial purposes, the combination
of means for carrying an assemblage or group of reflectors; and of a track, whose
rails are arranged in the arc of a circle, and have an outward radial inclination
gradually increasing from the initial point to the middle of the arc of motion, and
gradually diminishing from the middle to the end of the arc, whereby is maintained
a uniform vertical inclination of the plane of the mirror-frame to the sun's rays
from sun-rise to sun-set, substantially as set forth.
2. In mechanism for utilizing solar heat for industrial purposes, the combination
of a car carrying a group of reflectors; means for adjusting the vertical inclination
of the reflectors to the sun's rays; and a track whose rails are arranged in the arc
of a circle, and have an outward radial inclination gradually increasing from the
initial point to the middle of the arc of motion, and gradually diminishing from the
middle to the end of the arc, substantially as set forth.
3. In mechanism for utilizing solar heat for industrial purposes, the combination
of a car carrying a group of reflectors; a track whose rails are arranged in the arc
of a circle, and have an outward radial inclination gradually increasing from the
initial point to the middle of the arc of motion, and gradually diminishing from the
middle to the end of the arc; and means for automatically effecting and regulating
the rotation of the group of reflectors, substantially as specified.
4. In mechanism for utilizing solar heat for industrial purposes, the combination
of the track, whose rails are arranged in the arc of a circle, and have an outward
radial inclination gradually increasing from the initial point to the middle of the
arc of motion, and gradually diminishing from the middle to the end of the arc ;
the group of reflectors carried by a car travelling on said rails; and means for
effecting slight daily changes in the vertical inclination of the reflectors, to
correspond with the slight daily changes in the sun's altitude resulting from its
apparent movement to and fro between the tropics, substantially as described.
5. In mechanism for utilizing solar heat for industrial purposes, the combination
of the car, carrying a group of reflectors adapted to maintain a uniform vertical
inclination to the sun's rays; rails arranged in the arc of a circle, and having an
outward radial inclination; gradually increasing from the initial point to the middle
of the arc of motion, and gradually diminishing from the middle to the end of the
arc; and a heat-receiver, substantially as set forth.

page_text: 6. In mechanism for utilizing solar heat for industrial purposes, the combination
of the track, whose rails are arranged in the arc of a circle, and have an outward
radial inclination, gradually increasing from the initial point to the middle of the
are of motion, and gradually diminishing from the middle to the end of the arc; a
car travelling upon such a track and carrying a reflector-frame provided with
several tiers of reflectors, each tier being arranged upon a separate horizontal axis,
each axis being rigidly attached to an arm, and all the arms pivoted to a common
rod; and a gear-wheel fixed to one of the axes and geared to a pinion carrying a
crank or handle, substantially as set forth.
7. In mechanism for utilizing solar heat for industrial purposes, the combination
of a track whose rails are arranged in the arc of a circle, and have an outward
radial inclination gradually increasing from the initial point to the middle of the
are of motion, and gradually diminishing from the middle to the end of the arc; a
car travelling upon said track and carrying a series of reflectors, so arranged as
to be capable of simultaneous and uniform changes of vertical inclination; and the
reflector-holders having arms provided with clasps to engage the reflectors, and
having studs pivoted to shouldered and threaded bolts secured to horizontal axes
carried by the reflector-frame, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 28th day of November 1893.
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.