IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES TO BE WORKED BY STEAM OR OTHER ELASTIC FLUIDS
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
HEATH, of Furnival's Inn, in the City of London, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Matthew Heath, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Matthew Heath, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Matthew Heath, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES TO BE
WORKED BY STEAM OR OTHER ELASTIC FLUIDS," communicated to me by a certain
foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said Matthew Heath, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited.
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Matthew Heath, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
The proposed advantages to be derived from my generator are to turn the 5
gas produced by the fire to use, to make the steam contribute to increase the
activity of the fire, and so to conduct the steam and gas in a steam engine as
to make it move or act.
Drawing 1 is a vertical section and elevation of the generator; A, A, the
boiler, hermetically closed and provided with oblique shutters; B, B, the 1
furnace under the boiler, furnished with the registers 1, 2, 3; F, f, tubes
conducting the steam across the furnace above and below the fire, the number
of which are indeterminate; they are provided with cocks set in motion by the
engine, and act one after the other in successively projecting the steam upon
all parts of the fire; G is an outlet which conducts the mixture of gas
and steam to the engine, either strait forwards or after it has crossed the
water of a second boiler; E, No. 1 and 2, registers for admitting the
fuel into the furnace; A, E, the iron by which the steam is drawn up;
two apertures P, P, allow entrance to the air, which should mix itself with
The
the gush of steam; each tube is provided with a similar one.
register 3 serves for cleaning the ash pan.
REACTING REVOLVING MACHINE FOR EXPANDING, DRAWING UP, AND
CONDENSING THE STEAM.
This machine is formed on the same principle as those of Heron of Alexandria
and Avery. The steam entering into a hollow axle passes into two tubes, with
openings or holes in an inverse direction at their extremities, by which the
The
steam as it escapes produces the reaction and the revolution of the arm.
following, however, is what is new in the system:-In order to prevent the
revolving arm from being obliged during its rapid motion to overcome the re-
sistance of the air, I place the tube between two discs, either of metal or any other
substance, which are joined together throughout their whole circumference, so
as to be formed in the shape of a lens, with thin edges for cutting the air. See
Drawing No. 2. The placing the arm between two discs is an old practice
since it is to be found in the works of Heron of Alexandria, but it i
the joining together of the two discs throughout their circumference which
constitutes the Invention. The revolving tube T goes beyond the discs abou
an inch. A, the covering discs; T, the revolving tube; B is a horizonta
Bection of the lens which forms the tube and the discs.

page_text: The third new Invention is as follows:-The steam as it escapes from the
apertures D, D, produces repulsion by the reaction; but one of those powers
of movement is lost, I mean that of expanding the steam. In order to make
this power useful, I use the means represented by Drawings 3, 4, and 5.
Drawing 8, B, B, is the revolving arm or hollow tube; A, hollow axle by
which the steam comes into the arm; D, D, additional tubes in which the
expansion of the steam is effected; S, S, supporters or curbs for the expansion
tube; Drawing 4 is the same principle, only for the purpose of preventing the
bend making an angle, which might weaken the gush of steam. I have
finished the arm in the form of the letter S, the ends of the letter being the
expansion tubes; B, B, the arm or revolving tube; R, R, redrawn point of
the tube in which the reaction is effected; E, E, opening for the expanding
steam; D, D, discs as air cutters. Drawing 5 is another form of aperature
funnel shaped for producing the expansion of the steam; in this Drawing
is shewn the revolving arm placed in the covering drum; B, B, the arm;
A, A, the hollow axle; E, E, the expansion funnel; O, the opening for
passing the axle into the arm; T, T, covering drums. The object of a fourth
Invention is to add a third power to the two already described, and which is
suction by condensing the steam. For this purpose the tube which forms the
arm is divided into two parts by a longitudinal partition. The hollow axle has
a full nave in its centre. One of the half divisions of the tube communicates
with the boiler, and the other with the condenser; this innovation is
represented in Drawing 6. B, B, the arm; F, F, the partition which divides
equally; A, A, hollow axle; N, the point where the intersection of the
cavity of the axle is found; T, tube communicating with the boiler; C, tube
communicating with the condenser; P, P, apertures for the passage of the
steam from the tube into the axle; Q, Q, opening as an outlet; E, E, stuffing
boxes furnished with pounded amiantus instead of common hemp, which would
catch fire from the rapidity of the rotary movement in spite of oil cisterns.
This is an important innovation in reacting machines. K, aperture for the
passage of the steam from the axle into the tube, and from the tube into the
axle. The apertures L, L, serve for the reaction, and M, M, for the suction.
See also Drawing 7.
A fifth new Invention in my new system for steam engine consists in
changing the direction of the rotary movement at pleasure from right to left
or from left to right. This change in the direction may be obtained by means
of two revolving tubes, but it may also be produced with one arm only. The
apertures of reaction are in opposite directions. This will be understood by Draw-
ing 6. The tubes T and C both communicate here with the boiler. Supposing

page_text: therefore the cock T to be open and the cock C to be shut, the steam passing
through one of the half divisions of the revolving tube goes out by the apertures
of the reaction L, L, and the revolution is effected from left to right. If it is
wished to change the direction, let the cock T be shut, and open the cock C;
the steam then passes into the other half division of the revolving tube, and
escapes by the apertures M, M, and the revolution is effected from right to
left. If it is wished to obtain a change of direction at the same time as the
suction, it may be done by means of two or more arms, each divided by a
longitudinal partition, or it may be done with one arm only divided into four
compartments, as is represented in Drawings 8 and 2. The hollow axle
itself is divided, and each side forms one complete system of reaction and
suction in two opposite directions. The revolving tube in the engines of Heron
of Alexandria and Avery, &c., is contained in a drum, for the purpose of keep-
ing the tube from cooling and preventing the steam from spreading itself about
the workshops, although the steam has free vent. In my system, on the
that
contrary, the steam in the drum should be at a certain degree of tension, in
order to increase the power of the reaction. If the suction by the revolving
tube or tubes is not sufficient, an open tube in the drum provided with a
valve would give vent to the steam when in too great quantity. In order to
increase the reaction by offering to the steam a fulcrum of greater resistance,
I have conceived two further means of doing so; the first consists in lining
the inside of the drum with metal plates, as is shewn in Drawing 9, or making
the arm turn in a vessel of water. It is, however, almost useless to say
in my system there is no necessity for its being done, although it is possible.
I have introduced into my system of revolving engine some particular
detailed arrangements or applications, the property in which I also wish to
secure to myself. For example, in order to transmit, reduce, and regulate
the very rapid motion of the arms, I have so placed the axle that instead
of the pulley and leather strap, it may be furnished with an endless screw,
which catches with a cog-wheel, as is seen in Drawing 5, Figure 4. The cogs
or teeth are concave at their extremities, and rounded at their edges so
as to diminish the friction. I have shewn in Drawing 5, Figure 1, how
the steam penetrates into the hollow axle by side apertures between the
stuffing boxes. In this mode of introduction the axle is terminated with
steel points. To obviate the dilitation of the axle by the heat, the counter-
points are provided with leathern shields, in which a hole is pierced, sc
that the oil from the cisterns may keep them constantly wet. B, B, the
arm; A, A, the hollow axle; P, P, the points, which may be changed when
worn out by the friction; C, C, leather shields, placed behind the counter-

page_text: points. When I wish to make the steam penetrate by the extremity of the
hollow axle, I dispose the several parts as represented in Drawing 10. A, hollow
axle; T, steam tube; E, E, amiantus stuffing; B, B, stuffing box; R, shields of
leather, of cork, of caoutchouc, &c.; M, N, pieces of steel for changing on
account of friction. In Drawing 11 is represented another method for allow-
ing the steam to enter, and a pivot for horizontal revolving engines particularly
applicable to locomotive engines, &c., the object being to diminish the friction
by the elasticity of the steam. A, hollow axle; T, tube for conducting the
steam; C, C, steam chamber, in which the pivot turns; E, E, the stuffing;
B, B, stuffing box.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Heath, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight
MATTW (L.s.) HEATH.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of July,
in the second year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said
Matthew Heath came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument afore-
said was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth
year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of July One thousand eight hundeed.