IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO ENGINES AND BOILERS IN WHICH STEAM OR A MIXTURE OF STEAM AND HYDROCARBON VAPOURS IS EMPLOYED
Year: 1885

page_text: I HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO ENGINES AND BOILERS
IN WHICH STEAM OR A MIXTURE OF STEAM AND HYDROCARBON VAPOURS IS
EMPLOYED" to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved motor, especially intended for domestic
purposes and for small manufactories.
The motive power of the motor is either steam alone, or a mixture of steam and
hydrocarbon vapours. In the first case, the exhaust steam is mixed with a com-
bustible gas and the mixture is utilized for heating the boiler; while in the second
case, the exhaust steam and vapours directly serve this latter purpose.
According to the mode of working to be adopted, the boiler is provided with
either one or two chambers. In two-chambered boilers, the chambers communicate
with each other at their upper portions, one chamber being filled with water and
the other with a volatile bydrocarbon. The base of the boiler, which encloses the
upright piston-cylinder and which is fastened to a hollow support or bed, is
surrounded by an annular channel, designed to contain an inflammable liquid, the
combustion of which heats the boiler when the engine is to be started. The steam,
or steam and vapours, generated in the boiler enter a steam-chamber, arranged
upon the head of the upright cylinder and communicating with the space within
the same by means of a passage. The upper end of the said passage serves as a
seat for a valve, to the bottom of which is attached a rod extending downward
through the admission passage into the cylinder; consequently the said valve is
raised and opened every time the piston moves in the upper portion of the
cylinder.
The piston is provided with a longitudinal bore or opening, at the upper end of
which is formed the seat of another valve, likewise provided with a rod extending

page_text: downward through the opening and beyond the bottom of the piston. This
second valve serves as an exhaust valve and is controlled by a cam, rigidly con-
nected to the connecting-rod of the engine; said cam acting upon a disc fixed to
the lower end of the valve-rod and causing exhaustion to take place during the
whole upward stroke of the piston.
The exhausted mixture of steam and hydrocarbon vapours entering the hollow
space in the bed of the engine (or the steam entering said space and being there
mixed with a combustible gas supplied from without) rises through a series of holes
into a ring-shaped chamber, surrounding the bottom portion of the boiler, inside
the aforesaid channel containing the burning liquid. As the said ring-shaped
chamber communicates by special passages with the outer air, atmospheric air is
drawn in and mixed with the combustible gas or vapours and the whole then
escapes through suitable apertures in the cover of the ring-shaped chamber, to
become ignited by the burning liquid. When this liquid is wholly consumed the
inflammable mixture, continuously escaping through said apertures will continue
to burn notwithstanding.
With two-chambered boilers, different numbers of burners may be provided in
the portions of the cover of the ring-shaped gas-chamber answering to each
chamber of the boiler, in order to accelerate or to retard the vaporization of either
liquid.

page_text: Improvements in and relating to Engines and Boilers in which
Steam or a Mixture of Steam and Hydrocarbon Vapours
is Employed.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex 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:-
This invention relates to inotor apparatus operated by a mixture of steam and
the vapour of a volatile hydrocarbon or by steam alone. In the former case the
said mixture, after having been exhausted from the cylinder is ignited and used for
heating the boiler which contains the liquids from which the steam and vapour are
generated; whilst in the latter case the steam after being exhausted from the
cylinder is mixed with a combustible gas, and then utilized for heating the boiler.
In the accompanying drawing
Figures 1 and 2 are sectional elevations of a motor embodying this invention,
said elevations being at right angles to each other.
Figure 3 shows a plan partly in horizontal section of the support of the engine.
Figures 4 to 7 are diagrams shewing four different positions of the crank, and
the corresponding positions of the distributing mechanism.
Figure 8 is a diagram illustrative of the positions of the crank at the points of
admission, expansion and exhausting of the vapour during one revolution.
The boiler B which is preferably mounted on the supporting frame A by means
of its screw-threaded bottom portion, encloses the cylinder C. A partition b divides
said boiler into two chambers b¹, b¹, communicating with each other at their top
portions.
In operating this apparatus one of said chambers is filled through the top with
water, and the other with alcohol or with a suitable hydrocarbon, whereupon the
boiler is closed by the screw cover b².
The supporting frame forms an annular channel a at the bottom of the boiler,
which channel is surrounded by a conical sheet-iron casing a¹; and designed to be
filled with any combustible liquid. When the engine is to be started the said liquid
is ignited and heats the boiler B.
The steam and gases generated in the boiler enter through a tube d, arranged
above the cylinder C, into a cylindrical chamber e, which by means of the admission
port f communicates with the cylinder C. The alternate opening and closing of
the admission port f is performed by a valve g, lifted from its seat during the
period of admission, and forced down onto the same, by the pressure of the steam
and gases, during the periods of expansion and exhaust.
This piston c of the engine is made hollow and at its top end it is closed by a
valve c¹, the rod of which extends through the hollow piston and carries a disc c³
at its under end.

page_text: During the rotation of the fly wheel in the direction indicated by the arrow in
Figure 1, the valve c¹, resting upon its seat in the piston c, will lift the admission
valve g when the crank reaches the upper dead point by means of its rod extending
through the admission passage f. The valve g being thus opened, the steam and
gas enter the cylinder and force down the piston, thus working the engine. As
soon as the piston c has descended a distance corresponding to the stroke of the
valve g, the admission-valve closes, and the steam and gas expand in the cylinder,
above the piston..
The connecting-rod h of the engine has a cam-shaped projection h¹ formed on its
upper end which projection is movable between the cheeks ca ca of the piston c.
While the connecting rod swings, this cam also swings up and down, that is to say,
its end is alternately raised and lowered by the difference of the ordinates of its
two extreme positions.
When the engine has run beyond its lower dead point, the connecting-rod
obviously swings to the left side and the cam rigidly connected therewith swings
to the right side and upward. In consequence thereof the said cam strikes against
the disc c² fixed to the rod of the exhaust valve c¹ which is thus lifted and allows
the dead'steam and gases to escape through the bore of the piston into the hollow
space of the supporting frame A.
The exhaust continues until the crank has nearly reached its upper dead point.
As soon as the angle separating the crank from the dead point is nearly equal to
the normal angle of lead, the cam h¹ begins to swing to the left side and downward
so as to move from the disc c³; the exhaust-valve c¹ will then drop and the exhaust
be closed. Immediately however the piston c has reached its uppermost position
it lifts the valve g and the admission again takes place anew.
The described operation is repeated at every revolution of the crank and is clearly
illustrated by Figures 4 to 7.
Figures 4 and 5 show those positions of the crank, which answer to the lower-
most and uppermost positions of the cam h¹ respectively. The first of these
positions is reached during the period of expansion, and the second during the
period of exhaust. Figure 6 represents the crank the cam and the valve in the
positions they assume when the admission begins, and Figure 7 in the positions
corresponding to the end of the expansion. The positions of the crank, during the
three different periods of working of the piston in the cylinder are shown most
clearly in Figure 8. The arc between x and y corresponds to the admission, the
arcyz to the expansion and the arc zx to the exhaust as taking place during each
revolution of the engine.
The mixture of steam and gases, escaping from the cylinder into the hollow
space of the bed A, rises through openings i, arranged in a circle, into the ring-
shaped chamber k, and thence passes through a gauze plate 7 and the perforated
cover m, resting upon the same, to the outer surface of the boiler.
While rising, the gaseous mixture draws in atmospheric air through the
passages n, connecting the chamber with the surrounding space. The mixture
of hydro-carbon vapor and air, thus prepared, when ignited burns at the holes m²,
in the cover m, and in this way heats the boiler.
When the inflammable liquid which is filled into the annular channel a for
starting the engine, is wholly consumed, the gaseous mixture exhausted from the
cylinder being uninterruptedly supplied from the hollow space in the bed A, will
continue to burn as a gaseous fuel. The air necessary for complete combustion
enters through the holes a* in the sheet iron casing a¹.
In one half of the cover m a less number of holes m¹ may be provided than in
the other part in order to more or less heat the chamber of the boiler containing
the hydrocarbon or the water. The screwed aperture o in the hollow bed A
facilitates the mounting and cleaning of the engine.
Instead of filling the boiler with water and a bydrocarbon, and thus working the
motor with a mixture of steam and inflammable vapours, the same may be filled

page_text: with water alone, in which case the partition b is superfluous, the engine being
worked by steam only. In engines of the latter kind, the exhaust steam is mixed,
in the hollow space of the bed, with a combustible gas supplied from any source.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
First. A motor, operated by steam or by a mixture of steam and inflammable
vapours, said steam or steam and vapours after producing the desired effect by
their expansion being, either directly or after previous mixture with a combustible
gas, ignited, to heat the boiler, which boiler encloses the cylinder and contains
water alone or water and a hydrocarbon, and to thus generate steam and vapours
under pressure, which work the engine, substantially as set forth.
Second. In a motor of the class described, distributing mechanism, consisting of
a valve, arranged in a longitudinal bore of the piston, a second valve arranged in
the admission passage above the piston, and a cam fixed to the connecting-rod ;
the said piston acting upon the second valve and thereby causing the admission of
steam or vapor and the said cam acting upon the valve in the bore of the piston to
allow the expansion and exhaust of the vapour, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 26th day of February 1886
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.