IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS MOTOR ENGINES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Livesey, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers, Westminster,
in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
GAS MOTOR ENGINES." A communication from abroad by Fernando Harry
LEIIEND FALEN to dames Divesty,
<8
in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN
GAS MOTOR ENGINES." A communication from abroad by Fernando Harry
Whitehead Livesey, of Paris, France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Livesey at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th June 1880.
JAMES LIVESEY, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS MOTOR ENGINES." [A communication from
abroad by Fernando Harry Whitebead Livesey, of Paris, France.]
This Invention relates to engines in which the combustion of an inflammable
mixture of gas or vapour with air produces pressure in a cylinder causing
movement of a piston. In such engines it is found advantageous to compress the
charge of combustible mixture before its ignition, and various means have been
proposed for effecting such compression. According to this Invention the
compression of each charge is effected in the working cylinder by the movement
of the piston produced by the combustion of the preceding charge in the following
manner - -The one end of the cylinder, which may be termed the working end,
communicates with the other end, which may be termed the charging end, by a
passage constituting a reservoir of sufficient capacity to hold one charge when
compressed. The ports by which this passage communicates with the two ends
of the cylinder, as well as ports for supply and discharge, and a port for ignition
of the charge, are governed by slides worked by eccentrics or cams on the crank
shaft or tappets moved by the piston. These slides may be coupled together or
combined into one, in which case a single cam or eccentric, or set of tappets
suffices.
The combustible charge may be ignited in any known manner; but in order to
avoid communication at the point of ignition with the outer air, it is preferable to
effect it in the following way :-At the side of a small passage a plate or tube of
platinum or other suitable metal is fixed with a with a bedding of non conducting
material, such as asbestos, and this plate or tube is heated to a high temperature by
an external flame directed against it. At suitable intervals a portion of the

page_text: combustible charge is, by the movement of this slide, admitted to the passage, and
this being ignited by contact with the hot plate or tube, communicates ignition to the
rest of the charge. The working of the engine is as follows:-The piston being
at the charging end of the cylinder makes its back stroke, drawing in at that end
of the cylinder a charge of the combustible mixture, and expelling at the other
end of the cylinder the products of previous combustion. During this stroke the
communications between the cylinder and the reservoir passage are closed, the
res rvoir containing a charge previously introduced into it. When the piston has
reached the working end of the cylinder, or it may be a short time thereafter,
when the piston has performed part of its outstroke, the communications from the
reservoir passage to the working end of the cylinder is opened and the charge is
ignited, producing pressure which propels the piston. As the piston approaches
the end of its outstroke the communication between the reservoir passage and the
working end of the cylinder is closed, and that between the reservoir passage and
the charging end is opened so that the piston in completing its stroke forces the
compressed charge into the reservoir passage. The communication from the cylinder
to it being then closed, the ports for supply of air and gas being opened to the
charging end of the cylinder and the port for the discharge being opened from the
working end of the cylinder, the piston begins its return stroke when the same
cycle of operations is repeated.
By employing a trunk piston, the capacity of the charging end of the cylinder
may be made considerably less than the space into which the ignited charge
expands at the working end. Also there may be clearance space at the working
end beyond the piston when it is at the extreme of its instroke, this space retaining
after the instroke a portion of the products of the previous combustion, which, when
the fresh charge is ignited, acts as an elastic cushion, relieving the piston from the
explosive violence of the rapid combustion. By closing the discharge port before
the piston reaches the extreme of its instroke, this cushion may be compressed.
For the purpose of preventing communication from the ignited charge at one end
of the cylinder to the fresh charge that is undergoing compression at the other end,
the piston separating them may be made double with a space for air or water
between its two parts, this space communicating through a hollow piston rod with
the outer air or with a water reservoir. For the purpose of relieving the slide from
the pressure resulting from ignition, there is provided in the reservoir passage a
check valve opening inwards, which valve is closed by the pressure of the ignited
mixture. The cylinder may be cooled by water in the usual way, or it may be
kept cool by a current of air passed through a casing enclosing it, and this air
may be that which is drawn into the cylinder along with the combustible gas or
vapour.
The interior of the cylinder may be lubricated by causing a little oil or other
lubricant to be drawn in with the charge of air.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said James Livesey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th December
1880.
JAMES LIVESEY, of No. 9, Victoria Chambers, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS MOTOR ENGINES." A communication from
abroad by Fernando Harry Whitehead Livesey, of Paris, France.
This Invention relates to engines in which the combustion of an inflammable
mixture of gas or vapour with air produces pressure in a cylinder, causing movement
of a piston. In such engines it is found advantageous to compress the charge of
combustible mixture before its ignition, and various means have been proposed for
effecting such compression. According to this Invention the compression of each
charge is effected in the working cylinder by the movement of the piston produced
by the combustion of the preceding charge in the following manner:-The one
end of the cylinder, which may be termed the working end, communicates with
the other end, which may be termed the charging end, by a passage constituting a
reservoir of sufficient capacity to hold at least one charge when compressed. The
ports by which this passage communicates with the two ends of the cylinder, as
well as ports for supply and discharge, and a port for ignition of the charge, are
governed by slides worked by eccentrics or cams on the crank shaft or tappets
moved by the piston. These slides may be coupled together or combined into one,
in which case a single cam or eccentric, or set of tappets suffices.
The combustible charge may be ignited in any known manner. The working of
the engine is as follows:-The piston being at the charging end of the cylinder
makes its back stroke, drawing in at that end of the cylinder a charge of the
combustible mixture, and expelling at the other end of the cylinder the products
of previous combustion. During this stroke the communications between the
cylinder and the reservoir passage are closed, the reservoir containing a charge
previously introduced into it. When the piston has reached the working end of
the cylinder, or it may be a short time thereafter, when the piston has performed
part of its outstroke, the communication from the reservoir passage to the working
end of the cylinder is opened, admitting a charge into the cylinder. The commu-
nication is then closed and the charge is ignited, producing pressure which propels
the piston. As the piston approaches the end of its outstroke, the communication
between the reservoir passage and the charging end is opened, so that the piston in
completing its stroke forces the compressed charge into the reservoir passage.
The communication from the cylinder to it being then closed, the ports for supply
of air and gas being opened to the charging end of the cylinder, and the port for
the discharge being opened from the working end of the cylinder, the piston begins
its return stroke, when the same cycle of operations is repeated.
By employing a trunk piston the capacity of the charging end of the cylinder
may be made considerably less than the space into which the ignited charge
expands at the working end. Also there may be clearance space at the working
end beyond the piston when it is at the extreme of its instroke, this space retaining
after the instroke a portion of the products of the previous combustion, which,
when the fresh charge is ignited, acts as an elastic cushion, relieving the piston
from the explosive violence of the rapid combustion. By closing the discharge
port before the piston reaches the extreme of its instroke, this cushion may be
compressed. For the purpose of preventing communication from the ignited
charge at one end of the cylinder to the fresh charge that is undergoing compression
at the other end, the piston separating them may be made double, with a space
for air or water between its two parts, this space communicating through a hollow
piston rod with the outer air or with a water reservoir. The cylinder may be

page_text: passed through a casing enclosing it, and this air may be that which is drawn into
the cylinder along with the combustible gas or vapour.
The interior of the cylinder may be lubricated by causing a little oil or other
lubricant to be drawn in with the charge of air.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a sectional plan and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the cylinder of a gas
motor engine according to this Invention; Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively a plan
and elevation to an enlarged scale of the valves at the front or charging end of the
cylinder. A is the cylinder surrounded by an air casing a, which has an opening a
to the atmosphere; B is the piston, which is connected to a crank on the engine
shaft in the usual way; C is the reservoir for containing compressed charges of
mixed gas and air, the pressure in this reservoir being maintained by a piston
loaded with a weight as in an accumulator. At the bottom of the reservoir there
is a check valve c. D is the valve box at the charging end of the cylinder fitted
with suction valves d¹ for air and d³ for gas; E is the slide governing the ports
at the working end of the cylinder, this slide being moved by an eccentric on the
engine shaft. The piston B while making its back stroke, as shewn in Fig. 1,
draws in the charge of air through the valve d, this air being supplied in a heated
condition by a pipe a' from the casing a, and also the charge of gas by the valve d'
supplied by the pipe a³. By a small oil pipe ds lubricant is drawn in along with
the air. The products of previous combustion are expelled from the back end of
the cylinder through the cylinder port F, the cavity e in the slide, and the exhaust
passage G. When the piston has completed its back stroke and begins to make its
next forward stroke the cavity e¹ of the slide E makes a communication between
the pipe from the reservoir c and a passage f leading into the F, a charge
of compressed gaseous mixture being thus delivered into the cylinder. The slide
still rapidly advancing its cavity e' still containing gaseous mixture, is brought into
communication with a cavity e in the slide cover, under which a flame is kept
burning. By this flame the fluid in e² is ignited, and as the slide still advances
flame is communicated from it to the fluid in the cylinder port F, and thereby to
the charge in the cylinder. The pressure produced by the combustion of the
charge propels the piston, which in its forward stroke delivers into the reservoir
by the pipe c² and the check valve c the charge which had been drawn into the
cylinder by the previous back stroke of the piston. The amount of each such
charge is regulated by inore or less throttling the gas and air supplies. Fig. 5 is
a sectional plan shewing a modified construction of gas motor engine cylinder
according to this Invention; Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section, Fig. 7 is a back end
view, and Fig. 8 a front end view, the cylinder cover being supposed to be removed.
In this case the reservoir C has no loaded piston, and the slide E is arranged on
the back end of the cylinder, being worked by a crank h from a longitudinal
shaft H that is moved by mitre gear from the engine shaft. The gaseous mixture
conveyed by the pipe c¹ from the reservoir C is by the action of a valve f2 worked
by a cam tappet on the shaft H admitted at the proper times to the passage f
leading through the cylinder port F into the cylinder. The slide E governs, as
already described, the passage to the exhaust Ġ and to the ignition cavity e², to
which gas is supplied by a passage es. In order to ensure ignition of the cylinder
charge there is provided on the slide cover a small cylinder J fitted with a spring
piston. This cylinder communicates with the atmosphere or with the supply of
gas or air by a pipe j near its one end, and from its other end there is a passage j
through the slide cover. When the slide E makes its stroke in the direction of
the arrow the piston in the cylinder J is urged by its spring in the same direction,
but as the end passage is then closed by the slide E a partial vacuum is formed
in the cylinder J. When the piston of J passes the port j the cylinder J becomes
charged. When the slide E makes its return stroke an arm El projecting down

page_text: from the slide bears against the piston rod of J, and so forces in the piston. By
this movement a jet sent through the passage jinto the ignition cavity e', which
is then in a position facing the cylinder port F, and the flame contained in the
cavity el is thus driven into the cylinder charge, causing its ignition.
As the volume of charge ignited in the cylinder does not require to be such as
at atmospheric pressure would fill the cylinder, a space A¹ is left at the front end
of the cylinder, so that at each charging stroke of the piston B the amount of fresh
charge drawn in is less than would fill the capacity of the cylinder.
Having thus described 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
claim in respect of single acting gas motor engines, in which the mixture of gas and
air is compressed before its ignition,-
First. Compressing by the forward stroke of the piston a gaseous charge drawn
into the cylinder by the preceding back stroke, and delivering the charge so
compressed into a reservoir, whence the cylinder is supplied with its compressed
charge to effect by its combustion the next forward stroke, substantially as herein
described.
Second. The construction of gas motor engine, herein described with reference to
Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the accompanying Drawings.
Third. The construction of gas motor engine, herein described with reference to
Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Livesey, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty.
JAMES LIVESEY. (L.S.)