IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF GAS, STEAM, OR WATER ENGINES AND PUMPS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward James Greey, of Halstead, in the County
of Essex, Civil Engincer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MECHANISM APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF GAS, STEAM, OR WATER
ENGINES AND PUMPS."
Sealed the 15th June 1875, and dated the 17th December 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward James Greey
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th December 1874.
I, EDWARD JAMES GREEY, of Halstead, in the County of Essex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MECHANISM APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF Gas, Steam,
OR WATER ENGINES AND PUMPS," to be as follows: :—
This Invention has for its main object to construct an efficient gas,
steam, or water engine, which will allow of gas, steam, or water being
applied to produce a circular motion without the necessity of using
cranks, whilst at the same time a more regular motion and the maximum
amount of power capable of being exerted by gas, steam, or water is

page_text: obtained, and economy, and consequent saving of gas, fuel, or water is
thus effected.
This engine is composed of an ordinary cylinder fitted with valves,
and provided either with an excentric driven from the main shaft or such
other means of actuating the valves as it may be found advantageous to
use. The piston is of the ordinary description used in reciprocating
engines. To it is attached the piston rod. At the extremity of the
piston rod, to which the connecting rod is usually attached, is fixed a
guide block or blocks working in suitable guides. To the guide block is
fixed a steel or other pin shaped to fit the groove of a drum, which drum
is fixed in a parallel line with the piston rod, and the circumference of
which for steam or water engines in general is equal to twice the stroke
of the engine, and for gas engines of such other dimensions as may be
necessary to regulate the velocity of the upper or explosive stroke of the
piston in a proper ratio to the down or suction stroke of the piston. The
drum may have one or more sets of grooves cut in its face. For a single
cylinder one set is sufficient. For one half of the drum the groove is
cut forward and for the remaining half the groove is cut back to join
the place where the forward one starts from. In this groove the pin or
pins on the guide block will work, and the grooves being at an angle to
the axis of the drum the forward stroke of the piston drives the drum
round one half of a revolution, whilst the back stroke of the piston
on the return groove causes the drum to complete the second half of the
revolution, and so on.
The valves are adjusted to close just as the piston arrives at the end of
its stroke, and open the moment it has passed the points.
In steam engines the steam can be cut off at any point found necessary
whilst the pressure all through the stroke is equal on the drum to that
represented by the actual pressure on the piston.
The steam and water engines above described are also capable of
being reversed without the necessity of any reversing gear.
The novelty and utility of the Invention is as follows in gas engines :—
Firstly. The effect of the out or explosive stroke of the engine can
be utilized without injury to the engine by allowing the pitch of the
groove to be greater than the return or suction stroke.
Secondly. I thereby avoid the necessity for the complicated gearing

page_text: at present in use to release the piston from acting during the up or
explosive stroke.
And, Thirdly. The power gained by loss of friction in gearing and at
present lost power is developed.
In steam engines I obtain considerable advantages over the crank
because whilst the crank of an engine working expansively gets its
maximum pressure when at its least angle the drum gets the same pressure
at a maximum angle, which it does not lose during the whole of the
stroke, while the crank after it has passed ninety degrees is diminishing
in its angle, and the expansive power is reduced.
In water engines there will be equal pressure during the whole of each
half revolution.
Engines such as above described may be constructed at much less cost
than engines as now ordinarily constructed. This Invention- can be
adapted to engines at present having a crank action.
This Invention is also applicable to the economical working of high
and low pressure pumps, for the reason that the drum may be grooved
or regulated for the necessarily varying pressure of the upward and down-
ward strokes of the pump plunger, and may be driven by an ordinary
horizontal or vertical engine or by my improved engine above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward James Greey in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th June 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
JAMES GREEY, of Halstead, in the County of Essex, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the.
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward James Greey,
Her special licence that I, the said Edward James Greey, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said

page_text: Edward James Greey, 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 MECHANISM APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION
OF GAS, STEAM, OR WATER ENGINES AND PUMPS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward James Greey, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, or 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 per-
formed, 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 Edward James Greey, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings forming a part of this Specification:-
This Invention has for its main object the construction of an efficient
engine which will allow of gas, steam, or water being applied to produce
a circular motion without the necessity of using cranks, whilst at the
same time a more regular motion and the maximum amount of power
capable of being exerted by gas, steam, or water is obtained, and economy
and consequent saving of gas, fuel, or water is thus effected.
The said engine is composed of an ordinary cylinder fitted with valves
and provided either with an excentric driven from the main shaft or by
bevel wheels, or by a disc valve as herein-after described. The piston is
of the ordinary description used in reciprocating engines. To it is
attached the piston rod in the usual manner. At the extremity of the a
piston rod to which the connecting rod is usually attached is fixed a
guide block working in suitable guides. To the said guide block is
attached a steel or other pin shaped to fit the groove or grooves of a drum
or helix, which is keyed or attached to the driving shaft in a line parallel
with the piston rod, and the circumference of which for steam or water a
engines is usually equal to twice the stroke of the engine, and for gas
engines of such other dimensions as may be necessary to regulate the
velocity of the outer or explosive stroke of the piston in a proper ratio

page_text: to the return or vacuum stroke of the piston. The said drum or helix
may have one or more than one set of grooves cut in its face. For a
single cylinder one set is sufficient. For one half of the drum the
inclination of the groove is that of a right-hand helix or screw, and for
the remaining half the inclination of the said groove is that of a left-
hand helix or screw. In this groove the pin on the guide block will
work, and the groove being at an angle to the axis of the drum the
forward stroke of the piston drives the drum around one part of a
revolution, while at the back stroke of the piston the said pin acting on
the return groove causes the drum to complete the revolution, and
so on.
The valves are adjusted to close just as the piston arrives at the end of
its stroke and open at the moment or slightly before the moment it has
passed the points, thus preventing any noise.
In steam engines the steam can be cut off at any point found necessary
by regulating the expansion plate whilst the pressure all through the
stroke is equal on the drum to that represented by the actual pressure on
the piston.
The steam and water engines above described are also capable of
being reversed by simply altering the relative position of the disc valve.
The advantages of the said machines are as follows in gas engines :-
Firstly. The effect of the out or explosive stroke of the engine can be
utilized without injury to the engine by allowing the pitch of the groove
to be more rapid than the return or vacuum stroke.
Secondly. I avoid the necessity for the complicated gearing at present
in use to release the piston from action during the up or explosive
stroke.
And, Thirdly. The power gained by the absence of friction in gearing
and at present expended in overcoming the same is usefully developed.
In steam engines I obtain considerable advantages not obtainable by
the use of a crank, because whilst the crank of an engine working
expansively receives its maximum pressure when at its angle of least
inclination to the direction of the force acting thereon, the drum or helix
receives the same pressure at a maximum angle, which it retains during
the whole of the stroke, while the crank after it has passed the angle of
ninety degrees is diminishing in its angle, and the expansive effect is
decreasing.

page_text: In water engines there will be cqual pressure during the whole of each
half revolution.
Engines such as above described may be constructed at much less cost
than engines as now ordinarily constructed; but my Invention can bo
adapted to existing engines having a crank action.
This Invention is also applicable to the economical working of high
and low pressure pumps, for the reason that the drum (which in this case
is to be driven) may be grooved or regulated for the necessarily varying
pressure of the upward and downward strokes of the pump plunger, and
may be driven by an ordinary horizontal or vertical engine, or by my
improved engine above described.
The accompanying Drawings shew a steam engine and a combined gas
and air engine having the above described improvements. The said
Invention is shown applied to a steam engine in Sheet 1.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the said engine; Figure 2 is a side
elevation of the said engine; Figure 3 is a plan of the same; Figure 4,
an end elevation, the dotted lines in which show the adjustable expansion
plate; Figures 5 to 9 show the valve and expansion plate.
A. is the helix, in this case made in two pieces so as to be adjustable
to compensate for the wearing of the pin B. The said helix is keyed on
or attached to the driving shaft H. O is the guide working in guide bars;
D is the piston with a suitable piston rod, and actuated alternatively from
the steam passages Z' and Z2; E is a steam chamber; F is the expansion
plate regulated by the screw I, having two ports U¹, U2, Figure 4. Gis
a revolving disc valve so constructed that the exhaust port Y¹ is always
open either in connection with the steam passage Z' or Z³, Figure 5;
Y is the admission port, which is in communication alternately with the
opposite steam passages, and by this means causes the piston to move
backward and forward; X is the exhaust passage; Y₁ is the exhaust
port of the valve G, and Y is the admission port. The pressure of the
steam on the valve may be balanced if desired by well-known means.
The engine may be made reversible by any suitable apparatus at W for
changing the relative position of the disc valve G to the shaft H. In
water engines the expansion plate will not be needed, and the disc valve
will be so constructed that the water can freely pass in alternately to the
passages Z¹ and Z during the whole of the stroke without any cut-off

page_text: instead of being cut off at a certain part of the stroke, as is the case in
steam engines. This will also be the case when the said Invention is used
for the purposes of pumping.
Sheet 2 illustrates the application of my Invention to an atmospheric
gas engine.
Figure 1 is a vertical section; Figure 2, a side elevation; and Figure 3,
a plan of the said engine; Figure 4 is an elevation of the cylinder end,.
and Figure 5 is an elevation of the drum end of the same.
A is the drum, having a right and left screw groove cut in its periphery,
the pitch of one of which grooves being in this case as three to one of
the other; B is the pin cut as shown in Figure 3 to the different pitch of
cach groove; C is the guide block, D is the piston, and E the water
chamber enclosing the lower end of the cylinder F in which the piston D
works.
The gas may be ignited in any suitable manner cither by electricity or
by communication with a gas flame.
The mixture of gas and air may be introduced into the cylinder by
methods employed in other well-known gas engines.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not claim
the several parts constituting the machines separately or combined other-
wise than herein described, but what do I claim is, the combinations of
parts constituting gas, steam, or water engines and pumps, and especially in
such combinations I claim the rotating valve; also the expansion plate,
also the adjustable drum or helix made in parts, and also the drum or
helix with unequal inclines on the two sides, all substantially as herein
described and illustrated by the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward James Greey, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
EDWARD J. GREEY, C.E. (L.S.)