IMPROVEMENTS THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEAT, AND THE GENERATING AND APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER DERIVED THEREFROM
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Bourne, of Mark Laue, in the City of
London, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEAT, AND THE
GENERATING AND APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER DERIVED THEREFROM."
Sealed the 13th May 1870, and dated the 22nd December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Bourne at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd December 1869.
I, JOHN BOURNE, of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEAT,
AND THE GENERATION AND APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER DERIVED THEREFROM,"
to be as follows:-
I produce heat by means of solid, liquid, or gaseous combustible
matters brought into a state of minute subdivision and uniformly
diffused among oxygen or some body containing it previous to their
[Price 8d.1

page_text: inflammation, which is effected in close vessels under very great pressure,
whereby the combustion constitutes a continuous explosion which
generates power. I also inject water or some other fluid also raised to a
very high temperature and pressure and in a state of minute subdivision
among the hot products of combustion, whereby so large and sudden an
increase in the volume of the gaseous fluid is produced as to constitute
another continuous explosion which also generates power. Or I attain
the same object by directing a nozzle (from whence the hot products
of combustion issue) into another nozzle with a thin annulus of water
or some other fluid intervening, which being induced or sucked in
by the issuing products forms steam or vapour, which increases the
energy of the jet and enables it to suck in more fluid through another
annulus, and so on until the hot products are sufficiently cooled and
loaded to be suitable for giving motion to any ordinary engine or
machine. The hot products and the steam or other fluid mixed with
them are suffered to expand from the enormous initial pressures under
which they are generated (and which resemble that produced by
gunpowder in a cannon) down to such moderate pressures as may be
employed to drive engines, turbines, or other convenient motors, or to
force water, propel vessels, or perform any other useful work.
The oxygen required for the combustion of the fuel may be derived
from the atmosphere as in common furnaces; but I also derive it from
any substance capable of yielding oxygen, such as the nitrates of potash,
soda, or ammonia, or from nitric or other acids, or from common air
mixed with a less proportion of nitrogen than exists in air by straining
the air through colloid septa, or by discharging by means of steam or
otherwise the oxygen absorbed from the atmosphere by manganate of
soda or other similar substances which surrender their oxygen on the
application of heat aided by a current of steam. The fuel, if solid, is
first pulverized and is then usually gasified or transformed into carbonic
oxide by imperfect combustion. The combustible if liquid is vaporized
in order that the mixture of the combustible and supporter of com-
bustion may be made as intimate as possible before combustion takes
place; but I sometimes effect this intimate mixture mechanically by
mixing or grinding up with the fuel when solid some powdered
substance containing oxygen, and when the combustible is in a liquid
form by mixing or introducing with it some liquid containing oxygen,
whereby, as in gunpowder and nitro-glycerine, an intimate mixture of

page_text: the combining substances is effected without previous gasification. The
proportion of oxygenous material thus introduced may be made
adequate for the combustion of the fuel, but in general I make the
proportion only such as will aid the combustion but will not complete
it or form an explosive compound. In like manner when the fuel
is gaseous or volatile I generally introduce among it previous to com-
bustion a certain proportion of air or other gas containing oxygen so as
to effect the more complete admixture of the combustible and supporter
of combustion, and to increase the rapidity and completeness of the
final combustion.
When the fuel employed is solid, such as coal, I first reduce it to
powder by passing it between crushing rollers or otherwise, and I then
gasify this powdered fuel by exposing it to imperfect or incomplete
combustion in a suitable chamber or gasifier.
The gasifier I prefer to employ (though any other suitable kind may
also be employed) consists of a tall cylindrical vessel of iron of great
strength lined with fire-brick or furnished with a central tube of fire-
brick through a hole or holes, in the top of which the powdered fuel
and also the proportion of air or oxygen requisite for its conversion
into carbonic oxide are forced by a jet or jets of steam or other fluid
notwithstanding the existence of a high pressure within the gasifier by
reason of the energy of the entering jet or jets being sufficient to
overpower the pressure opposed to their ingress.
The powdered coal I grind finer and feed in by means of an apparatus
like a coffee or bark mill set on top of the gasifier, and this apparatus is
driven by a wheel like that of a smoke jack, to which motion is given by
the air sucked in by the steam or other jets to be sent into the gasifier,
The interior of the
but it may also be driven by any other means.
gasifier is partially filled with hot infusible balls or pieces of fire-brick,
or other refractory material, and when the fuel (in a state of minute
division) comes in contact with these hot surfaces (being at the same
time mingled with a supporter of combustion) enters into combustion
and thereby forms carbonic acid; but the proportion of oxygen
introduced being insufficient for the combustion of the whole fuel
that portion of the fuel which remains unburnt is dissolved by the
carbonic acid and forms carbonic oxide. Carbonic oxide is also formed
by the decomposition of the steam which constitutes the inducing jet or
jets when steam is used for that purpose.

page_text: The gasifier is usually formed with boshes or with a contracted
passage or aperture, which I prefer to place near the bottom. Through
this aperture the gas is constrained to pass, and at this point it
necessarily moves with a high velocity. The great heat maintained
within the gasifier reduces the incombustible parts of the coal to the
form of slag, which falling in liquid particles or drops to the lower
part of the gasifier is shot with great force through the contracted part
by the outrush of the escaping gas. The particles of slag being heavy
are shot forward by their momentum, while the gas is drawn off through
appropriate orifices in the opposite direction, and a separation of the
slag from the gas is thus effected. The slag accumulates as a molten
mass in a chamber or space at the bottom of the gasifier, from whence
it is drawn off from time to time by tapping as is done in iron smelting
furnaces to draw off the molten iron. The gas thus prepared is sub-
sequently burnt in a suitable combustion chamber, for which purpose it
is mixed with oxygen or some substance yielding it with sufficient
intimacy to constitute when ignited a continuous explosion.
gas may also be used for metallurgic purposes, or for any other for
which carbonic oxide is required.
But the
The products of combustion of the gasified fuel are led into another
chamber or compartment, where water or some other fluid is injected
among them through any suitable orifice, or where they are constrained
to pass through water or some other fluid under arrangements which
will ensure the rapid and intimate mixture of the hot products with
the added fluid. By this means so large and sudden an expansion takes
place as to constitute another continuous explosion. When the fluid
injected is water (as I generally prefer should be the case) it is first
heated to a very high temperature and pressure in strong pipes or other
strong vessels, so that on escaping from the orifice through which it
enters among the hot products of combustion it breaks itself up into
minute particles from the expansion of the imprisoned steam, and the
rapid and complete dispersion of the particles instantly cools the hot
products and generates steam by direct contact and without the necessity
for employing heating surfaces like those of boilers.
The mixture of gases and steam is employed in the same way as
ordinary steam to work any convenient species of engine, instrument, or
machine. When water is injected among the hot products of com-
bustion I generally carry the mixture before its final escape to do

page_text: appointed work through a similar contraction to that introduced in the
gasifier (to separate the slag), whereby any liquid particles not vaporized
and also any solid particles which may have come over with the gas
are shot into an appropriate receptacle, whence they may from time to
time be drawn off, while the mixture of pure steam and purified products
are conducted away in the opposite direction. The solid and liquid
particles are thus separated from the gaseous by virtue of their greater
density and larger momentum when moved at the same speed.
in some cases this separating expedient is dispensed with.
But
The air forced into the gasifier and also into the combustion chamber
(when air is employed to furnish the oxygen, as will generally be the
case) I prefer should be heated to a temperature of 1000° Fahr. or
thereabouts (in pipes like those employed to heat the blast in iron
works), and a jet or jets of air, oxygen, or any substance containing it
may be forced by pumps or otherwise and used to carry the fuel through
an open orifice in opposition to the high pressure subsisting within the
gasifier or combustion chamber if such jets are in any case deemed
preferable to a jet or jets of steam.
The pressure of the water injected among the hot products of com-
bustion I prefer should be about 1000 lbs. per square inch, and by
employing these high temperatures and pressures, and by maintaining a
minute subdivision both of the fuel and the water, the force of the
explosions which is the measure of the power generated is correspondingly
augmented.
By an explosion I mean a large and almost instantaneous augmenta.
tion of volume whereby great pressure is produced, and as in a fouling
piece of adequate strength the great pressure produced by an explosion
may be used without risk to do appointed work, so in my apparatus the
force of the several explosions instead of working mischief by bursting
vessels (which are all made of a strength adequate to resist the strain) is
quietly expended in the generation of power.
The pressure under which the vapours and gases resulting from the
explosions are ultimately employed to work an engine or other motive-
power machine is vastly less than the initial pressures of the explosions.
But the power generated by the intermediate expansion is not lost, but is
expended in increasing the ultimate pressure, or the ultimate volume,
or partly in both, so that the result so far as the generation of power
is concerned is much the same as if the fluids with the initial pressures

page_text: of the explosions were expanded in cylinders furnished with pistons
under arrangements similar to those existing in steam engines working
expansively.
It will of course be obvious that the structural arrangement of
gasifier and combustion and vaporizing chambers described above may 5
be varied in many ways to constitute alternative arrangements or to add
to the convenience of their use or application in special cases. Thus one
gasifier may be combined with two combustion chambers to constitute a
group which may be surrounded by a sheet iron casing, into which air
passes (on its way to the inducing jets) through the vanes of a smoke 1
jack wheel and gives motion to the wheel, which motion may be com-
municated to the coffee mill or other apparatus which grinds and feeds
in the fuel; or the gasifying, combustion, and vaporizing chambers may
all be combined in one vessel by using different parts of it for the
different functions; or the gasifying operation may be omitted and 1
the fuel may be minutely subdivided and mixed with a supporter of
combustion and the products of the explosion may be afterwards mixed
with water or some other fluid to produce a second explosion.
The different chambers also may be set in a vertical, horizontal, or
any other position, the form of apparatus above described being only 2
one example of forms which may be indefinitely varied, and which need
not be further specified seeing that the form of apparatus is immaterial
or less material so long as the main features of the process in obtaining
great power from the explosions of combustion and vaporization are
preserved.
2
The fuel consumed will usually be coal, and in burning it to generate
power in the manner. prescribed there will usually be three explosions,
the first when the powdered coal is introduced with air or oxygen
(by preference made hot) into the hot gasifier, the second when the
resulting carbonic oxide (mixed with air or oxygen) is burnt in the g
combustion chamber, and the third when water (or some other fluid) is
introduced in a state of minute subdivision among the hot products of
combustion. The total power generated will be that represented by
the sum of these explosions, and as the combustion is perfect (as the
whole force as well as the whole heat of such combustion is utilized), 3
and as the initial pressures are far greater than those employed in
existing engines while the terminal pressures may be as small, the
expansive principle will be carried to a vastly greater extent than can

page_text: be done in existing engines, and much more power will be generated
with a given weight of fuel, while for most purposes the apparatus is
less cumbrous and expensive than any species of common engine.
In some cases I produce the carbonic oxide, not by burning coal with
a deficiency of oxygen, but by transmitting coal dust or liquid fuel with
steam through hot pipes or other hot vessels; or I use a combustible
steam obtained by feeding liquid fuel with water into a boiler. Or I
produce a combustible gas by passing air over or among porous sub-
stances saturated with a liquid hydrocarbon. The gasification of the
coal or its conversion into carbonic oxide and the vaporization of liquid
fuels are merely expedients employed for enabling the combustible and
supporter of combustion to be more intimately mixed without involving
the expence of grinding the coal very fine. Moreover by thus getting
rid of the slag the carbonic oxide is rendered more suitable for most
purposes for which such gas is applicable and the contact of water
with the naked flame for the production of steam becomes permissible
since extraneous matters which would scratch the engine will be
prevented from passing over.
The device which will usually be found most convenient for
forcing the air and fuel into the gasifier consists of jets of super-
heated steam, which will virtually seal up the orifices and prevent
escape backward by establishing a current of steam, air, and fuel in the
opposite direction.
The energy of the gas when escaping from the
gasifier will generally suffice to force the requisite quantity of air into
the combustion chamber so as to complete the combustion. But in
such case other fluid jets whether of a combustible, a supporter of
combustion, or a neutral substance may be employed.
Whatever may be the other features of the jets however I prefer on
all occasions to construct them on which I call the cumulative
principle in which a small stream of the combustible is first introduced
to the supporter of combustion or of the supporter to the combustible
either under pressure or issuing from a close vessel, so that the explosion
cannot take place backward. The whole energy of the explosion being
therefore expended forward will produce a new jet of great inductive
power which will suck in more of the combustible and supporter of
combustion which being exploded in their turn will go to increase the
forward energy of the composite jet, and so on until the supplies of
combustible and supporter have been exhausted. There is no gain in

page_text: the ultimate dynamical efficiency of the fuel by this expedient, but it
enables the first stream of exploded material to act as a feed pump
to the second, the second to act as a feed pump to the third, and so
on, whereby the magnitude of the condensing pumps, steam jets, or
other extraneous forcing instruments or expedients may be greatly
diminished.
In all cases the first small stream which constitutes the starting
point of the cumulative jet must derive its energy from some extraneous
source, and it may consist of a small stream of the combustible and
supporter of combustion forced in by pumps or otherwise, or it may
be formed of a gaseous stream produced by the slow combustion of
oxygenous fuel like slow burning gunpowder, the dynamical energy
of which may be increased by the hot products of its combustion being
made to pass through water or by water being injected among them, or
it may be a stream or streams impelled by any other external force.
But although this initial jet of the series may be very small, its pressure
and velocity must be very great, and by acting as a point d'appui the
whole of the fuel may be made to combine with the whole of the
supporter of combustion under a great pressure. The number of
successive steps of the jet may be few or many, or may be made
virtually infinite by passing the fuel or supporter of combustion, or both,
through a porous or perforated tube, each interstice or perforation of
which will virtually constitute a jet.
In employing common coal gas as fuel to work engines I usually
compress the gas and air (before they enter into combustion) by means
of pumps or otherwise, but it will generally suffice to compress enough
for the first step of the cumulative jet, and to use the rest without
compression.
The steam which I employ in the jets I sometimes oxygenate by
forcing air into the boiler, or by passing the steam among manganate
of soda or other substances which absorb oxygen from the atmosphere,
which oxygen they afterwards surrender on being permeated by steam
in hot retorts. Or I introduce into the steam the vapour of nitrate of
ammonia, or some other vapour containing oxygen ready to enter into
combination with the fuel, and the proportion of oxygen may be varied
so as to perfect or only to promote the combustion.
The power generated by the whole or some of the explosions before
described is utilized by employing the products of them to work engines

page_text: constructed like common steam or gas engines or to expel water or the
atmosphere or some other fluid from some vessel or space into which it
again returns, thus giving motion in its passage to some machine or instru-
ment, or to move water or some other fluid which in its turn imparts
motion to a turbine, Barker's mill, or other usual species of machine for
deriving power from moving fluids, or to lift water, propel vessels, or
perform any useful kind of work.
For some purposes I dilute and load the issuing products of com-
bustion and steam with air, which I induce to enter by forming the
issuing nozzle in the manner of an inducing jet; and I also sometimes
load the composite stream with water, which is so introduced as both to
condense the steam and to impart the energy of the steam to the other
fluids present, which fluids may thereafter be used as a jet to move a
larger volume of water at a lower rate of speed.
I also sometimes superheat steam to increase its energy and (con-
sequently) its inductive action, and also to enable the educted steam of
an engine or a part of it by being superheated to force the feed water
into the boiler or to generate a higher pressure than could otherwise be
obtained, and I also feed boilers with boiling hot water by sending a jet
of water (by preference warm) forced by a pressure adequate to enter
the boiler among the educted steam or the steam just prior to being
educted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Bourne in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BOURNE, of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said John Bourne, Her special licence,

page_text: that I, the said John Bourne, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Bourne, 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 THE MODE OF AND
APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF HEAT, AND THE GENERATING AND APPLICATION OF
MOTIVE POWER DERIVED THEREFROM," upon the condition (amongst others),
that I, the said John Bourne, my executors or administrators, 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 Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, 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 John Bourne, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):-
I produce heat by means of solid, liquid, or gaseous combustible
matters brought into a state of minute subdivision and uniformly
diffused among oxygen (or some body containing it) previous to their
inflammation, which is effected in close vessels and preferably under
very great pressure. By this means the combustion constitutes a
continuous explosion which generates power. I also inject water or
some other fluid (also preferably raised to a very high temperature and
pressure, and in a state of minute subdivision) among the hot products
of combustion whereby so large and sudden an increase in the volume
of the gaseous fluid is produced as to constitute another continuous
explosion which also generates power. Or I attain the same object by
directing a nozzle (from whence the hot products of combustion issue)
into another nozzle with a thin annulus or minute stream of water or
some other fluid intervening, which water being induced or sucked in
by the issuing products forms steam, vapor, or gas, which increases the
energy of the jet and enables it to suck in more fluid through another
annulus, and so on until the hot products are sufficiently cooled and

page_text: loaded to be suitable for giving motion to any ordinary engine or
machine. The hot products and the steam or other fluid mixed with
them are suffered to expand from the enormous initial pressures under
which they are (by preference) generated (and which resemble those
produced by the combustion of gunpowder in a cannon,) down to such
moderate pressures as may be employed to drive engines, turbines, or
other convenient motors, or to force water, propel vessels, or perform
any other useful work.
The oxygen required for the combustion of the fuel may be derived
from the atmosphere (as in common furnaces,) but I also derive it from
any substance capable of yielding oxygen, such as the nitrates of potash,
soda, or ammonia, or from nitric or other acids, or from common air
mixed with a less proportion of nitrogen than exists in air by straining
the air through colloid septa or by discharging by means of steam or
otherwise the oxygen absorbed from the atmosphere by manganate of
soda or other similar substances which surrender their oxygen on the
application of heat aided by a current of steam.
The fuel (if solid) is first pulverized, and is then usually gasified or
transformed into carbonic oxide by imperfect combustion. The com-
bustible, if liquid is vaporized in order that the mixture of the com-
bustible and supporter of combustion may be made as intimate as possible
before combustion takes place, but I sometimes effect this intimate
mixture mechanically by mingling or grinding up with the fuel when
When the com-
solid some powdered substance containing oxygen.
bustible is in a liquid form I mix or introduce with it some liquid con-
taining oxygen, which can be easily disengaged so as to be available for
combustion, whereby (as in gunpowder and nitro-glycerine) an intimate
mixture of the combining substances is effected without previous
gasification. The proportion of oxygenous material thus introduced
may be made adequate for the complete combustion of the fuel, but in
general I make the proportion only such as will aid the combustion, but
not complete it or form an explosive compound. In like manner when
the fuel is gaseous or volatile I generally introduce among it previous
to combustion a certain proportion of air or other gas containing
oxygen, so as to effect the more complete admixture of the combustible
and supporter of combustion, and to increase the rapidity and complete-
ness of the final combustion, but not in such proportion as to produce an
explosive mixture until the final combustion is intended to take place.

page_text: When the fuel employed is solid, such as coal, I first reduce it to
powder by passing it between crushing rollers or otherwise, and I then
gasify this powdered fuel by exposing it to imperfect or incomplete
combustion in a suitable chamber or gasifier. Several of the most
convenient forms of gasifier are herein-after described, but the gasifier
I prefer to employ (though any other suitable kind may also be
employed,) consists of a tall cylindrical vessel of iron of great strength
lined with fire-brick or furnished with a central tube of fire-brick through
an open hole or holes, in the top of which the powdered fuel and also
the proportion of air or oxygen requisite for its conversion into carbonic
oxide are forced by a jet or jets of steam, air, or other fluid, notwith-
standing the existence of a high pressure within the gasifier by reason
of the energy of the entering jet or jets being sufficient to overpower the
pressure opposed to their ingress.
The powdered coal I grind finer and feed in by means of an apparatus
like a coffee or bark mill set on top of the gasifier or by other equiva-
lent means, and this apparatus may be driven by a wheel like that of a
smoke jack, to which motion is given by the air sucked in by the steam
or other jets to be sent into the gasifier, but it may also be driven by
any other means. The interior of the gasifier is partially filled with
hot infusible balls or pieces of fire-brick or other refractory material,
such as pumice stone, or coke, coal, or other form of carbon, which is
both refractory and enduring when the affinity of the oxygen which
has passed through it has been previously satisfied. Or it may be filled
partly with brick or pumice stone and partly with coal or coke, and
when the fuel (in a state of minute division) comes in contact with the
hot surfaces, (being at the same time mingled with a supporter of com-
bustion) it enters into combination and thereby forms carbonic acid.
But the proportion of oxygen introduced being insufficient for the com-
bustion of the whole fuel, that portion of the fuel which remains unburnt
is dissolved by the carbonic acid under the influence of the high tem-
perature and forms carbonic oxide. Carbonic oxide is also formed by the
decomposition of the steam which constitutes the inducing jet or jets
when steam is used for that purpose.
The gasifier is usually formed with "boshes" or with a contracted
passage or aperture, which I prefer to place near the bottom. Through
this aperture the gas is constrained to pass, and at this point it
necessarily moves with a high velocity. The great heat maintained

page_text: within the gasifier reduces the incombustible parts of the coal to the
form of slag, which (falling in liquid particles or drops to the lower part
of the gasifier) is shot with great force through the contracted part by
the outrush of the escaping gas. The particles of slag being heavy are
shot forward by their momentum while the gas is drawn off through
appropriate orifices in the opposite direction, and a separation of the
slag from the gas is thus effected. The slag accumulates as a molten
mass in a chamber or space at the bottom of the gasifier, from whence
it is drawn off from time to time by tapping as is done in iron smelting
furnaces to draw off the molten iron. But in some cases the gasifier is
formed without the contracted orifice mentioned above, and the slag
runs to the bottom by gravity as in an iron smelting furnace. The gas
thus prepared is subsequently burnt in a suitable combustion chamber,
for which purpose it is mixed with oxygen or some substance yielding
it with sufficient intimacy to constitute when ignited a continuous
explosion. But the gas may also be used for metallurgic purposes or
for any other for which carbonic oxide is required.
The products of combustion of the gasified fuel are led into another
chamber or compartment, where water or some other fluid is injected
among them through any suitable orifice, or where they are constrained
to pass through water or some other fluid under arrangements which
will ensure the rapid and intimate mixture of the hot products with the
added fluid. By this means so large and sudden an expansion takes
place as to constitute another continuous explosion. When the fluid
injected is water (as I generally prefer should be the case) it is by pre-
ference first heated to a very high temperature and pressure in strong
pipes or other strong vessels, so that on escaping from the orifice through
which it enters among the hot products of combustion it breaks itself up
into minute particles. From the expansion of the imprisoned steam
and the rapid and complete dispersion of the particles the hot products
are cooled, and steam is generated by direct contact and without the
necessity for employing heating surfaces like those of boilers.
The mixture of gases and steam is employed in the same way as
ordinary steam to work any suitable construction of engine, instrument,
or machine. When water is injected among the hot products of com-
bustion I generally carry the mixture (before its final escape to do
appointed work) through a similar contraction to that introduced in the
gasifier (to separate the slag), whereby any liquid particles not vaporized

page_text: and also any solid particles which may have come over with the gas are
shot into an appropriate receptacle, whence they may from time to time
be drawn off, while the mixture of pure steam and purified products are
conducted away in the opposite direction. The solid particles are thus
separated from the gaseous by virtue of their greater density and larger
momentum when moved at the same speed; but in some cases this
separating expedient may be dispensed with.
The air which is forced into the gasifier and also into the combustion
chamber (when air is employed to furnish the oxygen, as will generally
be the case) I prefer should be heated to a temperature of one thousand
degrees Fahrenheit or thereabouts (in pipes like those employed to heat
the blast in iron works), and a jet or jets of air, oxygen, or any substanc
containing oxygen may be forced by pumps or otherwise, and used to
carry the fuel through an open orifice in opposition to the high pressure
subsisting within the gasifier or combustion chamber, if such jets are in
any case deemed preferable to a jet or jets of steam.
The pressure of the water injected among the hot products of com-
bustion I prefer should be about one thousand pounds per square inch,
and by employing these high temperatures and pressures, and by
maintaining a minute subdivision both of the fuel and the water, the
force of the explosion which is the measure of the power generated is
correspondingly augmented.
By an "explosion" I mean a large and almost instantaneous augmen-
tation of volume, whereby great pressure is produced, and as in a fowling
piece of adequate strength the great pressure produced by an explosion
may be used without risk to do appointed work, so in my apparatus the
force of the several explosions instead of working mischief by bursting
vessels (which are all made of a strength adequate to resist the strain) is
quietly expended in the generation of power.
The pressure under which the vapours and gases resulting from the
explosions are ultimately employed to work an engine or other motive-
power machine is vastly less than the initial pressures of the explosions;
but the power generated by the intermediate expansion is not lost, but is
expended in increasing the ultimate pressure of the ultimate volume, or
partly in both, so that the result so far as the generation of power is
concerned is much the same as if the fluids with the initial pressures
of the explosions were expanded in cylinders furnished with pistons

page_text: under arrangements similar to those existing in steam engines working
expansively.
It will of course be obvious that the structural arrangement of
gasifier and combustion and vaporizing chambers described above may
be varied in many ways to constitute alternative arrangements, or to add
to the convenience of their use or application in special cases. Thus
one gasifier may be combined with two combustion chambers to con-
stitute a group, which may be surrounded by a sheet-iron casing, into
which air passes (on its way to the inducing jets) through the vanes of a
smoke jack wheel giving motion to the wheel, which motion may be
communicated to the coffee mill or other apparatus which grinds and
feeds in the fuel; or the gasifying, combustion, and vaporizing chambers
may all be combined in one vessel by using different parts of it for
the different functions; or the gasifying operation may be omitted, and
the fuel may be minutely subdivided and mixed with a supporter of
combustion, and the products of the combustion or explosion may be
afterwards mixed with water or some other fluid to produce a second
explosion.
The different chambers also may be set in a vertical, horizontal, or
any other position, the form of apparatus above described being only
one example of forms, which may be indefinitely varied, and which need
not be further specified, seeing that the form of apparatus is immaterial
or less material so long as the main features of the process in obtainin-
ing great power from the explosions of combustion and vaporization are
preserved.
The fuel consumed will usually be coal, and in burning it to generate
power in the manner prescribed there will usually be three explosions,
the first when the powdered coal is introduced with air or oxygen (by
preference made hot) into the hot gasifier, the second when the resulting
carbonic oxide (mixed with air or oxygen) is burnt in the combustion
chamber, and the third when water (or some other fluid) is introduced in
a state of minute subdivision among the hot products of combustion.
The total power generated will be that represented by the sum of these
explosions, and as the combustion is perfect as the whole force as well
as the whole heat of such combustion is utilized, and as the initial
pressures are far greater than those employed in existing engines (while
the terminal pressures may be as small), the expansive principle will be
carried to a vastly greater extent than can be done in existing engines,

page_text: and much more power will be generated with a given weight of fuel,
while for most purposes the apparatus will be less cumbrous and expen-
sive than any species of common engine with its furnace and boiler.
In some cases I produce the carbonic oxide not by burning coal with
a deficiency of oxygen, but by transmitting coal dust or liquid fuel with
steam or with the products of combustion through hot pipes or other hot
vessels; or I use a combustible vapor obtained by feeding liquid fuel
with water into a boiler, or by passing air or steam, preferably super-
heated, through a liquid hydrocarbon, or among porous substances
saturated with such liquid hydrocarbon. The gasification of the coal or
its conversion into carbonic oxide, and the vaporization of liquid fuels,
are merely expedients employed for enabling the combustible and sup-
porter of combustion to be more intimately mixed without involving
the expense of grinding the coal very fine, and also in the case of the
coal for getting rid of the incombustible matter in the form of slag,
whereby it becomes possible to pass the products of combustion through
an ordinary engine without destroying it by grit. Moreover, by thus
getting rid of the slag the carbonic oxide is rendered more suitable for
most purposes for which such gas is applicable, and the contact of water
with the naked flame for the production of steam becomes permissible,
since extraneous matters (which would scratch the engine) will be pre-
vented from passing over.
The device which will usually be found most convenient for forcing
the air and fuel into the gasifier consists of a jet or jets of superheated
steam or of superheated steam mixed with hot air, or of air without
steam, which jets will virtually seal up the orifices and prevent escape
backward by establishing a current of steam, air, and fuel in the opposite
direction. The energy of the gas when escaping from the gasifier will
generally suffice to force the requisite quantity of air into the combustion
chamber, so as to complete the combustion; but in some cases other
fluid jets, whether of a combustible, a supporter of combustion, or a
neutral substance, may be employed.
Whatever may be the other features of the jets I prefer on all
occasions to construct them on what I call the cumulative principle,
in which a small stream of the combustible is first introduced to the
supporter of combustion, or of the supporter to the combustible, either
under pressure or issuing from a close vessel, so that the explosion
cannot take place backward. The whole energy of the explosion being

page_text: therefore expended forward will produce a new jet of great inductive
power, which will suck in more of the combustible and supporter of
combustion, which being exploded in their turn will go to increase the
forward energy of the composite jet, and so on until the supplies of
combustible and supporter have been exhausted. There is no gain in
the ultimate dynamical efficiency of the fuel by this expedient, but it
enables the first stream of exploded material to act as a feed pump to
the second, the second to act as a feed pump to the third, and so on,
whereby the magnitude of the condensing pumps, steam jets, or other
extraneous forcing instruments or expedients may be greatly diminished.
In all cases the first small stream which constitutes the starting point
of the cumulative jet must derive its energy from some extraneous source.
and it may consist of a small stream of the combustible and supporter of
combustion forced in by pumps or otherwise, or it may be formed of
a gaseous stream produced by the slow combustion of oxygeneous fuel
like slow burning gunpowder, the dynamical energy of which may be
increased by the hot products of its combustion being made to pass
through water, or by water being injected among them, or it may be
a stream or streams impelled by any other external force; but although
this initial jet of the series may be very small its pressure and velocity
must be very great, and by acting as a point d'appui the whole of the
fuel may be made to combine with the whole of the supporter of com-
bustion under a great pressure. The number of successive steps of the
jet may be few or many, or may be made virtually infinite by passing
the fuel or supporter of combustion, or both, through a porous or per-
forated tube, each interstice or perforation of which will virtually con-
stitute a jet.
In employing common coal gas as fuel to work engines I usually
compress the gas and air (before they enter into combustion) by means
of pumps or otherwise, but it will generally suffice to compress enough
for the first step of the cumulative jet and to use the rest without
compression.
The steam which I employ in the jets I sometimes oxygenate by
forcing air into the boiler, or by passing the steam among manganate of
soda or other substances which absorb oxygen from the atmosphere, and
which oxygen they afterwards surrender on being permeated by steam in
hot retorts; or I introduce into the steam the vapor of nitrate of
ammonia, or some other vapor containing oxygen ready to enter into

page_text: combination with the fuel, and the proportion of oxygen may be varied
so as either to perfect or only to promote the combustion.
The power generated by the whole or some of the explosions before
described is utilized by employing the products of them to work engines
constructed like common steam or gas engines, or to expel water, or the
atmosphere, or some other fluid from some vessel or space into which it
again returns, thus giving motion in its passage to some machine or
instrument; or to move water or some other fluid, which in its turn
imparts motion to a turbine, Barker's mill, or other ordinary construc-
tion of machine for deriving power from moving fluids, or to lift water,
propel vessels, or perform any useful kind of work. For some purposes I
dilute and load the issuing products of combustion and steam with air,
which I induce to enter by joining the issuing nozzle in the manner of an
inducing jet, and I also sometimes load the composite steam with water,
which is so introduced as both to condense the steam and to impart the
energy of the steam to the other fluids present, which fluids may there-
after be used as a jet to move a larger volume of water at a lower rate of
speed. I also sometimes superheat steam to increase its energy, and
consequently its inductive action, and also to enable the educted steam
of an engine (or a part of it) by being superheated to force the feed
water into the boiler, or to generate a higher pressure than could other-
wise be obtained, and I also feed boilers with boiling hot water by
sending a jet of water (by preference warm) forced by a pressure
adequate to enter the boiler among the educted steam, or the steam
just prior to being educted. I also condense and expel the residual
educted steam or vapor from the condenser by a similar jet of water
(by preference cold).
It will be seen from the foregoing outline of the main features of my
Invention that it consists essentially of two principal parts, one being
a new way of generating carbonic oxide for heating purposes by intro-
ducing the coal or carbon to the air or oxygen in a state of artificial
or minute subdivision, whereby the process of gasification will be
accelerated and a high temperature obtained, which will melt the incom-
bustible matters contained in the fuel into slag that will run away
leaving the gas pure.
The other part of the Invention is a mode of obtaining motive power
from pure fuel by accomplishing its combustion under such arrange-
ments as will generate power, and also by projecting among the hot

page_text: products of combustion some fluid that will cool them to a temperature
suitable for use in a common steam engine, and at the same time will
generate power. In common furnaces the whole of the power generated,
or which might be generated by the expansion of the gases, and which
answers to the expansion manifested by ignited gunpowder is thrown
away. In common boilers much of the power which might be obtained
by the rapid vaporization of the water is also wasted. By my Inven-
tion these losses are obviated, the apparatus necessary for the generation
of power is rendered less cumbrous, and injury to the engine from grit
or dust is prevented.
The effect of these improvements is to render less fuel sufficient to
perform a given amount of work, which result is aided by the arrange-
ment described for heating the feed water by the educted steam or gases,
and by that described for producing and maintaining a vacuum in the
condenser by employing the energy of a column of water as a jet pump
to remove the gases or any residual vapors which the coldness of the
jet will not condense.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, Figures 1 to 6 represent
various forms of gasifier which may be used under my Invention for
generating the elastic or combustible gas, though other equivalent forms
may also be employed. The same letters refer to the same parts in all
the Figures.
A is a pipe through which a shower of coal dust is fed by any appro-
priate mechanism; B is a coil of pipes in which is heated the whole
This air may
or a portion of the air which maintains the combustion.
be forced into the coil by a jet of superheated steam, or by a blast of
air entering at C. The pipe or channel through which the gas escapes
is shewn at D.
The gas may be partly sucked out by a jet of steam
or other fluid escaping through the pipe E, but such jet (if employed)
will be more beneficially introduced in the chimney of the furnace in
which the gas is burnt. It has not, however, been considered necessary
to shew this jet in the Drawing, as the furnace is only a common gas
furnace, and the structure of such furnaces is well known. F is a door
through which the gasifier may be cleaned out, and which has a hole
in it through which slag may escape.
In Fig. 1 the shower of coal dust (mingled with air) is projected by
the blast proceeding through B into an internal pipe, which is kept
very hot by the heat communicated by the body of hot gas in the gasifier,

page_text: and the dust in falling through this hot pipe is inflamed and coked and
partially burnt. After leaving the pipe the current passes upwards
through a mass of incandescent coke, coal, brick, or other infusible
material, whereby the portion of the dust not consumed in the internal
pipe is dissolved by the hot carbonic acid, forming carbonic oxide, which
passes away through an annular flue formed by the coil of pipes. The
pieces of coke or coal are introduced by the stopper a.
In Fig. 2 the central pipe is widened out in a conical form, and, in
fact, constitutes the gasifier, the gas escaping through an annular grid-
iron consisting of orifices, and passes into an encircling chamber.
In Fig. 3 the coal dust descending through the pipe A is carried in
tangentially by the blast at B, and circulates in a whirlpool round the
conical chamber, into which it is projected (subsiding the while) until it
debouches at the contracted orifice at the apex. Pieces of coal or coke
may be introduced to fill the lower part of the gasifier through the
stopper a.
In Fig. 4 the arrangement is very similar to that shewn in Fig. 2.
In Fig. 5 the air and dust enter through a screw or vane kept in
rotation by the entering air, which scatters the coal over the surface of
the incandescent matter beneath, and any addition thereto may be made
through the stopper a.
In Fig. 6 the descending current of coal dust and air encounters the
ascending current of gas, whereby the dust is heated and is agitated in
the air and is kept suspended for a sufficient time (if not wholly to burn
it) to coke it and prevent caking, so that it will be consumed by the
current of air descending as if from a blow pipe, and made to impinge
upon the surface of the incandescent mass. The slag will run to the
bottom of the gasifier and will escape through the hole in the door F.
I will now proceed to describe another of the forms of apparatus by
which I obtain motive power from coal; liquid fuel may also be used for a
the same purpose with a few slight and obvious modifications. The coal
I employ may be the small coal obtained at coal pits, and it may be
crushed fine between rollers. This powdered coal I feed into a tall
gasifying chamber of small diameter, shewn in Sheet II., formed of a
very thick wrought-iron tube, and either lined with fire-brick or having a
a central tube of fire-brick, through which the fuel mixed with a proper
proportion of air is conducted. The air (which I prefer should be heated

page_text: to a temperature of one thousand degrees Fahrenheit or upwards) is
forced in by means of superheated steam (having a pressure of one
thousand pounds on the inch, or thereabouts), and the air will be
compressed, and will thus have its temperature further increased by the
action of the steam jet, which will force both the fuel and air into the
gasifier. The air may also be compressed and forced in by a pump or
otherwise. The powdered coal is to be carried in by the fluid jet or jets,
and it may be fed in by any sitable apparatus. But the contrivance I
prefer to employ is the species of mill represented, which is like a bark
mill or coffee mill placed at the bottom of a hopper, and having a
vertical spindle which is rotated at any convenient speed or around
which the hopper is rotated with any convenient speed by suitable
mechanism. The most convenient mechanism will sometimes be the
species of ventilator or smoke jack represented, which is put in motion
by the air which is drawn or forced into the gasifier by the fluid or
steam jets. This instrument may either be made powerful enough to
grind the coal as well as to feed it in, or only to feed it in without
grinding it, or partly grinding it while feeding it in. The gasifier
within which a high pressure is maintained delivers its products into tall
pipes or combustion chambers of similar dimensions to those of the gasifier
itself where the gas is burnt. The air necessary to support such com-
bustion is forced into these chambers by the pressure or inductive action
of the gas, though it may also be forced in by other means. In the
gasifier is a deep stratum of balls formed of fire-clay or other intractable
material, or of pieces of fire-brick, pumicestone, coke, or other infusible
substance. These balls or pieces are maintained at a high temperature
by the combustion of the coal dust burnt among them. The quantity
of air admitted is not sufficient to burn the whole of the coal dust, and
the residue is carried forward by the mechanical action of the blast, and
mingling with the carbonic acid (resulting from the first combustion at
a high temperature) the carbonic acid takes up an additional atom of
carbon and becomes converted into carbonic oxide. The incombustible
portion of the coal dust being melted by the high temperature runs into
a chamber or compartment at the bottom of the gasifier, from which
chamber it is suffered to run out through a valve luted with clay, and
which is opened from time to time as required. The rapidity of the
gasifying process, as well as the separation of the slag, will be affected
very materially by the degree of heat maintained within the chamber in
which the gas is generated, and this chamber should be made (and kept)

page_text: as hot as possible. Within the chambers in which the gas is burnt pipes
of wrought iron of great strength are set for the purpose of superheating
water, or, in other words, to heat it to a temperature much above the
ordinary boiling point, or two hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit,
and also to generate superheated steam. The superheated steam is used
to propel the air and fuel into the gasifier, and the superheated water is
projected among the hot products of the combustion of the carbonic oxide
when they emerge from the combustion chamber, for which purpose an
injector is employed which has an adjustable orifice through which the
water passes, and which will effectually disperse it.
From these explanations it will be obvious that by this system motive
power is generated by three continuous explosions, the maintenance of
as high a pressure and temperature as possible being requisite in each
of them, except the last, where the temperature is necessarily reduced
though the pressure is maintained. By this system the power generated
at each step is made a maximum, and coal dust projected into hot air will
comport itself very much like gunpowder, but in the present instance, as
in the case of gunpowder (in order that much power may be derived
from it) the combustion must be performed under pressure. When guns
are fired off by a charge of gunpowder this pressure is created by the
suddenness of the combustion and the inertia of the shot. But the same
result would be attained if the gunpowder were to be fed continuously
into a chamber in which a very high pressure was kept up, and this is
what is done in the case of the air gun. In my system of generating
motive power when carried out in the best manner, and not as applied to
old machinery where an exhaustion must sometimes be used, the com-
bustion is performed under great pressure as in a gun, and the coal dust
stands in the place of the gunpowder, the combustion corresponding to
the explosion which in gunpowder (as in coal dust) is only a process of
rapid combustion. The act of feeding coal dust and hot air into a
chamber in which a high pressure and temperature are maintained (as is
done by my Invention) keeps up, in point of fact, a continuous explosion
resembling that of gunpowder, but which is under perfect control, the
coal dust unlike gunpowder not being liable to accidental explosion, and
the rapidity of the combination and force of the explosion will depend
upon the fineness of the dust, the hotness of the air, and the intimacy
of the admixture. The first explosion or combustion, which is only
partial, takes place in the gasifier, and the second, when the mixture of

page_text: coal dust and oxygen (which has been transformed in the gasifier into
carbonic oxide) enters into combination with a new supply of oxygen
under a very high temperature and pressure in the combustion chamber,
this combustion being also a continuous explosion and more powerful
than the first. The third explosion, which is of a different character,
takes place when the superheated water contained preferably under
enormous pressure in the strong pipes set within the combustion chambers
is injected among the hot products of combustion and becomes steam.
In this last case the explosion is merely an act of rapid expansion, and
consists in the rapid evolution of steam, which at the moment of its
evolution is of a very high pressure. The conjoint force of all these
explosions or of some one or more of them goes to generate the power.
The only precaution necessary to be observed to make the apparatus
safe is to make the strength of the several pipes, passages, and other
parts adequate to bear the strain put upon them, and I usually con-
struct these gasifying, combustion, and expansion chambers sufficiently
strong to bear a bursting pressure of one thousand pounds per square
inch without being strained more than five hundred pounds per square
inch of section of the metal, which strain is exceeded in most modern
boilers, and all the parts have strength in a like proportion. The two
first of these chambers are each about one and a half inches thick,
sixteen and a half inches diameter, and ten feet long, and they are
formed by preference of drawn wrought iron tubes without rivets.
Of course other dimensions and modes of construction may be employed,
The
but these are an example of such as will be found convenient.
expansion of the superheated water among the hot products of com-
bustion takes place in the pipe leading them from the combustion
chambers. The power when generated in the manner described and
when very high pressures are produced is utilized by diluting the gaseous
stream with air, water, or other fluids to such an extent as may be
advisable to enable the composite fluid resulting from such dilution
to act upon any ordinary machine for producing motive power (such
as a steam engine) without the pressure, or temperature, or velocity
being injuriously or inconveniently high. The diluting fluid should
be introduced through adjustable orifices, through which it is sucked
by the lateral adhesion of the moving fluid. But in cases where the
pressure and temperature are not very great the introduction of a
diluting fluid will sometimes not be required. In all cases the tendency

page_text: of great heat is to produce the decomposition of composite substances
(or "dissociation" as it is sometimes termed), and in ordinary furnaces
many of the combining particles are separated so widely from one
another by the expansion of the air that combination cannot take
place and imperfect combustion and a waste of fuel are the result.
In my present Invention, however (as applied in the best manner),
this action is prevented by the mechanical compression under which
the fuel is burnt, which brings the combining particles closer together,
so as to be within the sphere of combining attraction.
Apart however
from this benefit there is far more motive power obtained from burning
fuel under great pressure, than is to be obtained from burning it in the
ordinary manner. The difference between the common system and my
system of burning fuel (so far as regards this part of my Invention),
is equivalent to the difference between burning gunpowder in the open
air, and burning it in the chamber of a gun under heavy pressure, or
it is equivalent to the difference between working an engine with a high
pressure of steam expansively, and working it at a low pressure without
expansion.
The motive power once produced I sometimes modify, as already
explained, by mingling other fluids with the product of the explosions
so as to bring the temperature and pressure or the velocity of the efflux
of the composite fluid or gas down to such limits as are permissible and
convenient but without diminishing the amount of power. The fluid
to which the power has been thus communicated is employed to drive
machines or to accomplish any prescribed kind of work. But in other
cases instead of thus diluting the products of the explosions by other
fluids I employ the whole energy of the several explosions or of any
one of them in setting back the atmosphere or other fluid from a
certain defined space, and I generate the motive power by allowing the
atmosphere or other fluids (so set back) to flow in again to the space
from which they have thus been expelled. This has been before done
in some of the motive-power engines which act by the explosion of
gas and air shut up within a cylinder. But in such cases the explosion
has been intermittent, whereas I propose to accomplish the desired end
by a continuous explosion as described, and which is analogous to
that which would occur if first gunpowder and then superheated water
were to be fed continuously into close vessels, and if the stream of
powder were to be continuously ignited, and the resulting flame were

page_text: to be continuously quenched by the superheated water itself entering
at an enormous pressure.
In Sheet II. Fig. 1 shews a group of one gasifier and two combustion
chambers, the gasifier being in the middle and the combustion chambers
at the sides. The gasifier and one combustion chamber are shewn in
section, but the other combustion chamber is shewn in elevation. The
eduction pipe, however, for the products of combustion of this last
chamber and the arrangement of D'Ectot or Delabarre jets which sur-
round it are shewn in section.
Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the apparatus which is enclosed in a sheet-
iron casing.
Fig. 3 is an end elevation of one of the combustion chambers shewing
the exterior of the D'Ectot or Delabarre jets and also section of the
injector for the admission of superheated water to the products of com-
bustion to accomplish the third or final explosion.
Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of the sheet-iron casing through D, D,
Fig. 2, and of one combustion chamber, the section being taken through
the gas burners at A, A, of the gasifier of one combustion chamber
through B, B, and of the other combustion chamber through C, C,
Fig. 1.
Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the bottom of the slag chamber in the
lower part of the gasifier shewing the valve luted with clay for letting
out the slag. The other letters refer to the same parts in all the Figures.
The air by which the combustion both in the gasifier and combustion
chambers is supported enters through the ventilator or smoke jack
shewn at a, Fig. 2, and this ventilator being put into revolution by
the influent air imparts motion by means of worm wheels to the hopper
containing the coal dust, the lower part of which contains a toothed
annulus which grinds the dust finer against the stationary barrel or
spindle and also feeds in the powdered coal, or it may merely feed in
the dust without grinding. The influx of the air into the gasifier is
regulated by means of the annular gridiron valve b, b.
c, c, is the
hopper for the reception of the coal dust, into which it is fed con-
tinuously by an archimedian screw or any other convenient mechanism
such as is in common use for similar purposes. d, d, is the grinding
barrel of the mill, which is formed with external teeth or cutters which
act against internal teeth or cutters formed or set in the hollow double

page_text: e, e, e, are
cone or annulus which rotates round the stationary barrel.
pipes for convèying superheated steam from the heating pipes in the
combustion chambers through an injector with an adjustable orifice
passing through the centre of the mill. The steam jet proceeding
from this orifice forces the air (which is made hot by coming into con-
tact with the outsides of the gasifier and combustion chambers or
otherwise) and the coal dust delivered by the toothed annulus (rotating
round the barrel d, d,) into the gasifier, but the air may also be forced
in by a pump or otherwise. The rapidity of rotation of the mill may
be increased by causing the D'Ectot or Delabarre jets r, r, r, to draw
from the casing or it may be diminished by partially opening (by a
regulator or otherwise) an orifice to allow a portion of the air to enter
the casing otherwise than through the wheel or ventilator; f, f, are fire-
clay balls with which the gasifier is nearly filled, and which are large
at the top to enable the coal dust to be carried among them and smaller
towards the middle of the chamber (the better to enable every particle
of the dust and air to be brought into contact with hot surfaces), then
large again at the bottom the better to enable the slag to be disengaged
instead of being retained by capillary attraction, but these balls may
obviously be formed of any desirable size or of any infusible material,
and irregular lumps or pieces may be substituted for balls; g is a
contracted part of the fire-clay tube, resembling the "boshes" of an
iron furnace, through which the gas has to pass with a considerable
velocity. The slag partaking of this velocity is carried downward by
its own weight and momentum, while the gas passes sideways into the
annulus left between the iron walls of the gasifier and the fire-clay
pipe which contains the fire-brick balls. The slag chamber or com-
partment is shewn at h, and the hole through which the slag escapes
at i. The valve for closing this hole is shewn in Fig. 5. The gas in
escaping upward through the annulus formed by the internal pipe and
external shell of the gasifier heats the shell and is itself cooled by the
air passing along the outside of the shell, so that this gas may afterwards
be mixed with a certain proportion of air without being inflamed.
It is conducted through the pipes j, j, j, j, to the mixers k, k, where
the gas is made to issue through several small orifices into conical mouth-
pieces so formed that each jet of gas carries in with it a small stream
of air, but not enough to form an explosive mixture, though it will
facilitate the combustion at the burners situated a little lower down,
and to which the necessary air gains access at l, l. The combustion

page_text: per-
chambers may if desired be filled with fire-brick balls, like those shewn
in the gasifier, but these are not shewn in the Drawing. The conical
tubes through which the gas issues at the mixers and also at the burners
are capable of being raised or lowered so as exactly to adjust the quantity
of air admitted through the conical mouth pieces, but the orifices
through which the gas passes are not adjustable, the flow of gas being
supposed to be a constant quantity and the area of the orifices through
which it issues being made right at first. Or the production of gas may
be regulated by the regulation of the speed of the ventilator, in the
manner described or otherwise, whereby more or less coal dust will be
fed in. The gas at the burners is carried through properly formed
forations in a fire-brick block as shewn in the Drawing, and draws or
forces in the air admitted at 1, l, through the narrow necks of the double
cones in the block, which is maintained all the while at a high tempera-
ture. The gas having been well subdivided among the air and having
had a certain proportion of air mixed with it (previous to its introduc-
tion), it follows that combustion takes place in so rapid and complete a
manner as to constitute a continuous explosion, as already defined.
The separate jets of flame converge at the throat m, and heat the pipes n
to a very high temperature. These pipes contain steam at their upper
ends and water at their lower ends, and they are joined together at the
ends and also intermediately so as to form a boiler capable of withstand-
ing an enormous pressure, and in which the water stands at a certain
regulated height, as ascertained by gauge cocks of the usual character
suited for high pressure steam. The upper portions of the pipes con-
taining steam constitute superheaters, and from these upper portions
the pipes e, e, proceed to conduct superheated steam to the injector
standing over the gasifier, by which both the air and the fuel are forced
into that vessel. From the same locality pipes also proceed to conduct
superheated steam into the ejectors o, o, by which water is forced into
the pipes to keep up the supply. p, p, are pipes for conducting away
the products of the combustion or explosion, and q is an injector by
means of which any desired quantity of superheated water under great
pressure may be discharged among these products. r, r, r, are the
D'Ectot or Delabarre jets, which are formed with orifices, which are all
simultaneously and proportionately adjustable by turning one handle,
the smaller pipes being made to move within the larger like the tubes
of a telescope, and are raised or lowered by screws connected by toothed
wheels. Into these pipes air or any other fluid may be drawn to dilute

page_text: the fluid that gives the motive impulse, or small jets like those used for
the mixers atk may be used for this purpose, and the composite fluid
resulting from such dilution may be employed at any convenient tempera-
ture and pressure or velocity to drive any steam, air, or gas engine or
any turbine, gas meter, Barker's mill, water wheel, or other rotating
or reciprocating instrument, or to propel vessels in the water or carriages
upon the land, or for any purpose requiring the application of motive
power. For some purposes however such dilution will not be required.
Instead of employing the force of the explosions to produce power by
impulse I sometimes employ it to drive out the atmosphere or some other
fluid by impulse from a given space as already stated, and I obtain
motive power by the return of the atmosphere or other fluid into the
said space, the fluid in its return giving motion to any convenient form
of motive power machine.
One way of carrying out this design is to load the Delabarre or other
jets above described with as much water or other fluid as they can
efficiently expel, and to derive the power from the moving column of
fluid which the jets suck in. The mechanisms by means of which the
power is derived from the moving column of fluid being of the form
usual in such instruments (the nature and construction of which are well
known) it is needless further to describe them, since these mechanisms
may be any of the usual kinds of cylinder engines like those driven by
steam, or they may be turbines, screws, water wheels, reaction mills,
gas meters, hydraulic rams, or any other species of engine or machine in
common use for deriving power from a moving or pressing fluid.
To start the apparatus shewn in Sheet II. steam of a pretty high
pressure is first got up in any boiler of the common kind, and this steam
which should be highly superheated, is suffered to enter the injector e
and to blow through it into the gasifier and the combustion chambers
so as to force out the cold air and to warm or heat all the parts. The
flame of petroleum or of any solid or volatile hydrocarbon or of any
convenient fuel whatever may then be blown into the gasifier by a jet
of steam or air, or both, through the removable plug s, and this
operation is to be continued until the fire-bricks balls or other intractable
materials within the gasifier are made sufficiently hot to inflame the coal
dust, which is then to be fed in through the hopper in the manner
previously directed. The small auxiliary boiler for starting the
machine being of any usual and consequently well-known construction

page_text: is not shewn the Drawing, but the steam from this boiler and the flame
from any convenient species of portable fire torch or lamp may be blown
into the gasifier to get up its temperature in the manner described. The
jet of steam through the injector at the top of the gasifier may at the
same time be kept on to any required extent to compel the heated fluids
to pass downward through the fire-brick balls in the gasifier and thence
into the combustion chambers, so as to establish in the appointed manner
the action which requires to be subsequently kept up in the machine.
As in starting the machine the internal pressure is not so great as that
with which it afterwards works, the outlet orifices must be opened to a
corresponding extent at starting to allow the fluids that are passing
through the chambers to escape more easily.
It will be obvious that the apparatus shewn in Sheet II. may be
modified in its structure and mode of arrangement without departing
from its distinctive and essential feature of continuous explosion under
great pressure in close vessels into which the fuel and air are carried
continuously through double coned or other suitable inlet orifices by
their own energy or by jets or streams of fluid or gas which fill the
orifices and so hinder the escape of any of the contents of the chambers
through the said inlet orifices. And for some purposes I employ only
one chamber instead of the three shewn in Sheet II., and I wholly
consume the coal, coal dust or liquid fuel in this one chamber without the
previous gasifying operation, and into the hot products of combustion I
inject superheated water as before, which water is heated by the said
hot products previous to the injection of the water, or it may be heated
by a separate fire, and I employ the resulting mixture of products of
combustion and steam to work motive-power machines. The slag, if
any, may be run out through an orifice in the bottom, and the chamber
may also be filled with balls of fire-clay or pieces of some infusible
substance and otherwise constructed in a similar manner to that of the
gasifier shewn in Sheet II., only that pipes for superheating the water
may, if it is wished, be introduced into it.
I sometimes also combine one gasifier with one combustion chamber,
and I erect the gasifier over the combustion chamber instead of beside
it, and I transform the coal dust or liquid fuel into carbonic oxide
(which will also contain some admixture of hydrogen) by sending it
mixed with very highly superheated steam through a very hot pipe or
chamber in which fire-clay balls may be set. To this combustible gas I

page_text: introduce air through a number of jets resembling those shewn in
Sheet II. for conducting the gas into the combustion chamber, only I
prefer to make the pipes (through which the jets pass) of fire-clay the
better to withstand the heat, and also so to arrange them as to leave
openings through which the gas and the particles of incombustible
matter left by by the coal dust (after the carbon has been dissolved out
by the steam) may pass or fall into the combustion chamber, and these
incombustible particles being there melted by the intense heat are run
off as slag through a hole in the bottom of the vessel as before.
These various modifications of the system to suit particular circum-
stances being obvious and easily made are not represented in separate
Drawings, since with these explanations and with the specimen of the
system shewn in Sheets I. and II. they can easily be carried out by any
competent mechanic. And it is further obvious that the dimensions of
the apparatus shewn in Sheet II. may be varied as occasion requires,
and any number of groups of vessels similar to those there shown may
be combined to set in motion any machine or steam vessel and to
generate any required amount of power.
As these modifications or alternative methods of applying the system
are very numerous (and as it would swell this Specification to incon-
venient dimensions to describe any great number of them, which, more-
over, is unnecessary to enable any competent mechanic to apply the
system so as best to suit the requirements of each particular case) it is
not deemed necessary to go into further detail upon the subject.
In the arrangement shewn in Sheet II. the air by which the com-
bustion of the fuel is supported is drawn or forced into the gasifier
through suitable orifices by jets of superheated steam; but as the energy
of the steam under this arrangement is expended in forcing the air as
well as the steam itself into the gasifier the pressure in the gasifier must
be less than that of the forcing steam in the proportion of the weight of
air introduced, supposing the air drawn in to have only the atmospheric
pressure when the steam first encounters it.
In like manner the air being forced into the combustion chambers by
the energy of the jets of gas, the pressure in the combustion chambers
must be less than the pressure in the gasifier. To obviate the loss of
pressure at these successive stages I sometimes introduce the air to the
gasifier and combustion chambers under pressure, and it may be forced
in by a pump or other forcing apparatus, or by a jet of steam, which

page_text: carries the air into a pipe or chamber within which the steam is con-
densed, and so transfers its energy to the air, which thence proceeds to
unite with the fuel. Or both of these methods may be employed, that
is, the compression of the air may be first accomplished by a steam jet up
to a certain point, and finally up to the required tension by a pump
or its equivalent which forces the air (which the steam has partially
compressed) into a globular or other reservoir (like that of an air gun),
whence it issues to enter into combination with the fuel. But the system
of combustion or explosion which I usually prefer to employ is that
which I denominate progressive or cumulative explosion, and which
being also continuous may be called a continuously cumulative explosion.
By this method of explosion the stream of combustible matter (instead
of being introduced to the air at one stage or at one plane) is introduced
progressively or in several successive stages, and the force generated
by the explosion of a small quantity of the combustible with a small
quantity of the air is made to accelerate the velocity of the residue of
the combustible stream, whereby it is enabled to suck in sufficient air
for a further explosion (without its energy or velocity being lessened),
which new explosion will again recruit the energy of the residual com-
bustible stream to enable it to suck in more air (without its velocity
being lessened), until the combustion of the whole of the fuel has been
effected. By this arrangement (which is represented in Sheet III.)
increased power will be obtained from the fuel, since there will be less
loss of pressure at each step arising from the necessity of putting into
motion a volume of stagnant air of the atmospheric tension. For
(whereas without this expedient either an excess of steam must be
employed to move the entering air or the pressure at each successive
introduction of air must fall to a wasteful extent) by this arrangement
the energy of the combustible stream will be so much recruited at every
introduction of air that the velocity of its flow will be increased instead
of being diminished, so that after the load of air has been added the
velocity of the combustible stream will be greater than it was at first.
It will of course be obvious that the number of steps or stages at which
the air is introduced to develope this principle may be infinite, or, in
other words, the combustible stream instead of obtaining the air required
for its saturation at certain successive points of its flow may obtain it
continuously, as would be the case if the air were sucked or forced
through a porous tube. The only material point in the arrangement is
that the air shall enter the combustible gas or vapor or other com-

page_text: bustible stream, or that the combustible gas or vapor or other com-
bustible stream, whether of dust or fluid, shall enter the air, not all at
once or in one point or plane, but by degrees and under such circum-
stances as will prevent backward reaction. By this arrangement the
first particles of the combustible and supporter which enter into com-
bination, as they will necessarily generate heat and produce expansion,
and as the expansion cannot take place backward by reason of the high
pressure there subsisting it must take place forwards, or, in other words,
it must go to accelerate the flow of the residue of the combustible
stream, whereby it will be shot forward by the energy of the partial
explosion, and will thus be enabled to draw in more air without any
diminution of its own velocity.
In some cases, and especially when the engines required are of small
size, I generate the motive power by sucking in air by induction, by
a jet of steam, or by otherwise compelling air to pass through or past a
sponge or other porous material saturated with a liquid hydrocarbon,
which air when thus saturated with combustible vapour I burn as gas
in a close vessel similar to one of the combustion chambers, shewn in
Sheet II. Or instead of the air I introduce steam to the liquid hydro-
carbon, and I send in the air necessary to maintain the combustion of
the hydrocarbon vapour by a pump or its equivalent, or by a jet of steam
forcing air into a pipe or chamber, which steam may be afterwards
condensed by the application of cold bodies; or I employ the conjoint
action of a steam jet and pump (the steam jet partially accomplishing
the compression of the air which the pump completes); and I sometimes
(while employing the system of continuous cumulative explosion)
employ air compressed to a tension of sixty or seventy atmospheres by
the conjoint action of the steam jet and pump or its equivalent, or by
either of them, to accomplish the first part of the progressive combustion
or explosion so as to have a starting point of a high pressure, and
whereby sufficient mechanical energy will be generated by the first
partial explosion to enable the residue of the air required for combina-
tion to be drawn either from the atmosphere or from the pipe or chamber
(into which it has been forced by the steam jet) without producing any
loss, or at least any considerable loss, in the pressure by taking in
additional air.
I sometimes, as already stated, introduce the fluid hydrocarbon by
allowing it to drin unen

page_text: afterwards enters into combination is drawn or forced; but I sometimes
also introduce the liquid hydrocarbon by a small pump either alone or
mixed with water, which mixture is made to pass through a hot pipe on
its way to the combustion chamber; or I blow the liquid hydrocarbon
in by a jet of superheated steam, or raise it into steam or vapor,
which
enters the combustion chamber by its own elasticity. Instead of a liquid
hydrocarbon I sometimes employ the ordinary coal gas (used for lighting
houses) as the combustible, but I compress the gas or the air which enters
into combination with it, or both, by means of steam jets or pumps, or
both, or by columns of water or other suitable means, so that the com-
bustible and the supporter may combine or explode under great pressure
continuously in a strong chamber, the products of combustion being first
employed to heat water under great pressure to a high temperature, and
this superheated water or some of it being thereafter dismissed into the
pipe which leads the products of combustion to the engine, as in the
arrangement shewn in Sheet II. In all these cases the continuous
explosion is to be performed under a great pressure, which I prefer
should be about one thousand pounds on the square inch, and the super-
heated water which should also be of about the same pressure, should be
led among the products of combustion, and issuing in a jet flash into
steam, which steam is to be suffered to expand in the steam pipe before
reaching the engine, so that the engine may be worked with steam or
with a gaseous mixture of a nearly uniform pressure, and without being
exposed to injury from too high a temperature or too great a strain.
In the modes heretofore proposed for feeding coal into furnaces (and
maintaining a high pressure within them) the coal has been introduced
through a revolving hollow cylinder, like a cock with a hole on one
side, or by some other equivalent arrangement which involves at each
revolution (or filling) the escape of a volume of gas or smoke into the
atmosphere. The present is the first example of a combustion chamber
or gasifier maintaining a very high pressure within it, but with passages
constantly open for carrying in the fuel, and which passages are kept
tight not by doors or stoppers or other analogous expedients, but by the
entrance of jets of fluid issuing under a pressure still greater than that
which subsists within the chambers, and which fluid streams carry in
the combustible. The coal dust is first exploded or burnt under great
pressure in a gasifier, and then the resulting carbonic oxide is burnt

page_text: under great pressure in a combustion chamber, superheated water being
finally discharged 'among the hot products of combustion to obtain a
third and last explosion. It will be evident that these successive
explosions constitute in fact almost a continuous explosion, as the coal
dust or liquid fuel are at once burnt in a combustion chamber under
great pressure (without previous gasification), superheated water being
used as before to increase the final effect. This method of producing a
continuous explosion is now for the first time propounded.
The method of continuous cumulative explosion as described (whether
such explosion be produced by employing coal dust or carbonic oxide
as the combustible or any other gas, liquid, or combustible substance) is
also original.
In some cases I superheat steam in fire-brick pipes to such an extent
that it readily separates into its constituent gases, which I then use to
generate carbonic oxide and carburetted bydrogen by passing this highly
heated steam through coal or some hydrocarbon, or I pass the mixture
of steam and carbon through the superheating pipes with or without the
addition of air.
In Figures 1, 2, and 3, Sheet III., and also in Figures 1 and 2,
Sheet IV., arrangements are shewn according to which a motive-power 2
engine may be constructed according to my Invention. The fuel
employed in this case is liquid fuel, but solid fuel, if gasified, may
also be employed. In Fig. 1, Sheet III., A is a vessel for containing
petroleum or other liquid fuel, which is suffered to run out slowly
through the cock at B; C is a perforated spindle, which moves tightly 5
through a stuffing box, and is capable of being moved up and down to
adjust the orifice through which escapes the steam that enters through
the pipe D. This steam is generated in a coil G, G, set in the com-
bustion chamber E, and is collected in the large pipe F, into which it
passes through H. The water is separated from the steam in this
horizontal pipe, and is returned through a suitable pipe to the lowest
part of the coil, while the steam passing through the upper part of the
coil is superheated before it enters the pipe D. This steam (which is
of a very high pressure and much superheated) on escaping at the
orifice a sucks into the combustion chamber the dropping petroleum 3
and also a certain quantity of air; which enters through the annular
opening 6', and this mixture being ignited generates a large amount of

page_text: energy,
which is partially expended by sucking in more air through
the annular opening 6. The openings 61 and 6* are adjusted by the
right and left hand screws c, c, which are rotated by pinions gearing
with the toothed ring e, which is turned round by the endless screw d.
The mixture of air, petroleum, and steam is burnt in the combustion
chamber E, and the products of such combustion pass out by the pipe I
into the cone L contained in the vessel M, but in their passage a jet of
boiling water under strong pressure is showered upon them through
the injector J provided with an adjustable spindle K, and this water
being raised into steam by the heat of the products the vessel M is kept
filled with an elastic fluid, which is available for working the engine.
N is the cylinder of the engine; O, the framing; P, the piston rod;
Q, the connecting rod; R, the crank shaft. The disc which answers
to the crank is shewn in dotted lines at S. The mixture of steam and
products of combustion after passing through the engine is conducted
into a cistern, where a jet of cold water is showered upon it at T. The
surplus water runs to waste through U, and the rest of the water which
is thus made hot is sent through the pump V (shewn in dotted lines)
into the coil, which answers the purpose of a boiler. W is an adjustable
motion for altering the throw of the pump, and consequently the dis-
charge. X is the link motion of the slide valve, and Y, Y, the cylinder
ports. The handle for effecting the adjustment of the throw of the
pump is shewn at Z in dotted lines. In this arrangement the liquid
fuel, the air and the steam are burnt in the chamber E and the products
(cooled by water, which is at the same time raised into steam) constitute
a gaseous mixture, by which the engine is worked in lieu of ordinary
steam. Instead of forcing air into the combustion chamber by a steam
jet it may if desired be forced in by a pump or otherwise, and the jet,
which is of the cumulative kind, may consist of any desired number of
steps or stages instead of the two described herein.
In Sheet IV. Figures 1 and 2 represent certain variations in the form
of apparatus for generating power by the combustion of liquid fuel. In
Fig. 1, A is the combustion chamber as before; B, a coil in which the
liquid fuel is vaporized, and which vapour is transmitted through the
pipe C and the cock D to the burners G, G, where the force of the
issuing vapor forces the required supply of air to enter the combustion
chamber or the air may be supplied by a pump or otherwise; E is a

page_text: handle for adjusting the dimensions of the orifice (near the burners)
through which the combustible vapour flows, and the burners may them-
selves be raised or lowered to regulate the supply of air; F is a coil con-
taining hot water under pressure, which escaping through small holes
in the coil forms steam which mixes with the products of combustion
The gaseous mixture passes through a mass of wire gauze discs (shewn
at H) through I into the conical vessel J, into which it is admitted by
an equilibrium cock at the bottom; K is the outlet through which the
gaseous mixture proceeds to work the engine; and L is a safety valve.
In Fig. 2 Sheet IV., N is the combustion chamber; O, a pipe for con-
veying steam or air to form a jet P which carries air to the burners at Q
and opens out of the ball R, which is supplied with combustible vapour
through the pipe S. The products of combustion are cooled and utilized
as before.
Instead of petroleum 1 sometimes use coal gas as the fuel by which
motive power is produced; but instead of exploding the gas mixed with
the proper proportion of air within the cylinder of the engine, as is the
common practice in the case of gas engines, I force it with a pump or
otherwise together with the air into a combustion chamber, where a
continuous combustion or explosion is kept up, and the products of such
combustion into which water is injected to form steam are employed to
work the engine, which is fashioned like a steam engine in most respects.
But the engine may be single-acting (as is often the case in gas engines)
the opposite side of the cylinder from that in which the power is generated
being employed as a pump to force the gas and air and also a certain
quantity of water into a reservoir, whence they are taken or are allowed
to flow out to perform their appointed functions in the generation of
power. The educted steam of steam engines or a portion of it I some-
times superheat to enable it by being used in an ordinary injector to
force the feed water into the boiler, though such educted steam has much
less pressure than that subsisting within the boiler. But I also some--
times force the water into the boiler through a nozzle immersed in the
educted steam, the water issuing with such a high velocity as to pass
into the boiler by its own momentum through an appropriate orifice
furnished with a valve like that of an injector, and the naked water by
thus coming into contact with the educted steam is heated to the boiling
point. This method however is applicable only to high-pressure engines.

page_text: In the case of condensing engines I employ the arrangement shewn at
Fig. 3 in Sheet. IV., where A is the cylinder of a marine screw engine,
and B, B, are the frames on which it rests; C, the crank; D, the
connecting rod; E, a cam placed on the crank shaft; F, F, the feed
pumps; G, the air vessel of the feed pumps; H, H, the feed pipe which
dips at the lower end, nearly to the bottom of the air vessel and is
connected at the top with the injector I. The pipe through which the
feed water is conducted from the injector to the boiler is represented at
J, and K is a spring which presses constantly upon the cam E. The
injector is connected by means of a narrow. port with the interior of the
cylinder, and it contains a valve which (just before the completion of the
stroke and before the eduction begins) is opened by the cam E and the
feed water contained in the air vessel G under a high pressure is there-
upon forced through a nozzle which is in open communication with the
steam shut within the cylinder. The water in passing through this
steam to J partially condenses the steam, and the water is correspond-
ingly heated. The steam may be made to blow through a non-return
valve into a cistern containing water as an alternative arrangement, or
into a small condenser in which it receives a shower of water, the water
which is thereby treated being removed continuously by the feed pump.
The communication with the cylinder is opened and shut at the proper
times by a cam as before. The handle shewn in connection with the
injector is for the purpose of throwing the valve out of gear when the
action of the instrument is not required. The arrangement for removing
the contents of a condenser (and maintaining a vacuum therein) acts on
the same principle as the instrument just described, the jet of water
constituting a jet pump, which supercedes the necessity of the air pump
usually employed. The construction and action of the jet pump being
well known it is not necessary here to describe it.
The nitrates of potash, soda, or ammonia proposed under some cir-
cumstances to be mixed with the powdered coal or other fuel I prefer
to introduce in powder and to mix up thoroughly with the fuel, which
when coal is the fuel will form a species of coarse gunpowder. I employ
this compound in the first jet of a series constituting a cumulative jet
as already explained. The first jet of the series has a high pressure
maintained in it either by using some explosive fuel or some extraneous
source of pressure, and the violent combustion or explosion which takes

page_text: place in this jet generates an amount of energy which enables it to act
as a feed pump to another jet of larger diameter by sucking in by
inductive action a new supply of air or oxygen and fuel, which when
ignited constitutes another larger jet, which in its turn sucks in more air
and fuel, and so on until the whole is introduced and burnt. And
whereas the first small jet would only have energy enough to introduce
a very small quantity of the air and fuel, yet by placing it in the centre
of a larger jet, and the latter in the centre of one still larger, and so on
the first acts as a feed pump to the second, the second to the third, and
so on, whereby the necessary compression is effected with a very small
initial force.
I sometimes increase the quantity of oxygen in the air sucked in by
causing the air to pass through the sides of india-rubber tubes or through
colloid septa of any convenient kind according to a system well known
in chemical researches.
I also sometimes generate oxygen by exposing manganate of soda or
other similar substances to a current of hot air and steam alternately in
retorts when the salt will absorb the oxygen from the air and surrender
it when steam is introduced. These chemical actions are in accordance
with a system for producing oxygen now well known. When liquid fuel
Is used I sometimes introduce into the centre of a jet of it or into an
annulus around a jet of it a thin stream of nitric acid or of the vapour
of nitric acid or of nitro-sulphuric or other strong acids, or a mixture of
them, so as to produce a forcible explosion which will exert a powerful
inductive action to suck more fuel and air into a tube of larger diameter
into the centre of which the first tube points. The several jets of the
cumulative system are concentric, but each succeeding one is of larger
diameter than that which went before, and is also placed in advance of
it by a quantity equal at least to the diameter of the tube at the point
where the connection is made.
In Sheet V. is shewn the method by which I propose to propel
vessels through the water; Fig. 1 is a cross section of a vessel with the
machinery introduced; Fig. 2 a vertical longitudinal section; and Fig. 3
a horizontal longitudinal section. The same letters refer to the same
parts in all the Figures. a is the gasifier; b, b, the combustion chambers;
c, c, the D'Ectot or Delabarre jets; d, d, Venetian formed orifices in the
bottom through which the hot products of combustion and other fluids

page_text: are propelled in the directions shewn by the arrows, one of the channels
being for propelling ahead, and the other for propelling astern. The
channels d, d, unite at e, where there is a semicircular valve, and when
this valve is turned in one direction the fluids are discharged through
the sternmost orifices, and the vessel is propelled ahead while, if turned
in the other direction the fluids will be discharged through the forward
orifices, and the vessel is propelled astern. These orifices are brought to
a very fine edge, and overlap somewhat like the scales of a fish, but the
asperity is so inconsiderable from the slits being so narrow that the
forward orifices although pointing against the water will not offer any
appreciable resistance when the vessel is propelled ahead. The forward
orifices may be less in area than the after orifices, as in backing a little
waste from slip is unimportant.
When by the application of such parts of my Invention to existing
steam vessels (as will enable them to work without the production of
smoke) there is no longer any escape of visible smoke from the chimney
but only of the invisible products of combustion, I sometimes carry these
invisible fluids through pipes into the water and discharge them in such
way as to aid the progress of the ship, a jet of water being introduced
into them by means of an adjustable nozzle in the same way as in that
already described for introducing superheated water into the hot pro-
ducts of combustion. It has often been proposed before to propel vessels
by the products of combustion, but the indispensable antecedent to any
such proceeding is that the smoke shall be wholly consumed or prevented
and no methods of doing this and at the same time of accomplishing the
other important objects indicated herein have before been invented.
Having now described my "Improvements for the Production
of Heat and the Generation and Application of Motive Power derived
therefrom," and having explained the structure of some of the forms
of apparatus proper for carrying these improvements into practical
effects, I have only to add that I do not confine myself rigidly
to these forms of apparatus herein shown and described as many
alternative forms (embodying the same essential features and the same
modes of action) could easily be specified, and will at once suggest
themselves to any competent mechanic; but what I claim as my In-
vention is, the mode or modes set forth for the production of heat, and
the generation and application of motive power derived therefrom

page_text: together with the apparatus and processes described, or any mere modifi-
cation thereof, for effecting the objects of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bourne, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.