IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER, AND ALSO IN THE PARTS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th June 1869.-A communication from abroad by Frederic
Lesnard, of Marseilles, (Bouches du Rhöne,) France, Engineer.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING AND
APPLYING MOTIVE POWER, AND ALSO IN THE PARTS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be
as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in machinery for producing motive
power is illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 of which
shows a side elevation of the motor with a portion of cover E removed,
the rim of the fly wheel V being in section; Figure 2 shows a central
section of the wheel V constructed of wrought metal; Figure 3 is a
front elevation of the motor, the position of the pistons being indicated
by. the dotted lines; Figure 4 shows a sectional elevation of a fly wheel
composed of cast metal, the arms being of wrought metal, and the nave
of cast metal; Figure 5 is a horizontal section of said wheel; Figure 6
P

page_text: is a plan of the motor; Figure 7, a sectional elevation of an improved
piston; Figure 8, a plan of one of the cast plates of said piston; Figure 9
is also a plan of a piston plate; Figure 10 is a plan of a brass ring
forming a piston packing; Figure. 11, a transverse section of same;
Figure 12, a plan of the inner packing ring; Figure 13, a transverse
section of same; Figure 14 is a side view of an improved eccentric;
Figure 15 is a plan of a friction roller box; Figure 16, a lateral section
of same, taken through the axis of the rollers; Figure 17 is a sectional
view of the cover of the box shown in Figure 16; Figure 18 is an
elevation of a valve box with three-way cock; and Figure 19, plan of
The same reference letters apply to all the Figures.
same.
A, shaft provided with cranks m; B, connecting rods of coupled
engines M, M; b, b, b, b, slide valves. These several parts are arranged
as in ordinary; P, piston, the improvements in which consist in the
disposition of the plates P1, P2, of cast iron, and the brass packing rings
of same.
The edges of these plates and packing rings are made at an
angle of 45 degrees to the surface of the cylinder.
The Invention further consists in the mode of keying the cross head T
to the hollow rod carrying the plate P³, said rod being provided with a
mortise, through which passes the key of cross head T so as to permit of
the rod of plate Pª being adjusted in position in the hollow stem by means
of a nut on cross head T. The rod is held in position by a collar piece
through which its end passes and terminates in two branches passing
through the cross head T and secured by nuts as seen. By tightening
the nut at back of the cross head T plate P' will be brought up to the
plate P', so as to bring the conical packing rings or segments in contact
with the side of the cylinder, and when it is rendered steam-tight the
nuts of the collar piece through which pass the screwed ends of the
stem are screwed up so as to prevent the round nut carried on said stem
from loosening. In this manner all escape of steam at the piston may
be prevented, the packing being adjusted while the engine is in
motion.
a, eccentric, the improvement in which consists in making the cam k
fred on
1.

page_text: collars for the purpose of acting on the same. In forming an eccentric
I place between collars Cr, Cr, cross pieces of the thickness of the length
of cam k, the whole being fixed in position by a rod i sliding in
guides S, S, a circle is then turned, the radius of which is taken from
the centre of shaft A to the extreme point of the cam. This being done
the cross pieces are removed and the collars brought together by keying
the rods i, i, when the eccentric will be complete. The advantage of
this arrangement of eccentric is that a very quick motion of the slide
valve is obtained, consequently admitting of the inlet and outlet of the
steam in the cylinder at a very quick rate and more in harmony with
the rate of supply of the steam. E, casing of plate iron formed in three
parts, the lower part of which rests on wood cross bars supporting a cast-
iron framing, and is made rectangular while the two others have a
circular form in elevation. The two lower sections of the casing may
be of cast iron but the top section or cap is preferably made of thin plate
iron so as to enable it to be readily removed. The lower part may also
be of masonry on which would be placed a cast-iron socket surmounted
by a cap or cover. This casing is provided with an escape pipe for
passing the steam after it has acted on the fly wheel twice by impulsion,
either into the atmosphere or to the furnace for increasing the draught.
V, fly wheel of wrought iron contained in casing E.
This fly wheel is
formed of two rims of wrought iron mounted on a cast-iron boss, and
having radial arms r, r. The rims are kept at a suitable distance apart
near their edges by means of angle irons so as to form an enclosed space,
and rivetted to these of a corresponding width are
-shaped parts
forming recesses g, g, secured to a ring of metal, on which the steam is
to act after leaving the cylinder by means of escape pipe t. The
sectional parts of Figures 1 and 2 clearly show the arrangement of the
fly wheel and its accessories. The axis a of the fly wheel is supported
on either side in bearings or boxes b', b', provided with friction rollers.
On the end of axis a are mounted the cranks m³, m', having connecting
rods B', B', communicating motion to cranks m³, m³, fixed on the
axis a' of the pinion R', and gearing with the toothed wheel R
fixed on shaft A. On the sides of casing A facing wheel R are
rivetted two strong plates, to which are bolted the friction boxes b
so as to permit of their being readily removed. The entire framing
is supported on a plate carrying the bearings 81, 5, of levers 1, 1, 1.
The ends of the plates forming the bearings of friction boxes are

page_text: united by an axis carrying a rod d operated by levers l', .
By the aid
of hand lever 1, of the elbow lever l, and rod the pinion R¹ may be
readily thrown into or out of gear with wheel R, said parts being held
in either position by means of the toothed lever ; V₁, Figures 4 and 5,
fly wheel, the rim of which may be of cast iron with wrought-iron arms
T, T. The recesses g, g, made in the rim of the wheel are of slightly
different form to those shown in Figure 1, both being designed to
enable the steam to act tangentially, but for wheels of large dimen-
sions it is preferable to employ the arrangement shown in Figures
1 and 2. b, Figure 15, bearing provided with friction roller similar
to that shown with reference to casing E; the internal arrangement is
shown in section at Figures 16 and 17. P³, iron plate on which are
fixed discs D, D, and hoop C, the covering plate f, Figure 15, is bolted
to ring C so as to form a box b; said plate f is also provided with discs
D, D, placed opposite those of plate P³. The screws v, v, Figure 16,
have projecting plain ends which pass through the parts c¹, c', to the
space in which the friction rollers g', g', turn. The parts c¹, c', carry
the axes a of rollers as shown separately in transverse section in Sheet
6. The end of screw is grooved to receive a pin serving to hold part
c in position when unscrewing o. The parts are further provided with
slots to receive the axes of the friction rollers, a small screwed part
being applied on each side of the slots as indicated by the dotted lines
for retaining the roller when screw f is loosened. In order to construct
the box b; I take an iron plate and plane it on both sides, and also plane
the discs D, D, before riveting them to the plate P³.
The discs being
thus prepared, I turn them in a lathe to an equal diameter with the
interior of hoop C carrying the screws o, and then fix said hoop to
the plate P³. The discs D, D, form a firm support and guide for the
parts carrying the friction rollers g', g'. Plate P and discs D, D,
may be cast in a single piece, but the hoop C should in all cases be of
wrought iron as the screws of the friction boxes bear the whole weight
of the wheel. The axis a of wheel V takes a bearing in each box b, in
which are placed the friction rollers g¹, g', so as to prevent any lateral
displacement of said axis. In this manner perfect stability of the
wheel is ensured, its horizontal and vertical position being regulated by
the screws 0.
These friction boxes, arranged as described, possess great
advantages as compared with the bearings ordinarily used for supporting
axes turning at high speeds, and will greatly diminish the friction of

page_text: the parts, for example, the wheel V whose weight would be about 14
hundredweight would not require more than two pounds in weight
applied at its periphery to set it in motion, and in this manner the wear
of the movable parts is greatly diminished; Figures 18 and 19 show a
valve and box h, o, with three-way cock r, n.
This valve box is placed
In the case of hot air being
on the slide valve of cylinder M, Figure 6.
used as a motor the cylinder M would be used as a feed pump for
introducing cold air into the generator, and the pipe for conveying hot
air to the slide valve of cylinder M would be fixed on the boiler cock
and on the cock r, n, of valve h. On starting the engine the cock r, n,
is closed and the cold air is discharged into the atmosphere by the piston
of pump M until the motor attains its normal speed, after which the
air exit opening is shut, thus uncovering the other two orifices. The
upper one admits hot air from the generator to act on the valve o while
the lower orifice allows of the escape of the cold air expelled by the
piston of pump M into the generator.
The valve o rises when the
pressure of the cold air in the feed pump but slightly exceeds the
pressure of the hot air in the generator. This motor is so arranged that
the wheel V makes twelve revolutions to every one of the crank shaft
A, and supposing the piston to make two strokes per second, the speed
of the wheel would be about equal to 100 yards per second.
It may
be readily conceived that wheel V is in a greater condition of safety
than in ordinary at same time that the power acting on its axis is less
than one-twelfth of the effective power of the crank shaft. The friction
rollers on which said axis rotates also save all wear of the parts, more
particularly as the lower friction rollers supporting the wheel are
stantly immersed in fatty matter contained in boxes b, b, which on the
rotation of the parts is imparted to the upper rollers and also to the
axis for the purpose of lubricating the same. It will also be seen that
the mode of transmitting the power of the fly wheel to the crank shaft
by means of a toothed pinion R', whose axis turns in the frictional
bearings b', 61, is superior to the usual plan of transmitting the power
by means of band pulleys. Thus the pinion axis R' is rigidly supported
in bearings 6 and is not liable to oscillation from the unequal tension
of the bands placed on double pulleys, while the mechanism composed
of the parts 1, ', d, and , by means of which the wheel and pinion R, R¹,
may be readily thrown in or out of gear in case it is desired to discon-
nect the cylinders from the fly wheel, is preferable to the ordinary screw
con-

page_text: for regulating the tension of the bands, the mechanism of which over-
weights the crank shaft. The combination employed for supporting
the axis of pinion R₁ by means of friction rollers is also an important
improvement applied to the rotating parts of the machinery. It is
certain that the steam after acting on the piston is ordinarily wasted
after having exerted but six-tenths of its effective power equalling
that which has acted on the piston. This power will produce a double
mechanical effect when applied to fly wheel V, without in any way
impeding the motion of the piston, and is almost wholly utilized after
leaving the cylinder by acting on the recesses g, g, of fly wheel V. This
power remains accumulated in said fly wheel which turns at a high
speed. I term this a polydynamic motor in consequence of the three
elements of motive power comprised, viz., 1st, the power of steam
acting on a piston having rectilinear motion as in ordinary; 2ndly, a
second element of power resulting from the additional effect of the steam
on the fly wheel V after acting on the piston, but which is now wasted,
whereas I obtain a still more powerful effect than that of the piston
without affecting it in any way, the waste steam being caused to impinge
on a weighted body turning at a high speed; 3rdly, a third element
of motive power resulting from the weight of fly wheel V which
turning at a high speed retains all the force of the steam in its action
on the periphery of the wheel at the end of a lever invariably of
considerable length. These three elements constitute the motive power
of the machinery herein-before described, which is arranged to combine
the above forces in a practical manner.
The Invention thus consists in an improved combined polydynamic
motor, and also in the combination of the various parts, either by the
aid of steam or of compressed gases generally for driving a second fly
wheel, all as before described.
These improvements comprise:-1st, the fly wheel V, Figures 1 and 2,
with accessory parts and the modified arrangement of fly wheel V¹
Figures 4 and 5, as also the form and arrangement of recesses g, g, a;
2ndly, the friction boxes b, b, 61, 61, with the parts in connection there-
with represented in Figures 16 and 17; 3rdly, the mechanism for
throwing the pinion R¹ in and out of gear with wheel R in order to
disconnect the piston motion from that of the fly wheel V; 4thly, the
piston P and accessory parts; 5thly, the eccentric and parts depending

page_text: therefrom; 6thly, the connecting rod B, B', with cranks m', m², m², m²;
7thly; the valve and cock, Figures 18 and 19, arranged in the manner
shown and described.
It will be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise form
and dimensions of the various parts comprising the polydynamic motive
power apparatus of this Invention.
Shown and described
It will be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise form
and dimensions of the various parts comprising the polydynamic motive
power apparatus of this Invention.