IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY ENGINES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ange Louis du Temple de Beaujeu, of Paris,
in the Empire of France, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ROTATORY ENGINES."
Sealed the 13th January 1854, and dated the 27th July 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ange Louis du
Temple de Beaujeu at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 27th July 1853.
I, ANGE LOUIS DU TEMPLE DE BEAUJEU, of Paris, in the Empire
of France, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Gentleman,
do hereby declare that the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ROTATORY ENGINES" to be as follows:-
My Improvements consist in the mode of construction of an appa-
ratus represented in the annexed Drawings, and fit to operate a
non-interrupted circulation in the same sense or direction of any
liquids whatever under the pressure of steam, heated or compressed.

page_text: DESCRIPTION.
Reference being had to the Drawing and to the letters and figures
marked therein. A, B, C, is a recipient, consisting of a covered vertical
cylinder A; whose bottom communicates through a bent pipe with the
bottom of the vertical pipe B, presenting an upright side branch pipe C.
The top of C, is covered by the opening downwards valve N° 1, when
the top of B, is covered by the valve 3, opening upwards. F, is a float,
counterpoised by the weight which is supported by pulley P; its rod
passes through a stuffed box lodged in the cover of cylinder A.
a, b, c, is a second recipient, exactly like A, B, C, and placed by its
side; «, being the cylinder; b, the forked pipe; c, its side branch;
the valve N° 2, being at the top of c, and the valve N° 4, at the top
of b.
One of the recipients being filled with water or any other liquid (the
description will henceforth only mention water). Above the valves
Nos 3, and 4, two bent pipes lead to the same arched injecting tube D,
ending with a downward square narrow orifice so placed as to spout
the water against the inside of the inferior paddles of the wheel
(turbine) T, whose shaft is horizontal. The water falling out from
wheel T, is received in box E, at whose bottom it finds the valves Nos 1,
and 2. Now, when steam is introduced after some of the usual modes
at the top of cylinder A, the water propelled by its pressure does lift up
valve N° 3, is discharged by the orifice of tube D, moves the wheel,
and falls down in box E, wherein it remains as long as valves Nos 1,
and 2, are kept still by the resistance of the water contained in
the branches C, and c. Meanwhile float F, reaches the bottom of
cylinder A; steam finds its way out, opened by the agency of the rod
of F, and of the lever acted upon by it; its pressure becomes inferior
to the united pressures of the air of the water received in box E, of
valve N° 1, and of the column of water in branch C, and pipe B; then
cylinder A, is filling again with the returning water, which carries

page_text: back the float to the top. But at the moment steam was pouring out
of cylinder A, it was pouring in at the top of cylinder a, whose water
lifting up valve 4, and propelled through the aforesaid tube D, con-
tinued moving wheel T, and was falling out down in box E. It is
now obvious that by the alternate introduction and ejection of steam
in and out of each of cylinders A, and a, there is an uninterrupted
circulation in the same denso or direction of the same water passing
through tube D, and keeping up the continuous wheeling of turbine T,
without the help of any piston, except in certain cases of crank, beam,
connecting rod, eccentric, and fly wheel.
The above-described float being available only for land engines
will be in locomotive and marine engines replaced as follows:-There
will be by the side of each cylinder A, and a, a thin vertical pipe com-
municating, 1st, by its lower end with the inside of the bottom of said
cylinder under a valve supported by one of the arms of a lever, whose
other arm bears a spherical float; 2, by the upper end with the
cover of the cylinder, wherein it opens in a small cylinder under a
piston fixed to a rod. As soon as the spherical float unsupported by
the water is sinking and lifting up the valve the water propelled by the
pressure of steam moves up the small outside pipe, and does altogether
lift up the small piston and its rod, which fulfils in the distribution of
steam the office of the rod of float F.
In locomotive or marine engines it is required to get at will the shaft
wheeling forward or backward; for that purpose turbine T, will have
two sets of paddles, the paddles of one set being bent one way, and those
of the other set being bent the opposite way. Would it be required
that the shaft should be vertical, and placed either above the wheel or
underneath, it will be sufficient to keep horizontal the axis of the orifice
of tube D.
Steam produced by any liquid may be used; as well as heated or
compressed air; or any other elastic force fit to replace steam might be
available to propel the water or any other liquid through the inside-shot
wheel called turbine; but I prefer the use of oil as the liquid to be
propelled..
.
For preventing the condensation of the steam if coming in contact

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ange Louis du Temple de Beaujeu in the Great
Seal Patent Office, on the 27th January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ANGE LOUIS DU TEMPLE DE BEAUJEU, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Ange Louis du Temple de Beaujeu, Her special
license that I, the said Ange Louis du Temple de Beaujeu, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ange
Louis du Temple de Beaujeu, 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 ROTATORY ENGINES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ange Louis du Temple
de Beaujeu, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Ange Louis du Temple de Beaujeu,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had

page_text: to the Drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:
My Invention consists in the construction of apparatus for obtaining
a continuous circulation of a liquid in the same direction, and in employ-
ing the current so obtained for working hydraulic machines, such as
turbines, reaction wheels, pumps, or other similar machines susceptible
of its application for their propulsion.
I will first describe the manner in which I obtain the continuous
current, and afterwards the constructing of the machines for effecting
the same, reference being had to the Drawing hereto annexed, in which
the same letters of reference represent similar parts. I direct the steam
of water or other liquid at a high pressure, or gas compressed to a high
degree, on to a piston working in a cylinder upon a liquid which it
forces through pipes suitably disposed with the full amount of the
pressure of such steam or compressed gas. This liquid, in egressing
at the extremity of the pipes, is projected on to a water wheel suitably.
disposed to receive the same. When the piston reaches the bottom of
its cylinder another piston in a similar cylinder is alternately put in
motion by letting in steam; as before. The impelled liquid is made by
a branch pipe so to continue its course to the end of the pipes as to
render the current continuous. When the first piston reaches the end
of its stroke the valve in the ascending pipe opens, allowing the steam
to egress, when the liquid forced in by the second piston presses the
valve and causes it to shut. The liquid caused to flow by the stroke
of the first piston, after setting the water wheel in motion, falls into a
recipient placed with its bottom part above the level of the top of the.
cylinder, and arriving by its own weight under the piston raises it to
the upper part of the cylinder ready for commencing a fresh stroke at
the moment that of the action of the second piston is completed. If a
condenser be used this recipient could be set in any other convenient
position. Thus, the two pistons, acting successively under the pressure
of the elastic fluid, each introduces into an ejecting pipe a continuous
flow of liquid giving motion to the water wheel. This apparatus may
be worked at any degree of pressure, with or without condenser, or on
the expansion principle. The same results may be obtained in this

page_text: machine by employing a float in lieu of a piston, and passing its rod
through a stuffing box, or the float may be dispensed with, and the
elastic fluid made to: act direct or the liquid, in which case two sheet
iron cylinders only are necessary. If I employ as motive power. atmo-
spheric air or any other permanent gas compressed in a hot or cold
state the circulating liquid may be water; if steam be employed, in
order to avoid condensation arising from direct contact, it should be
received on a thin layer of fixed oil susceptible of receiving a high
degree of heat without evaporating. Oil alone may be employed as
the circulating current, or oil floating on the surface of water, to force
it into the pipes. In either. case, however, the steam is made to act
only. on the part filled with oil, and is never in contact with the water.
A short space of time suffices for the oil acquiring a temperature high
enough to prevent almost any condensation. The condensed steam
descends under the oil and unites without difficulty with the circulating
water; the water being under the oil never attains a very high
temperature.
I will now describe a machine I prefer upon the above principle; the
arrangement of cylinder and piston is too well known to require parti-
cular description, whether the steam is made to act direct on the piston
to repel the water, or upon a column of oil for raising the piston, as in
Woolf's high-pressure engine. I will merely observe, that if the first
system be employed it will be necessary to balance the piston or float
so that it may be easily raised by the return of the liquid.
Figure 1, is a section, and Figure 4, a plan of the said machine.
A, two similar cylinders constructed like generators. B, b, pipes
adapted to the bottom part of the cylinders. C, &, elbows forming part
of the pipes. Above the elbows in each of the pipes B, b, a valve is set
which opens upwards. The extremities of the elbow C, c, are also pro-
vided with valves 1, and 2, opening downwards. Above the valves the
two pipes B, b, are united by a branch D, which terminates in a spout
for injecting water into the turbine T. The turbine has its axis hori-
zontal, as usual, although it may be made vertical if circumstances
require it. Underneath the turbine a recipient is set for the water
falling from its curved paddles, which communicates at its bottom with

page_text: the cylinder by the two elbows C, c, for the alternate return of the liquid
into the cylinders. The distributing steam is set over the two cylin-
ders A. The operation of the machine is as follows: supposing, for
instance, the pipes B, b, C, c, and cylinder A, being full of rectified sperm
oil, steam or other elastic fluid employed is admitted into the said
cylinder A; the valve 1, of the elbow C, is closed by the ascending current
of liquid, which opens the valve 3, of pipe B, arrives at D, closes the
valve of pipe b, and escapes through the spout of D, with the force and.
rapidity communicated by the pressure of the steam. When the liquid
falls into the vessel E, the valve 1, of the pipe C, being shut, and the
valve 2, of c, open; it enters the latter and fills the cylinder a, which is
either in communication with the atmosphere, or a condenser. Thus,
cylinder a is full, while A is empty. At this moment the steam valve
begins to act, and the same effect is produced in the opposite direction,
and the spout of pipe D, supplies the liquid without interruption to the
turbine, which communicates its rotatory motion where required. In
lieu of employing oil only as the circulating liquid, if the wheel is to be
turned by 'water, the cylinder A, should be filled half with oil and half
with water, the pipes full of water, and the cylinder a, half filled with
oil. The steam acting on the oil repels the water, until the oil
approaching the bottom, the valve acts, and the water returning raises
the oil. This action is repeated, each cylinder having alternately its
upper hálf filled with oil or steant. To make the valve act at the
proper moment a float could be employed; but to ensure obtaining the
desired effect I employ the action of the turbine itself by means of the
following contrivance: In a small external tube communicating with
the interior of the cylinder I set a small float fixed to a small lever,
which serves to work a slide, valve affording passage to the steam. The
steam arrives under a small piston, the rod of which sets in motion the
gearing of a shaft in constant communication with the turbine revolv-
ing with the water wheel; this gearing works an excentric giving an
an alternate movement to the slide valve. To secure the filling of the
cylinder with liquid, without its ascending into the slide valve, a small
valve supported by a float, and attached to it, is disposed so as to close
the entrance of the steami as soon as the cylinder is full; the super-
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page_text: fluous liquid, if any, remaining behind in the recipient E. To avoid
the emptying of the cylinder beyond the proper degree another valve
attached to a float is set above the egress of the liquid, which descends
and shuts the egress orifice when the liquid gets too low.
To render the apparatus applicable to forward and backward propul-
sion two frames of paddles are employed in the construction of the
turbine, one on each side of the plate, one of the frames having the
paddles directed in one direction, the other in the opposite direction.
In this contrivance the pipe D, has two branches for supplying both
sides, a tap being set at the diverging point for regulating at will the
direction of the flow. The cylinders, in lieu of being set vertically, may
be set horizontally like generators. For machines of a great strength
several cylinders may be employed and put in communication, if desir-
able and circumstances permit. The mode herein described of putting
the valves in motion can be varied, and other known contrivances may
be employed, and, in lieu of valves, slides or flaps may be employed.
Figure 2, is another arrangement of the apparatus, shewing the
cylinder A, and pipe C, full of oil, and the cylinder B, and pipe D,
(which last is connected with the turbine) full of water. The valve S,
supported by the float f, shuts when the cylinder is nearly empty. The
valves, shuts when the oil returns, and the cylinder is full; the steam
causes the oil to ascend through the pipe C, and pressing on the water
forces it out of the pipe D, in a jet. The return of the water brings
back the oil into the cylinder A, taking alternately the place of the
steam, while cylinder B, only receives oil and water. Figure 3, shows
the arrangement applicable to powerful machines when the cylinders
are placed horizontally. A, oil cylinder; B, water cylinder.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down,
nor do I claim any of the parts taken separately; but what I claim is,
firstly, the construction of apparatus for producing in a close vessel a
continuous current of liquid in the same direction by the pressure of
the steam of water or other liquid, or compressed air or other elastic
gas in a cold or heated state acting upon water directly or indirectly

page_text: by means of a fatty non-evaporating body, such as rectified sperm oil,
for the working of water wheels or turbines, reaction wheels, pumps,
and other similar machines, as herein-before described and referred to
in the Drawing; secondly, in the mechanical arrangements for working
the distributing steam valves of the said apparatus by the action of the
turbine or other hydraulic machine to which its motion is applied, as
herein-before described; thirdly, in the construction of a turbine with
inverted paddles for the application of the said current to forward and
backward propulsion, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ange Louis du Temple de Beayjeu,
have hereto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
ANGE LOUIS DU TEMPLE DE BEAUJEU. (L.S.)