A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTIVE POWER ENGINE OPERATED BY HYDRO-CARBURETTED AIR
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugène Etève and Charles Clément Lallement, Mechanical
Engineers, in the City of Paris, France, for an Invention of "A NEW OR
IMPROVED MOTIVE POWER ENGINE OPERATED BY HYDRO-CARBURETTED AIR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugène Etève and Charles
Clément Lallement at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
16th July 1881.
EUGÈNE ETEVE, and CHARLES CLÉMENT LALLEMENT, Mechanical Engineers, in
the City of Paris, France. "A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTIVE POWER ENGINE
OPERATED BY HYDRO-CARBURETTED AIR."
Gas engines possess the incontestable advantages that coal furnaces and
superintendance are not required, and that they consume gas when working only,
but they possess the inconvenience of requiring special apparatuses for generating
the gas, which requirement has heretofore limited their application to large towns.
Attempts have been made to use hydrocarbons to actuate these engines; but
besides the fact that the consumption is as costly as with gas engines, the want of
security and guarantee against explosions has caused the use of those materials to
be generally abandoned.
The engine constructed according to our Invention has all the advantages of gas
engines without their disadvantages, or those of engines consuming hydrocarbons;
it is of simple and economical construction generally, similar to that of ordinary
steam engines; it generates itself the hydrocarburetted fluid required for its
operation, and consequently ceases its consumption thereof immediately it is
brought to rest. This generation of the hydrocarburetted fluid is effected by
forcing air under pressure into a receiver containing a hydrocarbon, such as
petroleum, for example; in mixing this hydrocarbon with air under the same
pressure in the engine cylinder, so as to pulverize in some measure the distributed
hydro-carbon, and to fill with this mixture the space swept through by the piston
during a portion (two fifths for example) of its stroke, whether in front or behind
the piston. An electric spark fires this mixture, and its instantaneous expansion

page_text: produces a more or less powerful dynamic effect upon the piston, according as the
pressure of the air admitted is higher or lower, and the volume of the mixture
introduced greater or smaller.
The quantity of hydrocarbon used for each stroke of the piston is very small, in
fact, only just what is required to render the mixture inflammable. The result is
that the generator is very small, and allows of the engine being moved very easily
from place to place. We therefore combine in our Invention the qualities required
by domestic engines, namely, simple rough construction, very small cost, easy
transport, instantaneous generation of hydrocarburetted air, absolute security and
production of motive power anywhere at a very cheap rate. All the operations
are effected automatically, no superintendance is required, and any person can put
the engine in motion or stop it.
The more the resistance increases the longer the admission ports for the hydro-
carbon and air under pressure remain open, consequently the more inflammable and
the more powerful is the mixture introduced. The engine is self regulating and
constantly proportions the quantity and doses of the mixture to the resistance to
be overcome.
The engine consists of a cylinder, a frame or base plate with feet, a crank shaft
connecting rod, piston, piston rod, slide bars and fly wheel, similar to an ordinary
steam engine. A second connecting rod converts the rotary movement of the
crank shaft into oscillations of a lever, which by another connecting rod gives
notion to a second lever, which by means of a pump, bellows, or other suitable
contrivance, draws air and compresses it into an air receiver on which is a valve
for limiting the pressure of the air. A pipe conveys the compressed air from the
air receiver into a hydrocarbon reservoir, the said compressed air passing to the
upper surface of the petroleum therein; a pipe which goes nearly to the bottom of
this reservoir conveys the petroleum therefrom to the front and back of the piston.
A pipe with branches conveys the compressed air from the hydrocarbon reservoir
to the inlet slide valve which works on the cylinder face pierced with ports for the
admission of air and petroleum. The exhaust is governed by a separate slide valve.
These slide valves may be worked by eccentrics in the usual way, or by other
suitable means. A magneto-electric apparatus is driven by the engine, and is
connected to an induction bobbin which, by means of suitable commutators on the
crank shaft and connections to exploders at each end of the cylinder, produces
electric sparks for exploding the charges of mixed air and hydrocarbons as soon as
the proper quantity thereof has been introduced into either end of the cylinder,
whereby the usual reciprocating motion of the piston is effected.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Eugène Etève and Charles Clément Lallement in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 14th January 1882.
EUGÈNE ETEVE and CHARLES CLÉMENT LALLEMENT, Mechanical Engineers, in
the City of Paris, France. "A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTIVE POWER ENGINE
OPERATED BY HYDROCARBURETTED AIR."
Gas engines possess the incontestable advantages that coal furnaces and super-
intendence are not required, and that they consume gas when working only; but
they possess the inconvenience of requiring special apparatuses for generating the
gas, which requirement has heretofore limited their application to large towns.
Attempts have been made to use hydrocarbons to actuate these engines, but
besides the fact that the consumption is as costly as with gas engines, the want of
security and guarantee against explosions has caused the use of those materials to
be generally abandoned.
The engine constructed according to our Invention has all the advantages of gas
engines without their disadvantages or those of engines consuming hydrocarbons;
it is of simple and economical construction, generally similar to that of ordinary
steam engines; it generates itself the hydrocarburetted fluid required for its
operation, and consequently ceases its consumption thereof immediately it is
brought to rest. This generation of the hydrocarburetted fluid is effected by
forcing air under pressure into a receiver containing a hydrocarbon, such as
petroleum; for example, in mixing this hydrocarbon with air (under the same
pressure) in the engine cylinder so as to pulverize in some measure the distributed
hydrocarbon, and to fill with this mixture of hydrocarburetted air the space swept
through by the piston during a portion (two fifths, for example) of its stroke,
whether in front or behind the piston. An electric spark fires this mixture, and
its instantaneous expansion produces a more or less powerful dynamic effect upon
the piston, according as the pressure of the air admitted is higher or lower, and the
volume of the mixture introduced greater or smaller.
The quantity of hydrocarbon used for each stroke of the piston is very small, in
fact, only just what is required to render the mixture inflammable. Consequently
the generator is very small and the engine may be moved very easily from place to
place. We therefore combine in our Invention all the qualities required by
domestic engines, namely, simple rough construction, very small cost, easy transport,
instantaneous generation of hydrocarburetted air, absolute security and production.
of motive power anywhere at a very cheap rate. All the operations are effected
automatically, no superintendence is required, and any person can put the engine
in motion or stop it.
The more the resistance increases the longer the admission ports for the hydro-
carbon and air under pressure remain open, consequently the more inflammable
and the more powerful is the mixture introduced. The engine is self regulating.
and constantly proportions the quantity and doses of the mixture to the resistance
to be overcome.
The Drawing hereto annexed represents an example of our new or improved
engine, but it will be understood that the general arrangement and combination of
the new parts may be varied and adapted to the various purposes to which the
engine may be applied.
The engine may have one, two, three, or more cylinders according to circum-
stances. It may be single or double acting, the essential principle characterising
it remaining unaltered.
Figure 1 is a side elevation.
Figure 2 is a plan with the cylinder seen in longitudinal section.
Figure 3 is a transverse section taken on line 1-2, of Figure 2.
TA

page_text: As will be seen by an inspection of the Drawings, the general arrangement
(shown as an example for a horizontal engine) does not differ materially from the
general type of horizontal steam engines. The main cylinder a cast with two feet
is fixed on the frame b, which is adapted to rest on a stone foundation or on the
ground by the feet bl The crank shaft c is carried in bearings cast to or fixed on
the frame. The shaft is connected by the connecting rod d to the cross head of the
rod p' of the piston.p. The rectilinear motion of the piston rod p' is secured by
the guides e fixed to the frame. A fly wheel is keyed on the shaft c, on which
is also fixed a driving pulley, unless the fly wheel also serves that purpose.
On the shaft c is fixed the mitre pinion f, which turns the similar pinion f¹
keyed on the end of a shaft farranged parallel to the centre line of the engine.
The shaft carried by the bearings f³, ff, is intended to move the valve gear
and to operate the air compressor g. Outside the bearing f³ the shaft f carries the
crank plate g', which by the connecting rod gå operates the piston for drawing
in and compressing air. A valve g³ loaded with the necessary weight limits the
maximum pressure to which the air can be compressed.
The compressed air is conducted by the pipe g₁ to the top of the receiver h,
which contains the petroleum or other hydrocarbon liquid. A cock g³ allows the
current of compressed air to be arrested at will.
The compressed air presses upon the upper surface of the liquid in the receiver h,
and forces this liquid to pass up a small pipe m, which extends nearly to the
bottom of the receiver h. A cock m allows the current of petroleum to be
arrested at will.
The compressed air which acts upon the upper surface of the petroleum can also
pass off by a pipe n leading along with the pipe m to the box which is divided
into two compartments, one for petroleum, the other for the compressed air. From
these compartments issue in pairs the pipes p, q, and p¹, q', which pipes lead always
in pairs to two cocks », l.
The pipes p, p, are for the petroleum, and the pipes q, q', for the compressed
air.
These pipes are continued beyond the cocks,, to the cylinder a, as shown in
Figure 5, the hydrocarbon pipe passing through the centre of that for the
compressed air. Thus the hydrocarbon and compressed air only mix on reaching
the cylinder a.
We have shown a valve h¹ on the receiver with a lever and a counter
weight h³. This valve may take the place of the cock g³ on the air compressor g,
but it may be used without detriment to the utility of the cock g³ for modifying
at pleasure the pressure of the air below the given maximum.
The cocks and are the distributors of hydrocarbon and compressed air.
They are operated by levers j, j¹, jointed respectively to points in the bearings f
aud f. The shaft f is furnished with two cams k, k¹, which oscillate alternately
the levers j, j', so as to give admission alternately to the front and back of the
piston p.
The pipes p, q, and p¹, q¹, consequently project alternately a mixture of com-
pressed air and hydrocarbon, as already described, or rather a spray of hydro-
carburetted air which is ignited at the proper time by the means hereafter
described.
It is useful to mix with this inflammable hydrocarburetted mixture an excess
of air which increases considerably its expansive properties. For this purpose
the covers a³, a², of the cylinder a are perforated with a number of holes which
are closed by means of two circular valves or obturators 1, 1, pressed against the
covers a¹, a³, by two nuts o, o¹, which in order to avoid wear by friction are easily
set up by small hand wheels o² (Figure 4) acting by means of an endless screw o³
gearing with the toothed peripheries of the said nuts o, o¹.
The obturators 1, 1, receive their necessary to and fro motion by the levers j, j¹,
to which the connecting rods 8, 8', are jointed. The levers j, j, are connected to

page_text: In order to start the engine it must be turned a few revolutions by means of
the fly wheel, so as to produce a little compressed air in the compresser g. The
cock g being closed, this can be effected without acting on the hydrocarbon.
If now this cock be opened and the piston moved from the front towards the
back, the cock r is opened and admits petroleum and air by the pipes p and q under
the same pressure. The hydrocarbon is projected into the cylinder in proportion
to the initial pressure and the vacuum produced by the piston, and is pulverised
into an impalpable fluid completely mixed and incorporated with the air.
At the same time the obturator uncovers the holes in the cover a¹ to admit a
further quantity of air. The cock then closes after the obturator 1, and the
piston p, having completed two fifths of its stroke, receives the expansive action
of the mixture, which is ignited at that moment by the electric spark produced by
the contact of one of the contact makers y or y² of the pulley y with the com-
mutator y, as the current passes instantaneously from the bobbin into the
commutator A, and from there to the wire F².
The ignited gases act by expansion during the remaining three fifths of the
stroke; and when the piston returns, the slide T uncovers the corresponding
exhaust orifices, the distribution being then immediately effected on the opposite
side of the piston by the action of the cock r¹ and the obturator U.
After a few revolutions the engine will continue working, and requires no further
attention. When the resistance increases the speed of the piston decreases; the
admission cocks r, r, remain open longer, and consequently allow of a larger
admission of hydrocarbon and air, and therefore a more powerful mixture at each
cylinder pull. After a few revolutions of the shaft ċ the engine is regulated
proportionally to the resistance, and works uniformly.
The pressure of the air admitted into the hydrocarbon receiver h can always
be regulated so as to proportion the admission of hydrocarbon to the work to be
done.
A liquid level indicator shows at any moment the consumption of hydrocarbon,
and when it is necessary to replenish the receiver h.

page_text: A slide valve or slide valves may be substituted for the cocks r, ; valves may
be substituted for the obturators 1, l'; ignition by means of a jet of burning gas
or hydrocarbon may be substituted for ignition by electricity; a galvanic battery
or other suitable generator of electricity may be substituted for the magneto electric
apparatus, and generally the details of the engine may be varied without departing
from the nature of the Invention.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to or may be carried into effect, we would have it understood
that we make no claim to the application of mixtures of air and hydrocarbon, as
the same is well known, but what we do claim is,-
First. The motive power engine hereinbefore described and essentially
characterised by the general arrangements and details which enable the engine
itself to generate a mixture of hydrocarbon and air ünder pressure; to project this
mixture under pressure into à cylinder to one side or the other, or to both sides
alternately of a piston contained therein; to admit the said mixture with an
additional quantity of air during a part of the stroke of the piston, and at that
moment to ignite the mixture admitted by electric sparks, which mixture then
acts upon the piston in proportion to its dilitation and by expansion up to the
end of the stroke, the whole as herein before described and illustrated in the
Drawings hereto annexed.
Second. The general application for the construction of engines with one, two,
three, or more cylinders, of any power or purpose whatever, whether horizontal,
vertical, or inclined, of the principle hereinbefore described, which consists in
mixing in the cylinder or cylinders only, and either behind or in front of the
piston, or both alternately, hydrocarbon and air, both under pressure, to constitute
a gaseous mixture, and combining the same with an additional quantity of air at
atmospheric pressure; in igniting this mixture by electricity produced by the
engine itself when the piston has reached a certain predetermined point in its
stroke, and finally in applying to the said piston the dynamic effects resulting
from the ignition and combustion.
Third. The arrangements and combinations of magneto electric apparatus the
motion of which is taken from the engine itself, which apparatus produces in
the engine cylinder, and at the required moment, the electric sparks necessary for
the ignition of the mixture of air and hydrocarbon, as hereinbefore described and
illustrated in the Drawings hereto annexed.
Fourth. The arrangements and combinations of the air compresser with the
hydrocarbon receiver, the distributing cocks 7, 71, the arrangement of the pipes p, q,
p, q, at their entrance into the cylinder, and the arrangement of the obturators 1, 1',
with their adjustments for the admission of atmospheric air, as hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the Drawings hereto annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Eugène Etève and Charles Clément Lallement,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.