IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY THE EXPANSION OF AIR, STEAM, AND OTHER FLUIDS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Seguin, of Paris, in France, Civil Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY THE
EXPANSION OF AIR, STEAM, AND OTHER FLUIDS."
Sealed the 5th June 1855, and dated the 1st January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Seguin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st January 1855.
I, JOSEPH SEGUIN, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY THE EXPANSION OF AIR, STEAM,
AND OTHER FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
In the ordinary steam engines and caloric engines, or engines acting by
the expansion of steam, air, or other fluids, the effect is obtained by heating the
air or other fluid, so as to cause it to expand, and produce a certain effect in
moving a piston or otherwise by its expansion, and then the air or other fluid is
either allowed to escape, or is cooled or condensed, so as to reduce its pressure.
Now, in my Invention, the air or other fluid does not require to be cooled, but
after being heated, so as to produce its effect, it is returned to a generator, which

page_text: restores to it the comparatively small amount of heat which it had lost in
producing its effect, thereby obtaining a considerable economy of fuel over the
ordinary engines. Various forms of apparatus may be employed for carrying
the Invention into effect. One of these consists of two horizontal cylinders,
placed opposite to each other, and provided with pistons connected to one
another by one long piston rod. A cross head on the piston rod gives motion
to a fly wheel by means of connecting rods and cranks in the ordinary manner.
Each piston has a plunger or cylindrical block attached to it, which nearly fills
the cylinder, and which works in a chamber, which forms a prolongation of the
cylinder, but which need not be turned or bored. The packing of the piston is
thus in a great measure protected by the plunger from the heated air or other
fluid. The bored part of the cylinder is also surrounded with a casing filled
with water, by which it is prevented from becoming too hot. The aforesaid
chamber has a lateral aperture, opening into a valve box containing a slide
valve with two passages in it, for placing the chamber in communication with
the generator. The generator consists of two vessels or retorts of sheet iron,
or other suitable metal, placed side by side, and surrounded with cast iron or
other metal, and exposed to a fire. Each vessel or retort is divided by a par-
tition, reaching from one end nearly to the other end, so that if air or other
fluid be driven in on one side of the partition, it may pass to the end of the
retort, and return round the other side of the partition to the end at which it
entered. By means of the aforesaid valve the direction of this circulation of
the fluid may be regulated, and it may be made to enter at one side of the
partition, and leave the generator at the other side, so that it may circulate
through the whole of the retort. Each cylinder is furnished with one of these
generators. The generators being heated by means of fires, the air or other
fluid in one (which may be called the first generator) will be expanded, and will
give motion to the piston of the cylinder which is in communication with it,
and which may be called the first cylinder. The motion of this piston will force
the second piston to the end of its stroke, and will compress the air or other
fluid in the second cylinder into the second generator. This air then becomes
heated, and forces its piston back again, compressing the air or other fluid in
the first cylinder back into the first generator. This air then again becomes
heated, and produces another stroke of the pistons, and so on. A valve is
placed near the end of the cylinder to allow of the escape of the excess of air
(if any) remaining after the stroke of the piston is completed. Another passage
which is opened and closed by the slide valve, herein-before mentioned, serves
to admit a small quantity of air or other fluid from a reservoir to supply any

page_text: waste or loss. The opposite end of the cylinder to that at which the heated air
or other fluid enters may be cooled by a refrigerator. Air or steam, or other
gases or vapours, or mixtures of the same, may be employed in this manner
for obtaining motive power.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Seguin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
SEGUIN, of Paris, in France, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Seguin, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Seguin,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Joseph Seguin, 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
OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY THE EXPANSION OF AIR, STEAM, AND OTHER
FLUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Seguin,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 Joseph Seguin, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
It has been found that when a gas or vapour is allowed to expand, or a
liquid is converted into vapour, so as to produce motive power, there is a certain
loss of heat, proportional to the useful or mechanical effect produced, besides the.

page_text: accidental losses of heat occasioned by the contact of the elastic fluid with
the sides of the vessel in which it acts: This loss of heat,. which is equivalent
to the motive power produced, may be called dynamic. If this portion of heat
be again restored to the elastic fluid after it has produced its mechanical effect,
the elastic fluid may be again rendered capable of producing a second mecha-
nical effect, and so on, continuously. The elastic fluid may be common air, or
other gas or.steam, or other. vapour, provided the temperature be kept sufficiently
high to prevent any condensation of the vapour into liquid.. I have found that
gases and vapours in contact with heated metallic surfaces become heated with
great rapidity, and I am thus enabled to construct an engine acting by steam
without the necessity of losing the latent heat, which is consumed in converting
the liquid into vapour. My engine consists of two cylinders' and pistons,. and
two corresponding generators, of a particular construction. These generators,
being heated to a high temperature, alternately emit and receive a volume of
steam, which, after acting upon the piston, returns into the generator to regain
the heat expended in producing mechanical or dynamical effect.
Figure 1, Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, is a longitudinal section of
the machine; Figure 2 is a plan, partly in section, of the same. In Sheet II.
some of the details of the valve gear are shewn on a larger scale. The same.
letters indicate similar parts in all the Figures..
:
The machine consists of two similar engines, placed horizontally, and side by
side, and having their pistons connected. by connecting rods to two opposite
cranks on the same shaft.. A portion of one of the connecting rods is shewn in
Figures 1 and 2. The remainder of the connecting rods and the crank shaft
are not shown in the Drawings, being similar to those of ordinary steam engines.
The crank shaft may be furnished with a fly wheel, or another machine may be
connected to other cranks on the same shaft, and at right angles to those above
mentioned. A and A' are the working cylinders, each of which contains. a
piston B, which transmits its motion to the crank shaft by means of a connecting
rod U. C, D, and C, D, are the generators, corresponding to the cylinders.
A and A', and arranged in a furnace E, which is divided into two parts, having
each a separate fire.
The action, of each cylinder with its generators is the same as, but inde-.
pendent of, the other, except that they are connected by the crank shaft.. It.
will, therefore, be sufficient to explain the action of one of them, for example,
that marked A. The two generators. C and D are each composed. of two
parallel wrought-iron tubes a, a, united at one extremity by a bend or elbow a';
also of wrought iron. These tubes a, a, are surrounded by a thick layer or

page_text: mass of cast iron, which unites them together, and adds to their strength. In
Figure 3, Sheet II., these generators are shewn in transverse section. These
two generators are inclosed in the furnace E, and connected at their extremity
to a piece of metal F, having four passages 6, which serve as continuations of
the tubes a, and open into the valve chambers K, K. The piece F is con-
nected to the cylinder A by an intermediate cylinder A², so as to isolate the
cylinder A from the high temperature of the generators. The communication
between the piece F and the cylinder is established by a passage c, divided into
two branches, which lead to two slide valves G and H. Before entering farther.
into the details of the construction of these parts I will explain the functions
which they are required to fulfil. The generators C and D are charged with
certain quantity of water, and they are heated so as not only to convert this
water into steam, but also to superheat the steam and greatly increase its
elasticity. One of the generators, for example, that marked C, is then put in
communication with the cylinder A, and the piston Bis thus driven forward by
the expansion of the steam, and the crank shaft performs half a revolution. As
the two working cylinders act in opposite directions, owing to the relative
positions of their cranks, the piston of the cylinder A² now performs its stroke,
and completes the revolution, of the crank shaft; at the same time the piston B
of the cylinder A is driven back by its crank, and the steam is again forced
back into the generator C, which has supplied it.
a
For the next stroke, it is the generator D which supplies the steam, while
the steam, of the preceding stroke remains confined in the generator C, where
it regains as much heat as it had lost or expended in giving motion to the
piston, and producing motive power.
It will thus be seen that the generators C and D alternately furnish their
steam during the successive double strokes of the piston, and it is always the
same steam which (without changing its state), after producing its effect in
the cylinder, re-enters into the generator, where it remains confined during a
complete revolution of the crank shaft, and becoming again heated, acts again
in the cylinder during the following revolution.
In order more clearly to distinguish the different relative actions, I employ
the expression "positive stroke" to denote the emission of the steam from the
generator, which takes place during the forward stroke of the piston; and I
employ the expression "negative stroke" to denote the return of the piston,
which causes the return of the steam into the generator. I also apply the
word "active" to the generator which is emitting its steam, and the word
"ncuter" to the generator in which the steam is retained and confined.

page_text: . In the section, Figure 1, the piston B is supposed to have commenced, and
to be performing its positive stroke, and receiving the steam from the generator
C, which is thus active. The generator D retains. the steam of the preceding
stroke, and is consequently neuter. Figure 2 shows a similar state of things,
except that the pistons are at the extremities of their strokes.
•
As it is important that the pistons should experience as little resistance as
possible in their return or negative strokes, each cylinder A and A' is furnished
with a valve d, which opens as soon as the positive stroke is completed, and
allows of the escape of the excess of steam, if its pressure (notwithstanding its
expansion) should still exceed that of the atmosphere. A small valve or cock
may also be applied to admit a few drops of water into the cylinder, to absorb
the excess of heat, and bring the steam into the saturated state. The excess
of steam thus produced escapes at the valve d. To supply this loss of steam
and other losses of steam occasioned by leakage or other causes, I employ a
small steam boiler I, which supplies steam at a high pressure, and which
may be placed between the generators, as shewn in Figure 2, and heated
by the waste heat from their fires, or by a separate fire. The steam from
this boiler serves to keep the slide valves pressed against the faces on which
they work, and also to supply the losses of steam. The steam from the boiler
is admitted by means of the pipe P, and valves N and O, which are respec-
tively raised for a very short time at the moment when the slide valve is about
to allow the steam from the generator to enter the cylinder, and commence the
positive stroke. The cylinders A and A¹ are each partly enveloped in a
casing or jacket e, which contains hot water at a constant temperature, so
as to prevent the cylinders from being injuriously heated.
I will now proceed to describe the details of the valve gear, which consists
of three principal parts for, each of the generators C and D. These parts are
the two slide valves G and H, the two double valves L and M, and the two
valves N and O. The valves and valve gear are partly shewn in Figure 1,
and also in Sheet II., in which Figure 3 shows a transverse section of the
valve box, together with a section of the generators C and D. Figure 4
is a side elevation of the valve box, and the junction piece F between the
generator C and cylinder A. Figure 5 is a plan of the same, shewing also
the action of the different cams upon the valves. Figure 6 is an end view
of the same.
The slide valves G and H are contained in a box J, which is in
communication with the boiler I. They are connected by a small horizontal
beam or lever i, so that they always move in contrary directions, so that when
one of the generators C or D is in communication with the cylinder, the other

page_text: generator is closed. The double valves L and M are adjusted to the upper
orifices of the passages 6 in the chambers K. By means of these valves, the
vapour or gas which enters the generator by one of the passages is caused to
leave it by the other passage, and thus to traverse the whole of the generator.
The valves N and O serve to admit a small quantity of steam from the boiler I
at each stroke. All these valves are worked by cams on a shaft f, which is
driven.at one-half the velocity of the main or crank shaft of the engine by
means of bevil wheels g and a shaft h driven by bevil wheels from the main
shaft. The generators C and D are thus brought alternately into action
during a double stroke of the engine, so that each generator acts once in
every two revolutions of the main shaft, and each valve acts once in the
same time.
The slide valves G and H are worked by the cam j. The valve G is shewn
in Figure 1 in the proper position for making communication between the
generator C and the cylinder. In the other position of the valve, it is moved
towards the left, and the communication is thus closed. The change in the
position of the slide valves takes place at the commencement of each positive
stroke, when one generator becomes active and the other neuter, and the
motions of the two valves are inverse and simultaneous.
The double valves L and M are placed in the separate chambers K, K, into
which open the passages b, which form the orifices of the tubes a of the
generators. These valves, as already mentioned, cause the steam to enter the
generator at one of the passages b, and to leave it at the other.; their motion
consequently takes place at the commencement. of the negative stroke of the
piston, so as to place the valve of the active generator in the proper position
for the re-entrance of the steam, and the valve of the neuter generator in the
proper position for the following positive stroke. The motion of these valves
being simultaneous and inverse, they are driven by the same cam k, which
transmits the motion through a lever m and a connecting rod to a horizontal
beam or lever 7, which gives motion to, the forks n on the spindles n' by means
of other rods and levers, as shown in the Drawings. Each of the forks n
is in geer with or embraces a tooth n³ on the valve. By this arrangement,
the fitting of the valves upon their seats is independant of the means of
communicating the motion to them.
The valves N and O have their seats in the slide valve box J, and com-
municate by means of passages u with the chambers K, which correspond with
the generators C and D; they serve for admitting a small quantity of steam
from the boiler I into the generators at the periods when they are shut off from

page_text: the cylinders, or when they are neuter. For this purpose these valves are
alternately raised during a very short time at the commencement of each
positive stroke. Each valve is thus raised once during a revolution of the
shaft f; they are worked by means of two separate cams to and o', which
transmit the motion by means of rods to the bent levers g, mounted on the
exterior of the valve box. These bent levers give motion, by means of vertical
connecting rods, to the levers 7, which are connected to the valves. The
valves may be closed by the action of the cains, or by their own weight,
increased by additional weight, if required. It will be seen that the steam on
issuing from one of the generators enters the corresponding chamber K, and
passes into the cylinder through the slide valve and the passage c; the steam
re-enters the generator by the same passage, the slide valve reninining
stationary, and only the double valve being reversed on the orifices b. When
the steam has entered, and the negative stroke is completed, the slide valve is
moved, and the communication is closed between the .generator, and the
cylinder; it is then that the. valve N or O is raised to admit a small quantity
of saturated steam from the boiler. This steam mixes with that in the
generator, and is superheated with it. The piston B carries a cylindrical filling
piece Q, which occupies the space in the interior of the prolongation A of the
cylinder. The piston B is thus kept at a distance from the hottest part of
the apparatus. The piece F and the prolongation A are partly enveloped in a
casing of brickwork or masonry R, into which the waste heat from the fires, or
a portion of it, may be directed at pleasure. The details of the machine may
be varied, and other vapours or gases or common air may be employed in lieu
of steam. When gases or common air are employed, the losses may be supplied
by means of a small pump, worked by the engine itself, and forcing in the air
from the atmosphere or the gas from a gasometer or other reservoir of gas.
Instead of expanding the steam down to the pressure of the atmosphere only,
it may be expanded to a greater extent, and the opposite end of the cylinder
may communicate with a condenser. The steam which is blown off at the end
of the stroke may be made to drive a low-pressure steam engine of the ordinary
construction.
The number and capacity of the generators and their heating surface may
be varied, and they may also be filled with pieces of metal to diminish their
capacity, and to increase the surface in contact with the vapour or gas,
Instead of making them of wrought and cast iron, they may be made of
thin tubes of platinum enveloped in a thick casing of cast steel, or their inner
surfaces may be lined with an unoxidizable metal by the electrotype process

page_text: or otherwise, so as to prevent any injurious chemical action between the
generator and its contents. By increasing the number of generators, and
varying the valve gear and valves accordingly, the steam may be retained in
the generator while the piston makes two, three, four, or more double strokes.
The position of the different parts may be varied, and the cylinders may be
placed opposite to one another instead of side by side, and both pistons may
be attached to the same piston rod, and the generators may be placed under
the cylinders, and other similar variations may be made in the arrangement
of the machine without interfering with its peculiar mode of action.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
generally the obtaining of motive power by the expansion of air, steam, or
other fluids; but what I claim is,-
The constructing machinery as herein-before described, and acting in manner
herein-before described, for obtaining motive power by the expansion of air,
steam, or other fluids.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Seguin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
JOSEPH SEGUIN. (L.S.)