IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPRESSING AND EXPANDING ERIPORM FLUIDS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Jameson, of 10, Catherine Terrace, Gateshead,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPRESSING AND EXPANDING
ERIPORM FLUIDS."
Sealed the 3rd July 1860, and dated the 11th January. 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left. by the. said John Jameson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th January 1860.
I, JOHN JAMESON, of 10, Catherine Terrace, Gateshead, do, hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPRESSING AND EXPANDING
ERIFORM FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
The present Invention relates to improvements on the Invention patented
by me on the 13th of March 1858, No. 514. In connection with the arrange-
ment described in the Specification of the said Patent, and to add to the effect
thereof, I employ a series of reservoirs containing when the apparatus is in
action, portions of air or other elastic fluid, at different degrees of compression,
and having separate communications with the cylinders therein described, with
provision for shutting off the connection at will. The action of the reservoirs

page_text: may be described as that of lending to and borrowing from the cylinders, the
borrowing from the cylinders to the reservoir being effected just previous to
the cooling of the air contained in the cylinder, and the lending from the rescr-
voirs to the cylinders just previous to the heating of the air contained in the
same. These actions may be employed either in connection with the series of
cylinders formerly described, or in connection with one cylinder only. The
communications between the cylinder or cylinders and series of reservoirs
are opened and closed as required, so as to effect the desired object by any
simple mechanical arrangement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Jameson, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JAMESON, of 10, Catherine Terrace,. Gateshead, send,greeting...
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her. Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and, sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her. reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Jameson, Her special licence that I, the said John Jameson, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Jameson, 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 COMPRESSING
AND EXPANDING ERIFORM FLUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Jameson, 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 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 John Jameson, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
.
The present Invention' relates to improvements on the Invention patented
by me on (18th March 1858, No. 514,) in connection with the arrangement
described in the Specification of the said Patent, and to add to the effect
thereof, I employ a series of reservoirs containing, when the apparatus.is in
action, portions of air or other elastic fluid at different degrees of compression,
and having separate communications with the cylinders therein described,
with provision for shutting off the connection at will. The action of the
reservoirs may be described as that of lending to and borrowing from the
cylinders; the borrowing from the cylinders to the reservoirs being effected
just previous to the cooling of the air contained in the cylinder, and the
lending from the reservoirs to the cylinders, just previous to the heating of the
air contained in the same. These actions may be employed either in connec-
tion with the series of cylinders formerly described or in connection with one
cylinder only; the communications between the cylinder or cylinders and
series of reservoirs are opened and closed as required, so as to effect the
desired object by any simple mechanical arrangement. It will be readily
understood that a great variety of methods may be adopted for arranging
apparatus to accomplish the purpose required, and that in various circum-
stances various forms of arrangement may possess certain advantages over other
forms even better adapted for general purposes. One arrangement for example,
may possess a very bigh efficiency obtained by somewhat greater complexity,
and another form extreme simplicity at the expense of reduced efficiency, and
yet each may possess advantages over the other under particular circumstances.
I would therefore have it understood that my Invention is not confined to
any particular form of apparatus or method of arrangement, but its essential
peculiarity is the method of diminishing at certain times the pressure of
æriform fluid in one or more vessels similar in action to the cylinders
described in my Patent already referred to,' by the use of a series of reservoirs
and valves or stop-cocks, or similar apparatus, and in such manner as to render
the pressure again available when required. In order to make the action
of my Invention more clear and intelligible, I will describe its application: in
a particular instance, at the same time: the most simple and efficient with which
I am acquainted.
1
For convenience and brevity, I will speak of the apparatus described in my
former, Patent as consisting of four cylinders and a final reservoir, the word
cylinder being understood to imply the cylinder described, and all the apparatus

page_text: connected therewith, namely, plunger, wires, rod, crank, means of beating and
cooling, &c., &c. The final reservoir is that described, so called, throughout
the following description, to distinguish it from the other additional reservoirs
herein-after mentioned; and as the description of the method of enhancing
the effect of one cylinder will equally apply to all, and as, according to my
present Invention, one cylinder with the other apparatus described will suffice
for effecting the purposes required, it is only necessary to describe the action
of one cylinder; and, for the sake of clearness, I confine my description to that
with the final reservoir and four additional reservoirs and valves, only premising
that any number of reservoirs or cylinders may be used in connection with
each other, and that, other things being equal, the greater the extent of series
employed, either of cylinders or reservoirs, or both, the greater is the effect
produced.
•
In the case which I have selected for description, the cylinder has six
pipes attached to its cool end, four being additional pipes and two belonging
to the cylinder itself, one of the latter communicating with the final reservoir,
and having in it a self-acting valve, opening towards the final reservoir, and
the other, its induction valve, opening towards the cylinder, and if the
apparatus be employed in compressing air, communicating at its external end
with the atmosphere. The four other pipes communicate respectively with
four, reservoirs, which are simply.close vessels capable of resisting adequate
internal pressure, and which may be of any convenient shape, and placed in
any convenient position. I prefer to make the capacity of each at least as
great, as the available capacity of the cylinder, but it is not necessary to
observo any definite relation thereto. The less the capacity of the reservoirs,
however, in proportion to the available capacity of the cylinder, the less is the
effect produced with the same extent of series. The four-pipes-and-reservoirs-
last referred to I will distinguish respectively-by-the-letters-A, B, C,-and-D.-
Each of the pipes is provided with a valve or other means of shutting off the
communication with the cylinder, which valve is actuated by suitable machinery,
so as to open and close the communication when required. The valves may
be actuated by cams, or by levers on a rocking shaft, or by branching the
pipes from one centre by a single stop-cock, to which a semi-rotary motion is.
communicated by segments of mitre gear, applied by the continued rotation of
a shaft alternately to the opposite sides of a mitre wheel on the plug, in which
case the passage from the cylinder would lead into the plug, and out at one
side by a narrow slot, brought by the motion of the plug successively into
communication with similar slots in the shell leading to the different reservoirs.

page_text: of course the slots in the shell must be so far apart as to allow the inter-,
mediate space entirely to cover the slot in the plug when it is brought opposite
to it. I also prefer to introduce, between the power applied to actuate the
plunger and the plunger itself, such motion as will cause a slight pause at the
termination of its stroke upwards and downwards: If the plunger be actuated
by a species of heart wheel on a rotary shaft, the pauses are provided for by.
making segments of its circumference at its greatest and least radius concentric
with the shaft. The pauses in the movement of the plunger are employed in
the movement of the valves:
The action of the apparatus described is, in compressing air, as follows:-
The cylinder, final reservoir, and reservoirs A, B, C, and D, being full of air.
at atmospheric pressure, and all the valves shut, the plunger having just
reached the bottom of its stroke, heat applied to the air contained in the
upper portion of the cylinder produces pressure therein greater than atmo
spheric pressure. The pressure so produced opens the valve in the pipe
communicating with the final reservoir, and a portion of air passes thereto.
until perfect equalization of pressure, or nearly so, be produced. The pressure,
however, in the cylinder remains greater than atmospheric pressure, and at
this point, and during the pause in the stroke of the plunger before referred to;
the valve machinery opens the valve in the pipe D, and allows a portion of the
air contained in the cylinder to pass to the reservoir D, so as to produce more
or less perfect equalization of pressure between them. This action I call
borrowing from the cylinder. The valve in the pipe D is then closed, and
immediately thereafter that in C opened, so as to permit a portion of air to
pass, from the cylinder to the reservoir C, the communication with which is
then closed, and that with B opened, when a similar effect is produced, and so
on thereafter with A. After the closing of the communication with A, the
plunger begins its movement, and on its upward stroke, the air being cooled;
the pressure in the cylinder becomes less than atmospheric pressure, and a
portion of air is received through the induction valve from the external air.
The plunger pausing as before at the termination of its upward movement
affords time for the opening of the communications between the cylinder and
the reservoirs A, B, C, and D. The valve in the pipe A is now first opened;
the pressure in that reservoir being the lowest, but higher than atmospheric
pressure, owing to its having borrowed from the cylinder as described. A
portion of air passes into the cylinder from it, so as to produce perfect equali-
zation of pressure, or very nearly so, between them. This action I call lending
to the cylinder. The communication with the reservoir A is then closed, and '
that with B opened, and as the reservoir B received its supply of air as

page_text: described before. A did, and while there was a higher pressure in the cylinder,
it necessarily contained a higher pressure than A, and therefore after the
action of lending has been performed by A, the cylinder must still contain less
pressure than B. A portion of air therefore passes from B to the cylinder,
and the communication between them being thereafter closed, that with C is
opened, when a similar action is performed, and so on with D. When the
communications with all the reservoirs A, B, C, and D, have been opened and
closed, the plunger begins its descent, and as the pressure in the cylinder
increases, the final reservoir valve allows a portion of the compressed air to
pass thereto, after which, and on the arrival of the plunger at the termination
of its downward stroke, the actions of borrowing, already described, are
ropeated, and so on. By the continuance for a few strokes of the motions
described, the differential pressures in the reservoirs become greater, and the
efficiency of the apparatus is thereby, enhanced.
"
By these actions it will be seen that a portion of air may be received from the
external air into the cylinder at each stroke, and passed by its simple expansion
into the final reservoir under a pressure not alone dependent upon the degree
of heat applied, but also upon the relative capacities and extent of series of
reservoirs or cylinders employed, or both, so that by the use of an extended
series of reservoirs, even with one cylinder only with a moderate heat, any
desired amount of pressure may be produced and maintained in the final reser-.
voir limited only by the strength of the apparatus employed. The air thus
accumulating in the final reservoir may be employed for any purpose for
which compressed air is applicable, or as described in my former Patent. If a
series of cylinders be employed in connection with a series of reservoirs, the
action in each cylinder is quite similar to the action already described in one,
but unless a very high pressure be required, when two or more-cylinders-are-
used, under my former Patent the number of reservoirs attached-to-each-
should be diminished. It is possible by the use of a double series of cylinders,
with machine moved valves between the similar cylinders of each series,
greatly to enhance the effect of both; or the reservoirs in any arrangement
may be constructed and made to act like cylinders, lending as reservoirs when
the air contained within them is in a heated state, and borrowing whilst it is
in a cold state; but I think the best arrangement for obtaining high pressure
with the most simple apparatus is that first described herein. The action of
my Invention in expanding æriform fluids is precisely similar to its action in
compressing partial vacuum, being produced in any vessel which may be
attached to the induction pipe.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of

page_text: effecting the results required, I would have it understood that I make no
claim to any of the apparatus described as such; but what I claim as my
Invention is, the combined use of apparatus to produce those actions which I
have described as borrowing and lending, with apparatus for performing the
functions of what I have called the cylinder.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Jameson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
· JOHN JAMESON. (L.s.)