AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS UPON THE ROTARY STEAM ENGINE
Year: 1818

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSHUA
ROUTLEDGE, of Bolton-le-Moors, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of February,
in the fifty-eighth year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Joshua
Routledge, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His special licence, full sole
power,
privilege and authority, that I, the said Joshua Routledge, my exors, admors, and
assigns, during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Ber-
wick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS UPON
THE ROTARY STEAM ENGINE;" in which Letters Patent there is contained a pro-
viso obliging me, the said Joshua Routledge, under my hand and seal, to
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to beper formed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Joshua
Routledge, do hereby declare that my said Invention is fully described and
ascertained by the Drawings in the margin of these presents, and the following
description thereof, that is to say:-

page_text: Figure 1 exhibits a front view of the engine, with one of its ends taken off
to show its internal parts. A, A, A, A, is a wide short cylinder of cast iron,
brass, or any other suitable material, to be bored very true on the inside, and
to be made of any dimensions, according to the power required. B, b, b, b, is
an arm or lever answering the same purpose as a piston in other engines, and
is propelled forward by the steam in a circular direction, turning upon its
axis F as a centre. Two arms or levers may be applied, as occasion may
require. C is the steam stop and is to prevent the steam from escaping
towards the side C, until the arm or arms, lever or levers, has or have made an
entire revolution. D is a square box or chamber (cast upon the cylinder)
where the steam stop C is deposited during the time that the point B, b, of the
arm or lever is passing by. G is the steam pipe coming from the boiler, which
admits the steam into the engine, and H is the exhausting pipe by which the
steam passes off into the condenser or into the-open air, as will be hereafter
explained. I, I, I, I, is a groove or recess where packing of hemp, metal, or
any other proper and suitable material or materials is or are to be introduced
in order to render the arm or lever steam-tight. P shews a recess for the same
purpose in the steam stop C. E, E, is a strong foot or bracket, cast upon the
cylinder, by which it is firmly fixed down upon a strong foundation, either of
masonry, framing of wood, cast iron, or combination of any or all of them.
Figure 2 exhibits a section across the engine at a, a, the same letters refer-
ring to the same things. It likewise shews the two ends L, L, with their
stuffing boxes K, K, and the manner they are fitted into the cylinder at
C, C, C, C. A groove or rabbet is bored or made to a convenient depth, to
receive the two ends L, L, which are to be truly turned or formed to fit the
rabbet, and the joint on each side is to be made air-tight by two circular rings,
sections of which are shewn at d, d, d, d. Upon the shaft or centre F a fly
wheel is to be fixed, and at N, N, two necks or jurnals are to be made, to rest
upon two strong standards or bearings, to be firmly fastened down to the same
foundation as the foot or bracket E, E. The machinery to be moved by the
engine may be attached to either or both ends of the shaft F, as may be found
desirable.
Figure 3 exhibits a face or front view of the steam stop C, shewing the
recess P, P, P, on three sides where the packing is put in to make it steam-
tight, and O is the centre on which it turns in going up into the chamber D.
Figure 4 exhibits a section of the chamber D, shewing the situation of the
stop C when turned up, where it forms a part of the periphery of the cylinder
A, A, A, A. The operation of the engine is as follows:-Suppose the steam
stop C, and the lever B, 6, b, b, to be properly packed in the situation repre-

page_text: sented by the Drawings, so that the steam cannot escape past either one or the
other, it will be evident that if the steam is admitted through the pipe G
into the space M, the lever B, b, b, b, will be propelled forward towards C,
through the space Q, until the sloping part B comes in contact with the lower
part of the steam stop C, which will then turn upon a steam-tight joint or
centre O, and rise up into the box or chamber D, until the lever B, b, b, b, has
passed by; the pressure of the steam then compels the stop C to follow the lever
down the inclined plane b, until it comes into its former resting place, where
it remains stationary upon the cylindrical part of the lever, as seen in the
Drawing, Figure 1, until again raised by the sloping part B as before. During
the time that the point B, 6, is passing the steam stop C, the steam that had
last carried the lever round makes its escape through the pipe H, either into
the open
air or into a condenser, and new steam is again instantly admitted,
and so on continually. When the engine is constructed with only one arm or
lever, there is about one tenth of the circle or revolution, where the steam
has no power; the motion of the engine is then kept up by the velocity already
given to the fly wheel; but when two arms or levers are used, which will mostly
be the case, especially in large engines, then the steam is made to act with
equal force through the whole of the revolution. I purpose to use my Inven-
tion either as a condensing engine, with a condenser and air or discharging
pump, or as a high-pressure engine without a condenser or discharging pump.
working intirely by the high pressure of the steam without the aid of vacuum.
When I make use of it as a high-pressure engine no other apparatus is
necessary that what is represented in the Drawing in the margin hereof, except-
ing a fly wheel and a strong foundation for the engine to rest upon. In this
case the steam is discharged into the open air, or into a cistern of water to
heat it, for the supply of the boiler, or for any other purpose where hot water
may be required. When it is constructed for a condensing engine another
pipe is to be joined to the pipe II, to connect the cylinder A, A, A, A, with
the condensing vessel in the usual way, but the air or discharging pump I con-
struct in the same form and on the same principle as the engine, only with
this difference, that the receiving pipe in the engine becomes the discharging
pipe in the pump, and the discharging pipe in the engine is made the receiving
or suction pipe in the pump, and is turned in a contrary direction to the engine.
I purpose, also, to make use of this my Invention for the ordinary purposes of
pumping, for which pumps of the common construction are applicable, and
what I claim as my Invention particularly is the arms or levers, the steam stop,
and the way and manner I make use of them as a steam engine and pump
as above described, and ascertained by the Drawings in the margin of these

page_text: presents, but the form of them may be varied as may be found convenient.
And I do further declare that this my Invention as a steam engine is applica-
ble to all the purposes of giving motion to machinery by means of the centre
or axis, wherever such power may be required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joshua Routledge, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighteen.