IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thomas Hughes, of the Firm of Hughes
& Son, Patent Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER."-A commu-
nication from abroad by Aimè Francois Lapène, of Paris, in the Empire
of France.
Sealed the 4th November 1859, and dated the 9th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Thomas Hughes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th May 1859.
I, EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes & Son, Patent
Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," a com-
munication from abroad by Aimè Francois Lapène, of Paris, in the Empire of
France, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of the use or application of gas, either dissolved in a
liquid or absorbed by a solid body, and then expelled by heat and applied as
a means of giving motive power; the operation of expulsion being repeated
continually, by which the same gas is continusoly used.
Ammoniac gas is very suitable for this purpose, as it possesses such a strong

page_text: affinity for water that it is instantly absorbed by it as soon as the two bodies
come in contact.
The said object may be effected by forming a coil of tube, the end of which
enters a cylindrical vessel, the coil of tube being heated by any suitable
means, and the liquid ammoniac forced through the heated tube, and entering
the cylindrical vessel, which is also heated; the gas will separate from the
water, which will escape by a suitable aperture or tap, and be conducted to
act direct on a piston instead of steam.
The gas, after having operated on the piston, may then be conducted by an
escape tube to another coil of tubing or other similar apparatus, having a
large cooling surface, and plunged into a reservoir, will be continually
renewed.
By this Invention a great saving of fuel will be effected, an economy in the
apparatus employed, and safety against explosions. Although I have only
named ammoniac gas, other gases may be used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Thomas Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm' of Hughes & Son, Patent Agents, 123,
Chancery Lane, London, W.C., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, Her special licence that I, the
said Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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," a communication
from abroad by Aimé Lapène, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, my

page_text: 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 Edward Thomas Hughes, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
(that is to say):
:-
This Invention consists in the use or application of gas, either held in
solution in a liquid, or absorbed by a solid body such as coke or charcoal,
and then expelled by heat and applied as a means of obtaining and giving
motive power; the operation of absorption and expulsion being continually
repeated, by which means the same gas is continuously used.
The gas intended to be employed instead of steam is ammoniacal gas,
generally called ammonia, which gas possesses the property of being absorbed
by water, and expelled therefrom by a comparatively slight difference of
temperature. Until water arrives at the temperature of about 86 degrees
Fahrenheit (30° centigrade,) it can absorb more than 300 volumes of ammonia,
which begins to be expelled as soon as the temperature of the water has
exceeded 104° Fah. (40° centigrade). At the temperature of boiling water,
or 212°, the affinity of water for ammonia has ceased, no absorption taking
place except in an infinitely smaller quantity, or under the influence of great
pressure.
In order to determine the advantage in employing ammonia as a motive
power, it is necessary to compare the quantity of caloric required for the liquid
ammonia with what water requires for its conversion into steam to produce an
equal dynamical effect. From experiment, it is found practicable to employ
liquid of ammonia, marking 90° on the centesimal densimeter, containing,
according to Faraday, 827.528 volumes of gas, or 25-37 per cent. of the
water which holds the gas in solution. With the knowledge of the calorific
capacity of steam, it will be easy to deduce the quantity of caloric required to
expel from water a given weight of ammonia. In France, the caloric capacity
of steam is represented by the number 560°, that is to say, a certain weight of
steam of 100° of heat is capable, by its condensation, to raise from zero to
100° a weight of water 5 times greater, which makes an augmentation of

page_text: temperature of 560°. If we reduce the centesimal degrees into those of
Fahrenheit, we shall find that 180° of Fah. represent exactly the 100° which,
in the centigrade thermometer, separates the temperature of boiling water
from that of zero, therefore we have 5-6, multiplied by 180 equals 1008 as
the number corresponding with 560 calorics centesimal. If we expose 100
parts in weight of water and 100 parts in weight of liquid ammonia to the
effect of the same source of heat, such as that from a spirit lamp, and also
during a measured unit of time in each case, 100 parts of water would lose
34 per cent. of their original weight, whilst the 100 parts of liquid ammonia
would lose 49-80 per cent., so that in the first case we have 100 parts at 212°,
say 100 multiplied by 180 equals 18,000 calories plus 34 parts converted into
steam, equals 34,-multiplied by 1008 equals 34,272,-total 52,272 calorics
employed during the unit of time required to convert the 34 parts of water
into steam; and in the second case we have equally 100 parts of liquid raised
to 212º,
°, say 18,000 calorics, but as there is a loss from the total weight of
49-80 parts, and that in the 100 parts we only had 25.37 parts in weight of gas,
it results that 24-43 parts in weight of water were converted into steam besides
the expelled gas.
We have then 24.43 multiplied by 1008 equals 24625.44
calories, which, added to the preceding, amounts to 42625 44 calorics. We
have only to substract this number from the 52,272 preceding calories to find
the quantity which has been employed to expel the gas, that is 9646-56
calorics employed to expel 25-37 parts of gas, or a little more than the third
required to convert water into steam.
But if we consider that these results have been obtained with an exposed
heat, we must admit that with a water bath, the greater part of the caloric
employed to convert into steam the 24-43 parts of water would have expelled
a quantity of gas corresponding with the difference existing between the
number of calorics required to convert into steam one part in weight of water
and the number required to expel one part in weight of gas.
In resuming the basis of the preceding calculations, we shall have at first to
raise to 212° another quantity of 100 parts of liquid at 90°, that is, 100 mul-
tiplied by 180 equals 18,000 calories, which added to the 9646-56 calorics
required to expel 25-37 parts of gas, make a total of 27646.56 as the
quantity of calorics uselessly employed in converting into steam 24.43 of water
equal to 24625-44 calories. Divide this number by 27646.56 calorics will
give 0-8907, which multiplied by 25-37, produces 22.59 parts in weight of gas
to add to 25.37, amounting to 47.96 parts of gas expelled by the same
quantity of calories that have converted into steam 34 parts of water in the

page_text: same unit of time; it then only remains to transformn the preceding number.
into volumes to compare the dynamical power of ammonia with that of steam,
to ascertain the advantages obtained by the use of the former in preference to
the latter.
The quantity of caloric required to expel a given weight of ammonia is less
than what is required to convert into steam the same weight of water, there-
fore we must convert as little water as possible into steam in order to avoid
the loss of heat, and consequently of power. Hence, the best means to employ
are either to heat the gas generator by means of the lost heat from the steam
which has already put an ordinary machine in motion, or to heat it by an
ordinary furnace and water bath.
The apparatus which will now be described can be used in both cases, but
the figures and letters of reference on the accompanying three Sheets of
Drawings illustrate an arrangement for beating the water bath by means of a
grate or furnace. In Sheet 1, Fig. 1, is a plan, and Fig. 12, a longitudinal
vertical section of the furnace and generator; Fig. 2, a plan of the feeding
and absorbing apparatus; Fig. 3, a plan of the cooler. In Sheet 2, Fig. 1, is
a transverse vertical section of the furnace and generator; Fig. 2, a vertical
section of the feeding and absorbing apparatus; Fig. 3, a vertical section of
the cooler. In Sheet 3, Fig. 1, is a sectional plan of the furnace and generator
at the level of the water bath; Fig. 2, a sectional plan of the feeding and
absorbing apparatus at the height of the section pipe of the feeding apparatus ;
and Fig. 3, a sectional plan of the cooler.
In the aforesaid Figs. A represents the discharge pipe of the feed pump;
B, a pipe for conducting the water and gas from the generator to the separator;
C, a pipe for evacuating the saturated liquid from the separator to the cooler;
D, a pipe for conducting the gas under the piston; E, an escape pipe for
conducting the gas from the cylinder of the machine to the absorbing appa-
ratus; H, a pipe for conducting the cooled water to the bottom of the feeding
and absorbing apparatus; I, the suction pipe of the feed pump; J, tubular
vertical flues from the fire box; K, the fire box; L, the smoke box ; M, N,
the longitudinal centre line of the furnace; O, P, the transverse centre line of
the furnace. a, b, the cylinder of the separator; c, a float for regulating the
current of the saturated liquid; d, a counterbalance for the float; e, a lever
which supports the valve for regulating the supply of saturated liquid; f, a
glass safety tube; 9, wire gauze for dividing the bubbles of gas; h, a two-way
cock for letting off a portion of saturated liquid when the feeding liquid is too
impoverished and requires renewal; i, a valve of caoutchouc opening inwards;

page_text: j. a pipe which supports the valve i, and forces the gas to descend to the
bottom of the feeding and re-absorbing reservoir; k, l, and k, l, are cast-iron
boxes bolted so as to unite the two extremities of the tubes of the cooler;
m, a pipe for the purpose of evacuating the heated water from the cooler;
n, a pipe for supplying cold water to the cooler; o, a pipe to evacuate the
water heated by the feeding and re-absorbing apparatus; p, a pipe to supply
cold water to the reservoir; q, a tap for introducing the saturated liquid into
the feeding and re-absorbing apparatus; r, a tap to allow the escape of air
when the feeding, re-absorbing, and cooling apparatus are filled; s, t, & s¹, t',
are the feeding and re-absorbing reservoirs; u, a counterbalanced float to
regulate the introduction of water to the water bath; v, a pipe shut by the
valve and supported by the float for bringing to the water bath a part of the
heated water from the cooler in order to replace the water converted into
steam; x, a safety pipe communicating freely with the atmosphere for the
purpose of allowing the escape of the steam formed in the water bath; y, feet
for supporting the pipes j of the re-absorbing apparatus.
M, N, O, P, represent a rectangular furnace with an arched fire box K,
which at its upper part and sides is surrounded with water, the fire box
communicates with the smoke box L by means of the six vertical tubular
flues J which pass through the water bath, the latter containing the generator
which is a worm of an elliptical form, and consists of twelve horizontal iron
pipes, the other part of the apparatus being composed of the same metal.
These tubes have at each end an iron collar, so that the twelve tubes are
rivetted to as many pipes of a semicircular shape, the angular position of
which determines the space between each spiral of the worm. The saturated
liquid forced by the feed pump through the pipes A enters the worm at its
upper part A', and arriving in contact with a surface heated to 212°, the gas
begins to be set free, driving before it all the liquid particles, which meeting
at each instant fresh surfaces equally heated to 212°, continue to give up their
gas, all rushing with encreasing speed towards the lower extremity B' of the
worm, when the pipes B conduct the gas and water mixed, but not dissolved,
to the cylinder separator a, b, situated in the centre of the water bath. This
separator is composed of a cylindrical body of iron, terminated at its lower
part by a spherical cap, the upper part, which comes out of the furnace,
after having traversed the smoke box, carries a cast-iron collar a¹, b¹, and is
closed by a metal cover bolted on the collar a', 1. Into this cylinder the
pipe B projects with force, from top to bottom, the mixed water and gas. In
consequence of the difference in their densities, the water remains at the

page_text: bottom of the apparatus, and the gas occupies the upper part without being
capable of being absorbed by the water, inasmuch as the latter is maintained
at the temperature of 212°. The cylinder a, b, contains a stone float c,
counterbalanced by a weight d. To this float is attached a lever e, which
carries at its other end a valve opening inwards. This valve closes the lower
end of the pipe C, which being at the bottom of the separator, serves, by means
of the valve regulated by the float c, to evacuate by the effect of the pressure
on the apparatus a quantity of liquid exactly equal to that introduced by the
pipe B, when the float e is immersed in a sufficient quantity of liquid. This
evacuating pipe C, which comes from the separator in traversing the cover,
conducts the saturated liquid to the upper part of the cooler, which apparatus
is shewn in Fig. 3, and is composed of two metal boxes k, l, and k¹, &, for
uniting the extremities of a series of 64 tubes which traverse the liquid for
cooling. The said two boxes are closed with two metal covers and bolted.
To the upper cover is fixed the end of the pipe C conducting the saturated
liquid and the tap r to allow the air to escape when the cooler and also the
feeding and re-absorbing reservoir is supplied with liquid, the lower cover
carries the end of the pipe H for conducting the cooled water into the lower
part of the feeding and re-absorbing reservoir. The whole of the said appa-
ratus is contained in a cistern or reservoir full of water, from whence the
warm water escapes by the pipe m, an equal quantity being replaced by the
pipe n.
Fig. 2 represents the apparatus for absorption. It is composed of a box of
sheet iron surrounded by another box filled with cold water, in order to
prevent the temperature of the liquid for the supply from being raised above
86° Fah. The outer box receives the cold water from the pipe p, and
the heated water flows through the pipe o.
The inner box supports at its
upper part a metal collar s, t, bolted with a metal cover supporting the suction
pipe I of the feed pump, and a glass safety tube with two bulbs containing
mercury, so as to indicate any counter pressure in the apparatns if the
absorption should be incomplete. There is also a tap 9 for the purpose of
introducing the supply liquid into the apparatus, the said tap being left open
at the commencement of the working until all the air contained in the
cylinder is expelled. The gas which is employed as a motive power is taken
from the upper part of the separator, above the part where the pipe B is
jointed to the worm, so that only dry gas shall be supplied to the cylinder of the
machine. The gas passes through the pipes D to the under side of the piston,
and after producing its effect, it is conducted by the pipe E and through its

page_text: open end to the upper part of the feeding and re-absorbing reservoir at a level
above the liquid which is contained in it. But in order to obtain a complete
absorption and consequently a good vacuum, the effect of which will add to the
expansive force of the gas, it is necessary that the gas should arrive at the
bottom of the reservoir, so as to come in contact with the densist liquid, and
consequently the less saturated. We therefore place over the upper extremity
of the pipe E a second pipe j, j, of a larger diameter, having between them an
equal or even greater annular area than that of the pipe E. The pipe j, j,
has an opening at its upper end, closed with a valve i of caoutchouc opening
inwards, the utility of which will afterwards be shewn. The pipe j, j, is kept
in its place by four feet y screwed to the bottom to obtain greater solidity. A
little above the four feet the pipe j, j, supports a conical sieve g, g, formed of
iron guaze or net work, and descends very near the bottom of the reservoir.
This sieve is intended to divide the bubbles of gas which pass through it, in
order to facilitate the absorption, and also when the gas passing with force
through the pipe E and the annular space, shall have driven the liquid from
the chamber formed by the conical sieve 9, 9, the water which is constantly
drawn with the gas is precipitated like fine rain in the vacuum, and the
re-absorption will be made, producing a dynamic effect equal to that of the
best condenser. When the machine is in motion the gas passes in great
quantities through the pipe E, and pressing against the valve i causes it to
close the opening in the pipe j, j, but if the machine is stopped, the gas
tending always to drain the liquid contained in the reservoir, would cause the
liquid to rise in the annular space as high as the open end of the pipe E,
where it would be distributed to the cylinder, but then the valve i is drawn by
the influence of suction and opens inwards, thereby preventing the pipe j,j, from
becoming a syphon by opening a communication between the upper part of
the annular space and the upper part of the reservoir where there is no liquid.
The suction pipe I of the feed pipe opens into the upper part of the liquid
where the parts are the lightest, and consequently the most saturated. The
two-way cock his employed when, from long use or other loss, the supply
liquid is found to be poor or deficient of gas, then by closing the communi-
cation between the cooler and the absorbing apparatus, the latter will continue
to receive the gas and encrease in strength, no more saturated liquid being
sent when the safety tube indicates that the liquid can absorb no more gas.
The communication between the cooler and the feeding reservoir is re-esta-
blished by means of the tap 9, a quantity of new liquid charged with gas is
kept in reserve to be added, so that it may always be the same in the apparatus.

page_text: During the time of the first operation by means of the two-way cock, the
saturated liquid coming from the separator flows outside of the apparatus. To
adapt this system for being heated by waste steam, the only modification
required will be to place the end of the blow-off pipe of the steam engine in
the lower part of the liquid in the water bath.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES. (L.S.)
0 Witness to the signature of the said
Edward Thomas Hughes,
JULES MULOT.