AN AUTOMATON OR MACHINE UPON A SELF-MOVING PRINCIPLE, WHICH, WHEN IN MOTION, WILL ACQUIRE AND PRESERVE VELOCITY AND FORCE SUFFICIENT TO WORK EVERY KIND OF MILL, CRANE, PUMP, AND ALL OTHER ENGINES AND MACHINES IN GENERAL, AND GIVE MOTION TO ANY SORT OF CARRIAGE OR VESSEL
Year: 1786

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
MEAD, of the Town of Port Sandwich, in the County of Kent, Carpenter,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
the Twentieth day of April, in the twenty-sixth year of His reign, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Mead, His special licence, that I, the said
Thomas Mead, during the term of fourteen years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN AUTOMATON OR
MACHINE UPON A SELF-MOVING PRINCIPLE, WHICH, WHEN IN MOTION, WILL ACQUIRE
AND PRESERVE VELOCITY AND FORCE SUFFICIENT TO WORK EVERY KIND OF MILL,
CRANE, PUMP, AND ALL OTHER ENGINES AND MACHINES IN GENERAL, AND GIVE
MOTION TO ANY SORT OF CARRIAGE OR VESSEL;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Thomas Mead, under
iny hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and how the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in
His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation
being thereunto had; may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Mead, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in and
by the annexed plan, and in manner following (that is to say) :-.
Figure 1, a perspective view of the machine when fixed in a frame, consist-
ing of the following parts:-B, a square frame of wood boarded close on the
underside; C, C, &c., square posts of wood fixed into the bottom frame B, and
likewise into the upper or top frame D, which is boarded top and bottom,
forming a square box, in which moves a circular board E, which carries the
flies, wheel work, &c., and also a circular top or box F, which is fixed to the
cylindrical tube G, and cannot be seen in this view; H, an overshot wheel;
J, a large cog wheel fixed to one end of it, which works in the cog wheel K,
which is fixed to the lower end of the flies in the board E; L, another cog
wheel fixed to the other end of the overshot wheel II, which is to put
in motion any machine or machinery to which it may be applied or affixed;
M, M, are braces to strengthen and support the frame.
Fig. 2, a view of the cylindrical tube G; its circular top or box F; the
circular board E, with its flies, wheel work, &c., as appears when taken out
of the frame.
Fig. 3 is an oblique view of the bottom of cylindrical tube G; N is a bar
fixed across it, in the center of which is a pivot hole, which turns on the
pivot O, which is fixed in the bottom of the wooden frame B.
Fig. 4 is a view of the upper end of the tube G, into which is fitted the
valve P.
Fig. 5 is a view of the upper side of the top or box F, to which is fixed
a small wheel or pinion Q. The inside contains a number of partitions going
from its center to the edge of the box, which are something deeper than the
inside of the box, and prevents the top from shutting quite close, so that there
is a small opening all round the upper edge.
Fig. 6 is a view of the underside of the circular top or box F; R is the
circular hole to which is fixed the tube G; S, S, &c. are the partitions which
go from the center to the edge.
Fig. 7 is a view of the underside of the circular board E, which turns on
the arbor of the tooth or cog wheel A, which is hollow, and fixed to the
underside of the top board of the square box or frame D; b, a frame fixed
to the circular board E, in which are other two wheels c and d, and pinion 6,
and is carried round the fixt wheel with it; f, f, f, are flies fixed to the
circular board E, and is carried round with it, and likewise round the circular
top or box F.
Fig. 8 is a view of upper frame D, or square box, without its top; g, the

page_text: circular hole in which turns the circular top or box F; h, a circular hook
made fast to the inside circular hole, the top of which is something lower
than the top of the circular top or box F. When this machinery is to be put.
in motion, the bottom frame B, the cylindrical tube G, and the circular top or
box F, are to be filled with water, mercury, or some other fluid, the bottom of
the cylindrical tube G, being immersed in the fluid, prevents the external air
entering at that end. The circular board E, being turned, carries round with
it the wheels and pinions in the frame b, the pinnion e working in the fixt
wheel a is put in motion, and likewise the wheel C on the arbor of
which it is fixed, which turns the wheel d, which also turns the small
wheel or pinnion Q, which is fixt to the top of the circular top or box
F, the axis of which works in the hollow arbor of the fixt wheel a, by
which means the circular top or box F and the tube G are turned with
very great velocity, and the fluid contained therein acquires a very great
centrifugal force, and flies off through the small opening in the upper edge,
and strikes with a very great force against the flies that are fixed to the
circular board E, which carries round the wheel work, from whence it passes
through an opening at the bottom of the frame D into the top of the over-
shot wheel II, and forces it round, from which it is discharged into the bottom
frame B, and, by the pressure of the atmosphere forced again up the cylindrical
tube G into the circular top or box F, when it again flies off through the
small opening in the upper edge, and strikes with a force, as before, against
the flies that are fixed to the circular board which carries round the wheel
work, and passes, as before, through the opening in the bottom of the frame D
into the overshot wheel H, and forces it round, from which it is again
discharged into the bottom frame B, and by the pressure of the atmosphere
forced up the cylindrical tube G, and so on ad infinitum. When the machine
is stopt the valve P closes the upper end of the tube. G, and prevents the fluid
from descending, so that it always remains full when stopt.
Fig. 9, a hollow cone, at the small end of which is fixt a cross bar A, in the
center of which is a pivot hole.
Fig. 10, a solid cone, with partitions b, b, b, &c., leading from top to bottom,
over which is placed the hollow cone Fig. 9, and made fast the partition
b, b, b, &c., so that there is a space between the two cones from one end to
the other.
Fig. 11, a view of the two cones when fixt together; c is a small wheel
or pinion fixt upon the center of the large end of the cone; d; a small opening
all round the edge of the large end of the two cones when fixt together. The
two cones Fig. 11, when fixt together, and erected in the frames B, C, &c., its

page_text: small end turning on the pivot O, and the arbor of the small wheel or pinion c,
and in the hollow arbor of the fixt wheel a, causes the same operation as the
cylindrical tube G and its circular top or box F.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Mead, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand seven hundred and eighty-six.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and eighty-six.