A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTIVE POWER ENGINE
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Williain Thomas Whiteman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th September 1881. A com-
munication from abroad by Edward Roettger, of Brunswick, in the Empire
of Germany, Civil Engineer, and Hector de Bay, of Brussels, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, Manufacturer.
WILLIAM THOMAS WHITEMAN, of No. 7, Staple Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent. "A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTIVE POWER ENGINE." [A communi-
cation from abroad by Edward Roettger, of Brunswick, in the Empire of Germany,
Civil Engineer, and Hector de Bay, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Manufacturer.]
This Invention relates to a motive power engine actuated by heat and cold
acting alternately on a compound bar, plate, or blade composed of two metals, the
expansion or linear dilatation of which is different.
According to this Invention the compound bar, plate, or blade, hereinafter called
the compound plate, which is fixed at one end and is capable of motion at its other
end, is composed by preference of steel (not tempered) and brass plates rivetted one
upon the other or joined together, the brass plate being situated beneath the steel
plate, but any other suitable combination of metal plates may be used, the
important point being that the expansion or linear dilatation of the two metals
under the influence of heat should be as different as possible. The brass part of
the said compound plate is first acted upon by a gas flame (or other source of heat
capable of being rendered intermittent), the heat acting upon the brass plate heats
it before beating the steel plate, and the parts of the compound plate will expand
differently, and the said plate will be deformed and will assume a convex shape aз
regards the gas flame or heating medium. By applying to the compound plate a
certain resistance, the said plate under the influence of heat, as herein before
described, will tend to overcome the said resistance, and will produce a certain
motive force in a certain direction. When the heat applied to the said compound.
plate bas attained a suitable degree of intensity, by extinguishing the gas flame or
by removing the heat from the said compound plate, the said compound plate will
tend to return to its original state, and as the said compound plate cools, either of
itself or by contact with a less warm body (such as the ambient air, a current of

page_text: cold air, a jet of water, or any other suitable cooling medium), and returns to its
normal state and form, it is made to produce a further motive power by acting
against a resistance which opposes its return to its initial shape.
The said compound plate is at one end fixed to a suitable standard or support,
and projects therefrom by preference horizontally. The outer. or acting end of the
said compound plate is connected to a lever, the short arm of which is jointed to a
fixed standard or support, and the long arm of the said lever is at its end jointed
to a connecting rod by which the power produced by the compound bar is
transmitted to a pump, to a crank, or any other suitable mechanical means of
utilizing the power thus communicated. By the lever arrangement described, the
length of stroke is considerably increased or multiplied. Any other suitable
combination of levers or mechanism may be used for transmitting the power to the
parts to be actuated by it.
When gas
is employed as the heating medium to produce the deformation of the
compound plate, a suitable burner, by preference covered by a metal plate
perforated with very small holes, is disposed so as to project the flames upon the
brass part of the compound plate, the gas being conducted thereto through a
suitable pipe terminated by a nozzle through which a small jet of gas is driven into
the burner, the said jet of gas drawing with it a certain quantity of atmospheric
air. The said pipe is provided with a stop cock arranged so as to open and to close
the gas passage alternately as required, by means of a weighted lever actuated by
the compound plate. A very small jet of gas burns constantly over the burner for
the purpose of igniting the gas as it issues therefrom.
When it is required to obtain greater power than can be produced by one of the
said compound plates, two or a series of the said compound plates may be used,
each of the said compound plates being heated and cooled alternately one after the
other or simultaneously, and if required sources of heat other than gas may be
used, and to produce an intermittent supply of the heating means currents of
highly heated air may be used, such currents of air being by means of suitable
valves directed alternately on the different compound plates.