OR IMPROVED APPARATUS OR MECHANISM FOR OBTAINING POWER AND MOTION TO BE USED AS A MECHANICAL AGENT GENERALLY, WHICH I INTEND TO DENOMINATE ROTAE VIVAE
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
THOMAS BECK, of the Parish of Little Stonham, in the County of Suffolk,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Fifth day of June, in the first year of Her reign, and
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Richard
Thomas Beck, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Richard Thomas Beck, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Thomas Beck, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein men-
tioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, an Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED
APPARATUS OR MECHANISM FOR OBTAINING POWER AND MOTION TO BE USED AS A
MECHANICAL AGENT GENERALLY, WHICH I INTEND TO DENOMINATE ROTAE VIVAE,"
being a communication from a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Richard Thomas
Beck, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and

page_text: immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Thomas Beck, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say:
Hitherto no advantage has been taken of gravitation, the action of which is
incessantly renewed to obtain a mechanical agent. No engine has ever been
built in which the motive power raises a weight to a small height, which
weight relapses by its own gravitation, and is raised again to relapse again
to relapse again, and so on to produce a continuous. It is an engine on that
principle which we have denominated rotae vivae, and which we are about to
describe. It consists of -a nave of a wheel, such nave turning with the arbor
or axletree by which it is supported, and a felloe placed excentrically to the
said nave.
The steam or gas is used to drive continually from the vertical
line the centre of gravity of the felloe, and to impart to the whole system a
rotary motion. This felloe and nave are united by spokes consisting each of a
cylinder and the rod of its piston. Trunnions connect the cylinder to the
felloe and the rod to the nave. These spokes being able to extend and
incline at will, allow the felloe to become excentric with reference to the
nave; 'they are also used to receive the action of steam and drive the wheel.
To these principal pieces must be added those necessary: first, to limit the
excentricity of the felloe with reference to the nave; second, to transmit to
the nave the rotation of the felloe; third, to guide each piston so that it may
move continually according to the axis of its cylinder, and exert no lateral
pressure on the same; fourth, to put each cylinder successively in commu-
nication with the steam or gas generator and with the atmosphere or
the condenser. Among those pieces some constitute the nave, some
form the felloe, others unite the felloe to the nave, and, finally, some
others remain stationary and do not partake of the rotation of the engine.
Fig. 1 is a section of the engine in which all these pieces are repre-
sented endways. Pieces forming the nave:-First, they consist in two
plates A, A, A, A, and A', A¹, A¹, A', Fig. 1 and 2, which we will call
carrying plates. The central part of these plates forms the nave; for this
purpose they are both provided with an inner rim a, a, a, a, and a³, a', u', a',
which forms a kind of tube into which enters the axis or arbor of the engine,

page_text: which assumes a multilateral shape, that the rotation of the nave may be
transmitted to the arbor B, B¹. The bolts 6, 6', serve to connect together
the two plates. The Fig. 2, which represents a front view of one of these
plates, shews that in this plate are cut out, first, a polygonal aperture B to
receive the axis B, B'; second, circular holes c, c, c, c, to receive the trunnions
of the piston rods; third, an equal number of holes b, b, b, b, to receive the
bolts b, 61; fourth, an equal number of circles d, d, d, d, in order to regulate
the excentricity and transmit the rotary motion from the felloe to the nave; as
to the open spaces c³, c, they are only made to lessen the weight of the plates.
Pieces forming the felloe:-They consist of two metallic rings represented in
section, Fig. 1, at c, c, and c', c¹; a fragment is seen in a front view at c, c, c,c,
Fig. 3. In these rings are made, first, the holes e, e, e, e, in equal number to
that of the cylinders, and in which are introduced the trunnions of such cylinders;
second, an equal number of holes ffff, to admit the bolts which unite to the
rings the external circle D, D, D, D, on the sides of which are applied, by
means of the rods 9, 9, 9, 9, heavy hoops to increase at will the total weight the
felloe is to carry, the gravitation of which weight puts in action the whole
engine. Pieces uniting the felloe to the nave :-Of these, some are fastened to
the nave, some to the felloe, and others are fastened both to the nave and the
felloe; the pieces connected to the felloe are the cylinders, two of which are
represented by E, E, and F, F, Fig. 1, and of which Fig. 4 presents a section
on a larger scale. The bottom of each cylinder is formed of a metallic plug G,
by means of which and of the screw H, is regulated the internal capacity of
such cylinder. The cylinder is supported by two trunnions, which, for
symmetry's sake, have been placed at about one half the height of such
cylinder. Each trunnion I, I, I', I', Fig. 4, is composed, first, of a cylindrical
part h moving in the slide hereafter mentioned; second, of the real trunnion i,
which revolves in the hole e, Fig. 8, cut in the ring; third, of a worm j, to
receive a nut; fourth, of a cylindrical part k, which rests on the edge of the
circular aperture d, Fig. 1 and 2, cut in the carrying plate; fifth, of a cylin-
drical part acting on the excentric drum herein-after described; to these two
parts & and may, in order to lessen the friction, be substituted two rollers;
sixth, of a worm m to receive a nut. At the mouth of the cylinder are fixed
two cylindrical pins n, n', which play in the slides hereafter mentioned, and
are terminated by worms to receive nuts. The pieces connected directly
with the nave are the pistons and their rods, which latter, to obviate the
imperfections of construction, are articulated that they may never become an
obstacle to the parallel motion of the piston. Each rod, Fig. 1 and 4, carries
at its extremity two trunnions K, K', which turn each in one of the holes c,

page_text: Fig. 2, made in the carrying plates, and the ends of such trunnions are level
with the surface of these plates. A channel or passage is bored through
these trunnions, also through the rod and piston L; thus there exist three
orifices, one in the subface of the piston opening into the cylinder, the two
others bored in the outer ends of the trunnions. To prevent this passage from
being interrupted by the articulations of the rods, these articulations on the
cup and ball principle are made air-tight. One of these cups M is fixed to
the rod which carries the trunnions, the other is fastened to the piston L itself,
and the balls m and n which turn in these cups are fastened to the inter-
mediate part which forms, properly speaking, the rod. The cup N is provided
with two pins O and O', which enter the slide and receive on their extremity
nuts. These slides are pieces connected both with the nave and the felloe;
they are placed one on each side of the cylinder, as seen at p, o, n, i, p', o', n¹³, i³,
Fig. 4, and P, I, P¹, I', Fig. 1. The Fig. 5 represents a front view of one
of these slides. This slide has, first, a circular aperture p, in which turns
the trunnion of the rod; second, a hole o to receive the pin of the
cup M; third, the slot n, in which moves longitudinally the pin of the
extremity of the cylinder; fourth, the slot h, in which moves the trunnion of
the cylinder. Whatever position the trunnion I may take, this slide, acting
on the pin n, will force the axis of the cylinder to follow the line which
connects the centre of the trunnion I of the cylinder to that of the trunnion k
of the piston rod; it will likewise force this rod to follow this same
line I, K, so that the strokes of the piston will take place according to
the axis of the cylinder, and that no lateral pressure will ever take place, the
imperfections in the construction being obviated through the articulation of
the piston rod. The pieces 9, 9', Fig. 4, revolve with the slides, and are
calculated to maintain them at a proper distance from the carrying plates.
Pieces which do not partake of the rotation of the felloe and nave:-The
pieces which do not partake of the rotation of the machine are, independently
of the bearings in which the axis revolves, the apparatus which conveys the
steam into the cylinders and out of them. Against each carrying plate A, A,
is placed externally a disk o, o, Fig. 1 and 6, which, being ground to
fit, will come in close contact with the orifices of the trunnions k, and
in consequence of the rotation of the engine, each of these orifices laying
against the disk, will trace the whole circle. By sinking on the disk a
segment of a circular groove in communication with the steam or gas
generator, the cylinders will receive the steam through the channel bored
through the piston rod during that part of their motion corresponding with
that groove. If in the similar disk o', o', Fig. 1, a segment of circular groove

page_text: be sunk and made to communicate with the atmosphere or with a condenser,
the cylinders will be liberated from their steam during that portion of their
motion corresponding with this said second groove, but during the remainder
of their motion these cylinders will be closed, and it will be easy by modifying
the relative proportions of the grooves and the plain parts of the disks to
regulate the action produced by the pressure and expansion of the steam.
This modification takes place in the machine, and at will, through the following
contrivances -Each whole disk is composed of three disks placed by the side
of one another. Fig. 6 shews of the first disk o, o', the anterior side which
lies against the carrying plate and closes the orifices of the trunnions k. In
this disc, which is similar on both sides, are cut, 1st, a circular aperture in
which revolves freely the axis B; 2°, a semi-circular groove r 1, r 2, cor-
responding to the orifices of the trunnions k; 8, 8, are pinions fixed to the second
disc, which by means of teeth cut in the circumference of the first disc serve
to regulate the position of the latter; t, t, t, t, hooks or holders, fixed also on
the second disc, and employed to preserve the first disc in the position imparted
to it by means of the pinions 8, s. The second disc, of which may be seen the
section at P, P, Fig. 1, and the off side at P, P, Fig 7, has its fore side
placed in close contact with the off side of the first disc; this fore side of the
second disc has fixed to it a small solid segment t, Figures 1 and 6, projecting
in a degree equal to the thickness of the first disc, in the groove of which
it fits closely; on the left hand portion of this side are bored the holes u, u, u, u,
which communicate with the circular groove of the off side of the plate. This
groove u, v, v, may be seen, Fig. 7; the holes u, u, which run through the disc are
shewn on the right hand side, the figure being inverted. These holes u, u, u,
are all placed on the same side of the solid segment t, so that the right hand por-
tion t, r2, of the semi-circular groover, r 2, is closed, and that the only commu-
nication with the steam is through the left hand portion t, r 1, which may be
enlarged or lessened at will by turning the first disc on the second. 8, 8, Fig. 7, are
catches for holding the pinions 8, s, Fig. 6; and t, t, t, t, Fig. 7, nuts which are
used to screw up the holders t, t, t, t, Fig. 6. In order to obtain the maximum
of action, the steam must enter in the cylinders on one side of the axis of
eccentricity, and make its exit on the other side. The solid segments t, t¹,
Fig. 1, and Fig. 6, which limit the grooves, must always be on that axis of
eccentricity; but on the disc o, o, which admits the steam, the segment must be
on the upper part of this axis, and in the disc of discharge o', o, it must be on
the lower part of the same axis. It is evident that in this disc of discharge, in
consequence of the position of the segment t, the holes u, u, u, u, will be on the
right hand side of the axis of eccentricity. When the engine is in action, the

page_text: axis of eccentricity ceases to be vertical, and its direction may vary with the
pressure of the steam. In order, therefore, that the engine may regulate
itself, the position of the two discs must vary with that of the axis of
eccentricity. For this purpose, to the second disk is adapted a drum Q, Q, Q, Q,
concentric with the rings, and consequently eccentric to the axis. On this
drum act the rollers 2, placed at the extremity of the trunnions of the cylinders,
which rollers maintain the said drum constantly concentric with the rings.
The segment t, corresponding with the shortest radius of this drum, will always
be brought to the highest point of the axis of eccentricity. In the disc of
discharge the segment & will correspond with the longest radius of the
eccentric drum u', u', Fig. 1, and will always be maintained at the lowest part
of the axis of eccentricity. The third disc R, R, Fig. 1, has on its fore side a
circular groove (see Fig. 8) similar to the groove v, v, v, on the off side of the
second disc against which it is applied. This disc is invariably fixed to the
framework of the engine, and has on its off side a circular pipe, connected by
two tubes x, x, with the apparatus for producing steam or gas and those for
absorbing the same, which apparatus will be in every respect similar to those
generally known. Holes bored between this pipe and the circular groove of
the fore side establish from this pipe to the groove t, r, of the first disc, a
communication which always exists, although the second disk turns on the
third, so that whatever be the position assumed by the axis of eccentricity, the
engine will always receive the steam, and discharge it after having displayed
its action. To this third disc is fixed (Fig. 1) the collar s, s, in which revolves
the axis, and which supports the machine. This collar is formed by a tube
which enters into the standard U, U. The screws T, T, placed internally
against this support allows the third disc R, R, to be removed from the
standard u, u, by means of the two screws T, T, and T¹, T¹; the several discs
may be brought against one another, so as to be steam-tight. From the
construction, of the engine it is evident that each trunnion of the cylinders will
always rest at the lowest part of the circles d, d, d, d, and that their action on
those circles will cause the plates A, A, A, A, and A', A¹, A', A', Figs. 1 & 2,
to revolve with their axis B, B', while the rings c, c, c, c, and c¹, c, cl, c³, will
revolve around their own centre. The engine being in a state of rest, and the
steam being admitted through the groove T, r, of the disc o, o, will enter into
the cylinders corresponding with the same groove, namely, those marked
1, 2, 3, 4, Fig. 2, and will act on the bottom of those cylinders, which bottom
Hence will be
being immoveable the cylinder themselves will be moved.
derived a force which will tend to drive the felloe from the nave, and
consequently to remove the centre of gravity of the felloe from the vertical

page_text: line which passes through the centre of the nave. The axis of eccentricity
will cease to be vertical, and the felloe will be exposed to the action of two
powers, one of which, that of steam, will pass through the nave, and the other,
that of gravity, will no longer pass through the nave, but through the centre of
the felloe which has deviated from the vertical position. From the combina-
tion of these two forces it will result, first, that the centre of eccentricity will
remain inclined towards the left side from whence comes the steam; second,
that the felloe will have a continuous rotatory motion around its centre
directed from the centre of eccentricity towards the vertical line. In con-
sequence of the rotary motion, each cylinder will, in succession, occupy the
positions 1, 2, 3, 4, and arrive at a at the top of the axis of eccentricity, and
receive steam until it reaches B, from thence to y, the bottom of the axis of
eccentricity, the cylinder being closed will be submitted to the expansion of
the steam from the point y into d, it will discharge its steam to receive a fresh
supply at a. The respective position of all the pieces will not change when
the engine is in operation, the only change will be in the direction of the axis
of eccentricity; when the machine is at rest, this axis will be vertical. The
steam being put in action it will incline and carry over with it the whole
machine, so that the Fig. 2 will always represent this engine, if one only
supposes that the line x, B, y, ceases to be vertical, and assumes a position
suitably inclined, carrying with it the whole Figure. The centre of gravity of
the felloe is, by the action of steam on the cylinders 1, 2, 3, 4, displaced and
lifted up;
it tends to resume its primitive position under the axis B, B', but
as it descends it is lifted up again by the action of the steam on the cylinders,
which become in succession connected with the boiler; so that from this
combined action of steam and gravity there results a rotatory motion of the
felloe around its centre, which remains fixed. This motion being transmitted
to the axis in consequence of the peculiar construction of the machine, we find
that while the pistons and the cylinders act in a straight line, we obtain by
their combination an engine gifted with a continuous rotatory motion and
impelled by the reaction of steam against gravitation. The system which we
have here employed for the transmission to the axis of the eccentric motion of
the felloe receives an important application in carriage wheels, and on the
other hand the gravitation from which we have derived advantage in our
machine presents for locomotion a bearing or point of resistance, which has not
yet been turned to account.
The part of the Invention which refers to locomotion consists in new means
of creating a progressive motion, which on the one part lessen the resistance
opposed to locomotion by the uneven state of common roads, and on the other.

page_text: part increase the propelling force exerted by the power supported by the
carriage. By the first of these means we establish between the felloe and the
nave an independance which does not allow the jerks received by the felloe to
be transmitted to the nave, and consequently to the carriage; from thence it
results that this carriage preserves its acquired velocity. By the second means
we give to the action of the motive power a bearing point derived from the
very gravitation of the carriage, instead of the one hitherto used, consisting
only in the friction on the surface of the road. The Fig. 9 presents a front
view of whole system, and Fig. 10, the section of the same. A, A, A, A, felloe
similar to the ordinary ones, and which may be made of metal, or, as in the
Figures, in wood, circled externally with an iron tire; B, B, B, B, and
B', B¹, B¹, B¹, metallic plates similar to one another, placed one on each side of
the felloe. In these plates are cut the circles c, c, c, c, c, c, c, c, all of them of
the same diameter; a, a, a, a, bolts which unite together the two plates and fix
them against the felloe by the holders b, b, b, b. Each of these circles c must
be exactly similar to the corresponding one on the other plate c'. Their circum-
ference must be accurrately turned to present a surface perfectly smooth.
The internal surface of each plate must be perfectly plain. Between these two
plates B, B, B, B, and B', B', B', B', not quite so distant from one another as
the felloe is thick, revolves a plate or internal wheel D, D, D, D; it is fixed
to the nave E, which is similar to ordinary naves, and may be either in wood
or metal. This wheel is supported by rollers on the circular rails c, c, c, c, and
c, c, c, c. The rollers G, G, G, G, are equal in number to that of the
rails c, c, c, c, and the distance from the centre of each of them to the centre
of the nave E must be equal to the distance existing between the centres f,f,
of the circles which correspond to this roller and the centre F of the felloe.
Each roller G is formed of a metallic cylinder, bearing by its extremities on
the circular rails c and c', and secured at its middle part by a collar made in
the internal wheel D, D, D, D. A small screw c entering in this wheel
D, D, D, D, through a female screw penetrates in a groove d, cut around
the roller G, and without hindering the rotation of this roller prevents its
escaping from its collar. Each of these rollers G must rest by its extremities
on the lowest point of the circular rails c and c'. It is easy to obtain a
sufficient precision by taking care in the construction to place over one
another, the two plates B, B, B, B, and B', B', B', B', as well as the internal
wheels D, D, D, D, so as to make their respective centres correspond, and in
that position the three plates must be bored together to place simultaneously
the centres of the collars of the rollers and those of the circular rails. To
prevent the dust and dirt from impeding the action of this wheel, all its

page_text: a hori-
internal mechanism may be enclosed between two covers constructed in any
convenient manner, provided full liberty be allowed to the eccentric action of
the nave. The construction we have just described is that of every one of
wheels of the carriage which does not receive the action of the motive power.
The wheels to which this action is transmitted do receive it through
zontal lever H, E, Fig. 1, which being placed horizontally before the nave,
can have a rotary motion around the nave. This lever is so disposed as to
transmit to the nave the rotatory motion in one direction and not in the other.
To obtain this end one of the known contrivances may be resorted to. We
shall indicate the most simple, that is to say, a ratchet wheel and a catch.
Fig. 11 is a top view of the whole mechanism. This mechanism is contained
between two plates a, a, and a', a', fixed to the nave and its box; b, b, and b', b',
ratchet wheels fixed to the nave and the plates a, a, and a', a', and of which
the teeth are inclined in a contrary direction. d, d, ring turning on the box
of the nave, which box must extend beyond the nave till it reaches the
plate a, a. It is this ring on which rests the lever H, that allows it to turn
around the axletree or, more properly speaking, the nave. c and c', catches
set on the axis 9, 9', which traverse the lever H. When one of these catches c
acts on its ratchet wheel b, b, the other c' is lifted up, and does not act
and reciprocally. It is therefore possible, by means of the rod g, e, placed on
the axis g, g', to act at will on the catch c or the catch c', and consequently
to transmit an alternate motion from the lever to the nave in one direction or
another. The screw f maintains the rod g, e, in a proper position. When
we transmit the downward and not the upward motion, we drive on the
carriage. When, on the contrary, the upward and not the downward motion
is given, the carriage will run back. The moving power of whatever descrip-
tion will act on any point of this lever, but more advantageously at the
point k, determined by the distance E, K, from the nave, and equal to about the
of the distance E, S, from the nave to the ground. To the lever will be
transmitted, in any convenient manner, the impulse of the moving power,
which must be perpendicular to the lever, and the same in its action, must
never deviate considerably from a line parallel to the plan of motion. In
consequence of this method of transmitting to the wheel the action of the
moving power, it is around the point of bearing S on the ground that the
rotation of this wheel takes place, and no longer around the axletree as is
the case in ordinary locomotive carriages, in which the motive power acts on
the wheel by means of a crank. In the ordinary process the reaction neces-
sary for the display of the action of the moving power is only derived from the

page_text: friction of the felloe on the ground. According to our system this reaction is
obtained from the gravitation of the carriage, and, in exceptional cases, of a
backward motion on the fixity of the surface of the road; for independently of
the action of this friction we apply to the nave a real tractive power parallel
to the plan of motion, and analogous to that exerted by horses. This force is
a transformation of that displayed by the motive power perpendicularly to the
plan of motion, and which is limited in the one direction by the gravitation of
the carriage, and in the other by the fixity of the road's surface. From whence
it follows, that while the friction is in ordinary locomotive carriages an insuf-
ficient point of resistance for the creation of the motion, when this motion
must take place on an inclined or heavy road, we habitually find in the
gravitation of the carriage, and sometimes in the fixity of the road, a sufficient
resistance to display a more powerful locomotive action. It is not necessary
to state, that as our eccentric wheels may be applied to carriages drawn by
horses, our levers may be used with ordinary wheels, though with less
advantage, since there is a greater traction, and since the jerks received by
the felloe are transmitted to the motive power.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I lay no claim
to the various parts of the engine above described taken separately, but that
I do claim, under the above in part recited Letters Patent, the systematic
combination herein-before described, and, in particular, I claim,―
First, as novel, the eccentric wheel, in which the gravitation is called to
action by steam, and in which the rectilinear strokes of cylinders and pistons
are so combined as to produce a direct rotatory motion, as above described.
Secondly, the application of the same principle of eccentricity to carriage
wheels, which, by their geometrical construction, secure the nave from any of
those jerks to which the felloe is subjected through the roughness of roads.
Thirdly, the means of transmitting to the wheels the action of the motive
power resting on the carriage through the agency of levers, which make these
wheels rotate, not as hitherto done, around their axletree, but around their
bearing point on the road, so as to ensure a reaction to the action of the motive
power, not only by the friction of the felloe on the road, but also by the gravi
tation of the carriage or the fixity of the road.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Thomas Beck, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this third day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
RICH T. (L.s.) BECK.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of December, in the
second year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Richard
Thomas Beck came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year
of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Fifth day of December, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-eight.