A REVOLVING ENGINE, TO BE WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, GASES, OR WATER
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Parsey, of No. 3, Crescent Place,
Burton Crescent, in the Parish of St. Pancras, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "A REVOLVING ENGINE, TO BE
WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, GASES, OR WATER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Parsey at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th June 1853.
I, ARTHUR PARSEY, of No. 3, Crescent Place, Burton Crescent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A REVOLVING
ENGINE, TO BE WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, GASES, OR WATER," to be as
follows:-
An outside cylinder A, is fixed tangentially, and an inner cylinder B,
revolves with the shaft or axle C, fixed by end cylinder covers eccentri-
cally to the outer cylinder A.
Sliding arms or blocks a, which, when projected into the space
between the two cylinders, (A, and B.) act as pistons, flyers, or buckets

page_text: (as the inner cylinder B, revolves), which will advance and recede by
the expansion and contraction of springs c, and the said pistons, flyers,
or buckets will accommodate themselves thereby to the outer circum-
ference of the crescent, and coincide with its curvature by the rocking
ends or head pieces b, to be affixed thereon, by which means a revolving
engine may be produced to be worked by steam, air, gases, or water,
for the purpose of driving locomotive or any other machinery. D, and
E, show the portways or induction and eduction passages for the steam,
air, gas, or water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Parsey in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 14th December 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ARTHUR PARSEY, of No. 3, Crescent Place, Burton Crescent, in the
Parish of Saint Pancras, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Arthur Parsey, Her special licence
that I, the said Arthur Parsey, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Arthur Parsey, my executors,
administrators, 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 "A REVOLVING
ENGINE, TO BE WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, GASES, OR WATER," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Arthur Parsey, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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

page_text: 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 Arthur Parsey, do hereby de-
clare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings (that is to say):
My said Invention consists of an engine to be worked by steam, air,
gas, or water, for the purpose of producing rotary motion, the construc-
tion thereof being illustrated by the said Drawings.
Figure 1, of the said Drawings is a transverse section of one of my
said engines; Figure 2, is a longitudinal section of the same engine;
and Figures 3, 4, and 5, represent several detached parts of the engine
upon a larger scale and in perspective. Similar parts in each of these
five Figures being marked with similar letters of reference.
A, A, is a fixed cylinder, which I call the external or outer cylinder,
within which I place a revolving cylinder B, B, the axle or shaft C,
of which is mounted in bearings in the end covers of the external
cylinder A.
The inner or revolving cylinder B, is made of the same length as the
interior of the outer cylinder A, but of a diameter considerably less
than the interior of the outer cylinder. The bearings of the axle C, of
the inner cylinder are so placed that the axle shall be parallel with a
line drawn along the centre of the outer cylinder A, and at such a
distance from that line as will cause the inner cylinder B, to rotate
with its periphery constantly touching or nearly touching one side of
the interior of the outer cylinder A, throughout the whole of its length.
By mounting the inner cylinder in this manner a space is left between
the interior of the outer cylinder and the exterior of the inner cylinder,
the transverse section of which space is of a crescent or lune shape, as
shewn at D, D, Figure 1.
The inner cylinder B, is furnished with sliding flyers or paddles b, b,
each of which extends along the whole length of that cylinder, and is
fitted into a slot or recess a, cut along the whole length of the inner

page_text: cylinder B, so that when the flyer b, projects from the cylinder it may
do so in a right line from the axis of the cylinder B.
Each slot a, is cut of a sufficient depth to receive a flyer when
pressed into it and spiral or helical springs c, by which it may be again
forced out.
When two of these slots or recesses a, are cut upon opposite sides of
a cylinder, orifices,, may be made through the cylinders from the
bottom of one of the slots to the bottom of that on the other side, as
shewn in Figures 1, and 2, so that the springs may pass through from
the bottom of one flyer to the bottom of the opposite flyer.
I place rods d, d, within each of the springs (as shewn in the Figures
1, and 2,) but when the springs pass through, as above mentioned,
care must be taken to make the rods sufficiently short to allow the
opposite flyers to be simultaneously depressed.
The mode of constructing the sliding flyers is shown in Figures 3, 4,
and 5.
Upon the outer edge of each of these sliding flyers I place a self-
adjusting head piece e, the exterior part of which is made with a trans-
verse curvature to fit the interior of the outer cylinder A. This head
piece may be either fitted upon a round projection of the flyer, as
shewn in Figure 4, or may be hinged upon the flyer, as shewn in
Figure 5.
The inner cylinder B, may be furnished with two or any other
number of sliding flyers which may be preferred.
When the inner cylinder B, revolves the flyers b, will be wholly
pressed into their slots or grooves a, when they are brought round to
that part of the revolution at which the inner cylinder B, comes in
contact with the inside of the outer cylinder A; but as the revolution of
the inner cylinder proceeds flyer thus depressed will be gradually
clevated by the springs c, beneath it as it is carried round in the
crescent shaped space D, between the two cylinders already mentioned
until it reaches its greatest elevation at a point of the revolution
opposite to that at which it was wholly pressed into its slot; after which
it will be again gradually depressed during the other semi-revolution

page_text: of the cylinder B, until it is again pressed wholly within its slot a, as
before mentioned; the springs c, under each flyer thus causing the
exterior of the self-adjusting heads e, of the flyers b, to be constantly
pressed against the interior of the outer cylinder A, as it rotates upon
the inner cylinder B.
In lieu of or in addition to the springs c, for raising or pressing out
the sliding flyers, each of the self-adjusting head pieces e, may be
furnished with a semi-dovetail projection f, at each end, as shewn in
Figure 3. These projections, fitting into semi-dovetailed recesses or
slots f, cut round the interior of the outer cylinder at each end of it, as
at the part shewn by a dotted line f, f, in Figure 1, and in the manner
shewn at ff, in Figure 2.
Along the interior of the outer cylinder A, (from end to end) at that
part where the inner cylinder B, comes into contact with it, I make a
slot or recess g, in which I place a flat bar of gun metal or other
suitable material, the upper surface of which is made to fit the curva-
ture of the inner cylinder which works in contact with it. Under this
bar g, I place a spring or springs to keep the bar continually pressed
(although slightly) against the inner cylinder B, during its revolution,
for the purpose of insuring the contact of the inner cylinder B, with
that side of the outer cylinder A, notwithstanding any wearing of the
parts, and so prevent the passage of the steam on that side of the outer
cylinder A.
The ends of the inner cylinder and flyers, and also the interior faces
of the end covers, are ground accurately, so that the inner cylinder may
revolve freely, but with its ends in contact with the covers so as to
prevent the passage of steam at the ends of the cylinder.
I secure the end covers by means of bolts and nuts in the ordinary
way, placing some packing in the joint all round so as to facilitate the
adjustment of the end covers to their proper positions, with their interior
surfaces in contact with the ends of the inner cylinder, but not pressing
those ends too tightly.
In order to secure the joint I place a metal strap h, h, Fig 1, and 2,
round it, and that strap may also have packing placed under it all
round.

page_text: E, and F, are ports for the admission and exit of the steam, and when
the port at one side is used for the admission of steam the steam is
discharged through that on the opposite side, each of the ports being
furnished with three way cocks of the ordinary description, or any other
convenient means, for the purpose of making them either admission or
lischarge ports as may be required for the purpose of causing the inner
cylinder to revolve in the required direction.
To facilitate the passage of the steam between the interior of the
outer cylinder and the ports I make slots or recesses i, i, round a
portion of the interior of the outer cylinder A, as shewn by dotted lines
in Figure 1. The lengths of these slots i, i, I vary according to the
number of flyers, and so that the steam may continue to act upon a
flyer approaching the widest part of the crescent shaped space D, D,
until the steam between that flyer and the next preceding flyer shall
begin to blow off through the port or ports on the opposite side of the
outer cylinder.
By admitting steam, air, gas, or water into the outer cylinder A,
through the port or ports on one side, the inner cylinder B, will, by
the action of the steam, air, gas, or water upon the flyers or paddles b, be
caused to revolve in one direction, the steam, water, or gas passing out
of the outer cylinder through the port or ports on the opposite side, and
by admitting the steam, air, water, or gas through the port or ports on
the opposite side the inner cylinder will be caused to revolve in the
opposite direction, the steam, water, or gas passing out at the port or
ports on first-mentioned side, and thus rotary motion may be given to
the inner cylinder B, and to its axle C, in either direction, and reversed
at pleasure by changing the port or ports at which the steam, air, gas,
or water shall be admitted.
Rotary motion being given to the axle C, or shaft of the inner
cylinder B, in this manner, that shaft may be connected with any
machinery or apparatus to which it may be required to communicate
the motion.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I hereby declare that, except as herein-
after mentioned, I do not claim any of the elements or parts of which