Improvements in and relating to Steam-engines.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Dec., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 25th Aug., 1891-Accepted, 26th Sept., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Steam-engines.
I, CHARLES LATARCHE, of Lempire, near Verdun, in the Republic of France,
Landlord, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to steam-engines.
The transformation of heat into work in the steam-engine has heretofore been the
result of a summary operation carried out directly between the extreme limits of
the temperatures, and to this cause must be chiefly attributed the excessive
consumption of the fuel necessary for its operation.
In the hydraulic motor the effects of the weight are utilized in a similar manner
between the extreme levels of the upper water-course and the overfall, without
causing any reduction in the effectiveness of this motor. But the conditions of
economical production in the steam engine do not present the same degree of
simplicity as in the hydraulic motor and they do not justify the analogy of the
methods.
The hydraulic motor utilizes a natural mechanical power represented by a
necessarily more or less high fall of water, but the height of which is not an
essential factor of the effectiveness. Heat has produced this power but outside the
motor which uses it. The effectiveness depends directly upon the degree to which
the mechanical effects of the fall are utilized, and not upon the quantity of heat
set in action for producing them. From this follows that the action of the
hydraulic motor is very simple, and that one operation well performed suffices for
rendering it complete.
But even if carried out in a perfect manner a simple operation cannot entirely
effect the economic operation of the steam engine; for in this case the object is not
simply to collect gratuitous work, but also to produce this work by a transformation
of energy, from which the hydraulic motor is exempt.
The conditions to be fulfilled for utilizing the mechanical effects produced are as
well observed in the actual steam engine as in the hydraulic motor; but the
conditions to be fulfilled for transforming into mechanical power the largest
possible part of the calorific energy imparted to the steam or for best utilizing
the fall of temperature at disposal are not observed at all, and this imperfection
gives rise to the reversal of the economic, results, that in the actual state I will
show by an example of our engines something better can be done than employing
the inordinately prolonged expansions which fulfil only the first of the above-
mentioned conditions of a rational operation, and that for obtaining the best
utilization of the heat spent it is also necessary to fulfil the second condition by
effecting the division of the fall of temperature by the regeneration of the steam.
Take for example the work of one of the most economical engines, that is to say
one acting at a high pressure between very wide limits of temperature. Suppose
for example as extreme limits the temperatures of 192 degrees and 18 degrees.
Under these conditions only seven kilogrammes of steam per hour and horse power
are consumed and only 91 callories per kilogramme of steam out of 665 calories
employed for producing it are utilized.
Of the 91 calories transformed 46.6 calories are used for the direct work that is
to say about half the total work; the rest is the complementary work of the
expansion the object of which is to augment to a certain degree the direct work
according to the extent to which it is employed.
These 46.6 calories of external heat which form the basis of the work of the
steam do not at all represent the maximum of the amount of external work which

page_text: it is possible to collect without the aid of expansion of the 665 calories spent but
on the contrary the minimum of this amount given the difference of temperature
considered.
Furthermore the total figure of 91 calories utilized per kilogramme of steam,
which represents only a coefficient of 0.52 calories per degree of the difference of
the temperatures, constitutes simply, at the degree of expansion employed, the
minimum of utilization of the heat contained in the kilogramme of steam
In lieu of operating directly between the temperatures of 192 degrees and
18 degrees, by passing abruptly from one extreme to the other, suppose two
successive operations take place, for example the first from 192 degrees to
105 degrees and the second from 105 degrees to 18 degrees so as to divide the
fall of temperature into two parts.
A calculation of the external work from 192 degrees to 105 degrees gives
17.965 kilogrammes equivalent to 42.37 calories utilized for only half the total fall
of temperature.
This does not yet amount to the 46.6 calories utilized by the direct fall. The
difference arises from the augmentation of the counter-pressure due to the elevation
of the temperature at which the condensation is effected, which augmentation is
comparatively slight if compared with the diminution of the interval between the
temperatures.
But the second part of the fall of temperature remains to be effected, and the
heat which could not be converted into external work in the first operation is
stored up integrally in the liquid products of the condensation effected at the
temperature of 105 degrees.
employ this heat, which has become disposable for regenerating the condensed
steam, that is to say it serves at the temperature of 105 degrees to give rise to a
fresh production of live steam and external work which may be considered
gratuitous because it is obtained without a fresh expenditure.
The condensation being now caused at the final temperature of 18 degrees this
second operation furnishes a supplementary work of 17.228 kilogrammes equivalent
to the utilization of 40.63 fresh calories to be added to the first.
Accordingly the sacrifice made in the first operation is ten times compensated for
by the product of the second operation which it has been able to realize.
In short I obtain from the two successive operations, by work at a constant
temperature which does not in any way diminish the difference of temperature
utilizable for the expansion, 42.37 +40-6383 calories of external heat in lieu
of 466 which were obtained in the direct operation between the extreme tempera-
tures. And supposing the expansion to be utilized to the same degree as
previously I obtain 162 calories in lieu of 91 total calories utilized, and the
consumption of steam in the engine will therefore at least be reduced from seven
kilogrammes to four kilogrammes.
Such is the advantage which, all things being equal, may be offered by the
division into two nearly equal parts of the fall of temperature from 192 degrees to
18 degrees. It will be still more considerable if the fall is divided into three parts
or into four parts, and in general will be the more marked the further the fall of
temperature is divided. For losses of heat occur in the steam energy as losses of
energy take place in the hydraulic motor, the one like the other increasing with the
violence of the shock, and in order to obviate these losses transitions must be
provided for.
By thus decomposing the fall of temperature into a certain number of separate
parts there is in the first part comparatively little to lose on the pressures that is
to say the force, and in the last parts much to gain on the volumes that is to say on
the distance passed through. Altogether the loss on the pressures is nil; they are
distributed integrally upon all the parts although they diminish very rapidly from
one part to the next. The gain realized by the division of the fall of temperature
is due to the augmentation of the volumes in proportion to this diminution. The
pressure and volume, which are the elementary factors of the work of the steam,

page_text: increase in inverse ratio in the scale of the temperatures, so that from one end of
the fall to the other there will be an exact compensation which has the effect of
re-establishing between the amount of heat liberated by the lowering of the
temperature and the amount of work produced the proportionality which is required
for the advantageous employment of the heat spent and which tends to thoroughly
change the interval necessary between the extreme temperatures.
In the example mentioned the direct operation, despite all the resources due to
the expansion had caused a very great disproportion between the amount of heat
utilized in the various parts of the fall, by reason of the total absence of the
necessary solidarity between these various parts. Thus the pressure employed in
the second operation multiplied by the volume given by the first had furnished
only 42 calories in lieu of 40.6. The difference is due to the increase in the
volume obtained at an equal pressure.
By means of the expansion an increase of the volumes is also obtained but only
at the expense of the temperature and pressure.
It will thus be seen that in the economic production of work it is necessary to
allow the steam to act only between the narrowest limits of temperature, in order
to augment the proportion of the volume produced at the mean pressure between
these temperatures on which the effectiveness of the heat depends.
Accordingly it is not sufficient to obtain as great a fall of temperature as possible,
there must be added a coefficient of utilization per degree of fall which is as
high as possible, and this double result answers the directly opposed conditions
which can be reconciled in practice only by a suitable division of the fall of
temperature.
For some years the more and more imperious need for reducing the consumption
of the fuel in the extensive applications of steam and particularly in the uses of
the same for marine purposes has led to the construction of engines having several
cylinders in which steam coming from the generator is gradually expanded before
it passes to the condenser to undergo the final cooling.
may observe that this mode of dividing the fall of temperature, which offers
only limited advantages, must not be confounded with the mode which forms the
subject of my invention. In the former case the division is only apparent. In
reality it is always the same steam, once produced in the generator, which traverses
the successive cylinders without being cooled so that despite the employment of
several cylinders the transformation of the heat is accomplished directly between
the extreme temperatures, and this is exactly the chief fault which I have
endeavoured to obviate by rendering the division of the fall of temperature effective
through the characteristic operation of regenerating the steam.
As to the means for carrying out the method embodying the principle herein-
before set forth, use might be made of a series of generators arranged after the
manner of a cascade, similarly to certain evaporating apparatus at present used in
the industry, in which the same heat serves to effect several successive evaporations.
But this solution would necessitate a complication of costly and cumbersome
apparatus, and the transmission of heat through the metallic partitions or sides
would give rise to a loss on the difference of the temperatures which after having
been re-established several times ultimately absorbs the greatest part of the work.
For avoiding these inconveniences I have devised a very simple apparatus into
which it is sufficient to pass the steam as it escapes from-one cylinder wherein it
has worked, for regenerating it before its admission to the next cylinder.
This apparatus which I term a regenerator and which is designated by A in the
accompanying drawing is similar to a condenser which performs its work by
mixture, but the liquid which serves to effect the condensation is not renewed in
it as in the ordinary condenser, because, as hereinbefore explained, the steam must
be successively condensed and then regenerated at the same temperature.
It is provided with a double bottom B pierced with holes and carries two pipes C
and D situated one at the upper part and the other at the lower part.

page_text: The double bottom B placed a little above the pipe D through which the steam
enters the apparatus is covered with liquid to the height of some centimetres.
For explaining the operation of the apparatus I will suppose the pipe D through
which the steam enters to be in communication with the exhaust of the small
cylinder of an engine and the pipe C to be in communication with the admission of
the following cylinder.
I will moreover suppose the mechanism for operating the slide valves to be
arranged in such a manner that at the moment when the communication with the
first cylinder is established the communication with the following cylinder is dis-
established in order that the apparatus shall be successively in communication with
one or the other cylinder, but never with the two at the same time, which condition
is readily fulfilled by the means well known in the construction of machines.
When the exhaust of the first cylinder is opened the steam passes into the
regenerator through the pipe D, traverses the double bottom B and enters the
stratum of liquid wherein it is condensed.
According to the quantity of liquid contained in the apparatus relatively to
the amount of steam to be condensed this liquid is heated more or less.
When the communication with the next cylinder is established through the
pipe C the steam contained in the space A enters the second cylinder at the same
time that a fresh amount of steam is regenerated at the expense of the excess of
heat accumulated in the cylinder or in the sides of the apparatus during the pre-
ceding condensation.
As the loss of heat which results from the regeneration compensates exactly the
gain produced by the condensation the liquid returns to its initial temperature, and
the same phenomenon can be reproduced indefinitely.
I describe this arrangement only by way of example in order to render the object
which I have in view well understood. It can be modified in various manners. The
apparatus may be rendered simpler still; for the double bottom and the liquid
covering the same may be dispensed with. The condensation may be effected
simply upon the metallic sides of the apparatus, the interior surface of which may
if necessary be increased by ribs or other suitable means.
In this instance the temperature of the sides is momentarily increased, for example
one or two degrees, and the condensed liquid forming a very thin stratum at their
surface is then vaporized at the expense of the heat restored by the metal.
In any case for ensuring at the same time the operation of the two steam
cylinders it is necessary to employ two apparatus similar to the one which I have
hereinabove described, which are connected in such a manner that when one is in
communication with one of the cylinders for the example the first and condenses the
steam which escapes from this cylinder, the other apparatus communicates with the
second cylinder and generates steam.
Thus the complete apparatus is double, and in an engine having several cylinders,
as many complete apparatus are required as there are cylinders minus one.
I have not mentioned the secondary advantages presented by the apparatus above
described, some of which are however of considerable importance in the applications.
I may mention more especially those which result from the greater regularity of
the motion of the engines and the possibility of progressively returning the feed
water or in general the liquid employed to the highest temperature by utilizing the
negative calories. For this purpose it will be sufficient to cause this water or this
liquid to pass through a number of regenerators, and by preference during each
period of condensation. Moreover it becomes very easy to obtain by the employ-
ment of my improved method very pure water for feeding the boiler, for the deposits
and incrustations will be formed entirely in the regenerators where they will not
have the inconvenience of interfering with the transmission of the heat. Lastly the
chief advantages of condensing engines may be realized although the steam is
allowed to escape into the atmosphere and without any need for disposing of a
current of cold water which it is not always easy to procure.

page_text: It is therefore not to the small extent of the fall of temperature but rather to the
insufficiency of the method heretofore employed for taking advantage of the same
that the slight proportion of heat utilized in the steam engine despite the perfection
of the mechanism must be attributed.
From the explanations given above it follows that it is impossible to achieve
economically the transformation of the heat into work by a direct operation between
the extreme temperatures, whatever care may be taken to complete this operation
by prolonging the expansion and that a fall of temperature cannot be suitably
utilized in the same manner as a fall of water is utilized. The reason for such a
difference between the two motors the operation of which I have compared is that
the action of the weight is utilized directly in the hydraulic motor whilst in the
steam engine the mode of restoring and utilizing the dynamic effects developed by
the normal action of the heat employed for heating the operative agent is reversed
as it were.
I have shown that the first condition to be fulfilled for utilizing the fall of
temperature, especially when it is very great, is to effect the division thereof, in
default of which the direct work is reduced to a minimum at the same time as the
quantity of steam formed. On the other hand the expansion itself is badly utilized,
because the work is not even doubled by increasing the initial volume ten-fold.
Under these conditions the expansion of the steam has for the effect of rapidly
lowering the temperature and pressure and to prematurely exhaust the source
of work.
Dated this 10th day of December 1890.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Steam-engines.
I, CHARLES LATARCHE, of Lempire, near Verdun, in the Republic of France,
Landlord, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My invention relates to steam-engines.
The transformation of heat into work in the steam engine has heretofore been
the result of a summary operation carried out directly between the extreme limits
of the temperatures, and to this cause must be chiefly attributed the excessive
consumption of the fuel necessary for its operation.
In the hydraulic motor the effects of the weight are utilized in a similar manner
between the extreme levels of the upper water-course and the overfall, without
causing any reduction in the efficiency of this motor. But the conditions of
economical production in the steam engine do not present the same degree of
simplicity as in the hydraulic motor and then do not justify the analogy of the
methods.
The hydraulic motor utilizes a natural mechanical power represented by a
necessarily more or less high fall of water but the height of which is not an
essential factor of the efficiency. Heat has produced this power but outside the
motor which uses it. The effectiveness depends directly upon the degree to which
the mechanical effects of the fall are utilized, and not upon the quantity of heat
ret in action for producing them. From this follows that the action of the
hydraulic motor is very simple, and that one operation well performed suffices for
rendering it complete.
But even if carried out in a perfect manner a simple operation cannot entirely
effect the economic operation of the steam engine; for in this case the object is not
simply to collect gratuitous work, but also to produce this work by a transformation
of energy,
from which the hydraulic motor is exempt.,

page_text: The conditions to be fulfilled for utilizing the mechanical effects produced are as
well observed in the actual steam engine as in the hydraulic motor; but the con-
ditions to be fulfilled for transforming into mechanical power the largest possible
part of the calorific energy imparted to the steam or for best utilizing the fall of
temperature at disposal are not observed at all, and this imperfection gives rise to
a diminution of the economic results.
I will show by an example that in the actual state of our engines something
better can be done than employing the inordinately prolonged expansions which
fulfil only the first of the above-mentioned conditions of a rational operation, and
that for obtaining the best utilization of the heat spent it is also necessary to fulfil
the second condition by effecting the division of the fall of temperature by the
regeneration of the steam.
Take for example the work of one of the most economical engines, that is to say
one acting at a high pressure between very wide limits of temperature. Suppose
for example as extreme limits the temperatures of 192 degrees and 18 degrees.
Under these conditions only seven kilogrammes of steam per hour and horse power
are consumed and only 91 calories per kilogramme of steam out of 665 calories
employed for producing it are utilized.
Of the 91 calories transformed 46.6 calories are used for the direct work that is
to say about half the total work, the rest is the complementary work of the expan-
sion the object of which is to augment to a certain degree the direct work according
to the extent to which it is employed.
These 46.6 calories of external heat which form, the basis of the work of the
steam do not at all represent the maximum of the amount of external work which
it is possible to collect without the aid of expansion, of the 665 calories spent but
on the contrary the minimum of this amount, given the difference of temperature
considered.
Furthermore the total figure of 91 calories utilized per kilogramme of steam,
which represents only a coefficient of 0.52 calories per degree of the difference of
the temperatures, constitutes simply at the degree of expansion employed, the
minimum of utilization of the heat contained in the kilogramme of steam.
In lieu of operating directly between the temperatures of 192 degrees and
18 degrees, by passing abruptly from one extreme to the other, suppose two suc-
cessive operations take place, for example the first from 192 degrees to 105 degrees
and the second from 105 degrees to 18 degrees so as to divide the fall of
temperature into two parts.
A calculation of the external work from 192 degrees to 105 degrees gives
17.965 kilogrammetres equivalent to 42-37 calories utilized for only half the total
fall of temperature.
This does not yet amount to the 46.6 calories utilized by the direct fall. The
difference arises from the augmentation of the back-pressure due to the elevation
of the temperature at which the condensation is effected, which augmentation is
comparatively slight if compared with the diminution of the interval between the
temperatures.
But the second part of the fall of temperature remains to be effected, and the
heat which could not be converted into external work in the first operation is
stored up integrally in the liquid products of the condensation effected at the
temperature of 105 degrees.
I employ this heat, which has become disposable, for regenerating the condensed
steam, that is to say it serves at the temperature of 105 degrees to give rise to a
fresh production of live steam and external work which may be considered
gratuitous because it is obtained without a fresh expenditure.
The condensation being now caused at the final temperature of 18 degrees this
second operation furnishes a supplementary work of 17.228 kilogrammetres
equivalent to the utilization of 40-63 fresh calories to be added to the first.
Accordingly the sacrifice made in the first operation is ten times compensated for
by the product of the second operation which it has been able to realize.

page_text: In short I obtain from the two successive operations, by work at a constant
temperature which does not in any way diminish the difference of temperature
utilizable for the expansion, 42.37+40-63-83 calories of external heat in lieu of
46'6 which were obtained in the direct operation between the extreme temperatures.
And supposing the expansion to be utilized to the same degree as previously I
obtain 162 calories in lieu of 91 total calories utilized, and the consumption of
steam in the engine will therefore at least be reduced from seven kilogrammes to
four kilogrammes.
Such is the advantage which, all things being equal, may be offered by the
division into two nearly equal parts of the fall of temperature from 192 degrees to
18 degrees. It will be still more considerable if the fall is divided into three parts
or into four parts, and in general will be the more marked the further the fall of
temperature is divided. For losses of heat occur in the steam engine as losses of
energy take place in the hydraulic motor, the one like the other increasing with
the violence of the shock and in order to obviate these losses transitions must be
provided for.
By thus decomposing the fall of temperature into a certain number of separate
parts there is in the first parts comparatively little to lose on the pressures that is
to say the force and in the last parts much to gain on the volumes that is to say on
the distance passed through. Altogether the loss on the pressures is nil; they are
distributed integrally upon all the parts although they diminish very rapidly from
one part to the next. The gain realized by the division of the fall of temperature
is due to the augmentation of the volumes in proportion to this diminution. The.
pressure and volume, which are the elementary factors of the work of the steam,
increase in inverse ratio in the scale of the temperature so that from one end of the
fall to the other there will be an exact compensation which has the effect of
re-establishing between the amount of heat liberated by the lowering of the
temperature and the amount of work produced the proportionality which is
required for the advantageous employment of the heat spent and which tends to
thoroughly change the interval necessary between the extreme temperatures.
In the example mentioned the direct operation, despite all the resources due to
the expansion had caused a very great disproportion between the amount of heat
utilized in the various parts of the fall, by reason of the total absence of the
necessary solidarity between these various parts. Thus the pressure employed in
the second operation multiplied by the volume given by the first had furnished only
4.2 calories in lieu of 40-6. The difference is due to the increase in the volume
obtained at an equal pressure.
By means of the expansion an increase of the volumes is also obtained but only
at the expense of the temperature and pressure.
It will thus be seen that in the economical production of work it is necessary to
allow the steam to act only between the narrowest limits of temperature, in order
to augment the proportion of the volume produced at the mean pressure between
these temperatures on which the effectiveness of the heat depends.
Accordingly it is not sufficient to obtain as great a fall of temperature as
possible, there must be added a coefficient of utilization per degree of fall which
is as high as possible, and this double result answers the directly opposed conditions
which can be reconciled in practice only by a suitable division of the fall of
temperature.
For some years the more and more imperious need for reducing the consumption
of the fuel in the extensive applications of steam and particularly in the use of the
same for marine purposes has led to the construction of engines having several
cylinders in which steam coming from the generator is gradually expanded before
it passes to the condenser to undergo the final cooling.
may observe that this mode of dividing the fall of temperature which offers
only limited advantages, must not be confounded with the mode which forms the
subject of my invention. In the former case the division is only apparent. In
reality it is always the same steam once produced in the generator, which traverses

page_text: $
the successive cylinders so that despite the employment of several cylinders the
transformation of the heat is accomplished directly between the extreme
temperatures, and this is the chief fault which I have endeavoured to obvinte by
rendering the division of the fall of temperature effective through the characteristic
operation of regenerating the steam.
As to the means for carrying out the method embodying the principle herein-
before set forth use might be made of a series of generators arranged after the
manner of a cascade similarly to certain evaporating apparatus used in the
industries, in which the same heat serves to effect several successive evaporations.
But this solution would necessitate a complication of costly and cumbersome
apparatus, and the transmission of heat through the metallic partitions or sides
would give rise to a loss on the difference of the temperatures which after having
been re-established several times ultimately absorbs the greatest part of the work.
For avoiding these inconveniences I have devised a very simple apparatus into
which it is sufficient to pass the steam as it escapes from one cylinder wherein it
has worked, for regenerating it before its admission to the next cylinder. The
said apparatus is illustrated in the drawing accompanying my Provisional
Specification.
This apparatus which I term a regenerator and which is designated by A in the
said drawing is similar to a jet condenser but the liquid which serves to effect the
condensation is not renewed in it as in the ordinary condenser, because as herein-
before explained, the steam must be successively condensed and then regenerated
at the same temperature.
It is provided with a double bottom B pierced with holes and carries two pipes C
and D situated one at the upper part and the other at the lower part.
The double bottom B placed a little above the pipe D through which the steam
enters the apparatus is covered with liquid to the height of some centimetres.
For explaining the operation of the apparatus I will suppose the pipe D through
which the steam enters to be in communication with the exhaust of the small
cylinder of an engine and the pipe C to be in communication with the admission
of the following cylinder.
I will morcover suppose the mechanism for operating the slide valves to be
arranged in such a manner that at the moment when the communication with the
first cylinder is established the communication with the following cylinder is
disestablished in order that the apparatus shall be successively in communication
with one or the other cylinder, but never with the two at the same time, which
condition is readily fulfilled by the means well known in the construction of steam
engines.
When the exhaust of the first cylinder is opened the steam passes into the
regenerator through the pipe D, traverses the double bottom B and enters the
stratum of liquid wherein it is condensed.
According to the quantity of liquid contained in the apparatus relatively to
the amount of steam to be condensed this liquid is heated more or less.
When the communication with the next cylinder is established through the
pipe C the steam contained in the space A. enters the second cylinder at the same
time that a fresh amount of steam is regenerated at the expense of the excess of
heat accumulated in the cylinder or in the sides of the apparatus during the preceding
condensation.
As the loss of heat which results from the regeneration compensates exactly the
gain produced by the condensation the liquid returns to its initial temperature, and
the same phenomenon can be reproduced indefinitely.
I describe this arrangement only by way of example in order to render the
object which I have in view well understood. It can be modified in various
manners. The apparatus may be rendered simpler still; for the double bottom
and the liquid covering the same may be dispensed with. The condensation may
be effected simply upon the metallic sides of the apparatus, the interior surface of
which may if necessary be increased by ribs or other suitable means.

page_text: In this instance the temperature of the sides is momentarily increased, for
example one or two degrees, and the condensed liquid forming a very thin
stratum at their surface is then vaporized at the expense of the heat restored by
the metal.
In any case, for ensuring at the same time the operation of the two steam
cylinders it is necessary to employ two apparatus similar to the one which I have
above described, which are connected in such a manner that when one is in
communication with one of the cylinders, for example the first, and condenses the
steam which escapes from this cylinder, the other apparatus communicates with
the second cylinder and generates steam.
Thus the complete apparatus is double, and in an engine having several cylinders
as many complete apparatus are required as there are cylinders, minus one.
I have not mentioned the secondary advantages presented by the apparatus
above described, some of which are however of considerable importance in the
applications. I may mention more especially those which result from the greater
regularity of the motion of the engines and the possibility of progressively
returning the feed water, or in general the liquid employed, to the highest
temperature by utilizing the negative calories. For this purpose it will be
sufficient to cause this water or this liquid to pass through a number of regenerators
and by preference during each period of condensation. Moreover it becomes very
easy to obtain by the employment of my improved method very pure water for
feeding the boiler, for the deposits and incrustations will be formed entirely in the
regenerators where they will not have the inconvenience of interfering with the
transmission of the heat. Lastly the chief advantages of condensing engines may
be realized although the steam is allowed to escape into the atmosphere and with-
out any need for disposing of a current of cold water which it is not always easy to
procure.
It is therefore not to the small extent of the fall of temperature but rather to
the insufficiency of the method heretofore employed for taking advantage of the
same that the slight proportion of heat utilized in the steam engine, despite the
perfection of the mechanism, must be attributed.
From the explanations given above it follows that it is impossible to achieve
economically the transformation of the heat into work by a direct operation between
the extreme temperatures, whatever care may be taken to complete this operation
by prolonging the expansion and that a fall of temperature cannot be suitably
utilized in the same manner as a fall of water is utilized. The reason for such a
difference between the two motors the operation of which I have compared is that
the action of the weight is utilized directly in the hydraulic motor whilst in the
steam engine the mode of restoring and utilizing the dynamic effects developed by
the normal action of the heat employed for heating the operative agent is reversed
as it were.
I have shown that the first condition to be fulfilled for utilizing the fall of
temperature, especially when it is very great, is to effect the division thereof, in
default of which the direct work is reduced to a minimum at the same time as the
quantity of steam formed. On the other hand the expansion itself is badly
utilized, because the work is not even doubled by increasing the initial volume
ten-fold. Under these conditions the expansion of the steam has the effect of
rapidly lowering the temperature and pressure and to prematurely exhaust the
source of works.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
First. The application to steam engines of the new method of utilizing the fall
of temperature hereinbefore described and which consists in effecting the division
of this fall of temperature, substantially as and for the purposes specified.
R

page_text: Second. The arrangement and application, for the purpose specified, of connected
spaces communicating alternately with the exhaust of an engine cylinder and with
the admission of the next cylinder, substantially as herein before described with
reference to the drawing accompanying my Provisional Specification.
Dated this 25th day of August 1891.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.