IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY ENGINES
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE. PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ZAMBEAU, of Saint, Paul's Churchyard, Chymist, send greeting.,.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,, by Her
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing, date at West-
minster, the 'Nineteenth day of December,..in. the, second year, of Her reign,
did, for Herself,, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Zambeau, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I; the said Joseph Zambeau, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I; the said Joseph Zambeau, my exors, admors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully-might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY ENGINES," commu-
nicated to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Joseph Zambeau, shall cause
a particular description. of the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and 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
Joseph Zambeau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to, be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the

page_text: The annexed Sheet of Drawings represents, on the scale of one sixth of the
real size, various views and sections of an engine of fifteen-horse power. The
same letters indicate the same parts in all the Drawings. Figure 1 is a plan;
Figure 2, an elevation taken from opposite the eccentric K; Figure 3, side
elevation. In these three Figures, for a complete representation of the
machine, nothing is wanted but the driving wheel which is fixed between
the plates J, J. The cock and pipes for distributing the steam are left out
only in the Figure 3. Figure 4, vertical section of the engine, supposed to be
opened at the joint a, a, Figure 1; Figure 5, horizontal section of the same
engine, supposed to be laid open by the removal of the upper part of the body;
Figure 6, vertical section of the feeding pump; Figure 7, section of the four-
way cock, which, according to the direction of the passages, drives the engine
in one direction or in another. It will be seen hereafter that the engine may
be worked at will in either direction, and is thus particularly appropriated to
locomotive carriages, to steamboats, and to mining operations. The engine
represented in the Drawing is set on a wooden frame Q, Q, on which is fixed
the iron frame E, E, E", cast in one piece. This frame supports the main
body of the machine by means of two uprights E', E', on which the said
main body is strongly bolted. The same frame, by means of an arm E",
supports the shaft, turning at one of its extremities. The four plummers
boxes P, P, P, P, the use of which will be hereafter explained, form part of
the cast-iron frame. The main body of the engine, the part which assumes
an annular and concave shape in which the piston works, (which part is sub-
stituted for the cylinder used in ordinary steam engines,) is formed of six parts
in bronze or cast iron A, A, A, A, and B, B, and six stays or connecting
pieces c, c, c, and c¹³, c¹, c. The four pieces A, A, A, A, are similar, and cast
on the same model; they are called the outer shells, and from the two ends
of the annular chamber. The two pieces B, B, are likewise similar to one
another, and cast on the same model; they are called inner shells, and form
the middle part of the said chamber. All the above pieces are strongly fixed
together by bolts, so as to make only one annular chamber. The section of
the capacity of this annular chamber which the piston must fill up completely,
assumes here a shape similar to that of a heart (the shape might be wholly
different, either round, square, or triangular, &c.) Preference has been given
to the heart shape, because it admits of the piston revolving with great speed,

page_text: and procures a greater power with a less machine, as hereafter explained.
The main shaft F, F, which revolves by the immediate action of the steam,
its boss G, and the foundation plate h of the piston, form only one single piece
of wrought iron. This shaft is bored from the extremity near the eccentric
k, k, unto the boss g. This passage takes then a curvilinear direction, and
opens on the cylindrical surface of the said boss, and at a small distance before
the piston at u. The same shaft is likewise bored from the other extremity
unto the said boss g, so as to form another passage unconnected with the first,
which bends as the first, and opens on the cylindrical surface of the boss, but
behind the piston at v¹, Figure 4. The piston, properly speaking, seen edge-
ways, Figure 4, and from above, Figure 5, is composed of a plate h, of two
series of segments, and wedges driven outwards by springs, as in metallic
pistons of ordinary steam engines, of a counter plate e, screwed to the plate h,
having sufficient space between them to receive the metallic packing. Each
series of segments is sufficiently thick not to get engaged in a groove cut out
for the passage of the two separating plates or steam stops G, G', between the
upper and lower shells, and at the same time to close the passage of steam.
H, H, hollow plugs for compressing tow or other packing between each of
them and the boss g, that the centre of the machine be perfectly air-tight, and
that no no steam may escape. Screws which pass in the flanges of these
plugs, and screw on each side, into the nave of the outer shell, tighten
the packing as much as necessary. These plugs are conically hollowed out.
I, I, cones fitting in the conical cavity of the plugs. H, H, wherein they must
revolve. These cones may move along the shaft, but are obliged to revolve
with it, because the bush i and the boss K' of the eccentric K, which are both
fixed in the said shaft, carry two screws, the ends of which penetrate in the
basis of the cones, and near the edges of the same. By this contrivance it is
always possible to correct any excess of play which might be caused, either by
wearing or by too great a pressure being exerted on the tow packing. The
driving shaft F, F, is maintained in the centre of the machine by the cones,
and also by the arm E", before mentioned. This arm maintains the shaft in
a central position near the driving wheel, that the said shaft may resist the
effort made by the said wheel to transmit the power. J, J, .discs, one of
which is fixed to the driving shaft F, F, the other is stationary. It is.between
5 these discs that the driving wheel is fixed. The size of this wheel may vary
according to the speed required. In engines of very small power.a pulley
may be substituted for the driving wheel, in which case the power is trans-
mitted by a band instead of gearing. G, G', separating plates or steam stops,
which, in the operation of the machine, perform a most important part by

page_text: -
closing, steam-tight, the annular chamber, and presenting thus a bearing point
to the steam (which always enters by the centre of the shaft between. one of
these separating plates and the piston, while the other separating,plate rises
out of the way of 'the piston, and leaves. it a free passage). These separating
plates are somewhat wider than the piston; in order to bear by their outer
edge against the groove in the chamber, and close all passage to 'the steam.
On the side to be occasionally in contact with the boss of the shaft F, F,
these séparating plates carry. a metallic blade constantly pushed by a 'spring
against the said boss, so that, as may be seen,, Figure 5, all 'communication is
cut off between the atmospliere and the steam coming from the boiler; while
the said steam produces its dynamic effect on the piston. To each of these
separators are fixed' 'two parallel rods projecting out of the engine, and, pass-
ing through' stuffing boxes. These rods are fixed on the cross bars L, L, which,
by means of the beams m, m, and m³, m³, of the arms n, n, and n¹, n', fixed
on the shafts N, N¹, revolving in the plummer boxes P, P, and P1, P¹; receive
the proper motion, and drive the separating plates as aforesaid. The eccentric
K, K, is formed of a cross fixed to the driving shaft and two ellipses concentric
of a peculiar shape, and fixed on the' said cross. . Nearly one half of 'these
ellipses is of a circular form, and is placed concentric on the driving shaft,
while the remainder of 'the ellipses is oval and sufficiently eccentric to transmit
the necessary motion to the separating plates, so that the piston may,. while
revolving, pass over each of them without touching the same. These ellipses
retaining the rollers o, o, enclosed in" the 'interval which separates them,
force the said rollers and the separating plates to move to and fro alternately
when the shaft and the piston revolve. The form of the eccentric, causes the
separating plates to remain alternately closed more than half the time, that is
to say,
that one of them begins to open only when the other is completely
closed, and is afterwards closed before the other begins to open. By this com
bination' the steam never ceases to have a stop; and the impulse' given to the
shaft by the pressure of the steam on the piston is perfectly equal in every
portion of the revolution. The apertures and v', on the boss g'of, the
driving shaft F, F, by which the steam enters the chamber and runs out of it,
are placed, as represented, Figure 4, by dotted lines, first, that one of the
separators be always interposed' between the induction and the eduction orifice,
so as to hinder the steam' admitted from escaping, without having produced its
dynamic action; secondly, "that the separators, when moving, be not pressed
by steam more on one side- than on the other. The pressure of steam..is
exerted only on one of their 'sides when they are closed; and that pressure has
ceased before they respectively begin to open, consequently, they are set in
"

page_text: motion with the greatest ease, and oppose no resistance beyond. that of their
own' weight. This absolute liberty in the motion of the separating plates, even
when the pressure of the steam working the machine is at its greatest height,
is very important in two respects; firstly, because it has the facility of giving
great lightness to all the pieces' necessary to set alternately in motion and at
rest the separating valves; and in consequence of the lightness of the machinery
the engine, may be worked, more, rapidly; wherefore a smaller engine will be
sufficient to. procure a given power; secondly, as the said pieces-are; the
only ones which receive an alternate motion, and are of little weight and
expérience very little, friction, they are placed in the best possible conditions
to ensure the durability of the engine and its good operation, even though the
engine, should be jolted on a locomotive; carriage, set in motion on a rutty
road. U, V, pipes for the admission and eduction of steam. These pipes are
introduced, in the two ends of the driving shaft, and adapted to a four-way
cock R, by the agency of which the induction aperture, is changed into an
eduction orifice, and reciprocally, merely by turning the plug one quarter of a
revolution. The stuffing boxes f, f, fixed by means of screws; one to, the
dise J, and the other to the eccentric K, allow the shaft to revolve on the end
of the fixed conducting pipes U and. V,.without any escape of steam. These
conducting pipes are subjected to a pressure which tends to drive them out of
the shaft on which they are introduced, but these are maintained by means of
the pieces'r,r, consisting each of. a ring and two rods, with a, screw cut on
their extremity. These rods pass. through. holes pierced in the flänges of the
conducting. pipes, and are there secured by bolts. The rings have a shoulder,
which is fixed in the interior of the stuffing boxes f; f, the ring of which is fixed
outside the rings of the pieces f,f. The said pipes cannot be driven,back; and
are maintained in their place, notwithstanding the pressure of steam. The
cock R.has four ways s, t, u, and v, represented, in section, Figure 7. In
the plug of the said cock are cut two curved passages; this cock serving,
as before stated, to change the ingress and egress of, the steam, serves also, to
make the engine' revolve in one direction or the other at will. Let us sup-
pose s the passage through which the steam comes from the generator, according
to the position of the plug. of the cock the said, steam will pass either by
the channel u, or by that marked 'v, and enter the engine through the
pipes U or V. If the steam arrives by the pipe U it enters the:machine by the
orifice u' in the boss, and, pressing against the separating plate G, which is
closed, and the piston, it will drive the latter in the direction indicated by the
arrow, Figure4. As the piston proceeds. the plate G gradually closes itself
and reaches the end of its course; when the 'opening u! is arrived opposite to it

page_text: the said plate is then quite closed, and the steam being in contact with both
sides of the said plate pressed equally fore and aft; till then the steam bears
always on the other plate, which remains shut until the aperture u' has passed
the plate G, which has just been closed. As soon as that aperture which
revolves with the shaft has got beyond the plate G this one begins in its turn
to serve as a bearing for the steam; soon after the aperture v¹ arrives opposite
to the plate G¹ the steam, which has produced its dynamic effect, and which
occupies then the part of the chamber not occupied by the piston, escapes by
the aperture v; the equilibrium of pressure is established on both sides of this
plate, which begins to recede in order to give passage to the piston. What
has been stated with reference to the plate G takes place then for the plate G¹,
and so on.
Thus results a constant pressure of steam on the piston, which
continues to rotate in the direction of the arrow. The same effect is produced
aperture u¹, and issues out
as long as the steam enters in the chamber by the
by that marked v. 'It must here be stated, that when issuing by the
aperture the steam is conducted to the crank R by the pipe V, which is in
communication with the passage t, from whence the said steam is either con-
ducted into a condenser, allowed to escape in the atmosphere, or led into
a large engine where it is to act by expansion, according as the steam is con-
densed, allowed to escape, or used by expansion in another engine; but if the
plug of the cock R be turned one quarter of a revolution, the pipe S, which
was the induction pipe, is then in communication with the pipe V, and the
exit pipe T is in communication with the pipe U. The steam enters in
the chamber by the aperture of the boss on the shaft, and issues by the
aperture u¹ on the same boss. Thus the piston receives on its opposite side
the action of the steam, and revolves in a direction contrary to the one indi-
cated by the arrow. In this direction, as in the first, the separating plates act
with full liberty. The engine just described may revolve at a speed of eighty
to one hundred revolutions per minute, and produce from thirteen to sixteen
horse power when worked with steam at the pressure of sixty pounds on the
square inch. On account of its small compass and light weight, of the facility
and rapidity of changing the direction of the rotation, of the uniformity of its
power at all the points of the circle traced by the piston, of the rapidity and
ease of its action, of its solidity in all its parts, which are not likely to get
worn out or out of order, this engine is particularly appropriated to locomo-
tive carriages on rail or other roads. It will require less steam and wear
better than the engines actually in use, which, as it is well known, consume a
great quantity of steam, and get very soon out of order. These frequent
repairs are rendered necessary by the excessive speed at which they are

page_text: worked, and which is not warranted by the principle of their construction, as
by that principle they are obliged to set in motion heavy machinery, and as
this cannot be done without causing on the various pieces a strain which
increases necessarily as the square of the speed, and becomes soon so very
great that the pieces cannot stand long, however carefully made, and though of
the best materials. This direct rotatory engine is free from all these objections,
as it gives an alternate motion only to the separators, G, G¹, which are very
light; moreover, a locomotive carriage requires two engines with cylinders, while
one rotatory engine would suffice. Experiments have proved that this rotatory
engine produces more available power than the best engines on the ordinary
system, as it as been found to reach nine tenths of the total power created.
This advantage operates a saving of fuel, and equals the saving obtained by
the expansion principle. I consider that the expanding of steam ought not to
be used in locomotive engines, and that it is preferable in every respect for
that object to have a power of a uniform magnitude at every point of the
piston's revolution; but in all the other applications of this engine recourse
might be had to the expansion principle, either by applying a contrivance for
stopping the ingress of steam. during part of the piston's revolution, or by
using two engines, one of which should be provided with a chamber double in
capacity to that of the other. To this effect the two. engines should be set on
the same shaft so as to make each of them an equal number of revolutions.
The steam from the generator is to be introduced in the small engine, and
when issuing from it to be conducted into the larger one; by this means the
steam will act by expansion, and thereby increase the available power pro-
duced. The feeding pump of this engine, represented at Figures 2, 3, and 6,
is peculiarly constructed, having no valves, either flat or spherical, as in the
ordinary feed pumps, but provided with a sliding valve or register, similar to
those used for distributing the steam in ordinary steam engines. This sliding
valve opens and closes the passage of the liquid by changing its own posi-
tion at the end of every course of the piston. This contrivance removes
all the objections justly made to the feeding pumps of steam engines. The
feeding pump is represented in front and side views, and in section, Figures 2,
3, and 6, of which the following is a description:-The pinion 1, fixed on
the driving shaft of the engine, takes into the wheel 2, which, by means
of the trunnion 3, fixed towards the centre, and forming a crank, moves
the piston of this pump by the agency of the shaft 4; 6, guide, directing and
supporting the piston, the rod of which slides through the eye of the said
guide, and is thus maintained in the direction of the cylinder 7. The bolt
which joints the shaft with the piston rod projects beyond the same, and

page_text: on this projection carries a ring in which is introduced the. rod 8 of the slide
valve 9. This rod is provided with two stops or plugs to cause the slide
valve to rise slightly when the piston is at the top of its stroke, and to descend
in a like manner when-the piston is at the bottom of its. course. The body or
cylinder of the pump has three apertures;--the lower one corresponds with
the interior of the cylinder, the middle aperture corresponds with the water
tank by means of the suction pipe 10; the upper aperture, corresponds
with the boiler by means of the pipe.11. By this contrivance when the. piston
is at the top of its course it raises. the slide valve, and this valve covers them
only the suction aperture, and the water being pressed by the descent. of the
piston is driven through the pipe 11 into the. boiler with which the body of the
pump is in communication. When the. piston arrives at, the bottom of its
stroke the slide valve descends, covers. the two lower apertures, and establishes
a communication during. the subsequent ascent of the. piston, between the
interior of the pump's cylinder and. the suction pipe. 10. .The cylinder of the
pump gets then - filled with water, and the piston. having reached the top of its
stroke. causes. the register to rise. again, and brings. it.in a. suitable. position to
allow of the water. being driven. into. the boiler, and so on. The advantages of
this new feeding pump are very striking; its action can.in no case be stopped,
even though extraneous substances: be drawn into .it along with the water;
because; instead: of remaining open, as the rising valves, flat, or spherical, when
an extraneous body presents itself, the sliding valve or register cuts it or crushes
it, and the functions of the pump proceed without any stop or hindrance. The
importance of this improvement will become manifest when it is considered,
that in most cases the explosion of steam boilers takes place because the
water they contain has been allowed. to drop below its proper level. This
circumstance is always attributable to the defects of the feeding pumps
:employed, which defects have not been cured hitherto, notwithstanding all the
attempts made for, that purpose..
1
Having thus described the nature of the. Invention, and, the manner of
performing the same, I would have.it understood that I lay no. claim to any of
the parts separately.. But what I claim is, the mode. of constructing the steam
cylinder or chamber, and piston, and mode of working the slides by excentric,
and parts connected therewith, as described. .
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Zambeau, have hereunto set
hand and seal; this Nineteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
my
JOSEPH (L.S.) ZAMBEAU.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of June, in
the year of our Lord 1839, the aforesaid Joseph Zambeau, (through the
interpretation of Adolphus Frederick Millus, of No. 3, Regent Place, West
Regent Square, in the County of Middlesex, the said interpreter being first
sworn that he had truly, distinctly, and audibly interpreted the contents hereof,
and that he would truly interpret the form of the acknowledgment about
to be taken by the said Joseph Zambeau) came before our said Lady the
Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thou-