IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND ARRANGE- MENTS FOR USING AIR AS A MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederick Cole and Ralph George
Acton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 11th January 1873.
We, FREDERICK COLE, of No. 136, Albany Road, Camberwell, in the
County of Surrey, and RALPH GEORGE ACTON, of No. 99, Thames Street,
Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS AND ARRANGE-
MENTS FOR USING AIR AS A MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object to provide an arrangement of
apparatus by means of which compressed air may be used as a motive
power, and so that on the engine or other apparatus used for actuating
the machinery or apparatus to which it is applied being set to work, it
may be enabled to supply itself with the required amount of compressed
air to keep it going, and to maintain that pressure in the receiver,
reservoir, or vessel provided for containing it whilst at work.
In carrying out our Invention we construct the apparatus for com-
pressing the air in the following manner:-In a suitably sized closed

page_text: vessel or receiver of metal or other suitable material or materials, and of
a sufficient strength to withstand the pressure to which it is intended to
be subjected, we place one or more cylinders or barrels provided with
one or more pistons or plungers working therein, and with valves so
placed as to admit the external air when the apparatus is at work, and
prevent its exit from the vessel or receiver after it has been discharged
therein from the cylinders or barrels.
The piston or plunger rod or rods are attached to a rocking beam or
lever keyed on to a horizontal shaft which is placed in the vessel or
receiver with one or both ends projecting or passing out therefrom
through air-tight openings; and to one or both ends of this horizontal
shaft, which is supported on suitable bearings, a vertical rod or lever is
attached, to the lower end of which a weight is applied or attached so
as to move with it in order that the momentum of the same, when in
motion, may assist the working of the apparatus and add to its steadiness
and position, the rods and weights being actuated by the engine, which
is driven or removed by the compressed air supplied to it in the usual
manner in pressure engines from the closed vessel or receiver.
The cylinders or barrels are placed in or connected with a vessel or
reservoir containing water in order that the heat generated by the com-
pression of the air may be absorbed thereby, and any inconvenience from
the beating of the apparatus or its moving parts be prevented.
The mode in which this apparatus works is as follows:-In order to
get up the necessary pressure of air in the closed vessel or receiver for
working the engine and apparatus a detached air compressing pump
may be connected with the closed air vessel or receiver, by means of
which the air may be forced in until the required working pressure is
obtained, when the pump may be disconnected and the engine connected
to the compressing apparatus, which done, the engine can be at once
started and continues to supply itself with compressed air needed to
maintain its working.
In place of using a detached air compressing pump the working
pressure may be obtained by disconnecting the engine from the com-
pressing apparatus, and causing the lever or levers and weight or
weights to oscillate by hand until the required pressure in the closed
vessel or receiver has been obtained, when the engine may be connected

page_text: and set to work. The Invention then continues and the lever or levers
with their weight or weights is or are kept in full swing, and the closed
vessel or receiver kept supplied with compressed air at the required
pressure for working the engine or apparatus so long as the same is kept
at work.