Improvements in Apparatus or Means for Obtaining Motive Power.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 24th June, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 24th Apr., 1893-Accepted, 2nd June, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus or Means for Obtaining Motive
Power.
We, HENRY MANNING FELLOWS of 76 Southdown Road Great Yarmouth in
the County of Norfolk Shipbuilder and ARTHUR RAMSDEN WHITHAM of
Bramhope near Leeds in the County of York do hereby declare the nature of our
invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object to provide simple apparatus or means constituting
a motive power engine wherein a flexible or compressible tube or passage or flexible
or compressible tubes or passages and a compressing device or compressing devices
are employed to operate in combination as hereinafter described.
The invention may be carried out in various ways for example a flexible or
compressible tube may be arranged as a coil or partial coil against the interior
surface of a stationary cylinder one end of the said flexible tube being in connection
with the source of supply of the motive fluid and the other end of the said tube
being in connection with the exhaust.
A shaft is mounted in bearings so as to rotate within the said cylinder the said
shaft carrying an arm or arms provided with a roller or rollers or equivalent
compressing device which bears or bear against the said flexible tube so as to
compress it against the inner side of the surrounding cylinder. Motive fluid under
pressure admitted to the flexible or compressible tube in endeavouring to pass by
the part of the said tube which is compressed by the roller or rollers imparts to the
arm or arms which carries or carry the said roller or rollers and to the shaft on
which the arm is or arms are keyed a motion of rotation in its bearings which
motion may be utilized for driving machinery of various kinds to which it may be
conveyed by any convenient gearing. Instead of an arm or arms carrying a roller
or rollers as described a disc may be employed mounted eccentrically on the shaft
so as to compress the flexible tube. When steam is the motive fluid employed
means may be provided for causing it to work by expansion for example by making
the compressible tube of greater area at one part or by providing means in
connection with the rotating part of the apparatus, for cutting off the supply of
steam at the required periods. Instead of arranging the flexible or compressible
tube in the interior of a cylinder as described it may be carried on the periphery
of a rotating disc in proximity to which is arranged a stationary roller or equivalent
device to compress the said tube. The axle or trunnions on which the disc rotates
may be hollow and communicate with the opposite ends of the flexible tube so that
the motive fluid under pressure may enter at one end of the tube and in endeavouring
to pass by the depressed portion thereof cause the disc to rotate on its axle or
trunnions and impart through suitable gearing motion to machinery. Or the flexible
or compressible tube may be arranged on the face of a stationary disc and be
compressed by a roller or rollers (preferably conical) mounted on a shaft fitted to
rotate in a bearing in the centre of the disc this shaft being provided with a driving
pulley or gearing for giving motion to machinery.
The flexible or compressible tube or tubes or passage or passages may be made
of any suitable material and of any desired shape.
Dated this 24th day of June 1892.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus or Means for Obtaining Motive
Power.
We, HENRY MANNING FELLOWs, of 76 Southtown Road, Great Yarmouth, in
the County of Norfolk, Shipbuilder, and ARTHUR RAMSDEN WHITHAM, of
Bramhope, near Leeds, in the County of York, 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:-
-
This invention has for its object to provide simple apparatus or means con-
stituting a motive power engine wherein a flexible or compressible tube or passage
or flexible or compressible tubes or passages and a compressing device or com-
pressing devices are employed to operate in combination to obtain motive power as
hereinafter described. The invention may be carried out in various ways some of
which we will describe with reference to the accompanying drawings from which
the nature of, the invention and the manners in which it may be carried out in
practice will be readily understood.
Figure 1 shews in elevation and Figure 2 in sectional plan an arrangement
according to this invention.
Figure 3 shews the flexible coil separately.
The flexible or compressible tube A is here shewn arranged as a coil secured to
the annulus B by any suitable means, such as (as shewn) by making the annulus B
in parts and pinching between them the web formed on or attached to the tube A.
The tube A inay be made of any suitable material such as woven asbestos for high
temperatures or rubber for low temperatures and it may be armoured by plaiting
or coiling around it hemp, silk, fine metal wire or the like and it may be connected
to the annulus B as shewn in Figure 34 by means of a metal ring a attached to
the tube A by means of the armouring or covering a and clamped between the
parts of the annulus B. One end of the tube A is in connection with the source of
supply of the motive fluid and the other end of the said tube is in connection with
the exhaust. A shaft C is mounted in bearings (not shewn but they may be
secured to the annulus B or the part to which it is fixed) so as to rotate within.
the said annulus B the said shaft carrying an arm or arms D secured thereto and
provided with a roller E which bears against the tube B so as to compress it
against the inner side of the annulus B. The roller E may be pressed against the
tube A by a spring or by centrifugal force by being mounted so as to be capable of
radial movement on the arms D. The roller may be recessed as shewn in Figure 2
so that the flanges or ends e take the pressure of the spring or centrifugal pressure
where such pressure is used and prevent the tube being unnecessarily crushed.
Motive fluid under pressure is admitted to the tube A at the inlet and in
endeavouring to pass by the part thereof which is compressed by the roller E
imparts to the arms D and to the shaft C a motion of rotation in its bearings
which motion inay be utilized for driving machinery of various kinds to which it
may be connected by any suitable gearing. The motive fluid finds its exit by the
exhaust as the roller D passes the exhaust passage. If instead of a complete circle
the flexible or compressible tube (A) be only part of a circle the shaft C should be
provided with two or more compressing arms or discs set opposite to each other or
in such relative positions that they come successively into operation to compress
the tube. In place of using a complete tube A we may make the annulus of
trough-shape as shewn at 12 in the modification Figures 4, 5 and 6. Figure 4
being an elevation partly in section with one side of the trough removed and
Figures 5 and 6 being respectively a section at right angles to Figure 4 and a plan.
The inside of the trough-shaped annulus B is closed by a ring A² of flexible
material which is pressed inwards as shewn by the roller E on the arms D secured
to the shaft C. This ring bears, when not so pressed inwards, against the flanges (

page_text: formed on the annulus B². In these figures the bearings for the shaft C are shewn
as being formed in one with the parts of the annulus B². The inlet pipe is
marked and the outlet pipe is marked *. is a valve which shuts off the one
from the other. It is hinged so that it can be depressed into the recess by the
wheel E to allow the latter to pass and if necessary it may have a spring to lift it
after the roller has passed. The ring A² may be made of flexible metal or of other
suitable material for instance it may be made of rings of flexible material with
tubular pieces arranged transversely between them as shewn in Figures 7 and S
where the rings of flexible material are marked a and the transverse tubular pieces
are marked a². Packing coils at pressed out by springs a³ may also be used after
the same manner as that shewn in the arrangement Figure 9 wherein the flexible
rings a of metal (steel for instance) have situated between them coils of thin tape
of metal, such as steel, phosphor bronze or delta-metal for instance (a³ a) the
central coil a³ receiving the pressure of the motive fluid and the others at being
pressed out by springs a³ to give a tight joint between the band A2 and the
annulus B2 are thin guard rings which may be used if desired to encircle the
strips to confine them to prevent loose ends or tendency to unwind.
When steam is employed as the motive agent it may be caused to work
expansively as desired by providing means in connection with the rotating part of
the apparatus for cutting off the supply of steam at the requisite periods in
accordance with the degree of expansion desired. Instead of arranging the flexible
or compressible tube in the interior of a cylinder as described it or an equivalent
compressible or flexible receptacle for the motive fluid may be carried on the
periphery of a rotating disc in proximity to which is arranged a stationary
roller or equivalent. device to compress the said tube or receptacle the axles or
trunnions on which the said disc rotates being hollow and communicating with
the opposite ends or parts of the flexible tube or receptacle so that the motive
fluid under pressure may enter at one end or part of the tube or receptacle and
cause the disc to rotate on its axle or trunnions. Or the flexible or compressible
tube or receptacle may be arranged on the face of a stationary disc and be
compressed by a roller or rollers (which should be conical) mounted on a shaft
fitted to rotate in a bearing in the centre of a disc.
The flexible tube or its equivalent may be made of any desired shape and
material. For example it may be of rubber or of woven asbestos and it may be
circular or elliptical in cross section or it may be of the shape shewn in Figure 3".
When the arrangement Figures 4, 5 and 6 is used the tube may be confined
between the inner surface of the annulus and a flexible metal ring a as shewn in
Figure 64 which ring a bears on the flanges 2 of the annulus B but is pressed
inwards by the compressing device.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is:
1. In a motive power engine the combination of a flexible tube or passage with
inlet and outlet for motive fluid and a device which compresses or contracts the
said tube or passage and is caused to move by the motive fluid passing through the
said tube or passage substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. A motive power engine consisting of a rigid ring or cylinder carrying at its
inner side a flexible ring or passage and a device bearing upon the said tube or
passage so as to compress or contract it and mounted upon an axis to which rotary
motion is imparted by the action of motive fluid passing through the said tube or
passage and acting upon the said device substantially as herein before described
and illustrated under various modifications by the accompanying drawings.
3. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting a motive power
engine substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3
of the accompanying drawings.
4. The arrangement and combination of parts constituting a motive power

page_text: engine substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in Figures 4, 5 and 6
of the accompanying drawings..
1000
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
Agents.