Improvements in Motor Engines Worked by Gas or by Oil or other Vapour.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Dec., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Sept., 1891-Accepted, 24th Oct., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Motor Engines Worked by Gas or by Oil or other
Vapour.
I, HENRY PERCY HOLT of Openshaw near Manchester in the County of
Lancaster Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be. as
follows:-
In engines, worked by the combustion of gas or of oil or other vapour mixed
with air, it is desirable that the working cylinder should be kept at a suitable
temperature. This is particularly important in cases where oil or other.combustible
vapour is used, in order to avoid condensation of the vapeur on the one hand, and
its carbonisation on the other hand. My invention relates to means of rapidly
and thoroughly heating up the cylinder preparatory to the starting of the engine
and of automatically maintaining the temperature uniform or nearly so while the
engine is at work. The cylinder is provided as usual with a water jacket supplied
by a pipe furnished with inlet and discharge cocks or valves. For the purpose
of preparing the engine for starting, I empty the jacket of the water, all but
a pocket or tube closed at the bottom, which projects down from some convenient
part of the jacket. I heat this pocket, preferably, in the case of an oil motor,
by means of an oil burner arranged below it, thus generating steam which"
passing through the jacket heats up the metal of the cylinder. While the
engine is at work, water is made to circulate through the jacket, the rate of
its circulation being automatically regulated so as to keep the temperature nearly
uniform. This may be done by applying to the water supply of the jacket the
means employed for supplying the gas or oil as determined by the governor,
that is to say a spring plunger is moved at every stroke by a pusher except*
when the governor exceeding the normal speed causes the pusher to miss that
is, to say to pass by without moving the plunger. The greater the amount of
work being performed by the engine, the less frequently does à miss take place
for the supply of the gas or oil, and the cooling water being regulated in like
manner, is supplied proportionally to the gas or oil consumed and therefore to the
heat developed.
'
t
In cases where a water tank of considerable capacity can be arranged near the
engine, the temperature of the water in the jacket is automatically regulated in
the following manner.
'
L
The water in the tank being kept at a uniform. level by means of a ball cock
or other supply and an overflow,. the lower part of the tank is connected by 'a
pipe to the lower part of the cylinder jacket, and from the upper part of the
jacket an ascending pipe leads to the upper part of the tank, not directly, but
over a weir which is somewhat higher than the water level in the tank. As
the temperature of the water in the jacket exceeds that in the tank, the column
from the jacket upwards is composed of water of less gravity than a column of
corresponding height in the tank, and when this difference of gravity is such
that the ascending column overflows the weir, a circulation is established, so that
the cooler water flows from the tank to the jacket, and the water heated therein
overflows the weir into the tank. The greater the excess of the temperature in the
jacket over that in the tank, the more rapid will be the circulation, and thus the
temperature in the jacket will be kept nearly uniform.
- t
In cases where the tank is of small capacity, so that, when the engine has worked
for a time, the temperature of the water becomes too high, the circulation may be
accelerated by raising the water level in the tank or by lowering the weir. This
may be done automatically by a float the buoyancy of which varies with the varying
:

page_text: specific gravity of the water in the tank resulting from variation of its temperature.
Or the expansion or contraction of the tank itself may be used for the same
purpose.
Dated this 2nd In
1
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Motor Engines Worked by Gas or by Oil or other
Vapour.
=
I, HENRY PERCY HOLT of Openshaw near Manchester in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, 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 :-
In-engines worked by the combustion of gas or of oil or other vapour mixed with
air, it is desirable that the working cylinder should be kept at a suitable tempera-
ture. This is particularly important in cases where oil or other combustible vapour
is used, in order to avoid condensation of the vapour on the one hand, and its
carbonisation on the other hand.
My invention relates to means of automatically maintaining the temperature of
the cylinder uniform or nearly so while the engine is at work. The cylinder is
provided as usual with a water jacket supplied by a pipe which may be furnished
--with-inlet-and-discharge-cocks or valves:
While the engine is at work, water is made to circulate through the jacket, the
rate of its circulation being-automatically regulated-in-the-following manner;-so-as
.to.keep-the-temperature-nearly-uniform.-
A-water tank of considerable-capacity being arranged near the engine, the water-
in the tank is kept at a uniform level by means of a ball cock or other supply and
an overflow; the lower part of the tank is connected by a pipe to the lower part of
the cylinder jacket, and from the upper part of the jacket an ascending pipe leads
to the upper part of the tank, not directly, but over a weir which is somewhat
higher-than-the water-level-in-the-tank.
As the temperature of the water in the jacket exceeds that in the tank, the
column from the jacket upwards is composed of water of less gravity than a
column of corresponding height in the tank, and when this difference of gravity is
such that the ascending column overflows the weir, a circulation is established so
that the cooler water flows from the tank to the jacket, and the water heated
therein overflows the weir into the tank.
The greater the excess of the temperature in the jacket over that in the tank,
the more rapid will be the circulation and thus the temperature in the jacket will
be kept nearly uniform.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is an external elevation, Fig. 2 is an internal
elevation and Fig. 3 is a plan of an appliance to the tank, according to my inven-
tion, for the purpose_of_automatically-determining-the-circulation-in-the-cylinder
jacket.
It consists of a box A which is bolted against the upper part of the water
tank B with an internal plate C through which are two holes or openings
namely D for overflow, and E, the lower edge of which forms a weir. These
holes D and E open into two compartments of the box A which are separated from
each other by a partition F.
The one compartment, to which D opens, is connected by a pipe G to any drain
or other outlet; the other compartment, to which E opens, is connected by a
pipe H to the upper part of the cylinder jacket, the lower part of the jacket being
connected by a pipe to the lower part of the tank as usual. The tank being

page_text: supplied by a ball cock or otherwise has the level in it L L determined by the sill
of the overflow opening D.
As the temperature of the water in the cylinder jacket increases, the column
becomes higher and higher from the jacket up to and over the sill of the opening E,
the flow being thus rendered more and more rapid.
As the greater or less heating of the water in the jacket results from the greater
or less work performed by the engine, so the circulation of the water through the
acket is, by the arrangement above described, automatically regulated according
to the work performed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is.
In combination with the water jacket of a gas or oil motor engine a water tank
communicating directly with the casing at the bottom, and communicating with it
at the top by a passage provided with a weir arranged and operating substantially
as and for the purpose herein set forth.
Dated this 22nd day of September 1891
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.