IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GAETAN
KOSSOVITCH, of Myddleton Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Third day of May, in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Gaetan Kossovitch, Her especial license, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that I, the said Gaetan Kossovitch, my exors, admors,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said Gaetan Kossovitch, my exors,
adiiors, 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 mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY STEAM ENGINES,"
being a communication from a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Gaetan Kossovitch,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Gaeton Kossovitch, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say):-
This Invention of "Improvements in Rotatory Steam Engines has been
communicated to me by the Inventor, Alexis Khomiakoff, and the novelty of
the Invention is described by him as consisting in the constancy or regularity
of the passage of the steam, and also the uniformity of the vacuum produced.
This regularity is obtained by arranging the mechanism in such a manner that
the introduction and escape of the steam takes place through certain moveable
parts which rotate with the piston and its axle. Fig. 1 in the accompanying
Drawings represents a plan or horizontal. view of the engine complete. Fig. 2
is a general side view or elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal
horizontal section of the cylinder, and some of the principal working parts.
Fig. 4 is an end view of the cylinder and the parts immediately connected
therewith. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same.
The body
of the steam engine is composed of a hollow cylinder A open at both sides to
two cylinders B, B', and at its ends to two cylinders C, C'. The small end
cylinder C communicates by the tube i with the boiler, and the other end
cylinder C¹³ communicates by the escape tubes e with the condenser or the
atmosphere. All these parts are immoveable, and are seen in Figures
1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The axle T passes through the cover of the end cylinder C,
and also the cover or end of the other end cylinder C', openings through
which are made steam and air-tight by means of stuffing boxes. The middle
of the engine is occupied by a moveable cylinder D, with a piston & seen in
Figure 5, and also in the detached Figures 6, 7, and 8. This moveable
cylinder is open at its ends and communicates with the end cylinders C, C¹,
and fits so exactly to the side of the great cylinder as to allow no loss of
steam. The moveable cylinder D is hollow, and is connected with the axle by
means of a strong plate E, (Figures 3, 5, 6), which cuts off the communica-
tion between the two cylinders C, C¹, and consequently allows no direct
communication between the tube i, which admits the steam to the cylinder,
and the exit tube e which allows it to escape therefrom. The moveable
cylinder D has two openings y, y¹ (Figures 3, 5, 7). One of these openings
admits the steam into the great cylinder, the other lets the steam out of the
engine into the escape tube. The openings y, y', are separated by the piston
x; one of them is on one side, and the other on the opposite side of the solid

page_text: plate E, which divides the inner space of the moveable cylinder in two parts.
The semi-cylinders B, B', contain two shutters or valves 1 and 2, Figures 3
and 5, and shewn also in the detached views 9 and 10. Each shutter or valve
consists of a semi-cylindrical column and of two circular ends f, f'. The ends
of the shutters or valves fit exactly to corresponding circular openings in the
upper and lower lids of the immoveable cylinder A, and of the semi-cylinders B
and B. The shutters or valves turn steam-tight on centres a, a, adapted to
any immoveable contrivance, which is not indicated in the plans, as being
easily understood by every engineer. The shutters or valves work alternately.
In the Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, they are shewn in their different positions, 1 being
open to let the piston pass, and 2 being shut and kept in contact with the
moveable cylinder D. In Fig. 5 the space indicated by s, s, s, s, is full of
steam, which enters by the opening y, and acts by pressing against the shutter
or valve 2, and by exerting its elastic force it pushes forward the piston x. In
the space marked with u, v, v, a partial vacuum is produced by the escape of,
steam through the opening y', which is not indicated in the Figure, being
behind the solid plate E. The semi-cylindrical columns which form the valves
1, 2, present to the piston a concave surface, forming exactly a part of the
interior circumference of the greater cylinder A, and are cut on the edges in
the form of a concave circular surface, corresponding exactly to the outward
surface of the moveable cylinder D, allowing no leakage, and producing but a
slight degree of friction (see Figures 5, 10). This little concave surface is
marked by the letters p, pl. One end of the spindles or rods a, a, of the shutters,
supports, or valves, carries a simple concave pillar or curved cross piece, ¹,
which, when acted on by the excentric w, (Fig. 4) mounted on the axle T,.
turns the shutter or valve, and gives it the position requisite for the passage of
the piston. The shutter or valve 1 or 2. being released from the pressure of
the eccentric, is turned back again on its centre by the action of a counter-
poise, or by the pressure of steam, and keeps in contact with the moveable
cylinder D; or the motion of the shutters may be effected by means of an
excentric W, (see Fig. 2) fixed on the axle T of the moveable cylinder or
piston D, which, by acting upon a lever z on the axle of each of the shutters
or valves, gives the position requisite for the passage of the piston; the end of
the lever is furnished with a roller to reduce the friction. The shutters or
valves being released from the pressure of the excentric, are turned again on
their centres by the action of counterpoises or springs, which connect the
opposite ends of the levers, 2, and cause the valves to keep in contact with
the moveable cylinder D.
Having thus briefly described the principal working parts, I will now.

page_text: proceed to explain the action of the engine. Steam is conveyed from the
boiler by the introduction tube i through the small end cylinder C into one end
of the moveable cylinder or piston D, and finding an immoveable obstacle in
the plate E, rushes through the opening y into the great cylinder A, between
the shutter or valve 2 and the piston x; by this means it pushes forward the
The shutter I, being
piston and imparts to the action a rotary motion.
released from the pressure of the excentric, turns back (by the effect of a
counterpoise or of steam), and keeps in contact with the moveable cylinder D.
Steam continuing to enter by the opening y finds itself compressed between the
shutter or valve 1 and the piston, and propels the mechanism further on.
The shutter or valve 2 is at the same time turned by the pressure of the
excentric w to the position requisite for the passage of the piston, and the
steam escapes through the opening y', in the other end of the moveable
cylinder D, into the other small end cylinder C', and the escape tube e which
communicates with the condenser or atmosphere. Thus are obtained a constant
and uniform pressure of steam on one side of the piston, and a constant
vacuum on the other. The result is a constant rotatory motion of the main
shaft of the engine, without any variations except the slight resistance of the
turning shutters or valves.
I would here observe, that the engine just described will act as well in a
vertical as in a horizontal position, and a retrograde or backward motion can
be easily obtained by causing steam to enter by the exit tube and escape
by the inlet tube, the position of the shutters being altered to correspond with
the change.
It will be evident to any intelligent engineer or machinist that this engine
is susceptible of considerable modifications in the construction or arrangement
of some of the working parts without changing or departing from the principle
upon which it is constructed. For instance, if it should be found that the
pressure of the steam against the circular plate E in the moveable cylinder
has a tendency to alter the position of the axle T and to push it endwise, the
cover of the end cylinder C, and the cover of the other end cylinder C¹, could
be made moveable, and screwed or otherwise secured to the axle T, by which
means equilibrum would be perfectly restored, as the axle T could be prevented
from moving.
In Figures 13 and 14 I have shewn a modification which will be found
advantageous when rapid changes of the direction of the engine are
required, as in some marine engines. In this case I have employed flat
shutters, slides, or valves, instead of semi-cylindrical ones, as in Figures
1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The shutter or slide h moves to and fro between two strong

page_text: metallic plates g, g¹, and is worked in and out of the cylinder by two excentrics
ພ, shewn detached at Fig. 15, one of them fixed on one side and the other on
the other side of the cylinders. The slide h is driven back into the cylinder
by a counterpoise spring or by steam pressure. In this last case steam can act
by means of a cylinder affixed to the boiler, its circular piston being of a
somewhat larger area than the area of the edge a, b, of the shutter, and a
vacuum being obtained alternately with steam pressure. The slide h moves
easily between the two metallic plates, and is kept in an unvarying position by
the four rollers or slides e, e, e, e. Only one slide is indicated in the Plate, the
other being exactly of the same construction. Rollers or little wheels r, r,
may be adapted to the slide, in the places where it meets the excentrics, to
diminish the friction. Elastic plates or metallic packing d, d, is introduced in
the surface of the great cylinder for the purpose of preventing the escape of
steam. The other parts of the engine are similar to those alluded to in the
former description. The advantage of this arrangement would be, the facility
of producing the most rapid changes of direct and retrograde motion, the loss
of power being equal to the resistance opposed by friction, and to the resist-
ance of steam against the edge a, b, of the slide h. The retrograde motion of
the slide h, when pushed out of the great cylinder, will be easily effected, as it
will be aided by the effect of the vacuum produced in the little steam apparatus
which is affixed to the boiler, and which, when filled with steam, pushes the
slide into the great cylinder A. The openings for the introduction and escape
of steam may be made in the body of the piston itself, which may be of an
oval form for the purpose of obtaining a greater solidity. Another modifica-
tion of the engine is shewn in Figures 16 and 17, in which, instead of the
slide h, two pairs of sliding plates are used; these plates work through
openings in the ends of the large fixed cylinder and act against the surface of
the moveable cylinder and the inner surface of the fixed one, and meet steam-
tight in the middle, and act as shutters or diaphragms. The sliding plates
may be moved backwards and forwards by the pressure of springs, condensed
air or steam, and by the action of the working gear. All the other parts of
the engine remain the same as in the former plans, with the only difference
that the diameter of the moving cylinder may be considerably reduced. The
arrangement and operation of the slides is indicated in the Figures. The metal-
lic packings render the meeting of the sliding plates steam-tight, and the escape
of steam through the tubes or grooves o, o, Fig. 13, prevents the steam from
opposing any considerable resistance to the motion of the plates.
horizontal section of the engine just described, and Fig. 17 is a
vertical section of the same. B, B, is the stationary cylinder, and a, a,
Fig. 16 is a
longitudinal

page_text: Fig. 16, are one pair of the sliding plates closed, and a', a', represent the other
pair open for the passage of the piston. These sliding plates are furnished
with metallic packings to make thein steam-tight. A is the moving cylinder
with the piston and openings b, b, for the admission and exit of the steam.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gaetan Kossovitch, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.