A NEW MODE OF OBTAINING A ROTARY MOTION BY WATER, STEAM, OR GAS, OR OTHER VAPOUR, BEING APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE GIVING BLAST TO FURNACES, FORGES, AND OTHER PURPOSES WHERE A CONSTANT BLAST IS REQUIRED
Year: 1830

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
STREET, of Clifton, in the County of Gloucester, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty, in the first year of His reign, did, for Himself, His
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Street, my exccu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said John Street, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such person or persons as I, the said John Street, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should 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, my Invention of "A NEW MODE OF OBTAINING A ROTARY
MOTION BY WATER, STEAM, OR GAS, OR OTHER VAPOUR, BEING APPLICABLE ALSO TO
THE GIVING BLAST TO FURNACES, FORGES, AND OTHER PURPOSES WHERE A CONSTANT
BLAST IS REQUIRED;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that
if I, the said John Street, should not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, 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
John Street, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly set forth,
described, and explained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say):-
My new mode of obtaining a rotary motion by water, steam, or gas, or other
vapour, and which is applicable also to giving blast to furnaces, forges, and
other purposes where a continued blast is required, consists in the employment
of a novel construction of a rotary engine, the particular features of which are
set out in the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 represents the exter-
nal appearance of the engine complete, as seen in front; Figure 2, the same
seen endways. A, A, Figure 1, aro two distinct cylindrical vessels fixed to a
basement, through the centers of which cylinders the hollow axle B, B, B,
passes. Within each of the vessels A, A, there is a rotary piston and lever valve,
which will be described hereafter. Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the
machine taken through the middle in the direction of Figure 1, and Figure 4
is a transverse section of one of the chambers, with its piston C and valve or steam
stop D. Figure 5 is another section taken in the same direction, supposed to
represent the other vessel.
The cylindrical vessels A, I propose to make of
cast iron, as most eligible, but other materials will answer the purpose. The
interiors of the cylinders must be rendered perfectly true, and their sides flat,
in order that the edges of the pistons may fit closely and steam tight as they
go round. The axle B, B, is hollow throughout, but closed at its ends, and is
turned perfectly true and cylindrical on its outer surface. The pistons C, C,
stand radially from the axle to which they are affixed, in diametrically opposite
directions in the two cylinders, as shewn by dots in Figures 4 and 5. I pro-
pose to make them of sheet iron, cut to a rectangular figure corresponding to
the form of the interior of the cylindrical vessels. On the front or advancing
side of each piston I attach a curved bar a, which gives stability to the plate,
and is intended to act as a wiper in raising the valve or steam stop D. A portion
of the upper part of each cylinder is removed to the extent of about sixty
degrees of its circumference, and a rectangular box E, E, formed over it, which,
with the cylinder, constitutes the close vessel that the piston moves in. The
lever valve or steam stop D is a rectangular plate of iron or other suitable
material mounted on pivots b, b. The lower edge of the valve bears upon the
periphery of the cylindrical axle, and in that situation acts as a steam stop or
partition dividing the vessel. The valvo is packed on its edges to prevent the
passage of steam. Having described the construction of the cylindrical vessel
A, with its piston C, and valve or steam stop D, it is only necessary to say that

page_text: both the cylindrical vessels, with their pistons C and valve D, are precisely
alike, and that there being one common axle passing through both, with the
pistons placed in opposite directions, the operations of the pistons are reciprocal.
The outer extremities of the hollow axle, which are closed, have gudgeons on the
ends, which it will be seen in Figures 1, 2, and 3, are supported on standards,
G, G, with plummer boxes for them to turn in. A steam pipe II, leading
from a boiler situate at any convenient distance, conducts steam of any desirable
pressure into the steam box I, which embraces the bollow axle, and is properly
packed to prevent the loss of steam. From this box I, the steam passes into
the hollow axle B, through apertures e, e, Figure 3rd, and having filled the
hollow axle, the steam proceeds through the other apertures f, g, up the pipes
K and L, into the cylinders. The induction apertures ƒ and g for delivering
the steam from the hollow axle are to be on opposite sides of the axle, so that
,when the steam is passing up the pipe K into one of the cylinders, it is soon
shut off from the pipe L, and the other cylinder, and vice versa. The apertures
for admitting the steam into the pipes K and L are made at h, i, in the upper
parts of the outer flanges of the cylinder, as will be seen in the longitudinal
section, Figure 3. They may be of any convenient width, but are to extend
round only about seven-sixteenths of the circumference, and the corresponding
aperture and g in the axle is to be about six-sixteenths of the circumference.
The apertures through the axle atf and flange at h, towards the left end of the
machine as soon in Figure 3, being now supposed to be open, the steam will
pass up the pipe K into the box E, thence into the left-hand cylinder, the
transverse section of which, with the position of the piston and valve as now
situated, is shewn by Figure 4. The steam thus blowing into the cylinder
meets a firm resistance against the inclined valve or steam stop D, but pressing
also against the back of the piston C, forces the piston round in its circular
course within the cylinder, and gives to the axle the rotary motion which may
be applied as a first mover to the driving of other machinery. By the time
that the piston C in Figure 4 has arrived at the situation shewn by dots, the
piston in the other cylinder, Figure 5, has been brought into a similar situation
to that in Figure 4, ready to receive the force of the steam, and in passing
round this circuit the wiper a, at the back of the piston C, has raised the lever
valve D, for enabling the piston to pass, as shewn in Figure 5. By the time.
that the piston has arrived at the situation shewn by dots in Figure 4, or further
in advance forty-five degrees or more, the induction aperture has become closed,
and the piston is carried forward by the action of the steam upon the piston in
the other cylinder, until it has arrived at k, which is the eduction or exit
aperture through which the expended steam is allowed to escape.
The steam

page_text: being admitted through the induction aperture at the reverse end of the axle,
passes into the other cylindrical chamber, and forces the piston round, raising
the steam stop or valve in the way already described, by which successive
admissions of steam the pistons with the axle are made to perform a continuous
rotary motion. In the foregoing I have described the lever valve or steam
stop to fall by its gravity upon the axle of the piston, which in some cases
may be found objectionable. I therefore shall describe my method of counter-
balancing the steam top so that its fall may be regulated.
The ends of the pivots or axle on which the steam stop D turns are made to
project through the sides of the box E, of the cylindrical chamber, and on the
end of one of the pivots a lever 1, see Figure 2, is affixed, with a counter-
balance weight m, attached to its end. This weight may be adjusted by sliding
it up and down the lever, so as to wholly or partly balance the steam stop as
may be required, the parts round the pivots being packed steam tight. Another
mode of balancing the steam stop is shewn in Figure 6, where it will be seen
that the rectangular box or chamber E, E, is enlarged for the purpose of
enclosing the counter-balance weight, which does not require the pivots or
axle of the steam stop to project through the side of the cylinder, but the
upper end and edges of the counterbalance n must be steam tight in its
present position. I do not, however, intend to confine myself to these particular
modes, as there are other methods of balancing the valve D than those I have
described; nor do I intend to confine myself to the mode described of lifting
the lever valve or steam stop by means of the wiper on the rotary piston
within, as I propose under some circumstances to raise these steam stops by
means of wipers on the outside of the cylindrical chambers, as shewn-in-the
end view, Figure 7, where o is an arm or lever affixed on the end of the axle
of the steam stop or valve, and Pa wiper fixed on the rotary axle of the
piston, which, as it revolves, coming in contact with the arm or lever, raises it,
and consequently the valve also, which will enable the piston to pass, as
already described. I sometimes construct my rotary engines with a solid axle,
and in that case pass the steam direct to the cylinders through the steam pipe
from the boiler, and regulate the supply and admission of the steam by pecu-
liar formed valves contained within the steam pipe, by which I dispense with
the hollow axle and the steam box before described. Figure 8 is an end
view and Figure 9 a front view of one of the cylinders of an engine upon
this construction. 9 is the steam pipe leading from the boiler, having the
enlarged part at formed into a box to allow the regulating valve to work in.
This valve is like the ordinary throttle valve of a steam engine, and is opened
and shut by a levers on the end of its axle, which lever is acted upon by a

page_text: rotary cam t, fixed on the main axle of the engine. This cam has a part of
its periphery removed for the purpose of allowing the end of the lever to fall
upon its smaller diameter, and close the valve (as shewn in the section
Figure 10, during the time required. The rotation of the cam continuing, it
will raise the lever into its former position, and open the valve to admit the
steam; there being two branch steam pipes to supply both cylinders, and a
valve in each, and the cams and levers so regulated that as the one valve is
closed, shutting off the steam from its cylinder, the other is open, and admits
the steam into the cylinder to act upon its piston, and thus gives a continuous
rotary motion to the main axle of the engine. Another regulating valve, which
may be used in place of the ordinary throttle valve of the engine, as shewn
at Figures 11 and 12, and consists of a plate u, fixed across the steam pipe,
having two holes w, w, made through it, of equal dimensions. These holes are
closed so as to prevent the passage of steam by two valves x, x, one of which
closes on the upper side of the plate, and the other on the under. These valves
are connected together by the bent arms y, y, which are fixed on the axle z.
This axle is placed across the pipe, and projects out at the side, where a lever
may be affixed and worked by a cam on the main axle, as before described.
It will be understood that these valves may be so adjusted as to regulate the
admission of the steam into the cylindrical chambers as desired, and the steam
may be cut off, and the valves kept closed, at any required part of the revolu-
tion of this piston, and the expansion force of the steam used to continue its
rotation. Although I have described steam only as acting upon the piston of
the engine in the foregoing description, yet I wish it to be understood that the
actuating or motive power to work such engines may be the gravity of water,
the expansion force of steam, gas, or condensed air, or any other elastic vapour.
The same principles described under my rotary engine will apply to the con-
struction of rotary bellows or blowing machines, by which a continued blast
may be kept up. Figures 13, 14, and 15 are representations of such blowing
apparatus. Figures 13 and 14 are sections shewing the parts in different
positions, and Figure 15 a top or bird's eye view of the outside. a is the case
or cylinder in which the piston 6 revolves; c is the aperture for the admission of
air into the cylinder; d is the valve or stop which divides the air aperture from
the exit pipe e; f is the axle of the piston, having a winch handle g on its end.
On a rotary motion being communicated to the axle by the winch handle or
any other means in the direction of the arrow, the piston will be carried round,
forcing the air before it out of the cylinder, through the exit pipe c. As the
piston revolves, the wiper on the piston, coming in contact with the curved end
of the stop valve, raises it, as shewn in Figure 14, and the piston is allowed to

page_text: pass, when the stop falls down again to be ready for the next revolution of the
piston. The exit pipe e is connected to a box or air chamber h, into which
its end is open when the air is being forced out of the cylinder and through
the nozzle or pipe i leading to the furnace; on the blast ceasing the valve k
closes the end of the pipe; at this time the piston in the other cylinder t, see
Figure 15, is acting upon the air, and forming it out through the pipe m, into
the air chamber, as before, thus keeping up a continuous blast, the valves at
the end of the pipes in the air chamber alternately opening and closing as the
pistons of the cylinders come into operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Street, have hereunto set my hand