IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION AND APPLICATION OF MOTIVE POWER, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO CERTAIN OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Bourne at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th June
1868.
I, JOHN BOURNE, of 1, Northumberland Terrace, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION AND APPLICATION OF MOTIVE
POWER, PARTS OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO CERTAIN OTHER
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
I produce motive power by means of the heat derived from com-.
bustibles as is done in the steam engine, but I generate the heat in a
different way from that adopted in the case of the steam engine, and I
transform the heat into motive power by a method not heretofore in
use, and which enables me to produce the desired effect with less
machinery than usual and with a smaller consumption of fuel.
My improvements consequently divide themselves into two main
heads-One for a new method of generating heat by coal or other
combustibles, and the other for a new method of obtaining power
from the heat generated by such combustion.

page_text: One portion of my improvements may be used without the other in
cases especially of the adaptation of my Invention to old machinery,
and parts of my improvements are also applicable to other purposes
than the generation of motive power, as, for example, to metallurgic
processes requiring an improved method of generating heat, and to the
cooling of cannon which would otherwise, become overheated fron
than the generation of motive power, as, for example, to metalurgic
processes requiring an improved method of generating heat, and to the
cooling of cannon which would otherwise, become overheated fron
repeated firing.
I will now explain in what way I generate heat by combustion :-
Instead of exposing ignited fuel laid upon a grate to a draught of air
produced by a chimney or otherwise as is now done in common furnaces,
I discard the grate altogether and blow the fuel and air, by preference
made hot, iuto a hot chamber which I term a combustion chamber, the
fuel, if solid, being first reduced to powder or brought into the gaseous
state, and if liquid being allowed to enter in a small stream, or in drops,
or in the state of vapour; and the fuel and the oxygen of the air being
diffused throughout the chamber and coming into contact with hot
surfaces within it enter into combination with the evolution of heat.
The fuel and air may be forced into the combustion chamber by pumps
or other equivalent instruments either through the same or through
different pipes, or they may be sucked in by a partial exhaustion
maintained in the combustion chamber by a steam jet or otherwise, the
only essential condition being that the fuel shall be diffused among the
air in the combustion chamber at the moment of its inflammation. The
product of the combustion will either be carbonic oxide or carbonic acid
as the quantity of air introduced to the fuel may be sufficient or
insufficient for its complete saturation, and sometimes I extract the
whole heat at one step by introducing the full supply of air, in which
case carbonic acid is generated which is an ultimate product, and at
other times I introduce only sufficient air to produce carbonic oxide,
which is an intermediate product, and being an inflammable gas may be
used in the same way as a combustible vapour to generate the com-
plement of the heat due to the complete saturation of the fuel. By the
regulated admission of the minutely divided fuel with hot air in a hot
chamber as described, I am enabled accurately to proportion the
quantities of air and fuel to one another, so as to obviate the loss
caused by the refrigeratory effect of an excess of air and also to make
the combustion 'more perfect, whereby more heat will be obtained and
smoke will be prevented.

page_text: The principle of action of the second main head of improvement,
which consists of a method not heretofore in use of obtaining motive
power from heat, will be rendered easily intelligible by the following
preliminary exposition:-When steam escapes from an orifice the force
of the steam is expended in giving velocity to its particles, and if the
momentum of these moving particles could be collected and utilized we
should obtain. the mechanical equivalent of the steam expended. The
velocity of escaping steam is however so great as to have defeated all
attempts to obtain a. useful mechanical effect from its impulse or re-
action. But other things being the same the velocity of issuing steam
will be dependent. upon its lightness, and it is possible to reduce its
velocity by loading it with water, or to increase its velocity by diminish-
ing the load of water in it, or, in other words, by superheating the
steam. It is well known that is thermo-dynamic engines of of every
class the amount of power generated by a given quantity of leat
will mainly depend upon the difference between the initial and final
temperatures, and in steam engines: it has been difficult to get the
initial temperature high enough and in air engines the final temperature
low enough without the loss of much of the heat..
Now in my improvements I derive motive power from a jet of steam
or other suitable fluid by loading it with a sufficient quantity of water or.
other fluid to reduce its velocity within such moderate limits as will.
enable its power to be easily imparted, and I also for some purposes
so increase the velocity and consequently the momentum of the jet by.
superheating it as to produce results with a low pressure which have
hitherto only been producible by a high. I also by injecting water or
other suitable fluid among the hot products of combustion reconcile a
very high initial temperature with a low terminal one without the loss
of any of the effect, thus transforming most of the heat into power,.
which power may be rendered available for use by the intervention of.
any of the common forms of thermo-dynamic machines, the water or.
other fluid injected being at the same time made serviceable in cooling.
and lubricating the machine. In some cases I introduce into the
combustion chamber steam so much superhcated that it readily separates
into its constituent gases of hydrogen and oxygen, which thereupon form
new combinations with the fuel.
Having now explained the principle of my Invention I will proceed
to specify some of the ways in which it may be practically applied. I
generate steam in common boilers by conducting into the flues the hot

page_text: products of combustion issuing from the combustion chamber already
described, or by conducting carbonic oxide generated as aforesaid, or
with the aid of superheated steam into the furnaces, where it is either
burnt in jets surrounded by air or the air may be admitted or forced
by a pump in jets into the carbonic oxide, which may be generated in
a vertical chamber into which coal is introduced as into an iron smelt-
ing furnace, the clinker being suffered to overflow through a hole like
slag. Instead however of transmitting the products of combustion through
flues in the boiler, I sometimes conduct them through a suitable valve
or orifice into the water in the boiler, working the engine with the mixed
gases and steam, and sometimes I shower upon the products of com-
bustion within an appropriate chamber water from a rose, or project
in among those products a jet of water, whereby those products are
sufficiently cooled to enable them to come into contact with the cylinder
valves and other internal parts of an engine without producing injury
ánd a volume of steam corresponding to the fall of the temperature is pro-
duced by the water and assists in working the engine. At other times
I accomplish the combustion of the gaseous or other fuel within the
cylinder itself; but in all cases I lubricate the cylinder and piston
with sufficient water or other cooling fluid admitted through a hollow
piston rod or telescope pipe and escaping through orifices round the
rim of the piston, or otherwise suitably introduced to cool and lubricate
the working parts. The piston rod where it passes through the stuffing
box is cooled and lubricated by conducting the cooling and lubricating
fluid into a lantern brass in the centre of the packing, and the educted
steam and gases may either be discharged into the atmosphere in the
manner of a high-pressure engine, or may be conducted into a condenser
as in the case of a condensing engine. In the latter case the jet of
cold water or other cooling medium in the condenser when brought
into contact with the hot steam and gases condenses the steam, and the
momentum of its particles suffices to discharge the air and water
through a valve in opposition to the pressure of the atmosphere. In
common steam engines by a like device I am enabled to dispense with
the air pump seeng that the educted steam has more than sufficient
momentum in it to expel the waste water from the condenser in oppo-
sition to the pressure of the atmosphere. I consequently divide the
injection water into two portions, one portion of which I introduce
nearer the educting orifice than the other, and the resulting hot water
apply to feed the boiler, which it will do without a pump by virtue

page_text: of the momentum it has acquired from the steam, while the rest of the
water will be carried through a valve into the external atmosphere
carrying with it the gas or air that entered with the steam. One portion
of the injection water may be introduced through an annular slit or
rose or other suitable orifices surrounding the mouth of the eduction
pipe and pointing downwards into a conical pipe terminating in a reverse
valve communicating with the boiler, while the other portion may be
introduced through suitable orifices at a point further removed from the
eduction pipe and pointing in the direction in which the waste water
has to be expelled. A valve is applied to the injection pipe to make
the rush of injection water simultaneous with the rush of the educted
steam. In the case of locomotive and other high-pressure engines where
the momentum of the educted steam is not sufficient to force in the feed
water against a high pressure in the boiler, I superheat a portion of
the educted steam so as to increase its energy and use it to force the
water into the boiler. I also employ the same expedient where necessary
in the case of condensing engines, and I use a superheated steam jet
instead of pumps for forcing water in the case of fire-engines and in water
works for the supply of towns, also for raising and propelling sewage,
lifting sandy water from foundations, and in all cases where liquids or
semi-liquids have to be moved against any considerable head; and I
sometimes diminish the density of the fluid to be raised or propelled by
acrating it, which action will spontaneously occur when the superheated
steam is generated by projecting steam or water among the hot products
of combustion or it may be accomplished by drawing air through holes
in the suction pipe or otherwise to the end that the density of the fluid
being diminished it may be raised by any given jet to a greater height.
In the case of fire-engines the water propelled by a superheated jet
produced by injecting steam or water among the hot products of com-
bustion will derive increased efficacy in extinguishing fires from being
charged with carbonic acid resulting from the combustion. In some
cases the water or other liquid put into motion by the products of
combustion or by the jet of steam or other fluid heated by those products
is used as an intermediary for acquiring momentum or vis viva in order
that the same may be imparted to a piston, turbine, or other kind of
hydraulic machine, or one that operates by re-action in producing rotary
motion, as in Barkers mill, the heat being first employed to move the
fluid in the way already explained and the moving fluid being employed
for the generation of power. In the case of steam vessels however

page_text: propulsion is effected by discharging the products of combustion into
the sea near the stern, the temperature of these products having
before their final exit been suitably reduced and their velocity corres-
pondingly diminished by cooling and loading them with a jet of water
or other fluid whereby the issuing column may be so enlarged in
diameter gradually towards its point of exit as to be prevented from
piercing the water which would occasion loss from slip, and whereby
also loss of heat will be prevented from the too high temperature
of the products of combustion at the point where they enter the sca.
Various projects for the propulsion of vessels by the reaction of issuing
products of combustion at the stern have been at different times
propounded by different persons, and among others by myself, having
many years since patented a method of propulsion operating on this
principle; but all these plans have been deficient in this respect that
they necessarily dismissed the products of combustion at too high a
temperature and at too great a velocity or else they were wholly
deficient in propulsive force.
In my present Invention these faults are prevented by the jet of
water or other fluid that I inject into the pipe which leads the
products of combustion into the sea, for this fluid enlarges the volume
of the issuing stream nearly to the equivalent extent that it reduces
its temperature, and as its velocity is at the same time reduced by
reason of the increased load of water which enables the emission pipe
to be conically enlarged and at the same time remain full any excessive
waste from slip or otherwise is prevented and a larger proportion of
the power of the fuel is utilized in propulsion than is now done by
the complicated and expensive engines now employed. The combustion
chambers I employ may be formed of boiler plate and lined with fire-
brick and may have a water casing around them to cool the iron, from
which casing the water or steam injected among the products of com-
bustion may be drawn. The air may be made to traverse several hot
pipes or channels within the chamber before it finally emerges to enter
into combination with the fuel and the fuel if solid may be precipitated
through a rose like hail or if liquid in drops falling towards the bottom
of the chamber but in their progress may encounter incandescent bricks
or other refractory materials placed within the chamber, by which com-
bustion may be promoted. When there is no pressure within the
combustion chamber but rather a partial exhaustion therein the chamber

page_text: may be open at the top and the fuel be in pieces of moderate size and
be fed in at the top in the manner of an iron smelting furnace, the
resulting carbonic oxide being also led away in the same way for use
at some other point.
Finally, I apply my Invention for generating heat by forcing or
blowing the fuel and air together or in close proximity into a combustion
chamber to all metallurgic and other processes requiring the application
of heat, and I apply my Invention for cooling cylinders by water or
other cooling liquids transmitted through the piston, to the case of
cannon by introducing bibulous wads saturated with such liquid before
and behind the powder or bottles of such liquid. The wads being
squeezed or the bottles broken by the explosion the liquid will cool
the gun, increase the efficacy of the powder by the generation of steam,
and prevent fouling by calling into play the affinity which surcharged
steam has for the residual carbon by which fouling is produced.