IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1859

page_text: 1.
LETTERS PATENT to James Nasmyth, late of Surrey Street, Strand, in
the City of Westminster, but now of Lille, in the Empire of France,
Engineer; for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND
APPLYING MOTIVE POWER."
Sealed the 15th November 1859, and dated the 17th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Nasmyth at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th May 1859.
I, JAMES NASMYTH, of Surrey Street, Strand,, in the City of Westminster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING; AND, APPLYING MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel construction of apparatus for obtaining
motive power by the aid of a head or column of water. To this end I form a
kind of inverted syphon, and in the part connecting the two limbs of the
syphon together I fit a valve, for cutting off connection between the two limbs
of the syphon. The one limb I connect with a reservoir or equivalent for
supplying a head of water to the apparatus, and in the other limb I fit a
piston, from the rod of which the motive power is taken off. In connection
with the bottom of this limb is an air-tight chamber, which is capable of being
opened to and cut off from this limb of the syphon. To set the apparatus in
action, water is let into the syphon, and the syphon valve being open, it will
flow into both limbs, and the piston will be caused to rise. When the piston
shut and the valve
shall have reached the end of its stroke, the syphon valve is
of the chamber is opened. The water will then flow into the chamber, leaving
a vacuum below the piston, and the piston will follow the descending column.

page_text: The position of the valves is then reversed, and a fresh column of water is
allowed to flow to the second limb of the syphon, and cause the ascent
of the pistou, and thus a continuous traverse motion of the piston in its
cylinder is obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Nasmyth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
NASMYTH, late of Surrey Street, Strand, in the City of Westminster, but now
of Lille, in the Empire of France, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Nasmyth, Her special license that I, the said James Nasmyth, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Nasmyth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Nasmyth, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Nasmyth, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
-
This Invention of " Improved Apparatus for Obtaining and Applying
Motive Power" relates to a novel construction of apparatus for obtaining
motive power by the aid of a head or column of water. To this end I form

page_text: a kind of inverted syphon, and in the part connecting the two limbs of the
syphon together, I fit a valve or valves for cutting off the connection between
the two limbs of the syphon. The one limb I connect with a reservoir or
equivalent arrangement or contrivance for supplying a head of water to the
apparatus, and in the other limb I fit a piston, from the rod of which the
motive power is taken and communicated to any shaft it may be desired to
actuate. In connection with the bottom of this limb is an air-tight chamber.
which is capable of being opened to and cut off from this limb of the syphon
by means of suitable valves, as hereafter described. To set the apparatus in
action, water is let into the chambers forming the syphon, and the syphon
valve being opened, it will flow into both limbs, and the piston will be caused
to rise in its cylinder. When the piston shall have reached the end of its
stroke, the syphon valve must be shut, and the valve communicating with the
lower chamber opened. The water will then flow into the lower chamber
(leaving a vacuum in the cylinder below the piston), and the piston will follow
the descending column of water. The position of the valves must then be
reversed, and a fresh column of water allowed to flow to the second limb of the
syphon, and from thence through the lower chamber to the working cylinder
below the piston, and thereby cause the ascent of the piston, and thus a con-
tinuous traverse motion of the piston in its cylinder is obtained.
In further illustration or explanation of the principle upon which my Inven-
tion is founded, I would remark that it is well known that in order to obtain
motive power by the pressure of the air, there must be a vacuum on one side
of the piston in a cylinder, and the pressure of the atmosphere on the other
side of the piston; it is the same with a steam condensing engine, but in the
hydro-pneumatic engine, which forms the subject of the present Invention, it
is essential, in order to obtain motive power, that water or any other liquid
must be in contact with the part of the piston on the surface of the liquid as
it moves up and down or horizontally in the cylinder. This principle is
carried into execution in the apparatus shewn in the Drawing, and hereafter
described. The arrangement and construction of the parts may, however, be
modified in various ways, and therefore I do not intend to limit myself to the
arrangement shewn, but I claim the principle upon which the apparatus is
constructed as well as the mode and manner of carrying it into execution, or
any other mode substantially the same.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of
my improved hydro-pneumatic engine; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same,
some of the parts being shewn in section in a line taken at right angles to the
section shewn at Fig. 1.

page_text: A is a compound piston that works in a cylinder B, that forms one of the
vertical limbs of a syphon by being connected to a horizontal chamber C. The
piston A consists of two parts, a and a*; on the part a is fixed a short rod b, and
on the part a* of the piston is fixed a box 6*, in the cover of which is a hole, to
let the rod 6 move up and down in the space c between the two parts of the
piston. The space c is put in vacuo by means of an air pump c¹ and vacuum
chamber c². A moveable pipe c³ communicates at one end with the space c,
and at the other end with the vacuum chamber, and the pipe being fixed to
the piston, rises and falls with it. The pressure of the air is thus brought on
the upper surface of the part a of the piston, and is transmitted by its rod 6 to
the part a*. The cylinder B and chamber C are filled with water, and as the
water under the piston A descends, it is followed by the piston to the end of
its stroke, as the piston will be forced down by the pressure of the external air
on its upper surface. When the piston has arrived at the bottom of its stroke,
air is admitted into the space c in the piston between the parts a and a by
means of a valve a'. The piston A is then drawn up by any ordinary or
extraneous mechanical contrivance, and is followed by the water or other
liquid from the horizontal chamber C, which is supplied by the vertical
chamber or reservoir D. On the arrival of the piston A at the top of the
cylinder B, the vacuum between the parts a and a* of the piston is re-
established, and the piston A can again be made to descend in the cylinder B
by again opening the valve communicating with the chamber C. D is a
reservoir placed at the opposite end of the horizontal chamber C to receive
a supply of water. The horizontal chamber C is provided with valves f
and g for cutting off the communication with the cylinder B at one end and
the reservoir D at the other. The vacuum chamber c provided with an air-
pump c¹ may be fixed on the top of the piston A, and made to move up and
down with it, or it may be made a fixture, and adapted to some convenient
part of the cylinder, and the pipe c³ only will be moveable, as shewn in the
Drawing. The air pump may be worked by a rod from the beam or shaft, or
in any other convenient manner. The most convenient mode of arranging
and working this and some of the other parts may be left to the discretion of
the engineer employed to construct the apparatus.
To put this apparatus into operation, I fill with water, or any other liquid,
the cylinder B up to the under part of the piston A, also the air-tight chamber
C, C, and reservoir D at the opposite end; I then shut the valves f and g, and
allow the water in the chamber C between the valves ƒ and g to run out into
an air-tight vessel through the valve h. The air which is in the space c
between the parts a' and a" of the piston A is then extracted by means of the

page_text: air pump, and the pressure of the atmosphere is then allowed to act on the
piston A. The valve f is then opened, and the water under the piston A
descends in the cylinder B, and is followed by the piston A, which is forced
down by the external atmosphere. The air-tight horizontal chamber C
thereby becomes filled with water, and when the piston A reaches the bottom
of cylinder B, I admit air between the parts a and a* of the piston. The
valve g communicating with the reservoir or head of water D is then opened,
and in drawing up the piston A to the top of the cylinder, the water in the
reservoir D will follow the piston A, and when the piston A shall have reached
the top of the cylinder, the valve 9 is shut, and the space between the valve g
and the piston A is occupied by water. I then shut the valve f, and re-
establish the vacuum in the space c between the two parts a, a, of the piston
A, and on opening the valve f, the piston A is made to descend again in the
cylinder B. By timing these operations, so as to make them continuous,
motive power is obtained, and may be transmitted by means of the piston
rod e to any shaft that it may be desired to actuate.
Having now described my Invention of "Improved Apparatus for Obtaining.
and Applying Motive Power," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that although I have shewn and
described an arrangement and construction of parts which I believe will effect
the object of my Invention, I do not mean or intend to confine myself rigidly
thereto, as the arrangement and construction of parts of my improved hydro-
pneumatic engine admit of considerable, modification without departing from
the nature and object of my Invention. In conclusion, I claim as the Inven-
tion secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the mode herein set forth
of obtaining motive power by the pressure of a column of water on one side of
a piston, and the pressure of the atmosphere on the other side.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Nasmyth, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. GAUBERT,
Rue Royale, 2,
Lille.
JAMES NASMYTH. (L.S.)