IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTOR ENGINES WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, GAS, OR OTHER FLUID, ALSO PARTLY APPLICABLE AS PUMPS OR BLOWING ENGINES
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Wilhelm Weyhe at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
August 1875.
I, WILHELM WEYHE, of Bremen, in the German Empire, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOTOR
ENGINES WORKED BY STEAM, AIR, GAS, OR OTHER FLUID, ALSO PARTLY APPLICABLE
AS PUMPS OR BLOWING ENGINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates mainly to an improved construction of rotary
motor engine, wherein a piston is caused by fluid pressure to travel
round in an annular passage arranged in the following manner :-
I construct a casing of two discs, round the periphery of cach of which
is formed a semicircular annular cavity, which when placed together face
to face form a closed annular passage. The two parts of the casing
when fixed together at their periphery have a narrow space between
their central portions which communicates with the annular passage, and
in which is a disc fixed on a central shaft and having fixed to its
periphery a piston fitting the annular passage. At one point of the

page_text: annular passage is a tongue shaped slide fitting accurately the sides of
'the annular passage so as to form a division in the same, and capable of
sliding into a recess to allow of the passage of the piston. In the
annular passage to one side of this slide is an inlet aperture for steam,
gas, or fluid under pressure, and on the other side thereof is an outlet
for the escape of the steam or fluid after doing work. Assuming the
piston to be situated in a position just beyond the said slide and inlet
aperture, the steam or other fluid in entering the passage between it and
the slide will drive the piston round therein, the piston carrying round
with it the disc and shaft to which it is fixed. The piston has at its
back an incline or beak-shaped projection, which when it has travelled
round in the passage presses against an incline at the back of the slide,
and thus raises this up so as to allow the piston to pass through. At
the moment of passing through the slide the piston closes the inlet
aperture for steam, so that there is no escape to the outlet aperture
while the slide is open, the piston and disc being caused to continue
their motion by virtue of their momentum until the piston has again
passed beyond the inlet aperture, the slide being closed down again
either by the action of a spring or by a tail piece on the slide which is
pressed 'upwards by the piston. The outlet aperture may either com-
municate with the atmosphere or with an exhaust or condenser, so as to
maintain a partial vacuum in the annular passage behind the piston.
This is provided with a packing consisting of several coils of a spiral
spring wound round it like a cuff, which is pressed against the sides of
the passage by the steam or fluid pressure admitted to the back thereof
through holes in the piston. Annular grooves containing packing
material are provided in the casing at the periphery of the revolving disc
against which the packing is pressed by screws, so as to prevent any
escape of fluid at the central part of the casing.
According to another modification instead of using one single slide I
arrange two slides working in and out of recesses on opposite sides of
the annular passage, the one slide folding over the other, and the slides
being formed with bevilled edges, so that the pointed beak of the piston
in pressing against them pushes them outwards sufficiently to allow it
to pass, after which the slides are closed again by springs. The slides
are made hollow, and one of them has an aperture communicating with
the inlet aperture for steam, or fluid situated inside the recess, and a
second aperture for the issue of the steam or fluid into the annular

page_text: passage, so that when the slide is pushed back to allow the piston to pass
the admission of steam or fluid is thereby cut off.
The above described engine may be employed either singly or in
duplicate, arranged as follows:-I fix the casings of two such engines
face to face on a framing, the rotating discs and pistons of the two
engines being fixed on one and the same shaft. The inlet aperture of
the one engine communicates with a coil of pipes situated inside a
furnace, the heat of which either heats air or produces steam or other
elastic fluid within the coil of pipes, so as to produce motive power.
The outlet aperture of this engine communicates with the inlet aperture
of the second engine by means of a coil of pipes enclosed in a casing
through which water or other cooling medium is made to flow, and the
outlet aperture of the second engine communicates with the first named
coil of pipes inside the furnace.
The action of this combined apparatus is as follows:-The hot air or
steam passing from the heated coil into the first named engine drives
round the piston, the shaft of which drives the piston of the second
engine, which is thus made to act as a pump, drawing the air or steam
discharged from the first engine through the cold coil of pipes, where it
is cooled or condensed, and discharging it back into the heated coil,
whence it again passes to the first engine after becoming heated. A
check valve is provided in the discharge pipe of the second engine, so
as to prevent the hot air or steam in the heated coil from flowing
backwards into the same. When steam or other gases that are condensed
into a liquid form are used, the condensed liquid is drawn from the
bottom of the condensing coil into a force pump worked by the engine,
whence it is forced into a preliminary heating vessel beneath the furnace
where it is reconverted into vapour which ascends into the heating
coil.
The furnace for heating the coil I prefer to make of the following
construction-I make a vertical cylinder with vertical internal ribs
into which the fuel is introduced from the top, and in which it gradually
descends on to the grate at bottom. Surrounding the cylinder is- a
spiral flue communicating with the fire grate at bottom and with the
chimney at top, in which flue is placed the before mentioned coil of

page_text: the air required for the combustion of the fuel is caused to pass in a
downward direction in contact with the hot flue, so that it becomes
heated before entering the fire. The central flue chamber being closed
at top, and the outlet to the chimney flue being at bottom any com-
bustible gases that are distilled off from the upper part of the column
of fuel are caused to pass downwards to the fire-grate and are there
consumed, the before mentioned projecting ribs in the chamber forming
spaces between them in which the gases readily descend.
In adapting my before described rotary engine to be worked by an
explosive mixture of gas or petroleum, vapour, and air, I arrange the
inlet aperture to communicate with a reservoir of such explosive
mixture, so that if the piston is moved a certain distance beyond the
radial slide which forms a partition in the annular passage, a certain
quantity of explosive mixture, is drawn in. The piston being moved.
somewhat further comes in contact with a pin projecting slightly through
a slit in the side of the casing. This pin is attached to a slide in a
chamber outside the casing, having two compartments, the slide having,
firstly, a passage by which it can establish a communication between
one of these compartments and the interior of the engine through a
port in the side of the latter; and secondly, a passage through which it
establishes a communication between the two compartments. The
piston in moving this slide by means of 'the before mentioned pin firstly
opens the communication between the two compartments of the chamber,
so as to cause a gas jet which is kept constantly burning in the one
compartment to ignite a small quantity of the explosive mixture which
has previously been admitted into the second compartment. The slide
in being moved further then closes a communication between the two
compartments, and afterwards opens the communication between the
compartment containing the ignited mixture and the interior of the
engine, whereby the explosive charge of the latter is fired, and the piston
is propelled round in the annular chamber; as soon as the ignition has
taken place the piston releases or ceases to act upon the pin fixed to the
slide (as the curvature of the annular passage projects beyond the end
of the pin), and the latter is then thrown rapidly back into its original
position by means of a spring, so as to close all communication between
the interior of the engine and the slide chamber. The inlet valve for
the combustible mixture is closed at the same time that the slide closes

page_text: the communication between the two compartments of the valve chamber
and before the charge in the engine is fired.
It will be readily understood that by driving the shaft of my before
described engine by any convenient power the engine may be used
either as a pump (as has indeed already been described in connection
with the engine) or as a blowing engine. .