CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1847

page_text: BRE
SPECI
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BREYNTON, of the Inner Temple, in the City of London, Esquire, 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 Twenty-first day of January, in the tenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her Heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Breynton, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial license, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Breynton, my
exors, and adññiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Breynton,
my exors, adñiors, 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 expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY
STEAM ENGINES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said William Breynton, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in Her said 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Breynton, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same is to be performed and carried into practical effect, to
be as the same are described and set forth in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the illustrative Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon respectively, that is to say:-
My Invention of "Certain Improvements in Rotatory Steam Engines,
consists in a new and peculiar mechanical combination and arrangement of
parts herein-after fully described, and in the application of the principle of
construction hereafter explained to the formation of such said parts in the
manner herein-after set forth and represented by the Drawing hereunto
annexed. And in order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible
I will proceed to describe the modes of arrangement, principle of construction,
and combinations of parts, which I consider. well calculated for carrying out
my said Invention, and which will be found to answer well in practice.
"
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The Figure 1 exhibits a diagram illustrative of the principle of construction
of the engine. Figure 2 is a transverse and vertical section of the engine
taken through about the centre thereof. Figure 3 is a side elevation of the
engine. Figure 4 is an end elevation. Figure 5 is a transverse and vertical
section thereof taken through the line A, B, at Figures 2 and 3. The
Figures 6 and 7 exhibit two views of parts hereafter referred to, as detached
from the other parts of the engine. Similar letters of reference are placed
upon and denote.corresponding parts in so far as such parts appear or can be
seen in each of the Figures respectively. At the Figure 1, A, B, C, D, repre-
sents an ellipse described with foci E and F, half the major axis of which is repre-
sented by o Ba=15904, and half the minor axis 'by Ao b=15;
the focal distance is represented by E and Ff = 524; A, K, H, L,
represents a circle described with centre G and, radius G A G = 6=5
of o A; m, n, represents a piston passing freely through the centre of
the circle A, K, H, L, the said piston having a sliding motion in the direction
of its length, as hereafter fully described. The breadth or thickness of the
piston is represented by m n = 2.0, X, Y, represents a circle described
with centre G and radius Go 5.
0.
"plate
At the Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, A, A, marks a case of elliptical form, and
employed for a similar purpose to that part of an ordinary steam engine
known and distinguished as the cylinder; B, B, 'marks a foundation pl
which the said elliptical case is fixed; C, C, marks a hollow cylindrical
shaft or piston rod revolving within the case A. The centre of this shaft or
piston rod should be placed at such a distance from and above the centre of
the elliptical case as that the circumferences of the said shaft or piston rod and
upon

page_text: elliptical case touch at the point 1, as shewn. This shaft or piston rod passe
through steam-tight stuffing boxes, situate at each end of the elliptical case A,
as shewn, and revolves in bearings in the upright framing attached to tho
foundation plate. D, D, marks a sliding piston of rectangular form, whose
breadth is equal to that of the elliptical case between its inner ends, and whose
length is equal, or nearly so, to the shorter diameter of the elliptical case.
This piston slides freely through a slot or aperture formed through the shaft or
piston rod, as shewn at Figure 6, and whilst the said shaft or piston rod moves
in a circular direction, the sliding piston moving with it, and through it, performs
an elliptical course by pressure of its extremities against the inner surface of
the elliptical case; and the ends of the said piston are kept in close contact
with the inner surface of the said elliptical case by metallic packings and
springs, as shewn at Figure (2), where D marks the sliding piston, 6 the
metallic packing, and c the springs, the elasticity of which exerting a constant
outward pressure against the said metallic packing keeps it in close contact
with the inner surface of the case A. And I would here remark, that the
proportions and strength of the several parts of this engine will, of course,
depend upon the power required to be exerted, and must be calculated
accordingly by any of the well-known means or tables of calculation for
ascertaining the requisite strength of materials employed to withstand given
pressure; as, for example, the diameter of the shaft or piston rod (C, C,) must
Sọ much greater than the thickness of the piston as will afford sufficient
strength and, cohesion of the particles of which the solid part of the said
piston rod is composed, and sufficient space should be left in the said piston
rod for the insertion of metallic packing to prevent ingress of steam to the
interior thereof, as shewn at Figure. (2). The principle of action of this
engine is, that the piston revolving or moving with and through the cylindrical
shaft or piston rod (C, C,) by being arranged and constructed in the manner
herein-before particularly described and. represented at, the above Figure, is
always in close contact with the inner surface of the elliptical case A, during
the revolutions of the said piston and piston rod, and to,.effect this the said
shaft or piston rod may be of any proportional part of the shorter axis of the
ellipse, the longer axis being varied, accordingly, whereby this principle of
action may be maintained; but the proportions which I recommend as having
been found most efficient in practise are that the revolving shaft or piston rod
shall have a diameter of not less than two thirds of the shorter diameter or
minor axis of the ellipse, which will make the longer diameter or major axis
about 1,06 times the shorter. diameter, for if the diameter of the revolving
shaft or piston rod be made materially, smaller than this the figure of the
be

page_text: case A must either cease to be a perfect ellipse, and thereby become very
difficult to bore, or else the increased length of the piston will involve the
necessity of the metallic packings moving through a very considerable space.
The operations of this engine are as follow:-Steam is introduced into the
elliptical case near to its point of contact with the revolving shaft or piston
rod (C, C,) at E (Figure 2), and acting upon the sliding piston moves
it round, and thereby imparts rotatory motion to the said shaft or piston rod.
The steam is discharged from the cylinder through an aperture or eduction
passage F, as shewn, similarly situated on the contrary side of the point of
contact 1, of the piston rod and case A, to that of the induction passage E, or
the steam may be introduced and allowed to pass off through the ends of the
case A, if found more advisable. For reversing the motion of the engine, or
moving the piston and shaft in a contrary direction, it will only be necessary for
the attendant to alter the position of the cock or slide valve G, so as to make
the eduction pipe available for the passage of steam into the cylinder, and the
induction pipe for the passage of steam out of the cylinder.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed and carried into practical effect, I wish it
to be particularly understood that I do not claim the exclusive use of any of
the separate parts above mentioned and referred to, except in so far as the same
may be employed in combination, and for the purposes of my said Invention;
and I distinctly disclaim as of my Invention the use of sliding pistons when
working or revolving within a circular Figure, as also the causing of one shaft
or cylinder to revolve within another. But I do claim as of my Invention
the modes of arrangement and mechanical combinations of parts above men-
tioned, and represented at the Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, of the Drawing hereunto
annexed, together with the principle of construction, as shewn by the diagram
at Figure 1, upon which such said combinations and arrangements are based
and whereby the ends of the piston D, shewn at the Figures 2, 3, and 7, are
kept in close contact with the case in which it works, by which the said piston
is caused to revolve in an elliptical figure denoted by A, at the Figure 2,
and thereby imparts rotatory motion direct to the driving shaft marked C, at
the Figures 2, 3, 4, 7, through which it passes, as constituting improvements
in rotatory steam engines, as herein-before particularly described, set forth, and
represented, by the Drawings hereunto annexed.
And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, and also in all' Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,

page_text: I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same; and that I do
verily believe this my said Specification doth comply, in all respects, fully and
without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain
exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.