AN IMPROVED AMMONIACAL GAS ENGINE
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Armour, of Liverpool, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED AMMONIACAL GAS
ENGINE," A communication from abroad by Emile Lamm, of
Sealed the 22nd August 1871, and dated the 25th February 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Armour
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th February 1871.
I, ALEXANDER ARMOUR, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
AMMONIACAL GAS ENGINE," a communication, to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention relates to an addition to a steam
engine of water chambers enclosing the piston rod and valve stem to
render it capable of being worked by ammoniacal gas instead of steam,
without any loss of gas which is returned to a tank where the exhaust is
reabsorbed by a weak solution of aqua ammonia.
The second part of the said Invention relates to the application of
liquefied ammoniacal gas contained in a considerable number of iron

page_text: tubes as the liquid from which instead of water the motive power of
the engine is derived.
E
The third part of the said Invention relates to a weak solution of
aqua ammonia contained in a tank, in which the iron tubes, mentioned
above, are immersed, and in which also the exhaust pipe of the ongine
is made to dip near the bottom. The gas exhausted while the engine
is working is reabsorbed by this weak solution of aqua ammonia until
the solution becomes saturated. The gradual reabsorption of the gas
by the weak solution causes the latent heat of the gas to reappear, the
consequence being the retransfer, by means of the several aforesaid 1
metallic tubes or surfaces, of the heat thus given out in the weak
solution to the liquefied gas. This retransfer maintains a constant
temperature within the tubes, the result of which is to keep an un-
diminished pressure above the surfaces of the liquefied gas, notwith-
standing the expenditure of the gas in working the engine.
It can therefore be easily perceived that the boiler is composed of
two parts, viz. first, a tank or shell; second, the tubular reservoir
therein contained. There is no communication between these two parts
except through the engine.
The tubes are caulked in the tube sheets at the top and bottom.
These tubes comprise almost all the heating surface of the said reservoir.
They are surmounted by a dome, bolted gas-tight on the outer rim of
the upper tube sheet, and are enclosed at the bottom by a dished iron
bonnet bolted on the rim of the lower tube sheet. A Dange on tho
lower portion of the dome is bolted gas-tight on the top of the tank,
to which it serves as a cover, while it is at the same time a support to
the reservoir. The said tubes contain the liquid from which the motive
power is obtained. The fank contains a solution which reabsorbs as
fast as it comes through the exhaust pipe of the engine the gas vol-
atilized within the tubes. The ammoniacal solution surrounding the
tubes maintains by an easily regulated heat the motive power at its
maximum of tension.
The fourth part of the said Invention relates to the applications of the
same to the propelling of tramway carriages, for which purpose it will
prove very economical, though it is equally applicable in other ways as
a motive power especially for the driving of machinery requiring only an
intermittent action.

page_text: The process of liquefying the ammoniacal gas is rendered continuous
by a fresh concentrated solution constantly pumped back into the boiler
to replace the weak solution which is drawn off from its bottom.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Armour in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th August 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
ARMOUR, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Armour, Her special
licence that I, the said Alexander Armour, my exccutors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Armour, 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 "AN IMPROVED
AMMONIACAL GAS ENGINE," a communication to me from abroad by Emile
Lamm, of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Armour, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hand and seals, 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 Alexander Armour, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 accompanying
Drawing, forming a part of this Specification.

page_text: The first part of my Invention relates to the addition to a steam
engine of water chambers enclosing the piston rod and valve stem, to
render it capable of being worked by ammoniacal gas instead of steam
without any loss of gns, which is returned to a tank, where the exhaust
is reabsorbed by a weak solution of aqua ammonia.
The second part of my Invention relates to the application of
liquefied ammoniacal gas contained in a considerable number of iron
tubes, as the liquid from which instead of water the motive power of
the engine is derived.
The third part of the said Invention relates to a weak solution of 1
aqua ammonia contained in a tauk, in which the iron tubes mentioned
above are immersed, and in which also the exhaust pipe of the engine
is made to dip near the bottom. The gas exhausted while the engine
is working is reabsorbed by this weak solution of aqua ammonia until
the solution becomes saturated. The gradual reabsorption of the gas 1
by the weak solution causes the latent heat of the gas to reappear, the
consequence being the retransfer, by means of the several aforesaid
metallic tubes or surfaces, of the heat thus given out in the weak
solution to the liquefied gas. This retransfer maintains a constant
temperature within the tubes, the result of which is to keep an un- 2
diminished pressure above the surfaces of the liquefied gas, notwith-
standing the expenditure of the gas in working the engine.
It can therefore be easily perceived that the boiler is composed of
two parts, viz., first a tank or shell; second, the tubular reservoir
therein contained. There is no communication between these two 2
parts except through the engine. The tubes contain the liquid from
which the motive power is obtained. The tank contains a solution
which reabsorbs as fast as it comes through the exhaust pipe of the
engine the gas volatilized within the tubes. The ammoniacal solu-
tion surrounding the tubes becomes, by a remarkable phenomenon as a
soon as the machine is set in motion, the furnace which maintains
by an easily regulated heat the motive power at its maximum of
tension.
The fourth part of the said Invention relates to the applications of
the same, the most important of which applications at the present time ;
appears to be the propelling of tramway carriages, for which purpose
it will certainly prove very economical, though it is equally applicable
5

page_text: as a motive power in other ways, and especially for driving carriages and
machinery requiring only an intermittent action.
By means of this Invention any number of vehicles can be pro-
pelled without fire thereon for any reasonable distance, for liquefied
ammoniacal gas gives a pressure at the mean temperature of the atmo-
sphere of one hundred pounds to the square inch, and can be readily
and economically liquefied under pressure. For example, the vehicles
can be propelled at the expense of one single fire, heating at the depot
a large feeding boiler containing a concentrated solution of aqua
ammonia.
The process of liquefying the ammoniacal gas is rendered continuous
by a fresh concentrated solution, constantly pumped back into the
boiler to replace the weak solution, which is drawn off from its bottom.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the said improved engine; Figure 2
is a horizontal section of the same.
A represents the cylinder of a steam engine; B and C are two water
chambers, inclosing within them the packing boxes of the piston rod
and valve stem. These chambers are also each provided with a packing
box for the piston rod and valve stem to slide through, and are cast in
one piece B with the bonnet of the cylinder, the chamber C being also
cast with the steam chest. They communicate with each other by
means of a small pipe D. Each water chamber is so connected with a
tank F by means of pipes E, as to allow a free circulation of water from
them to the tank. Any leakage which may accidentally occur from
the cylinder is necessarily absorbed by the weak aqua ammonia in the
chambers B and C, there being no loss of gas from leakage. The
tubes J belonging to the reservoir L are caulked in the tube sheets, top
and bottom. These tubes comprise almost all the heating surface of
the said reservoir. They are surmounted by a dome bolted gas-tight on
the outer rim of the upper tube sheet, and are enclosed at the bottom
by a dished iron bonnet bolted on the rim of the lower tube sheet. A
flange on the lower portion of the dome is bolted gas-tight on the top
of the tank F to which it serves as a cover, while it is at the same time
a support for the reservoir L. The tube K is connected both above and
below with the reservoir, and affords additional room for the expansion

page_text: of the gas. To the top of the tube K is attached the pressure pipe M
which is provided with a valve. N is the exhaust pipe of the engine
which dips down in the tank F to within two or three inches of the
bottom. This exhaust pipe is provided with a check valve to prevent
the flooding of the cylinder by the aqua ammonia in the tank on
stopping the engine. The tubes in the reservoir L are filled with
liquefied ammoniacal gas, and the tank is two-thirds filled with a
weak solution of aqua ammonia. The engine is now in condition to
communicate motion by a pulley or other gearing to any machinery
or vehicle by simply opening the valve in pipe M, and it works as if
propelled by steam, until the liquefied ammoniacal gas in the reservoir L
becomes exhausted. Then if the engine is used to propel tramway
the carriages, as each carriage has partly expended the gas contained in
reservoir L, and the said gas has been during the trip absorbed by the
weak solution of aqua ammonia, this now saturated solution is pumped
back at the depot into the feeding boiler for redistillation. The reservoir
is then charged anew with liquefied gas, and the tank resupplied with
a weak ammoniacal solution at a proper temperature drawn from the
feeding boiler; the carriage is then ready for the trip; thus the solo
expense of propelling an unlimited number of carriages is that of the
fuel necessary to heat the feeding boiler at the central depot.
A further proof of the economy of working liquefied ammoniacal gas
instead of steam is due to this fact, that one gallon of liquefied
ammoniacal gas under a pressure of six and a half atmospheres at
50° Fahrenheit, expands into nine hundred and eighty-three volumes
of gas, while water under the same pressure at 320° Fahrenheit only
gives a volume of two hundred and ninety-five of steam to one of water;
also the quantity of coal necessary to evaporate four gallons of water
will produce five gallons of liquefied ammoniacal gas.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
mo by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim,-
First. The addition of water chambers to an engine for the

page_text: Third. The tank F or its equivalent in combination with the reservoir L
as and for the purpose specified.
Fourth. The combination of the reservoir and tank with the engine
and water chambers for the purposes specified.