IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING M POWER FROM AERIFORM FLUIDS AND FROM LIQUIDS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, of Tew Park,.
'Oxfordshire, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING
M POWER FROM AERIFORM FLUIDS AND FROM LIQUIDS."
170.7
Sealed the 19th September 1865, and dated the 23rd March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Piers Watt
Boulton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 23rd March 1865."
I, MATTHEW PIERS WATT BOULTON, of Tew Park, Oxfordshire, Esquire,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER PROM AERIFORM FLUIDS AND FROM 'LIQUIDS," to be as
follows:
This Invention relates to improvements in obtaining motive power from
aeriform fluids and from liquids, and has more particularly for its object to
enable the heat produced by combustion to be utilized in the production of
motive power through-a greater range of temperature and of pressure than
is now done, in order that a larger proportion of the heat may be converted
into mechanical effect. When valves are used in passages through which
highly heated neriform fluid passes the following construction may be employed.
The valve works in a chamber containing liquid. When the passage is open
the level of this liquid stands lower than the orifice which is opened and closed

page_text: by the valve, and the aeriform fluid can pass without passing through the liquid.
When the passage is closed, or when it is about to be closed by the valve, a
plunger worked by the engine descends into the liquid and raises its level, so
that it stands higher than the orifice closed by the valve and encompasses the
valve or its exterior. This method is applicable to valves of various con-
structions, such as the slide valve, the piston valve, the plug valve, the double-
beat valve. For closing and opening passages through which highly heated
aeriform fluid passes two valves may be employed, one exposed to the heated
fluid and not accurately closing the passage, the other kept cool and accurately
closing the passage. The body of the valve, whatever be its construction,
may be kept cool by passing cold liquid through its interior. The rod of the
valve may be a cylindrical body working in a passage which it fits nearly, but
without touching its sides. The sides of this passage may be kept cool by
cold water or liquid applied to the outside. Cold water may be passed through
the rod of the valve; it may also be passed through a portion of the rod
circulating through passages in its interior; one for ascent, the other for
descent; or otherwise the water may be forced through an aperture in the
rod into the passage, being there converted into steam. When products of
combustion resulting from the combustion of inflammable gas or vapor are
employed to work a piston, the induction valves may shut off the supply of air
and of inflammable fluid at a point previous to their mixture and combustion.
In this case the induction valves are kept cool without difficulty. The
ignition of the air and inflammable fluid; when readmitted into the cylinder,
may be caused by a small jet of flame kept constantly burning within the
passage, or by a jet of flame acting through an orifice from the exterior, or by
the electric spark.
The following is a mode by which aeriform fluid may be employed to
produce motive power otherwise than by working a piston in a cylinder.
Two vessels of unequal heights are provided, communicating with one
another, so that liquid can flow freely through them. Liquid being supplied
to these vessels, aeriform fluid is injected into the liquid in the taller of the
two, near the bottom. In consequence of this the liquid rises in that vessel;
the column of pure liquid in the shorter vessel being of greater weight than
the mixed column of liquid and aeriform fluid in the taller vessel. The
liquid thus raised in this vessel overflows at its top, whence it falls back into
the shorter vessel, and in this way a continual circulation of the liquid through
the vessels takes place. The liquid in the course of its descent is employed
to work some instrument suitable for being worked by the force or movement
of liquid, such as a wheel, or turbine, or water-pressure engine. The vessels

page_text: being united, the whole may be made one continuous circulating system.
Aeriform fluid may be generated at a high pressure and injected at a low
pressure into liquid in the manner above described, 'the pressure of the fluid
being reduced in the following manner :-The aeriform fluid contained in a
vessel at high pressure is caused to issue through an orifice into a tube or
passage, communicating with the atmosphere through one or more openings,
within' which passage it expands. Acting like the blast in the chimney of a
locomotive engine; it draws air or causes air to be forced through the openings
into the passage, and the larger quantity of aeriform fluid thus:set in motion,
having its pressure reduced according to the increase of its quantity, is injected
into the liquid. The current of fluid thus set in motion may pass previous
to its injection into the liquid through a gradually expanding passage, in which
its velocity is gradually.reduced; and a portion of the energy due to vis viva
replaced by that due to head or pressure.:
By the method above described the heat of the aeriform fluid-may be
reduced as well as its pressure, and thus highly heated aeriform fluid may be
utilized in the manner described. The current of: aeriform fluid: produced in
the manner, above explained may also be injected: with velocity into the liquid,
or into a passage into which the liquid issues in a jet or stream, or in numerous
jets or streams, and may impel the liquid by its vis viva or moving force.
The heated aeriform fluid may be provided by means of a jet or blast of steam
drawing air through a chamber in.which fuel is burnt, the steam and the pro-
ducts of combustion mixing together and forming a heated. aeriform current.
Supposing the fuel employed: to be carbonaceous-matter, such-as-coke, or coal,
or wood; the following method may be adopted: Air is supplied to the car-
bonaceous fuel in such a proportion as to cause. the carbon to be imperfectly
burnt so as to generate carbonic oxide; this carbonic: oxide, together with
such other inflammable gases as may be generated, issues from the. furnace
into a passage communicating with the atmosphere through an opening or
openings through which air is drawn by the action of a steam jet or blast. In
this passage. the carbonic oxide and other inflammable gases are burnt, and
the products of their combustion mixing with the steam form a heated aeriform
current. Dust and impurities may be removed by causing the gaseous
matter to pass through water. This mode of heating aeriform fluid may
be employed generally when it is desired to use a heated aeriform current
for the production of motive power.
The following is one method by which a current of water produced in the
above manner may be. employed. Vanes are provided against which the
water may strike, the vanes.being of such a form as to deflect the water and

page_text: turn it backwards. These vanes are attached to rods which work backwards
and forwards like piston rods, and are connected with machinery which they
drive by their reciprocating movement. The stream of water is caused to
strike against these vanes successively, so as to act against each during a portion
of its forward stroke, while the back stroke is made without any force acting
against the vane. The shifting of the current may be caused either by valves
or by shifting a moveable pipe.. Supposing the stream of water to issue in a
horizontal or inclined direction, it may be guided by channels so as to strike
on the vane at the right point of its surface, these channels being connected
with the vane and moving with it. The method above described may be
employed whenever it is desired to use the impulse of water or of liquid for
the production of motive power.
...In order to utilize fully very bigh temperatures of. aeriform fluid very high
pressures are necessary. In order that.very high pressures may be used with safety
the following construction may be employed:-One vessel containing elastic
aeriform fluid at a very high pressure is enclosed within another containing.elastic
fluid at a high but lower pressure; in this case the force exerted within the
interior vessel tending to burst it, is only the difference between the pressures in
the two vessels. In like manner many. vessels may be employed one within the
other, the pressure in each vessel being higher than that in the vessel.next to
it and containing it. Communication into the interior of the vessels may take
place through pipes, which, being of small. diameter, may be made of any
requisite strength. Heat may be applied to any of these vessels by injecting
into the vessels through pipes heated matter, or matter which undergoes com-
bustion and generates heat within the vessel. If the heat is such as to reduce
the tenacity of the metal composing the vessel, this vessel may be enclosed
within another in which the pressure is equal to that within the heated. vessel,
so that the heated vessel is not subjected to any bursting pressure. Again,
the sides resisting pressure may be kept cool by water generating steam at a
certain pressure
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Matthew Piers Watt Boulton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
PIERS WATT BOULTON, of Tew Park, Oxfordshire, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of Marcb, in the year of our-Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, Her special licence, that I, the said.
Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER FROM AERIFORM
FLUIDS AND FROM LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, my executors or administrators, by an in-
strument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands 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 Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, do
bereby 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 thereof, that is to say:-
·
This Invention relates to improvements in obtaining motive power from
aeriform fluids and from liquids, and has more particularly for its object to
enable the heat produced by combustion to be utilized in the production of
motive power through a greater range of temperature and of. pressure than is
now done in order that a larger proportion of the heat may be converted into
mechanical effect. When valves are used in passages through which highly
heated aeriform fluid passes the following construction may be employed:-The
valve works in a chamber containing liquid. When the passage is open the
level of this liquid stands lower than the orifice which is opened and closed
by the valve, and the aeriform fluid can pass without passing through the
liquid. When the passage-is-closed-or-when-it-is-about_to_be_closed, by the
valve, a plunger worked by the engine descends into the liquid and raises its
level, so that it stands higher than the orifice closed by the valve and encompasses
the valve or its exterior. To supply loss by evaporation liquid is injected
into the chamber by a pump or forcing apparatus. This method is applicable
to valves of various constructions, such as the slide valve, the piston valve, the
plug valve, the double-beat valve.
In Figure I, A is a valve closing and opening the passage B; C is a chamber

page_text: containing water or other liquid D. In this the plunger E works, being
moved by the engine. When the plunger E is at the lowest part of its
course the level of the liquid D stands higher than the mouth of the passage B,
which is closed and opened by the valve A. As the valve is opened the
plunger E is raised, and as it rises out of the liquid the level of this sinks
till it falls below the level of the mouth of B, and gas or aeriform fluid can
flow from B to F, without passing through the liquid. In Figure 2 the same
effect is produced by the lateral movement of the plunger E, the level of the
water in the chamber C, C, C, C, rising as the plunger moves forwards into the
chamber and sinking as it moves backwards.
For closing and opening passages through which highly heated aeriform
fluid passes two valves may be employed, one exposed to the heated fluid and
not accurately closing the passage, the other kept cool and accurately closing
the passage.
The body of the valve, whatever be its construction, may be kept cool by
passing cold liquid through its interior. The rod of the valve may be a
cylindrical body working in a passage which it fits nearly, but without touching.
its sides. The sides of this passage may be kept cool by cold water or
liquid applied to the outside. Cold water may be passed through the rod of the
valve; it may also be passed through a portion of the rod circulating through
passages in its interior, one for ascent, the other for descent; or otherwise the
water may be forced through an aperture in the rod into the passage, being
there converted into steam.
When products of combustion resulting from the combustion of inflammable
gas or vapour are employed to work a piston, the induction valves may shut off
the supply of air and of inflammable fluid at a point previous to their mixture
and combustion. In this case the induction valves are kept cool without
difficulty. The ignition of the air and inflammable fluid when readmitted into
the cylinder may be caused by a small jet of flame kept constantly burning
within the passage, or by a jet of flame acting through an orifice from the
exterior, or by the electric spark. When it is desired to heat aeriform fluid
by combustion, air be introduced into a chamber containing petroleum
or other inflammable liquid in a state of spray or finely comminuted, and
this mixture may be ignited and used in an engine for the production of
motive power.
may
The following is a mode by which aeriform fluid under pressure, obtained as
above stated, or in any other manner, may be employed to produce motive power
otherwise than by working a piston in a cylinder. Two vessels of unequal
heights are provided communicating with one another, so that liquid can flow

page_text: freely through them. Liquid being supplied to these vessels, aeriform fluid is
injected into the liquid in the taller of the two near the bottom. In conse->
quence of this the liquid rises in that vessel, the column of pure liquid in the
shorter vessel being of greater weight than the mixed column of liquid and
aeriform fluid in the taller vessel. The liquid thus raised in this vessel over-
flows at its top, whence it falls back into the shorter vessel, 'and in this way a
continual circulation of the liquid through the vessels takes place. The liquid
in the course of its descent is employed to work some instrument suitable for
being worked by the force or movement of liquid, such as a wheel, or turbine,
or water-pressure engine. The vessels being united the whole may be made
one continuous circulating system. ⚫
In Figure 3, A, A, B, B, and C, C; are two vessels of unequal heights'
connected together. Water or liquid is introduced into these standing at the
level A, A.. Aeriform. fluid is-injected through the. passage D into the liquid
in C, C. The weight of the column of pure liquid in A, A, B, B, being
greater than the weight of the column of mixed liquid and aeriform matter
in C, C, this latter column rises, the aeriform fluid escaping at G, while the
liquid passes down the passage E, E; falling through this it works the
turbine F, F. Instead of working a turbine, it may work any other instru-
ment suitable for being worked by a fall or éurrént of water. Aeriform fluid>
may be generated at a high pressure and injected at a low pressure into
liquid'in the manner above described, the pressure of the fluid being reduced
in the following manner:-The aeriform fluid contained in a vessel-at-high-
pressure is caused to issue as a blast through an orifice into a tube or passage
communicating with the atmosphere through one or more openings. Acting
like the blast in the chimney of a locomotive engine; it draws air of causes air
to be forced through the openings into the passage. If it.is desired a succes-
sion of blasts 'acting in this manner may be employed; in this way a larger
current of fluid is set in motion, having a lower velocity than that of the fluid'
which issued from the orifice, but having nearly equal energy.. This current
is-caused to traverse a passage or passages in which its velocity is reduced,
and while it loses vis viva, it acquires energy in the form of pressure. Having
acquired the requisite degree of pressure, it enters the liquid.
.
In Figure 4, A is a tube through which aeriform fluid passes from a vessel.
in which it has been contained under pressure, issuing as a blast at the orifice a.
This blast draws air or causes air to be forced into the passage B, B. The
mixed current set in motion in this passage passes into the passage C, C,
mixing with the liquid in that passage, and rising with it, having acquired
such an amount of energy in the form of pressure as is requisite to overcome.

page_text: the weight of the column of liquid, or of mixed liquid and aeriform matter
contained in the passage C, C. By the method above described the heat of
the aeriform fluid may be reduced as well as its pressure, and thus highly-
heated aeriform fluid. may be utilized in the manner. described. The current
of aeriform fluid produced in the manner above explained may also be injected
with velocity into the liquid, or into a passage into which the liquid issues, in
jet or stream, or in numerous jets or streams, and may, impel the liquid by.
its vis viva or moving force. The following is one method by which a current-
of water produced in the above manner may be employed:-Vanes are pro-
vided, against which the water may strike, the vanes being of such a form as.
to deflect the water and turn it backwards. These vanes are attached to rods.
which work backwards and. forwards. like piston rods, and are connected with
machinery, which they drive by their reciprocating movement. The stream of,
water is caused to strike against these vanes successively, so as to act against
each during a portion of its forward stroke, while the back stroke is made:
without any force acting against the vane. The shifting of the current may
be caused either by valves or by shifting a moveable pipe. Supposing the
stream of water to issue in a horizontal or inclined direction it may be guided
by channels so-as to strike on the vane at the right point of its surface, these.
channels being connected with the vane and moving with it..
In Figure 5, A, A, is a vane; B, the rod attached to it; C, C, a channel
attached to the vane or to the mechanism, so that it moves with the vane ;
D is a portion of the pipe or passage through which the stream of liquid flows,
this being so placed that the stream is discharged through it into the channel,
while the channel is allowed to move freely. Thus the stream flowing along
the moving channel is always discharged out of it, so as to strike the
vane A, A, in the point desired. Several such vanes A may be employed,
each with a rod B and channel C connected with it. The vanes are connected
with cranks arranged around an axis, or are otherwise connected with the
same machinery, and for each there is a supply passage D, through which, at
the proper time, by opening a valve or by shifting a pipe, a stream of liquid.
is allowed to pass. The method above described may be employed whenever
it is desired to use the impulse of water or of liquid for the production of
motive power.
In order to utilize fully very high temperatures of aeriform fluid very high
pressures are necessary. In order that very high pressures may be used with
safety the following construction may be employed:-One vessel containing.
elastic aeriform fluid at a very high pressure is enclosed within another con-
taining elastic fluid at a high but lower pressure; in this case the force.

page_text: exerted within the interior vessel tending to burst it, is only the difference
between the pressures in the two vessels. In like manner many vessels may
be employed, one within the other, the pressure in each vessel being higher
than that in the vessel next to it and containing it. Communication into the
interior of the vessels may take place through pipes, which being of small
diameter may be made of any requisite strength. Heat may be applied to
any of the vessels by injecting into the vessels, through pipes, heated matter,
or matter which undergoes combustion and generates heat within the vessel.
If the heat is such as to reduce the tenacity of the metal composing the
vessel, this vessel may be enclosed within another in which the pressure is
equal to that within the heated vessel, so that the heated vessel is not
subjected to any bursting pressure. The sides resisting pressure, may be kept
cool by water, generating steam at a certain pressure.
In Figure 6, A represents the interior of a cylindrical vessel containing
aeriform fluid at high pressure; B, B, B, represents the interior of another
cylindrical vessel containing aeriform fluid whose pressure is high, but lower
than that of the elastic fluid; in A, C, and D are pipes communicating from
the outer air to the interior of the vessels.
What I claim is-
1. The method described of constructing valves to be used in passages
traversed by highly-heated gases.
2. The method described of obtaining motive power by injecting aeriform
fluid into liquid, and thus producing a circulation of liquid, the moving liquid
being employed to work an instrument.
3. The use, in conjunction with this method, of the mode described of
reducing the temperature and pressure of the injected aeriform fluid.
4. The use of valves and of a moveable channel for guiding the liquid
when the impulse of liquid on vanes is employed in the manner described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
M. P. W. BOULTON. (L.S.)