IMPROVE MENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING AIR OR AERIFORM FLUIDS FOR THE GENERATION OF MOTIVE POWER OR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1866

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Marc Antoine Francois Mennons, of the Firm of
Mennons and Telescheff, Home and Foreign Patent Agents, of No. 8,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, and 27, Rue
Laffitte, Paris, in the Empire of France, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING AIR OR AERIFORM
FLUIDS FOR THE GENERATION OF MOTIVE POWER OR OTHER PURPOSES." -A
communication from Nicolas de Telescheff, late Captain of Artillery of
the Russian Imperial Guard, residing at No. 23, Glouhoi Pereoulok,
St. Petersburg, in the Empire of Russia.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marc Antoine Francois
Mennons at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th January 1866.
1, MARC ANTOINE FRANCOIS MENNONS, of the Firm of Mennons and
Telescheff, Home and Foreign Patent Agents, of No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, and 27, Rue Lafitte, Paris, in the
Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING AIR OR
AERIFORM FLUIDS FOR THE GENERATION OF MOTIVE POWER AND OTHER PURPOSES,"
(a communication,) to be as follows:-
The Invention communicated to me relates to improvements in the mode
of and apparatus for generating or obtaining currents of air or aeriform fluids
at a given pressure by the sole action of heat for the propulsion of engines
027

page_text: of different descriptions, the feeding of metallurgical and other furnaces, and
generally for the purposes to which compressed air or gases are applied.
The accompanying Drawings represent in detail the construction and
arrangement of the apparatus which I employ, and which is composed of
three distinct parts, viz., firstly, the feeding apparatus; secondly, the
magazine in which the air is compressed; thirdly, the reservoir or furnace in
which the air is heated.
Figure is a horizontal section of the feeding apparatus; Figure 2 is a
side view of the same. This feeding apparatus is fixed to the air magazine
L, L, by the tubular columns A, B, in which are set the stop-cocks A¹, B¹.
The starting pressure is produced either by heat when the furnace is placed
within the magazine, as in Figures 4, 5, or by aid of a force pump when the
furnace is mounted externally, as in Figures 6, 7. The required degree of
pressure being attained, the regulator D is drawn back by the winch c, so as
to uncover the conical orifice E. The stalk of the regulator is fitted with
tenons F, F, which slide longitudinally in grooves, g, formed in the tube H
and which prevent the rod from following the rotation of the winch C. The
stop-cocks A', B', being opened, the air from the magazine L is admitted by
the tubular column B into the tube 11, and passes by the orifice E into the
cylindrical chamber I, which is divided into two compartments by a partition
having a conical outlet in J. The jet of air in passing from E to J expands,
its velocity is increased, and its temperature is reduced in proportion to the
mechanical equivalent of heat. This reduction of temperature gives rise to a
reduction of pressure in the chamber I, and the outer air with the gaseous
products of the combustion is carried by the pressure of the atmosphere
through the tube K into the chamber I with a velocity corresponding to the
heat of the furnace. The gaseous mixture gives up a portion of its heat to
the current of air, increases its temperature, and consequently its velocity,
and passes with it by the orifice J into the second compartment of the
chamber I. On reaching this point the current of hot air again expands, its
velocity is increased, its temperature is reduced, and the outer air entering by
the openings m, m, lowers the temperature still further, and passes with the
jet by the cylindrical opening n into the conical or paraboloidal pipe O. In
this pipe O the velocity of the air is gradually reduced, its temperature and
pressure increase until the latter becomes higher than that of the magazine,
into which the air is then admitted by the valve P and pipe A.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the magazine; Figure 5 is a front
view of the same partly opened. In these Figures Q is the furnace with its
grate R; M is the flue, closed during the working of the apparatus by a plate

page_text: or other obturator. The feeding apparatus is fixed vertically, so that its
pipe K, Figs. 1, 2, may fit into the opening S formed in the upper part
of the magazine L. It will be understood that the feeding apparatus, while
withdrawing by the pipe B a given quantity of air from the magazine,
returns it thereto by the pipe A, increased by a new supply taken from
without in proportion to the expenditure of the caloric of the furnace, so that
the quantity and consequently the pressure of air in the magazine is con-
stantly on the increase.
Figure 6 represents in side view an application of the generating apparatus
above described to an ordinary motive engine: Figure 7 is a cross section of
the same. In these Figures Z is the driving cylinder and expansion gear:
L is the air magazine separated from the furnace Q. which is heated by
common gas: B is the feeding apparatus mounted on the side of the air
magazine L.
Figure 3 represents an application of the Invention to the construction of
blowing or blast apparatus for forges or metallurgical furnaces in which the
air is delivered unmixed with the gases of the combustion. This apparatus
differs from that shewn in Figures 1, 2, inasmuch as its chamber I formis a
single compartment, while the conical regulator D may be suppressed. The
hot air is admitted from the magazine L by the pipe B, and the suction and
forcing are obtained as in the arrangement previously described.
Figure 8 represents the magazine L of this apparatus; Q is the furnace:
and S, S, S. are the heating tubes. The interior of the furnace may be
divided into two parts by a conical partition, as in T, at the bottom of which
is formed an opening for the admission of the cold air into the compartment
containing the tubes S. S. S. When high pressure is not required, the jet of
air proceeding from the magazine is directed through a tube of larger
diameter than itself B, Fig. 9, into which the outer air is carried by the
current issuing from the tube A. In this way the volume of the injected air
is increased at the expense of its pressure and velocity. An analogous
arrangement to that just described may be applied to the propulsion of ships,
the air being forced through tubes set below the water parallelly to the
kcel.
Throughout the preceding description reference has been made to atmo-
spheric air as the element most widely applicable to the execution of the
Invention, but in certain cases acriform fluids of different kinds may be
substituted thereto, as, for instance, in the application of the Invention to the
construction of apparatus for the manufacture of ice or for the compression
of gases in general.

page_text: It is of course understood that in all cases the form, arrangement, and
general construction of the apparatus may be modified according to its
intended application.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Marc Antoine Francois Mennons in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARC
ANTOINE FRANCOIS MENNONS, of the Firm of Mennons and Telescheff, Home
and Foreign Patent Agents, of No. 8, Southampton Buildings, in the County
of Middlesex, and 27, Rue Lafitte, Paris, in the Empire of France, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Marc Antoine Francois Mennons, Her special licence that I, the said
Marc Antoine Francois Mennons, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Marc Antoine Francois Mennons, 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 THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR
COMPRESSING AIR OR AERIFORM FLUIDS FOR THE GENERATION OF MOTIVE POWER
AND OTHER PURPOSES," (a communication from Nicolas de Telescheff, late
Captain of Artillery of the Russian Imperial Guard, a person resident at
No. 23, Glonoi Pereonlok, St. Petersburg, in the Empire of Russia, upon the
condition (amongst others) that, I, the said Marc Antoine Francois Mennons,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 Marc Antoine Francois Mennons, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Figures of the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me relates to improvements in the mode
of and apparatus for generating or obtaining currents of air or aeriform
fluids at a given pressure by the sole action of heat for the propulsion of
engines of different descriptions, the feeding of metallurgical and other
furnaces, and generally for the purposes to which compressed air or gases
are applied.
The accompanying Drawings represent in detail the construction and
arrangement of the apparatus which I employ, and which is composed
of three distinct parts, viz., firstly, the feeding apparatus: secondly, the
magazine in which the air is compressed; thirdly, the reservoir or furnace in
which the air heated.
Figure 1 is a horizontal section of the feeding apparatus; Figure 2 is a
side view of the same.
L, L, by the turbular columns A, B, in which are set the stop-cocks A', B¹.
The starting pressure is produced either by heat when the furnace is placed
within the magazine, as in Figures 4, 5, or by aid of a force pump when the
furnace is mounted externally, as in Figures 6, 7. The required degree of
pressure being attained, the regulator D is drawn back by the winch C, so as
to uncover the conical orifice E. The stalk of the regulator is fitted with
tenons F, F, which slide longitudinally in grooves g. g, formed in the tube II,
and which prevent the rod from following the rotation of the winch C. The
stop-cocks A', B', being opened, the air from the magazine L. is admitted
by the tubular column B into the tube H, and passes by the orifice E into
the cylindrical chamber I, which is divided into two compartments by a
partition having a conical outlet in J. The jet of air in passing from
E to J expands, its velocity is increased, and its temperature is reduced in
proportion to the mechanical equivalent of heat. This reduction of tem-
perature gives rise to a reduction of pressure in the chamber I, and the
outer air with the gaseous products of the combustion is carried by the
pressure of the atmosphere through the tube K into the chamber I with a
velocity corresponding to the heat of the furnace. The gaseous mixture
gives up a portion of its heat to the current of air, increases its temperature.
and consequently its velocity, and passes with it by the orifice J into the
second compartment of the chamber I. On reaching this point the current
of hot air again expands, its velocity is increased, its temperature is reduced,
and the outer air entering by the openings m, m, lowers the temperature still
This feeding apparatus is fixed to the air magazine

page_text: further, and passes with the jet by the cylindrical opening n into the conical
or paraboloidal pipe O. In this pipe O the velocity of the air is gradually
reduced, its temperature and pressure increased until the latter becomes higher
than that of the magazine, into which the air is then admitted by the valve P
and pipe A.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the magazine; Figure 5 is a front
view of the same partly opened. In these Figures Q is the furnace with its
grate R; M is the flue, closed during the working of the apparatus by a plate
or other obturator. The feeding apparatus is fixed vertically, so that its
pipe K, Figs. 1, 2, may fit into the opening S formed in the upper part of
the magazine L. It will be understood that the feeding apparatus, while
withdrawing by the pipe B a given quantity of air from the magazine, returns
it. thereto by the pipe A. increased by a new supply taken from without in
proportion to the expenditure of the caloric of the furnace, so that the
quantity and consequently the pressure of air in the magazine is constantly
on the increase.
Figure 6 represents in side view an application of the generating apparatus
above described to an ordinary motive engine; Figure 7 is a cross section of
the same.
In these Figures Z is the driving cylinder and expansion gear;
L is the air magazine separated from the furnace Q. which is heated by
common gas; A, B, is the feeding apparatus mounted in the side of the air
magazine L.
Figure 3 represents an application of the Invention to the construction of
blowing or blast apparatus for forges or metallurgical furnaces, in which the
air is delivered unmixed with the gases of the combustion. This apparatus
differs from that shewn in Figures 1, 2, inasmuch as its chamber I forms
a single compartment, while the conical regulator D may be suppressed.
The hot air is admitted from the magazine L by the pipe B, and the suction
and forcing are obtained as in the arrangement previously described.
Figure 8 represents the magazine I of this apparatus; Qis the furnace
and S, S, S, are the heating tubes. The interior of the furnace may be
divided into two parts by a conical partition, as in T, at the bottom of which
is formed an opening for the admission of the cold air into the compartment.
containing the tubes S, S, S. When high pressure is not required, the jet
of air proceeding from the magazine is directed through a tube of larger
diameter than itself B, Fig. 9, into which the outer air is carried by the
current issuing from the tube A. In this way the volume of the injected
air is increased at the expense of its pressure and velocity. An analogous
arrangement to that just described may be applied to the propulsion of

page_text: ships, the air being forced through tubes set below the water parallelly to
the keel.
Throughout the preceding description reference has been made to atmo-
spheric air as to the element most widely applicable to the execution of the
Invention, but in certain cases aeriform fluids of different kinds may be
substituted thereto, as, for instance, in the application of the Invention to the
construction of apparatus for the manufacture of ice or for the compression
of gases in general.
It is of course understood that in all cases the form, arrangement, and
general construction of the apparatus may be modified according to its
intended application.
Having now described the nature of the said improvements, and the
manner of carrying them into effect, I repeat in conclusion that I do not
confine myself to the precise details of construction and arrangement above
laid down, as these may obviously be modified without deviating from the
principles or main features of the Invention; but what I claim and desire to
protect by Letters Patent is, the improved mode of and apparatus for
generating currents of air or aeriform fluids at a given pressure by the sole
action of heat, in manner and for the purposes substantially as herein set
forth and shewn in the Figures of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marc Antoine Francois Mennons, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this. Nineteenth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
M. F. MENNONS. (L.S.)