IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING AND EMPLOYING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Telford Macneill at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th January 1866.
J, THOMAS TELFORD MACNEILL, of No. 23, Cockspur Street, Strand,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING
AND EMPLOYING MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
It has been proposed to employ a more economical mode of producing
and using steam power by forcing the air requisite for the combustion of
the fuel into the furnace or fire-box of steam boilers or generators, and
also forcing the products of combustion after passing through the flues of
the boiler into the interior thereof, so as to pass through the water and then
mix with the steam and to be employed with the same as motive power.
My present Invention has reference more particularly to the utilization
of the hot gaseous products of combustion as a motive power, either with
or without the admixture of steam, and consists in one part in producing a
more effective mixture of such hot products of combustion under pressure
and of a certain proportion of steam (either equal to, or greater, or less
than that of the other gases) without having for this purpose to force the

page_text: gases into a steam boiler or receptacle containing water heated by a
furnace, such as has heretofore been employed for this purpose, and by
preference, without employing any steam boiler at all. For this purpose,
I construct a strong enclosed receptacle containing incandescent fuel, into
which is forced under considerable pressure the requisite air for maintaining
combustion, and into which the fuel is introduced from a strong chamber
in connection therewith, closed by suitable gas-tight valves or slides; or if
liquid fuel is employed it may be forced in by pressure produced by
pumps or other suitable known means, The products of combustion
generated in the first-named receptacle are conducted thence through a
pipe or passage into another strong closed receptacle, where they enter in
the form of one or more jets, and are brought immediately into intimate
contact with small jets of water, or water and steam forced into this
receptacle. By the great heat of such gases, the water is instantaneously
converted into steam, which becomes intimately mixed with the gases, and
this gaseous compound is then conducted from the receptacle to the
cylinders of the engine. The water, or water and steam, requisite for the
above purpose, may either be forced directly into the mixing chamber or
it may be made to flow first through spaces, casings, or jackets surrounding
one or more of the before-mentioned chambers or passages, so as to take
up the radiated heat therefrom. By this Invention not only is the expense
attendant on the employment of a steam boiler obviated, but I am enabled
to regulate the quantity of steam to be mixed with the gaseous products
of combustion to the exact proportion that may be required. In some cases I
dispense entirely with the admixture of steam with such gaseous products,
employing these alone as motive power, in which case the mixing chamber
before described will not be required, and this may also be dispensed with,
even when an admixture of steam is used, by effecting the introduction of
the water, or water and steam, and the admixture of the resulting steam
with the other gases in the cylinders or other recipients of the prime mover
itself. Instead of producing the gaseous compound by bringing jets of
water, or of water and steam in contact with the gaseous products of com-
bustion, jets of steam alone may be brought in contact with the gaseous
products. When the water required for conversion into steam is not made
to pass through a chamber or jacket surrounding the receptacle in which
the combustion is taking place, I prefer to surround such receptacle with
a jacket containing the air requisite for supplying the furnace of the
combustion chamber, which air is then made to take up any radiated or
transmitted heat therefrom.

page_text: In applying my Invention to locomotive engines, the ordinary boiler
and steam cylinders may be dispensed with, and the products of
combustion under pressure, with or without the admixture of steam
produced in the manner before described, may be made to enter directly
from the generating or mixing chamber (if employed) into the drum of a
rotary engine, to the shaft of which the driving wheels are connected.
My Invention is also particularly applicable to rotary engines in general.