CERTAIN IMPROVE MENTS IN GAS-AMMONIACAL ENGINES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis de St. Céran, Gentleman, of 51, Rue de Malte,
Paris, in tho Empire of France, for the invention of" CERTAIN IMPROVE
MENTS IN GAS-AMMONIACAL ENGINES."
Sealed the 13th October 1865, and dated the 17th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis de St. Céran at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
April 1865.
I, LOUIS DE ST. CÉRAN, Gentleman, of 51, Rue de Malte, Paris, in the
Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GAS-AMMONIACAL ENGINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an ammoniacal gas engine in which the same
water is used again and again. For this purpose a boiler or heating vessel
is connected with a refrigerating worm which communicates with two receivers,
one of which fills while the other is emptying; these receivers communicate
with a cylinder furnished with a piston and communicating with a closo
vessel filled with cold water; this vessel communicates with the boiler in such
manner that the water after absorbing ammonia as herein-after described is
forced or pumped back into the boiler. Water saturated with ammoniacal
gas being introduced into the boiler and heated, gives off the gas, which
passes into the worm where it is refrigerated, and it thence flows into one or

page_text: other of the two receivers in which it is liquefied; communication is then
opened between the receiver and the cylinder, whereupon the liquid ammonia
vaporizes (being free from the pressure from the boiler), and it flows in a state
of vapour into the cylinder and acts upon the piston. After working in
the cylinder it passes into the close vessel where it dissolves in or becomes
absorbed by the cold water, which being thus saturated with gas is pumped
or forced back into the boiler, and the gas is again given off under the action
of heat, thus the same water serves again and again, being cooled, saturated
with gas, and reheated until the gas is given off, the process being repeated
without a fresh feed of water or gas from without being required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis de St. Céran in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS DE ST.
CERAN, Gentleman, of 51, Rue de Malte, Paris, in the Empire of France,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
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 Louis de St. Céran, Her special licence that I, the said Louis de St. Céran,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Louis
de St. Céran, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agrec 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN GAS-AMMONIACAL ENGINES," upon the condition, amongst others, that I,
the said Louis de St. Céran, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Louis de St. Céran, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, that is
to say:-
My Invention relates to an ammoniacal gas engine in which the same water is
used again and again. For this purpose a boiler or heating vessel is connected
with a refrigerating worm which communicates with two receivers, one of which
is filling while the other is emptying; these receivers communicate with a
cylinder which is furnished with a piston and communicates with a close
vessel filled with cold water, the vessel also communicates with the boiler in
such manner that the water after absorbing ammonia as hercin-after described
is forced or pumped back into the boiler. Water saturated with ammoniacal
gas having been introduced into the boiler and heated gives off the gas, which
passes into the worm where it is refrigerated, and it thence flows into one or
other of the two receivers, in which it is liquefied; communication is then
opened between the receiver and the cylinder, whereupon the liquid ammouia
vaporizes (being freed from the pressure from the boiler), and it flows in a
state of vapour into the cylinder and acts upon the pistou. After working
in the cylinder it passes into the close vessel, where it dissolves in or becomes
absorbed by the cold water, which being thus saturated with gas is pumped
or forced back into the boiler, and the gas is again given off under the action
of heat; thus the same water serves again and again, being cooled, saturated
with gas, and then reheated until the gas is given off; the process is repeated
without a fresh feed of water or gas (from without) being required.
My improved engine or ammoniacal gas motor is constructed with reference
to the three following facts or principles :-(1.), water saturated with
ammoniacal gas is readily disengaged therefrom when heated; (2.), ammoniacal
gas liquefies readily when compressed and cooled; (3.), and it is easily
redissolved by cold water.
The operation of the machine may be best indicated by the following
explanation:-In my engine water saturated with ammoniacal gas is heated
in a boiler, the gas given off is cooled as it travels off in a worm surrounded
by cold water, and is then pumped or forced into a receiver in which it is
liquefied on opening a tap or valve. The liquid ammonia is next vaporized
and led into a cylinder in which it acts on a piston, and on opening another
tap or valve the gas passes into a close vessel filled with very cold water in
which it is dissolved, and the water saturated with gas returns into the boiler
and deposits the gas a fresh under the action of heat.
The accompanying Drawings exemplify more particularly in what manner
the Invention may be performed.

page_text: Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 a plan, of a gas engine constructed
according to my improvements.
A is a tubular or other boiler having a fire-box and chimney A'. In this
boiler water saturated with ammoniacal gas is heated in order to disengage
the gas therefrom; B is a pipe through which a current of cold air is driven
by an air pump E, of which e is the piston rod, or instead of the pump a
fan or blower may be used; within the pipe B is a worm b, in which
circulates the ammoniacal gas which is conducted from the boiler by a pipe a
The gas is cooled in its passage through the worm b, and through a second
worm, immersed in a vessel C containing cold water. It then passes into
one or other of two worms a or a¹, being admitted therein by a two-way
cock R. Thence it is introduced by a two-way cock R into one or other of
two receivers, V, or ', V. These receivers are alike in construction and
arrangement, each receiver consists of two vessels one within the other with
an intervening water space and worn; Figure 3 is a vertical sectional
elevation of one of these receivers, say v, V. The vessel V is fitted in the
vessel v, and between them is a water space X; round the outer surface of the
vessel V is a worm a, see Figure 4. In like manner the vessel V₁ is within
a vessel v¹, with a water space X'; between them a worm ¹ is coiled round
the vessel V. The worms x, x, acquire the same temperature as the
vessels V, V1; now if when the inner vessel is filled with liquid ammonia the
cock R be closed so that the pressure of the boiler ceases to be exerted in
the vessel, and if at the same time the cock R¹ be opened so as to open
communication with the working cylinder D, the liquid ammonia will be
vaporized and will pass into the cylinder. Its evaporation produces a very
low temperature which refrigerates the gas which enters the other receiver,
and I thereby promote the liquefaction of such gas. D₁ is a chamber
containing valves which send the gas to one or other side of the piston in the
cylinder D alternately, and drive it into the condenser F. The piston is
connected by a crank arm d with a shaft D* and fly wheel D in any
ordinary manner. The gas passes into the cylinder from the receiver v, V,
or v', VI, through a pipe M", in which it is reheated by water driven in a
contrary direction into the worm m; the elasticity of the gas is thus increased
and the water becomes cold. F is a condenser or absorbing vessel kept full
of very cold water, into which the gas, coming from the cylinder D is
brought by a pipe f, and being immediately absorbed by the water a vacuum
is produced on one side of the piston (as in a steam engine); P is a double-
acting lift and force pump, worked by an excentric P'; it fills and empties the
condenser F and boiler A continuously, and thereby causes the same water

page_text: to circulate continuously between the condenser F and the boiler. For this
purpose the water in the boiler A, when greatly impoverished, that is to say,
when deprived of ammoniacal gas, flows through a' into the worm m³, where
it commences to cool, the worm m' being enclosed by the pipe M¹, through
which flows saturated cold water forced in from F by the pump P; it then
enters the boiler through a short pipe a". Thus this "impoverished" water
flows through the worm m', gradually cooling, and it is pumped by P back
into the worm m" through a pipe h, in which it becomes cold by yielding its
heat to the gas in the pipe M", and it thence enters the cylinder D and
becomes colder still in its passage through a worm g immersed in cold water
contained in a vessel G. The water being impelled by the pump P is
brought through the pipe g¹ into one or other of the water spaces X or X',
by the two-way cock R, and becomes much colder and almost freezes,
owing to the very low temperature produced by the evaporation of the liquid
ammonia. This cold water is discharged by the cock through the pipe f
into the vessel F. Thus from below its piston the pump P draws up from
the condenser F water saturated with ammoniacal gas, and drives it into the
boiler through the passages M' and a", and above its piston the pump takes
hot "impoverished" water from the boiler through the worm m³, and returns
it into the condenser F, after having completely cooled it by its passage
through the worms m" and g, and the spaces X or X'. Therefore the same
water is saturated with gas in the vessel F and freed from gas in A, and so
on again and again, and the same ammonia circulates again and again between
the boiler and receivers, and the cylinder, condenser, and boiler. In the boiler
the gas is disengaged from the water by the heat therein, and it thence passes
in a gaseous state and under a pressure of from 8 to 12 atmospheres through
the pipe a, and thence through the worms 6 and b', wherein it is cooled, and
it then enters the worm or a¹, and becomes refrigerated therein to such extent
as to liquefy (still being under the pressure of from 8 to 12 atmospheres
which prevails in the boiler) it thus enters one or other of the receivers v, V,
or v, V, and it is relieved from the pressure of the boiler by closing the
cock R, and then by opening the cock R' it passes off into a state of vapour,
that is to say, it resumes a gaseous state and passes through the pipe M", in
which it is reheated into the cylinder D. From the cylinder D it flows into
the condenser F in which it is absorbed or dissolved in water, the solution
is pumped back by the pump P through the pipe M into the boiler. Thus
the ammonia and the water are used over and over again, and no fresh feed of
ammonia or water is required, except to supply any trifling loss from escapes
or waste (which are very rare). The cocks R, R', R", R1, 7, 1, 1, 11, may

page_text: be worked by hand, they only need to be worked when the receivers v, V, v', VI,
are full of liquid ammonia, or they may be operated by the engine itself, that
is, by cams or gearing worked by the shaft D*.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
'ments in gas-ammoniacal engines,―
First, the construction of an engine in such manner that the water and
ammonia circulate again and again as often as desired, and produce motivo
power, all the heat being made use of, as also the properties of ammonia to
liquefy under pressure and under reduction of temperature, and to dissolve
in cold water and produce cold when vaporizod, substantially as described.
Second, the arrangement and combination of parts and method of action
of the receivers herein-before described, the same serving as liquid ammonia
holders and as refrigerators in such manner as to liquefy the gas and to adapt
the water for absorbing the gas.
Third, fitting, arranging, and combining a pump in manner herein-before
described, so as to produce continuous circulation of water between the boiler
and condenser.
Fourth, the arrangement and combination of parts and method of action
of the condenser or absorbing vessel, the same being so contrived that the
pump removes therefrom at every stroke its full volume of water saturated
with gas (the gas not being disengaged in the pump), substantially as
described.
Fifth, the improved gas engine herein-before described in so far as regards
the general arrangement and combination of parts of which the same consists,
as berein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis de St. Céran, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
BRESSON, F,
Rue de Malte, 51, Paris.
LOUIS DE ST. CERAN. (L.S.)