A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Jarvis Worssam at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th November 1868.
I, GEORGE JARVIS WORSSAM, of Wenlock Road, City Road, London,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE," to be as
follows:-
In carrying out my Invention I avail myself of the property of bodies
or objects of a certain specific gravity when immersed in a fluid of a
greater specific gravity to rise or ascend to the surface of such fluid;
this buoyancy represents a greater or a lesser force or power, according
to the greater or lesser difference between the specific gravity of the
object and that of the fluid and the size or the displacement caused in
the fluid by such object. In order to make the said objects, which I will
call floats, as light as possible, and yet strong enough to resist the
pressure of water, I construct them of thin sheet metal, and in pre-
ference in the form of tubes or hollow cylinders with conical or flat
ends; a number or series of these cylinders are hinged or linked together
in a similar manner as the buckets of a chain pump; this chain of float

page_text: Now the
is passed over two sets of pulleys, discs, or arms fixed to two horizontal
shafts, the one placed vertically above the other, the said pulleys being
formed to suit the shape of the floats; one half of this chain of floats
passes through the centre of the tank holding the water or other fluid,
and the other half passes outside the tank through the air. The floats
when in motion enter through the bottom of the tank in the manner
hereafter described, and rise up by their buoyancy through the water;
they then pass round the top pulley, descend outside the tank, and passing
over the bottom pulley, again enter into the tank, and so on.
principal part of my Invention consists in passing the floats through the
bottom of the tank. On the bottom of the tank I fix a barrel or
cylinder; this cylinder may be square, or any suitable shape to 'fit one or
more of the floats, and conical at one or both ends to admit of the free
ingress and egress of the floats, and on every float I fix an ordinary cup
leather, either made of leather, india-rubber, wood, metal, or any other
suitable material. Supposing the floats to be in motion, the one float
passing into the cylinder before the other has passed out would prevent
very little if any escape of water, which escape could be pumped by a
small pump into the tank again. The motion communicated by the
rising floats to the float pulleys, discs, or arms and shaft is further
transmitted by means of belts or gearing in the manner usual with other
motive engines.
The details of arrangement and construction of my new motive-power
my Invention
engine may be altered or varied, but the main feature of
consists in passing the floats through the bottom of the tank. I do not
confine myself to fixing the cup leathers, made either of leather, india-
rubber, wood, metal, or any other suitable material, on the floats them
selves, as I may in some cases fix the leathers, india-rubber, wood.
metal, or any other suitable material in the barrel or cylinder at the
bottom of tank, so as to form a water-tight joint round the floats
passing through the cylinder or barrel.