IMPROVEMENTS IN AIR ENGINES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts->
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AIR ENGINES."-A com-:
munication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
. 2nd July 1856.
.I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AIR ENGINES," to be as
follows:
This Invention relates to certain novel details in the construction of air
engines. In the improved engine there are two pairs of cylinders, the two
cylinders of each pair being placed vertically one above the other, with a third
cylinder connected with and interposed between them; the interposed cylinder
is made either of very thin metal, which can be kept cool by a current of air
outside, or made of some bad conductor, so that the heat of the upper cylinder
will not be conducted to the lower one, which is to be kept cool by water in a
Surrounding vessel. To the lower cylinders are fitted working pistons, con-

page_text: nected with cranks to impart motion to the crank shaft; and to these pairs of
cylinders are also fitted what the Inventor terms dumby pistons, each composed
of two hollow cylinders with closed ends, and connected together with the
lower end of the lower one in the regular form of a piston, packed to work
accurately in the lower or cold cylinder, whilst the upper end works in the
upper or hot cylinder, to which it may be backed or not at pleasure..
The upper end of the upper or hot cylinder of each pair is connected with
the lower end of the lower or cold cylinder by a pipe, which consists in part of
a cylindrical vessel filled with a roll of wire gauze, and termed by the Inventor
a "lung." These pipes are each connected at their upper ends with a series
of parallel pipes, which communicate with the upper end of the hot cylinder.
The parallel pipes are placed directly over the furnace, and the air which
passes through them to the hot cylinders thus becomes rarefied. The casing
of the furnace should surround the upper or hot cylinders, so as to maintain
them at the required temperature.
. The apparatus. being charged with: air, the lower cylinders, surrounded-
with cold water, and a fire being made in. the furnace to heat the series of
pipes above the "lungs," and also the upper cylinders, the engine is in a con-
dition to be started. The heated air, when it has performed its office in the
upper or hot cylinder, passes off through the coil or series of pipes to the lungs
in connection therewith, where it is subdivided into thin films between the
several coils of wire gauze, which by virtue of their structure present a very
extended metallic surface to the heated air, and serve to withdraw the caloric
therefrom. The air then enters the lower or cold cylinder in the cold state.
By reason of the reduced temperature, thus induced, the air occupies much
less space, and hence there will be a partial vacuum in the lower cylinder
between the dumby piston in its upper position and the working piston; which
is then forced up by the pressure of the atmosphere on its under surface, thus
impelling the crank shaft. By the time this has taken place in one pair. of:
-cylinders, the like operation begins to take place in the other pair of cylinders;.
whilst at the same time an opposite action takes place in the first pair..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtman, send greeting.
any
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and 'successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alfred-Vincent Newton, Her-special-license-that I, the said Alfred Vincent.
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my 'executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times therė-
after 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
AIR ENGINES," being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent; relates
to certain novel details of construction in air engines, of which the following
is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being bad to the accompanying
Drawings making part of this Specification; in which Fig. 1 is a front eleva-
tion, with the outer casing removed to exhibit the arrangement; Fig. 2 a vertical
section, taken at the line a, a, of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3, a horizontal section, taken
5 at the line b, b; of Fig. 1. The same Figures indicate like parts in all the
sections.
:
In this improved engine there are two pairs of cylinders 1, 3, and 1, 3, tha

page_text: two cylinders of each pair being placed vertically one above the other, with a
third cylinder 2 connected with and interposed between them. The cylinder 2
should be made either of very thin metal, which can be kept cool by a current
of air outside, or made of some bad conductor, so that the heat of the upper
cylinder will not be conducted to the lower one, which is to be kept cool by
water in a surrounding vessel 11.
To the lower cylinders 3, 3, are fitted working pistons 9, 9, connected with
cranks 13, 13, to impart motion to the crank shaft 14, the two cranks being
directly opposite to each other, so that as one piston rises the other descends ;
and to these pairs of cylinders are also fitted what the Inventor terms "dumby
pistons," each composed of two hollow cylinders 7, 8, with closed ends, and
connected together with the lower end of the lower one in the regular form of
a piston 15, packed to work accurately in the lower or cold cylinder, whilst
the upper end works in the upper or hot cylinder, to which it may be backed
or not, at pleasure.
The upper end of the upper or hot cylinder of each pair is connected with
the lower end of the lower or cold cylinder by a pipe 6, which is fitted with
what from its function is termed a "lung," interposed in some portion of the
length of the pipe 6. This lung consists of a cylindrical vessel 4, filled with
a rolled sheet of wire gauze n, and put lengthwise in the cylindrical vessel.
There is one such pipe and lung for each pair of cylinders, and the pipes above
the lungs, instead of communicating directly with the upper end of the hot
cylinders, have coils interposed, and exposed to the heat of a furnace 12. The
upper portion of the pipe 6 runs horizontally, and is enlarged, as at 6'; its end
is closed, and to its side are connected a series of parallel pipes 5, 5, which
communicate with a transverse pipe 24 with closed ends; this pipe 24, by
means of a short vertical pipe 15, communicates with the upper end of the
hot cylinder. There are two such series of pipes, one for each pair of cylinders;
they are placed directly over the furnace 12, so that the products of com-
bustion, on their passage to the chimney from the grate, must pass among the
-pipes, and heat-the-air-as it passes from the lungs to the hot cylinders. The
casing 16 of the furnace should surround the upper or hot cylinders, so as to
maintain them.at-the-required temperature, and if the interposed cylinders 2, 2,
be made of thin metal instead of some bad conductor of caloric, they should
be surrounded each by a jacket communicating with the ash-pit of the furnace,
to induce a current of cold air around them, to keep them cool; but it is
preferred to make these intermediate cylinders of some bad conductor of
caloric..
-

page_text: The piston rod 17, attached to the lower end of each dumby piston, passes
through a stuffing box 18 in the corresponding working piston, and its lower.
end is attached to a cross head 19, adapted to work in suitable ways, and resting
on the periphery of a cam 10 on the crank shaft; and each cam is so situated
relatively to its appropriate crank as suddenly to lift the dumby piston as the
crank is passing its lower dead point, and the working piston begins to ascend.
The lower end of the pipes 6 may communicate directly with the side of the
hot cylinders near their lower end; but the better to permit the entrance and
escape of the air when the two pistons in each cylinder are very near to each
other, the pipes 6, 6, are each connected at their lower ends with a small
cylinder 20, having a closed bottom, and a stuffing box at the upper end, in
which a vertical pipe 21 slides, the said pipe being fitted to a hole in the
working-piston,-as-at-22. In this way the pipe moves up and down with the
working piston. A guide rod 23 is attached to the working piston on the oppo-
site side of the piston rod to balance the pipe 21.
The apparatus having been charged with air, the lower cylinders 3, 3,
surrounded with cold water, and fire having been made in the furnace to.heat
the series of pipes above the lungs, and also the upper cylinders 1, 1, the engine
is in a condition to be started. The cam 10 on one side is suddenly forced up
by the dumby piston as the working piston begins to rise. This transfers the
heated air from the upper or hot cylinder 1, and in the coil or series of pipes
through one of the lungs, passing longitudinally and therefore in thin films
between the several coils of wire gauze, which by virtue of their structure
present a very extended metallic surface to the heated air, which deposits its
caloric, and passes down and enters the lower or cold cylinder 3 in the cold state.
By reason of the reduced temperature, thus induced, the air occupies much
less space, and hence there will be a partial vacuum in the lower cylinder,
between the dumby piston in its upper position and the working piston, which
is then forced up by the pressure of the atmosphere on its under surface, thus.
impelling the crank shaft. By the time this has taken place in one pair of
cylinders the like operation begins to take place in the other pair of cylinders,
whilst at the same time an opposite action takes place in the first pair. The
cam by this time will have passed round, so that the dumby piston rests on the
working piston, and as the working piston is forced up by the pressure of the
atmosphere on the other side, this one is forced down as the air expands in
the hot cylinder 1, by reason of the caloric which it has absorbed in passing
in the reversed direction through the appropriate lung, and through the heated
pipes 5. In this way the pistons are alternately operated, the working piston

page_text: being forced up by atmospheric pressure on one side, whilst the other is forced
down by the expanded heated air on the other, the dumby piston on each side
being forced up to effect the transfer of the air to produce the partial vacuum,
that the working piston' may be forced up by atmospheric pressure, and the
working and dumby pistons being then forced down together by the force of
the expanded air.
:
:
The description, thus far, has had reference to the engine so 'charged with air
that when the.air is expanded by heat it shall occupy the entire space within
the engine at or about the pressure of the atmosphere, that when contracted,
by depositing the caloric in passing through the lungs, à partial vacuum will
be formed at each operation, that one of the working pistons may be forced up
by atmospheric pressure; but, instead of this state of things, the air or other
permanent gas may be charged into the apparatus under pressure, so that the
whole action will take place in the engine above atmospheric pressure, in
which case the working piston in the cold cylinder of one pair will be forced
up by the pressure of the expanding heated air in the hot cylinder of the
other pair.
It will be seen that by placing cylinders for the expansion of the heated air
above and the cold cylinders below, and placing the engine in a vertical or
nearly vertical position with the lower cylinders surrounded with cold water,
the parts are in the best position, as heated fluids always have a tendency to
rise; hence all the heated particles will rise to the upper part of the apparatus,
and there will not be the slightest possible tendency to heat the lower cylinders
by conduction, whilst all tendency to heat the water which surrounds the lower
cylinders by circulation will be entirely avoided, as the heat radiated on to the
top of the surrounding jackets can be readily prevented by the interposition of
bad conductors, and even if not 'so protected, the tendency to heat water by
the application of heat to the top would be so slow as not to present a serious
ta
practical difficulty..
It will be obvious that many merely formal changes may be made in the
construction of the apparatus without changing the principle on which the
engine _depends for its efficient action; as, for instance, the dumby pistons,
instead of being composed each of two hollow cylindrical vessels connected
together, may be composed of one, or more than two, or they may be solid
if composed of some bad conductor of caloric; or it may be composed of two
pistons connected by rods, one of the said pistons fitting the cold cylinder
below and the other the hot cylinder above; and so with the intermediate
cylinder connecting the hot and cold cylinders, constituting each pair. Any

page_text: variation in the mere construction of this part may be made, so. long as it is
employed to prevent the one from affecting the temperature of. the other; and:
so with the coils of pipes to. heat the air in passing from the "lungs." to the
hot cylinder, the structure may be varied at pleasure, as the sole object is to
expose a large amount of surface. to the heat evolved from the furnace with
the view to economize fuel. The connection of the pipes with the
upper end
of the hot and the lower end of the cold cylinders may be varied at pleasure,
although the arrangement herein specified is preferred. The rapid lifting
motion may be imparted to the dumby pistons by any suitable mechanical
means which will act as the equivalent of the cams, although the cams are
preferable for this purpose.
I am aware that the alternate expansion.and contraction of atmospheric air
and other permanent gases has been employed as a motive agent in engines of
various constructions; and I am also aware. that the gases so employed have
been made to pass alternately in opposite directions through a vessel presenting
a large amount of metallic surface, so that in, passing in one direction, such
metallic surfaces should take up caloric from the heated gas when passing in
one direction and transfer it back to the said gas when passing in the opposite
direction; and I am also aware that such metallic surfaces have been com-
posed of a series of discs or sheets of wire gauze, but so arranged. that the
air or gas had to pass through the meshes of the wire gauze, which had the
effect of impeding the passage. I do not therefore wish to be understood as
making claim to any of these things; but what I claim, as the Invention
secured to me by the above in part recited Letters Patent, is, combining the
hot and cold cylinder (or cylinders) by an interposed cylinder, substantially
as described, to prevent the one from being affected by the temperature of the
other, as set forth.
I also claim the working piston (or pistons) working in the cold' cylinder
in combination with the dumby piston (or pistons) extending from the cold to
the hot cylinder, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
I also claim the vertical position of the pairs of cylinders, substantially as
described, that the heated part of the engine may be above the cold parts for
the purpose set forth, in combination with the means herein described for
keeping the lower part of the engine cold, substantially as described.
=
And I also claim the arrangement of the metallic surfaces through which
the air or other gas passes, by making such metallic surface of sheets of wire
gauze rolled up and placed in a surrounding vessel, so that the air or other
gas shall pass in films between the several coils, substantially as and for the

page_text: purpose specified, in contradistinction to passing through the meshes of wire
gauze, as-set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)