IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER, AND FOR THE DISTRIBUTION AND APPLICATION THEREOF
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Allen Turner and. Thomas
Townsend Coughin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 17th December 1864.
We, WILLIAM ALLEN TURNER, of Clarges Street, Piccadilly, in the County
5 of Middlesex, and THOMAS TOWNSEND COUGHIN, of Crucifix Lane, Bermondsey,
in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING
MOTIVE POWER, AND FOR THE DISTRIBUTION AND APPLICATION THEREOF," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists of certain improvements in the mode of obtaining
motive power by means of compressed air, and in the distribution and
application of such power for the purpose of driving stationary engines or any
other machine or apparatus actuated by pressure at present worked by steam,
by which means steam boilers and the necessary fuel, water, and manual labor.
may be dispensed with in factories or buildings, and the engines worked by.
compressed air.
The Invention, first, relates to improved apparatus for obtaining air com-
pressed to a much greater degree than has hitherto been accomplished by
: pumps used for the purpose, the result being that an increased power is
obtained and stored in a receiver or receivers of less dimensions than
heretofore.
We propose to effect this object upon the principle of compressing air by a
succession of pumps and receivers. The first pump receives a supply of air,

page_text: from the atmosphere, and forces the same into an air receiver, which can be
worked at a given pressure to the inch by means of valves or guages, whence
it is conveyed to a second pump in its compressed state; the second pump is
then made to act upon this volume of air, which is consequently forced in a
more highly compressed condition into a second similar receiver, also regulated
to indicate the pressure, and so on to a third or further series of pumps and
receivers, and ultimately into a chamber, store, or receiver of any suitable
form, dimensions, and strength, according to the ultimate pressure obtained.
We propose to make the diameter of the first pump larger than the second,
and the second larger than the third, in order to compensate as far as possible
the power required to actuate each, according as the air is more and more
highly compressed in each. The pumps are to be set on a suitable foundation,
above which on standards, shafts, and cranks or excentrics supplied with
suitable gearing are supported to be worked by steam, water, or wind power,
in order to work the first pump; the shaft is also provided with cog wheels
and pinions, on each side of which are shafts and toothed wheels gearing with
such pinions, in order to actuate by similar excentrics the other pumps. If
more pumps are required they may be connected by similar gearing; the
toothed wheel actuating the third pump should have a greater number of teeth
than the second, in order that it may travel at a slower rate to operate upon
the densely compressed atmosphere, and the remaining pumps should be
worked at proportionately slower speeds as the pressure becomes increased. .
In connection with each pump is its receiver supplied with suitable tubes
and valves for the admission of air from its forcing pump, and for its egress
to the next pump, the whole series of pumps and receivers being thus in
communication.
Each receiver is to be supplied with a pressure guage or valve, in order
that the respective pressures therein may be indicated.
In cases where a small supply of compressed air is required the ordinary
air pumps may be adopted either single or double acting worked by suitable
power.
In order to distribute the compressed air, and thereby convey motive power
to engines in various localities, we propose to construct and lay down a main
pipe or pipes from the principal receiver or store. At the entrance of the
main in connection with the receiver I propose to apply a valve to regulate
the pressure in the main, from the main junctions provided with valves or
stop-cocks convey or distribute and shut off as may be required the com-
pressed air to engines in factories or buildings, or otherwise, and we propose
to apply such power to engines by the intervention of a meter, which shall

page_text: indicate the quantity used and the pressure, and shall be provided with a
throttle valve, which shall regulate the speed of the engine by aid of the
governor. Beyond which meter the compressed air is passed direct through
the slide valves of the engine into the cylinder, thereby actuating the piston in
the same manner as if steam were applied.
The advantages to be derived from the use of compressed air as a substitute
for steam, as herein described, will be very great, viz., no boilers, furnaces, or
shafts will be required by the consumers, and consequently no water nor fuel,
nor the necessary appliances, the space and attendance in connection there-
with; thus boiler explosions will be avoided, smoke will be prevented, and the
risk of fire will be entirely obviated, thus effecting a great saving in the
premiums paid for insurance. The engines would work free from heat, the
compressed air being supplied perfectly cold, and consequently the lubrication
will be less.