IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Booth, Joseph Booth, and Thomas Booth,
all of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Millwrights, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Booth, Joseph
Booth, and Thomas Booth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 11th November 1862.
We, WILLIAM BOOTH, JOSEPH ВооTH, and THOMAS BOOTH, all of Oldham,
in the County of Lancaster, Millwrights, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention consists in constructing rotary engines in the cylinders of
which a piston or pistons connected to a central shaft is or are made to revolve
by steam, water, air, or other fluid; we adapt a sliding or revolving partition
to the cylinder by means of levers or otherwise. The steam or other fluid is
cut off from the cylinder at certain periods to allow it to work expansively.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Booth, Joseph Booth, and Thomas Booth in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
BOOTH, JOSEPH Воотн, and THOMAS BOOTH, all of Oldham, in the County of
Lancaster, Millwrights, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said William Booth, Joseph Booth, and Thomas Booth, Her special licence
that we, the said William Booth, Joseph Booth, and Thomas Booth, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William
Booth, Joseph Booth, and Thomas Booth, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said William Booth, Joseph Booth, and Thomas Booth, or one
of us, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
or one of our or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 we, the said William Booth, Joseph Booth,
and Thomas Booth, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists in constructing rotary engines in the cylinders of
which a piston or pistons connected to a central shaft is or are made to revolve
by steam, water, air, or other fluid; we adapt a sliding partition to the
cylinder by means of levers or otherwise. The steam or other fluid may be a
cut off from the cylinder at certain periods to allow it to work expansively.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an end elevation of a rotary

page_text: engine, and Figure 2 a section of the cylinder thereof, fitted with a revolving
piston and a sliding partition, according to our Invention."
A is the cylinder; B, the revolving piston; and C, the sliding partition;
D is the inlet for steam, water, or other fluid; and E, the outlet or exhaust for
the same; F is the central shaft; G is a cam on the shaft F, which raises the
sliding partition at each revolution of the piston. The steam or other fluid is
admitted through the inlet D into the cylinder A by means of a valve worked
by a cam on the shaft F, and pressing against one side of the piston B causes
it to revolve in the cylinder. By altering the position of the cam just men-
tioned, the steam or other fluid may be cut off from the cylinder at any part of
the revolution desired. At each revolution the cam G raises the sliding
partition C, as hereafter described, so as to permit the piston to pass, and as
soon as the piston has passed, causes it to descend to its original position.
The steam or other fluid which acts upon the piston at each revolution passes
off in the course of the following revolution by the exhaust pipe E, which is
always open.
The arrangement we prefer to adopt for raising the partition C is illustrated
in Figure 1. The cam G acts at each revolution upon one arm of a crank a,
the other arm of which is thereby depressed and draws down with it the
connecting rod 6 and one end of a rocking lever c, to which the said rod is
attached; the rocking lever c is fitted in bearings d on the main frame of the
engine; the opposite end of the rocking lever rises and lifts the rod e and the
sliding partition C, to which it is connected. As soon as the projection of the
cam G has passed the crank arm a the parts resume their original position,
the partition C again descending into the cylinder A. Although only one
revolving piston B is represented in the Drawing, two or more may be
employed.
Our Invention is applicable to condensing and to non-condensing engines,
whether horizontal, vertical, or otherwise. The engines may be constructed
with one cylinder, or with two or more cylinders, and the pistons of two or
more cylinders may be fixed on one shaft, or they may be separate and con-
nected, when required, by catch box or coupling.
Our rotary engines are applicable as air pumps for condensing engines, and
as lift and force pumps.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim, the construction
of rotary engines in the cylinders of which a piston or pistons connected to a
central shaft is or are made to revolve by steam, water, air, or other fluid, and

page_text: with a sliding partition moved in and out of the cylinder by means of levers
or otherwise, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Booth, Joseph Booth, and
Thomas Booth, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
fifth day of April One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
WILLIAM BOOTH. (L.S.)
JOSEPH BOOTH.
(L.S.)
THOMAS BOOTH. (L.S.)