AN. IMPROVED ENGINE FOR UTILIZING THE EXPANSIVE FORCE OF VAPORS OR GASES EITHER BY GRADUAL PRESSURE OR EXPLOSION
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to De Victor Bruce, and Thomas Murphy Antisell,
of San Francisco, in the State of California, United States of
America, Gentlemen, for the Invention of "AN. IMPROVED ENGINE FOR
UTILIZING THE EXPANSIVE FORCE OF VAPORS OR GASES EITHER BY GRADUAL
PRESSURE OR EXPLOSION.”
-Sealed the 10th August 1875, and dated the 2nd June 1875.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by De Victor Bruce and Thomas
Murphy Antisell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition and Declaration, on the 2nd June 1875,
pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act,
1852.
TO' ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, DE VICTOR
BRUCE, and THOMAS MURPHY ANTISELL, of San Francisco, in the State
of California, United States of America, Gentlemen, send greeting.
WHEREAS we are in possession of an Invention of “AN IMPROVED
ENGINE FOR UTILISING THE ExpaNSIVE FORCE OF VAPORS OR GASES EITHER I
-BY
GRADUAL PRESSURE OR EXPLOSION," and have petitioned. Her Majesty to
.

page_text: grant unto us, our executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that
we really believe ourselves to be the first and true Inventors thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said De Victor Bruce, and Thomas
Murphy Antisell, do hereby declare that the following Complete 5
Specification, under our hands and seals, fully describes the nature
of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, that is to say :-
Our Invention relates to certain improvements in engines, and it
consists in the employment of two or more pistons moving in cylinders
which stand so that the pistons move alternately to and from the central
point.
Referring to the accompanying Drawings for a more complete expla-
nation of our Invention,-
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of our Invention, and Figure 2 is an 1
end or side view of the same.
A, A, are four cylinders, that being the number which we have shown
in our present Invention, although it is manifest that the number
might be increased or diminished as experiment may show to be most
advantageous. These cylinders radiate from a common centre, and each a
one is fitted with a piston B, and a piston rod C extends out through the
outer head of each cylinder: At their inner ends these cylinders may
have separate heads, or they may open into a common space at the
centre, so that one valve will serve to admit steam or gas to all the
pistons at once, and by this construction we simplify the mechanism a
considerably. ..
At the outer end each cylinder is provided with a valve to admit
vapor or gas produced by heating a liquid or by explosion for the return
stroke.
In order to connect this mechanism with a shaft we shall use various a
devices, but the most practical at present is to employ a cross head D
and guides E for each piston rod. From these cross heads the connecting
rods F extend to cranks suitably mounted unon shafts & in go to

page_text: full power, and the action upon the central shaft is always regular with
no dead points, and consequent gradual increase and diminution of the
torsional strain upon the shaft. Our engine may be adapted to drive
propellers and all machinery in which a very powerful and steady motion
is necessary.
Having thus described our Invention, what we claim and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is, the engine consisting of two or more
cylinders A, A, with their reciprocating pistons, said cylinders being set
radially from a common centre, and having their valves set so that they
receive and exhaust the steam simultaneously, and also having their
piston rods connected with a central shaft by means of rods operating
upon the cranks of pinions which mesh into a gear wheel upon said
central shaft substantially as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said De Victor Bruce and Thomas
Murphy Antisell, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord A.D. One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-five.
20 Witnesses,
GEO. H. STRONG.
C. M. RICHARDSON,
DE VICTOR BRUCE.
(L.S.)
THOMAS MURPHY ANTISELL. (L.s.)