Improvements in or relating to Hydraulic Engines.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 15th May, 1890-Accepted, 21st June, 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Hydraulic Engines.
A communication from ANTON KÖLZ, Dresden, in the Empire of Germany.
I, Alfred Julius Bolt of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, M.I.M.E.,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The subject of this invention is a hydraulic or water power engine in which the
water pressure sustained by the piston instead of acting upon the main or driving
shaft direct is transmitted by means of chains cords &c., to rollers on which such chains
or cords are wound and whichare loose upon the said main shaft and which in their
turn by suitable gear or couplings impart rotary motion to the said main shaft.
This arrangement which is intended to be applied chiefly to engines yielding small
quantities of motive power, enables the same to be carried out in a compact form
while obviating the presence of swinging bodies and ensuring ease and uniformity in
the operation.
In the accompanying drawings a vertical engine adapted to be secured to the wall
is represented in front elevation..
The water pressure acts upon the piston or plunger 6 which it alternately drives
up and down within the cylinder a. The piston rod d passing through the stuffing
box c in the cylinder bottom carries a cross head running on guides e e. To this
cross-head are attached two cords g g (or chains &c. if preferred) one of which g
passes onto its roller h direct while the other g¹ first passes over a guide roller 2 and
thence extends to its roller ¹. The cords g g are wound on their rollers in opposite
directions and have weights kk' attached to their opposite ends whereby they are
kept in the desired state of tension. The rollers are loose and adjustable upon
the main shaft w upon which, between the said rollers, is also mounted a fast
coupling box i. This is toothed upon both its surfaces turned towards the rollers
and thereby adapted to engage alternately with one of the rollers as the corresponding
cord is unwound from such roller by the upward or downward stroke of the piston
or plunger as the case may be, while the said roller is freed from such engagement
and allowed to turn loose upon the shaft as soon as the corresponding cord is
wound onto it. The coupling is connected and disconnected by means of the
movable arms m m¹ connected by a spiral spring and bearing against the outer
surfaces of the rollers; such operations being performed automatically the roller being
laterally shifted either by the juxtaposition of the convolutions of the cord or by means
of a screw thread provided for the purpose. To the main or driving shaft is also
secured the gear wheel r which either directly or through the medium of the
gearing transmits the motion to the pulley's.
In the machine represented the piston is assumed to be in the act of descending,
therefore the cord g with its end fastened to the cross-head is wound upon the
roller h while the end to which the weight is attached is correspondingly unwound.
The roller is thus disengaged and turns loose upon the shaft. The cord 9' on the
contrary is wound off the roller while its end carrying the weight k¹ is wound
onto the roller so that the roller ¹ is in engagement with the coupling box i
on the main shaft and causes the latter to rotate.
As soon as the piston or
plunger begins to go up again the cord g unwinds from its roller h whereby the
latter is shifted to the right and coupled with the box i while at the same time the
roller by being rotated in the opposite direction is relieved from its engagement
with the said coupling box; this roller also being shifted to the right and turning loose
upon its shaft. The same purpose may be attained by a more simple arrangement
consisting in the employment of one cord only, passing over one roller mounted

page_text: onto the central portion of the main or driving shaft and flanked by two bushes or
coupling boxes. The motor cylinder need in that case only be filled with water once,
during the upward piston stroke, while during the downward stroke of the piston
or plunger, the weight attached to the cord supplies power to the main shaft by its
descent. In both arrangements springs instead of weights might be used.
The inlet and outlet cock is controlled by means of the valve rod o connected with
the cross-head and having a slot n formed in it which the cams p p¹ provided on the
bush or socket t are adapted to engage.
... This socket t is fitted loosely upon the spindle 2 of the plug of a fourway cock and
carries a weighted arm which engages a notch in the disc rigidly connected with the
plug and by turning in one or the other direction moves the said plug v to the right
or to the left. The fourway cock simultaneously opens the inlet above and the outlet
below the piston (Fig. 2) or the inlet below and the outlet above such piston (Fig. 3).
When the valve rod o rise through the upward stroke of the cylinder its lower
slotted end engages the camp and thus moves the socket t and also the weighted
arm u beyond the dead point, whereupon the said arm u in descending moves the
disc and correspondingly operates the cock.
To the position of the engine such as represented in Fig. 4 corresponds the position
of the plug and disc as shown in Fig. 4, and that of the socket t and cams p p
illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. The piston is represented in Fig. 1 to be near the end
of its downward stroke, the valve rod o descending with it has just grasped the
cam pl and is about to turn the weighted lever u beyond its dead point position,
which presently in its descent will engage the disc and turn it and the plug of the
cock. The rotation of the said plug is limited by the stop 3 provided on the plug
disc and the stops a x formed on a segment with which the stop v alternately comes
in contact. As the weight descends either the cam p on one side or an arm y
on the other side impinges against a pad or buffer so as to deaden the shock.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is ;-
1. A hydraulic engine in which the water pressure acting upon the piston or
plunger is indirectly conveyed as motive power to the main or driving shaft by means
of one or more cords attached to the piston rod the opposite ends of which are weighted
and which turn each a separate roller loosely mounted upon the main or driving
shaft and adapted to engage the said shaft by means of a toothed coupling and thus
transmit to it the motive power substantially as described.
2. In the bydraulic engine characterized in claim 1, the arrangement of two cord
rollers adapted alternately to engage the shaft the cords being wound in opposite
directions and one of such cords being connected direct and the other through an
intermediate guide roller to the piston rod whereby an automatic control of the
coupling is obtained substantially as described.
3. In the hydraulic engine characterized in claim 1, the arrangement of an instan-
taneously acting inlet and outlet cock or valve by the action of a descending weight
attached to the disc forming part of the plug of the cock and carrying one or more
cams or stops which disc is turned alternately in either direction by the valve rod
substantially as described.
Dated this Fifteenth day of May 1800