Method of and Appliances for Producing Charges of Mixed Steam and Combustion Gases in Generators and Applying such Charges as Working Fluid in Motor Engines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 7th June, 1898-Accepted, 23rd July, 1898
Method of and Appliances for Producing Charges of Mixed Steam and
Combustion Gases in Generators and Applying such Charges as
Working Fluid in Motor Engines.
I, ALFRED FESSLER, of No 65, Federal Street, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United
States of America, Engineer, 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 steam generators which have hitherto been used for the purpose of supply-
ing steam to motors &c contain a large amount of steam which under the largely
increased pressures now in vogue constitutes a permanent source of danger Also,
their arrangement is defective on account of the looses of heat which are caused
by imperfect combustion in open fires while the production of smoke is a constant
source of annoyance
If on the other hand the use of steam boilers be obviated by the use of internal
combustion motors as constructed at present, the use of a water jacket is a source
of considerable heat losses The object of my invention is to remedy the latter
disadvantage and to secure a considerably increased efficiency as compared with
that produced by ordinary steam boilers
pro-
According to my invention I proceed in such a manner that at certain con-
stantly recurring periods or phases of the motors motion-it may be at every
stroke only that amount of fuel is used which is absolutely required for the
duction of the work that has then to be performed, in order to obtain under these
conditions the best utilisation of the calorific value of the fuel used and I employ
a mixture of combustion gases and steam as a heat vehicle
In oarrying out this method of operating I connect any motor with one or more
steam generators with internal combustion, these being either permanently com-
bined with or independent of the motor.
By means of pumps or other equivalent devices, I force under a suitable pressure
into the steam generator connected to the motor, either a mixture of air and fuel,
or the air first and the fuel afterwards.
I may also create a vacuum in the generator and thereby draw into the latter
either a ready made mixture of air and fuel or its constituent parts separately.
When the generator has been filled with combustible mixture by any of the
aforesaid means, its ignition ze the initiation of the combustion stage, is effected
by any suitable igniting device.
Whilst this combustion takes place the steam generator remains hermetically
closed, so that this combustion is effected at a constant volume as is also the
subsequent generation of steam which takes place either while the combustion is
going on or after it is completed, the liquid to be transformed into steam or vapour
being forced in regulated quantaties into the generator and evaporated therein
more or less rapidly by the high temperature produced by the combustion that is
taking place or has taken place.
The amount of liquid to be evaporated is so determined as to be in proportion

page_text: to the amount of heat which the quantity of fuel admitted at each period can
develop.
by means of a device actuated automatically or by hand, the quantity, of liquid
injected can be varied and thereby a means provided for producing steam or
vapours which are either more or less superheated or more or less saturated.
The resulting product contained in the steam generator is a mixture resulting
from the absorption of the steam or vapour by the gaseous products of combustion
which was as complete as possible, for these gases are to be considered as physically
equivalent to dry air and possess at a hight temperature a marked affinity for
moisture The whole constitutes a most advantageous heat vehicle which is now
led into the motor cylinder to perform therein a certain amount of work Owing
to its internal constitution this mixture presents the great advantage that while
the work is being developed within fixed limits of temperature, it remains in the
same physical state, and this property can be utilised to prevent the condensation
of steam or at least to considerably reduce it in the motor cylinder.
If the amount of fuel and of liquid is constant, it is possible, by enlarging or
reducing the capacity of the steam generator, by means of adjustable pistons or
the like, to produce steam of low or high pressure, and thus to vary within the
wide limits the working of the motor to which the steam generator is applied
The various operations connected with the above described method of working
such as changing the steam generator with air and fuel, the ignition of the charge,
the injection of the liquid to be vaporised and the introduction of the heat vehicle
into the working cylinder are effected by definite means such as valves, slides or
cocks mechanically actuated, and in such a manner that the various phases of the
working of the steam generatora coincide with certain definite phases of the
strokes of the apparatus feeding the said generator and of the motor to be actuated.
Having thus set forth in a general manner the principle of my invention, it
will suffice to describe with the aid of the accompanying drawing an example of
the application to one of the numerous generators with internal combustion of the
herein described novel method of working.
The drawing shows a half elevation and half section of a double acting motor.
A is the working cylinder of the motor to which are attached two steam
generators B B arranged as hereinbefore described and supplied with air and fuel
by the feed pump C connected directly to the motor. This pump draws in a
mixture of air and fuel, such as lighting gas, and forces the same into the
generators through the pipe D.
The drawing shows the working piston of the motor on its upper dead centre
position The generator B contains then a ready prepared mixture of combustion
gases and steam, and the closing device F between pipe D and generator B 18 closed
while the valve E between the generator and cylinder begins to open so as to
allow the mixture, which is to do work by virtue of its expansion, to penetrate
into the space behind the piston. The working piston and that of the pump then
move together forward, and when the former has accomplished a certain portion
of its stroke say three fourths, valve E closes and F opens to permit the charge,
already compressed by pump C, to enter into generator B. When the pistons
reach the forward end of their stroke, F closes and the charging of B being com-
pleted the ignition of the new charge 18 effected by the igniting device G which
may be an electrical one The increase of pressure caused by the combustion at
constant volume actuates a valve H etc, connected with the generator in such a
manner, that through a pipe connected to H there is injected into this generator
a predetermined amount of liquid which is at once evaporated and completes the
charge of B
As the piston was completing its stroke the front valva E¹ began
to open so that the working mixture enters the space behind the piston. On the
netuin stroke the same events take place with regard to generator B¹ and its
appendages as have just been explained in connection with B The formation of
the complete working mixture in each generator is always about one stroke in
advance of the stroke in which that charge is to do its work.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim 18
1 In steam generators with internal combustion, the method of operating
whereby a definite change of an and combustible, preferably compressed, is burnt
in the generator under constant volume, and during or after such combustion a
regulated charge of liquid is forced in for the production of steam, also at constant
volume, substantially as described
2 In a steam generator operating according to the method set forth in the first
claim, varying the capacity of the generator by means of a piston or equivalent
device for the purpose of enabling steam of varying pressure to be produced from
charges of constant volume, aubstantially as described
3 The method of working motor engines by means of steam generators, operat-
ing as set forth in the first and second claims, which consists in introducing the
whole charge of combustion gases mixed with steam, produced in the generator
as described, into the motor cylinder to effect one stroke, the supply of the several
constituents to the generator, and the discharge of the completed heat velucle
into the cylinder being effected by means of devices which are actuated in a
definite relation to the strokes of the motor piston, substantially a descubed
Dated this 7th day of June 1898