IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE."
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Levassor at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th June 1881.
JOSEPH LEVASSOR, of No. 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, Civil Engineer.
IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE."
16
AN
My Invention relates to a new motor in which power is produced by the
explosion of a detonating body from the effect of a shock or heat. I prefer to
employ fulminate of mercury, but any other detonating body may be employed.
The detonating body is placed in a granulated or globular state in receivers, from
which it is extracted by any suitable known arrangement, such as by means
of wheels formed with cavities, which convey it by means of a conduit to the
bottom of a motive cylinder. The shock of a piston explodes it, and the gases
produced escape into the atmosphere when the piston is at the end of its stroke.
Movement is given to the shaft by means of a rod, a connecting rod, and a
crank.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Joseph Levassor in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd December 1881.
JOSEPH LEVASSOR, of 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, Civil Engineer.
IMPROVED MOTIVE POWER ENGINE."
" AN
My Invention relates to the construction of a motor in which power is produced
from the explosion of a body detonating from the effect of a shock.
For this purpose I employ by preference fulminate of mercury agglomerated into
globules, pastilles, balls, or the like, and mixed with an inert substance, as is done
for the manufacture of dynamite by means of nitro-glycerine in order to avoid
producing a too sudden detonation.
But to make my Invention better understood I will proceed to describe the
same by reference to the accompanying Drawing, which represents an elevation
partly in section of a suitable construction of apparatus or machine for carrying
out my Invention.
B is a framework supporting the cylinders L in which work pistons M, giving
motion to the main shaft A by means of the piston and connecting rods N, crank
pins E, and fly wheels F. The fulminate is placed in the receivers P and falls
through the conduits S, Q, into the recesses O at the bottom of the cylinders L,
where the fulminate receives the impact of the piston M. When the detonation
has taken place the piston is forced upwards, and in its passage uncovers at X the
escape orifice for the gases, which escape through the chimney H.
The globules, pastilles, or the like, of fulminate are distributed to the cylinder
by means of arrangements similar to those employed in seed drills, or by other
equivalent known means. Movement may be given to the mechanism which
effects the distribution by means of the shaft T moved by the pulleys U.
A suitable disengaging coupling is employed for arresting the movement of this
shaft for stopping the machine.
Having thus described my Invention and the manner of performing the same,
what I claim is,-
The employment of fulminate of mercury and other analogous substances which
will detonate from the effect of a shock, either alone or combined, with inert
substances for producing motive power by giving motion to a piston contained in
a cylinder, as herein before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Levassor, have hereto set my hand
and scal, this Twenty-first day of Decomber, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
J. LEVASSOR. (L.S.)