THE HYDRO-MECHANIC APPARATUS, WHICH BY A COMBINATION OF HYDRAULIC AND MECHANICAL APPARATUS ON WELL-KNOWN PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES IS INTENDED TO SUPERSEDE THE USE OF FUEL AND STEAM IN WORKING AND PROPELLING ALL KINDS OF MACHINERY AND ENGINES
Year: 1844

page_text: En The Sklatter of a Patent granted to
VV IIICOCK Steign, late
of Saint James' Square, in the County of Middlesex, but now of
Stamford Brook House, Chiswick, in the same County, Physician
and Surgeon, for his Invention of "THE HYDRO-MECHANIC APPARATUS,
WHICH BY A COMBINATION OF HYDRAULIC AND MECHANICAL APPARATUS
ON WELL-KNOWN PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES IS INTENDED TO SUPERSEDE
THE USE OF FUEL AND STEAM IN WORKING AND PROPELLING ALL KINDS
OF MACHINERY AND ENGINES," bearing date at Westminster, the
Seventh day of December 1844.
ORANDUM, OF ALTERATION proposed to be entered by William
Willcocks Sleigh with the Clerk of the Patents of England, pursuant to
n Act passed in the 5th and 6th year of the reign of His late Majesty
King William the Fourth, entitled "An Act to amend the Law touching
Letters Patent for Inventions."
he said WILLIAM WILLCOCKS SLEIGH, being advised that the title of my
nvention is unnecessarily long and inconvenient, am desirous to amend
me by striking out that explanatory portion of the title which com-
s at the words " which by a certain combination, &c.," to the end thereof,
y substituting in lieu thereof the words "for producing motive power,"

page_text: which title will then stand thus, "A Hydro-mechanic Apparatus for Pro
ducing Motive Power."
1448

page_text: SLEIGH'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILLCOCKS SLEIGH, formerly of Saint James' Square, but now of Stamford
Brook House, Chiswick, in the County of Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine
and Surgeon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventh day of December, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Willcocks Sleigh, Her especial licence, that I, the said William
Willcocks Sleigh, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Willcocks Sleigh, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "THE HYDRO-MECHANIC
APPARATUS, WHICH BY A CERTAIN COMBINATION OF HYDRAULIC AND MECHANICAL
APPARATUS ON WELL KNOWN PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES IS INTENDED TO SUPERSEDE
THE USE OF FIRE AND STEAM IN WORKING AND PROPELLING ALL KINDS OF
MACHINERY AND ENGINES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said William Willcocks Sleigh, by an instrument in writing.
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
to cause the same to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part récited Letters Patent, as in and 'by 'the same, reference

page_text: being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear: And whereas I,
the said William Willcocks Sleigh, did, on the Thirteenth day of March, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-five, obtain the fiat and signature of Her
Majesty's Solicitor General for entering with the Clerk of the Patents of
England a memorandum of alteration in the title of the said Patent, which
said title now is as follows, that is to say: "A Hydro-mechanic Apparatus
for producing Motive Power."
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Willcocks Sleigh, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
to consist in the application of hydrostatic pressure in a chamber by means of
apparatus, and in such manner as to reduce the effect of the hydrostatic
pressure in the said chamber in whatever direction is opposite to that in which
it is intended that the said pressure shall propel the said chamber, and thereby
produce motive power without depending upon any escape of water from the
said chamber for that purpose. And in further compliance with the said
proviso, I, the said William Willcocks Sleigh, do hereby describe the manner
in which my said Invention may be performed by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawing annexed, and to the figures and
otters marked thereon (that is to say) :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a vertical sectional elevation of an apparatus which I
call a hydro-mechanic apparatus on the principle of my said Invention, which
I will now explain in detail, similar letters being used to denote similar parts
in the two figures. The apparatus may be supported by any framework, as
A, A, A, A. B, B, is a foundation plate, fastened down to the framework,
and into which the two vertical pillars or guide rods. C, C, C, C, are firmly
screwed, and held in position at their upper extremities by the cross bar D.
In the framework A, A, A, A, lies the horizontal pipe E, from the ends of
which rise two vertical pipes, F and G. The pipe F is furnished with a
stuffing box H, H, and a solid cylindrical piston I, I, while projecting from
one side of this pipe F, and immediately below the stuffing box H, H, is a
supply pipe and tap J, leading from a small funnel K, and lower down and
projecting from the same pipe is a discharge cock L. At the upper end of
the pipe G there is also a stuffing box M, M, through which works up and
down in the pipe G the smaller pipe N, N, which is open at both its
extremities O, O. On the upper end of this last named pipe N, N, is fixed
and supported,. by means of two vertical rods k, k, the chamber a, a, a, a,
which has a free communication with the water in the said pipe N, N, through

page_text: the opening O. This chamber consists of two hollow cylinders a, a, a, a,
united at a right angle. The horizontal cylinder has an opening or communi-
cation d, d, with the perpendicular one, and is furnished at each end with a
piston b, b. The perpendicular cylinder is furnished with the piston h, h,
which answers as a moveable bottom to the whole chamber. These three
pistons b, b, and h, h, are connected together in the following way:-From the
inner surface and centre of the pistons b, b, extend nearly horizontally the rods
or bars c, c, which are united together in the centre by the joint è at an obtuse
angle; from this joint e descend two rods f,f, which are firmly fixed to the
piston h, h. This piston or moveable bottom h, h, has an opening and a
stuffing box in its centre i, i, for the passage of the pipe N, N.
are the various stuffing boxes for the pistons b, b, and h, h.
communicating the power gained to machinery. T is an
admission of air during the filling and emptying of the pipes and chamber.
All these pistons are to be constructed so as to be capable of moving water-
tight, and with as little friction as possible in their respective cylinders, by
means of stuffing boxes similar to those used in the hydraulic press.
S
r, r, r, r, r, r,
is a rod for
air cock, for the
Figure 2 is a vertical section on the dotted line X, Y, of Figure 1.
a, a, a, a, the chamber at the top of the pipe N, N; c, c, the extremities or
ends of the bars belonging to the pistons b, b'; d, d, the opening or communi-
cation between the horizontal and perpendicular cylinders, which constitute
the chamber a, a, a, a; e, e, the joint at which the bars or rods c, c, and f,f,
are united; r, r, r, r, the stuffing boxes.
Having now.described in detail the various parts of my apparatus, I will
proceed to describe the modus operandi, and the effect to be produced thereby.
The Drawing represents the apparatus on the up stroke, the reverse of what
it must be when going to commence operation. Water or any other suitable
liquid must be introduced into the pipes E, F, G, through the small funnel K,
and through the supply cock J, until these pipes, together with the pipe N, N,
and the chamber a, a, a, a, are all completely full, the air cock T being open
during the flow of water. When all are full, the supply cock J, and the air
cock T, must be closed, and the piston I, I, pushed down into the pipe F;
this will cause the water in the chamber a, a, a, a, to press upon every
portion of its interior surface with a power greater than that given to
the piston I, I, proportionate to the difference between the area of the
piston I, I, and the area of the chamber. Now the moveable bottom or
piston h, h, being supported by the lateral pressure on the pistons b, b, the
upper part or roof of the chamber a, a, a, a, is freed from a great part of the
counteracting effect of the downward pressure on the moveable bottom h, h,

page_text: and therefore the upward pressure necessarily carries the chamber, and all
fixed to it, upwards with 'a proportioned effective power; the said chamber of
course descending on the up stroke of the piston I, I. A power being thus
obtained in the chamber a, a, a, a, greater than that given to the piston I, I,
it is evident that if the rod S be connected by any ordinary means to a crank
shaft or other suitable machinery, and the piston rod of the piston I, I, be
moved by a suitable power, an increased production of motive power must be
the result, which may be applied by any of the ordinary well-known means to
machinery.
Now whereas I claim as my Invention a hydro-mechanic apparatus, such
as herein-before described, which imparts a power of upward motion to the
chamber a, a, a, a, greater than the power applied to the prime mover or
piston I, I, without depending upon any escape of water from the said
chamber for such effect. And such my Invention being, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before used within that part of
Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, Her said Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same; and that I do
verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and
without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain
exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Willcocks Sleigh, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
WILLIAM WILLCOCKS (L.s.) SLEIGH.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Seventh day of June,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Willcocks Sleigh came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Seventh day of June, in the year above written.
*ILIVO