IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Chatwood, of Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, Safe and Lock Engineer, and John Sturgeon, of Burley,
near Leeds, in the County of York, Consulting Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE
POWER."
Sealed the 12th October 1866, and dated the 13th April 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Chatwood and
John Sturgeon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 18th April 1866.
We, SAMUEL CHATWOOD, of Bolton, in the. County of Lancaster, Safe and
Lock Engineer, and JOHN STURGEON, of Burley, near Leeds, in the County
of York, Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," to be
as follows:-
Our Invention has for its object improvements in, engines for obtaining
motive power, and relates, firstly, to an improved mode of generating inotive
power within the working cylinder of an engine without the use of a separate
generátor in which the motive power is first generated and afterwards
admitted to the working cylinder, employing for this purpose the expansive
force; when heated, of atmospheric air saturated with water, or water or
atmospheric air only, or low-pressure steam, the heat being generated within

page_text: the working cylinder by means of electricity. One of the various modes of
effecting this object is to apply at each end of the cylinder a suitable
arrangement of platinum wires or leaves, or charcoal points, or other suitable
medium, which may be instantaneously heated by the passing through them
of an electric current, such current being caused to take effect alternately
upon the wires or other medium at either end of the cylinder, saturated air,
water, air, or vapour being suitably admitted, which on expanding by the
application of the heat moves the pistón forward by the pressure acting upon
one side of it, while on the other side the cylinder is open to the atmosphere,
and so allows the air or vapour which had acted upon that side of the piston
in its former stroke to escape.
Secondly, when supplying water or other fluid for generating the elastic
force requisite for each stroke of the engine, whether in a small generator or
in the working cylinder itself, we regulate the speed of the engine by causing
the governors to regulate the action of the pumps by interposed mechanism
or gearing, by which the length of stroke of the pumps is increased or
diminished according as a greater or less quantity of the water or other fluid
for the time required to be pumped to the generator, so as to produce a
greater or less pressure as required.
I
Thirdly, we employ the following arrangement for allowing the steam or
other elastic fluid to escape when the pressure exceeds a certain maximum
allowance Instead of rigidly bolting together the parts of the generator or
the ends upon the cylinder of the engine we have the bolts connecting the
parts backed up by springs, the power of which is sufficient to hold the parts
together up to the working pressure, but which yield to any material excess
of pressure.
Fourthly, when producing and using superheated steam the vessels may,
if desirable, be composed of copper or alloys of copper coated or protected
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed s
by the said Samuel Chatwood and John Sturgeon in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th October 1866
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
CHATWOOD,. of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Safe and Lock Engineer,
and JOHN STURGEON,. of Burley, near Leeds, in the County of York, Consulting 3
Engineer, send greeting..

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Samuel Chatwood and John Sturgeon, Her
special licence that we, the said Samuel Chatwood and John Sturgeon,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Samuel Chatwood and John Sturgeon, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Samuel Chatwood
and John Sturgeon, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Sturgeon, on behalf of
myself and the said Samuel Chatwood, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say :-
The first part of our Invention relates to an improved mode of generating
motive power within the working cylinder of an engine without the use of a
separate generator in which the motive power is first generated and afterwards
admitted to the working cylinder, employing for this purpose the expansive force,
when heated, of atmospheric air saturated with water or water or atmospheric
air only, or low-pressure steam, the heat being generated within the working
cylinder by means of electricity. One of the various modes of carrying out this
principle may be described as follows:-We use an ordinary steam cylinder
and piston, the cylinder however being provided with a cock at each end
instead of the usual arrangement of valves, these cocks being opened and
closed alternately, as the piston arrives at each end of its stroke admit jets of
water in the form of fine spray, which impinging on coils of platinum wire
placed within the cylinder at each end or attached to both sides of the piston,

page_text: and heated simultaneously with the opening of their respective cocks, is caused
by the heat to expand into steam of sufficient tension to impart motion to the
piston; the opening and shutting of the cocks, and the completing and
breaking the electric currents alternately as required, being performed by the
to-and-fro motion of the piston through suitable mechanism, as is well
understood. A flexible disc or diaphragm enclosed between two concave plates
so as to form two separate steam-tight vessels may also be used in place of a
cylinder and piston of the ordinary form, the piston rod being attached to the
central portion of the diaphragm; and instead of water or watery spray, the
required motions may in like manner be produced by the expansion of
atmospheric air only.
Secondly, when supplying water or other fluid for generating the elastic,
force requisite for each stroke of the engine, whether in a small generator, or
in the working cylinder itself, we regulate the speed of the engine by causing
the governors to regulate the action of the pumps interposed mechanism
or gearing, by which the length of stroke of the pumps is increased or
diminished according as a greater or less quantity of the water or other fluid
is for the time required to be pumped to the generator, so as to produce a
greater or less pressure as required. One mode of effecting this is shown in
the annexed Drawing, in which Figure 1 is a transverse section of the
A is a disc driven
apparatus shown in elevation in the Drawing at Figure 2.
by the spur wheel B on the crank shaft B¹. The plate C, to which is attached
the crank pin C, slides in a suitable groove in the face of the disc A, and is
bolted to the nut D and the stay D', slots being provided in the plate C for
the purpose of adjustment. The plate is capable of being moved forward or
backward by the screw E working in the nut D; on the end of this screw is a
bevil pinion F gearing into a bevil wheel G on a shaft G³, having a ratchet
wheel G³ keyed to its other end, and also gears into another bevil wheel H
on a tube or a hollow shaft H' having a ratchet wheel H2 keyed to its other
end. The catch G³ takes into ratchet wheel Gs, and the catch H' into
ratchet H, these two catches G³ and H³ being geared together by the small
toothed wheels K, so that when one catch is raised clear of the teeth of its
corresponding ratchet wheel the other catch is lowered so as to catch the
teeth of its ratchet. These catches are connected by the train of links and
levers L, M, N, P, with the sliding socket of the governor Q, which is driven
by the bevil wheels R, R'. When the speed increases and the balls expand,
the catch G is raised and H³ lowered into the ratchet H2 on the hollow
spindle H, thereby holding fast the bevil wheel H while the crank plate A
revolves, causing. the bevil F and screw E to revolve from left to right, and

page_text: thereby traverse the crank pin nearer to the centre, and lessening the stroke
of the pump and so the working pressure. When the speed falls below its
required rate the bevil wheel G is held by the ratchet G, causing the screw E
to revolve from right to left, and give a longer stroke to the pumps and
thereby increase the speed. While the speed is equal both catches remain
out of gear, and the whole train of bevils and ratchets is carried round with
the disc A, no motion being then imparted to the screw; while one of the
bevils is being held the other is being driven round in the contrary direction
without interfering with the required operations.
Thirdly, Figure 3 of the Drawing shows an arrangement for allowing the
steam or other elastic medium to escape when the pressure exceeds a certain
maximum allowance. In this arrangement the bolts A which connect the
upper and lower portions of the vessel C are backed up by springs, the power
of which is sufficient to hold the two parts together up to a certain pressure,
but which yield to any material excess of pressure, allowing the vessel to
open at the joint and the steam to blow out, instantly closing again as soon
as the pressure falls.
Fourthly, when producing and using superheated steam the vessels may, if
desirable, be composed of copper or alloys of copper coated or protected with
platinum.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sturgeon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOHN STURGEON. (8.)