A NEW METHOD OF APPLYING STEAM POWER DIRECTLY TO THE PERIPHERY OF THE MOVEMENT WHEEL, FOR PURPOSES OF LOCOMOTION BOTH ON LAND AND WATER, AND FOR PROPELLING MACHINERY
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LAWRENCE
HEYWORTH, of Yew Tree, near Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Merchant, send greeting. :
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westmin-
ster, the Thirtieth day of August, in the second year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Lawrence Heyworth,
Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Lawrence Heyworth, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Lawrence Heyworth, my exors, adñiors, or 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 "A NEW METHOD OF APPLYING STEAM POWER DIRECTLY TO THE PERIPHERY
OF THE MOVEMENT WHEEL, FOR PURPOSES OF LOCOMOTION BOTH ON LAND AND WATER,
AND FOR PROPELLING MACHINERY;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said Lawrence Heyworth, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
two calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Lawrence Heyworth, do hereby declare the nature of. my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My Invention relates to a method of applying the power of steam direct
to the periphery of the moving wheel of rotatory steam engines, as will be
hereafter explained.
..
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
My engine-consists of the following principal parts: First, the drum A, or
wheel, the periphery of which is not circular but pentagonal, with the angles
flattened off a little; it has a circular flange B, B, on each end, the diameter of
which is equal to the greatest diameter of the pentagonal part of the drum;
in this drum I fix a shaft, either horizontal or vertical, as may be required.
Second, the saddle C, which is a metallic segment, the interior surface of which
I make perfectly true, so as to form a.steam-tight.joint, both with the periphery
of the flanges B, B, of the drum A,.and also with the angles of the pentagonal
part; the breadth of this saddle is nearly equal to the length of the drum över
the flanges, and the length of it may be about three lengths or more of the
circumference of the said drum; it has a steam pipe D attached to it. Third;
the epiglottis E. This is a metallic slide passing through the saddle, in which
it is kept steam-tight by packing F. This slide, in its transverse section, is an
oblong, the breadth of which corresponds with the distance between the two
flanges of the drum; it has its lower end, or that which is 'towards the centre
of the drum, perfectly straight, so that it may be steam-tight to the periphery
of the pentagonal part. Over this epiglottis I fix to the saddle a steam-tight
box G, having a small pipe H to communicate with a steam boiler.
1
METHOD OF WORKING.
41
7
The foregoing parts being thus made, I admit steam by the box A that
covers the epiglottis, which steam acts as a spring upon it, to keep it in
constant contact with the periphery of the drum. I admit' steam also by
the pipe through the saddle, into the cavity formed by said saddle and
the drum, which steam pressing, against the epiglottis, as an abutment,
causes the drum to revolve, the waste steam escaping as the angles of
the pentagonal drum pass the, end I of the saddle. In order to prevent the
saddle being lifted from the drun by the steam, I connect; 'it by straps

page_text: and bushes with proper adjusting screws; &c: to the shaft" of the "said
drum. I also make it fast to some "firm framework or the-like, so as to
give a sufficient resistance to the revolving action of the wheel. Although
I have described my engine as having a pentagonal drum, yet I do not confine
myself, to any particular number of sidés or proportion of parts, and the axis or
shaft may or may not have a fly-wheel attached or the engine may have two
saddles on opposite parts of the drum, in order to keep up a more uniform
power; or it may have a long saddle or saddles, eacli. with a duplication of parts,
to allow of reversing the motion of the engine; and it may be all inclosed in
a steam-tight casing, with a proper escape pipe for the waste steam! "spets
But whatever may be the particular construction of any part of the engine, I
wish it to be understood that what I claim as my Invention is, the mode of
direct application of steam as a means of acting upon and moving the slide
or abutment which I have called the epiglottis, and of driving the peripliery
of the movement wheel herein described: And in order to shew that the
engine may be varied without departing from my Invention, I will explain
another arrangement of engine wherein slides are operated on by steam, in
order to ensure their correct action on the periphery of the engine. In
this case the slide or epiglottis becomes a moving instrument at the periphery
of the moving wheel by which the power of steam is communicated to the
driving axle.
).
The following are the principal parts constituting an engine combined
according to this mode, of applying my, Invention:-1; the epiglottis, acting.
from the periphery of the movement wheel upon the inside of the fixed rim,
enclosed between the two outside plates of the movement wheel; 2, the vacant
space filled with steam when the epiglottis is projected to the fixed rim; 3, the
pipe supplying the steam to project the epiglottis, and press it to the inner
surface of the fixed rim or stationary, periphery; 4, the small epiglottis in the
thick part of the fixed rim, to prevent the escape of steam backwards; 5, the
pipe to supply steam to press the 'small epiglottis down on the periphery
of the movement wheel; 6, the main pipe to supply the steam, which,
impinging on the epiglottis projected from the periphery of the movement
wheel, forces the wheel to revolve; 7, the space between the movement wheel
and the fixed rim filled with steam, which is discharged as waste steam at the
pipe e; 8, the movement wheel; 9, edge of the fixed rim enclosed within
the plates of the movement wheel, thick enough at the small epiglottis to touch
the movement wheel; a, the packing on the edge of the fixed rim; b, the plates
screwed upon the movement wheel and revolving with it; o, the screws
securing the plate to the movement wheel; c, the shaft; d, the inside of
+

page_text: plates secured to the movement wheel; e, the escape pipe for waste steam;
f, pedestal to hold fast the fixed rim; g, screw pivots.
I would, in conclusion, remark, that I lay no claim to any of the
parts separately, they (in their separate condition and under various combina-
tions) having before been known and in use; whilst it will be evident that
engines constructed as mine are, and having my mode of applying steam to the
epiglottis or slides, and acting by means of these abutments on the periphery
of the movement wheel, may have the axes of the movement wheels as the-
driving axes of locomotive carriages, or of the paddle wheel shafts of steam
vessels, or by suitable wheelwork or driving bands, which are well understood
to engineers and millwrights; such engines may be employed as the driving
means of machinery in general.
And I also claim to construct the periphery of the movement wheel, and
of the stationary periphery of lamina of different metals, so as thereby to have
the benefit of galvanic, electric, or magnetic influence in causing the projected
end of the epiglottis to adhere more firmly to the surface of the periphery, and
also to use a magnetic epiglottis.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
sixth day of October One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.