IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES AND PUMPS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Henry Ellis at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
April 1870.
I, GEORGE HENRY ELLIS, of 91, Gracechurch Street, in the City of
London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES AND PUMPS," to be as follows, that
is to say :-
This Invention has for its object an improved construction of rotary
engine, such engine being also applicable as a pump.
My improved rotary engine is constructed as follows:-In suitable
bearings on a proper bed plate I mount a fixed hollow shaft or axis
on which are placed one, two, or more cylinders (having pistons or
plungers) arranged so as to turn on the said fixed hollow shaft, this shaft,
which serves as the inlet or steam pipe and the exhaust pipe, has a
partition in the centre for separating the inlet ports from the outlet
ports. When two cylinders are employed their pistons or plungers are
connected together by cross heads and connecting rods, so that when one
piston or plunger has completed its stroke the other is ready to
commence its stroke. The hollow shaft on which the cylinders turn

page_text: is bent near one end in the form of a crank and the cross heads of the
pistons or plungers are connected thereto by suitable connecting rods.
The engine works as follows:-Steam is admitted at one end of the
hollow shaft and passes through a steam port cut therein into one of
the cylinders and raises its piston or plunger, which pulls on the fixed
crank of the hollow shaft, causing the cylinder to partially rotate
thereon, and moving the second cylinder so that its inlet or steam port
comes opposite the inlet or steam port in the hollow shaft, and the first
cylinder is carried to the position occupied at starting by the second
cylinder, so that its exhaust port is brought opposite the exhaust port
cut in the hollow shaft on the opposite side of its partition to that on
which the inlet or steam port is placed. The steam now enters the
second cylinder, and as the pistons or plungers of the two cylinders are
connected together, as hercin-before described, the cylinders will continue
to rotate upon the hollow shaft by their pistons or plungers alternately
pulling against the crank of the hollow shaft. A fly wheel is employed
to cause the cylinders to pass the dead points and ensure the regular
action of the engine. In cases where only one cylinder is employed
the steam is admitted on both sides of the piston, where more than two
cylinders are employed they are connected together in pairs. When the
improved engine is employed as a pump the inlet end of the hollow
shaft becomes the suction pipe of the pump, and the exhaust end
becomes the rising main or outlet pipe. In this case the pump may be
driven by any suitable power, or by means of another pair of cylinders,
constructed and working as herein-before described, placed upon the
hollow shaft, the latter being arranged to serve both as a steam pipe
and suction pipe, and exhaust steam pipe and rising main. Instead of
cranking the hollow shaft as herein-before described I sometimes employ
(especially for pumps) an eccentric or cam.