IMPROVE- MENTS IN ENGINES ACTUATED BY AIR, STEAM, OR OTHER FLUIDS
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Dominicus Kittoe at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
December 1867.
I, GEORGE DOMINICUS KITTOE, of Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ENGINES ACTUATED BY AIR, STEAM, OR OTHER FLUIDS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in engines actuated by air,
steam, or other fluids.
In my Patent No. 1601, dated 13th June 1866, for improvements iu
steam engines, the piston communicates directly by means of a connecting rod
with the crank pin working in a space or chamber open to the steam space
of the cylinder af one side of the piston, the crank itself being acted upon by
the pressure of the steam in such manner as that its back face shall be forced
against a corresponding face formed on the interior surface of the casing or
chamber in which the crank revolves, thus maintaining a steam-tight joint,
and preventing the escape of steam through the opening by which the crank
shaft passes out of the crank chamber without the aid of stuffing boxes.
According to my present Invention I employ a faced crank working against
a fixed face as described, so as to form the air, steam, or fluid tight joint, and
I form the face of the crank with grooves or channels, which constitute'
passages by which the air, steam, or fluid enters and leaves the ports leading
severally to the opposite sides of the piston. The first of these grooves or
channels, which for distinction's sake I will call the inlet groove, is situated

page_text: near to the outer edge of the crank face, leaving only so much space at the
outside of or beyond the groove or channel as will suffice to prevent the
passage of air, steam, or fluid from the groove into the crank chamber. This
groove forms an entire circle, from which a short branch communicates with
a second groove situated somewhat nearer to the centre of the circle consti-
tuting the back face of the crank than the groove first named, and divided
therefrom by an amount of surface sufficient to prevent the passage of air,
steam, or fluid from one to the other otherwise than by the branch groove
already mentioned. This second groove constitutes only the segment of a
circle corresponding in length with the proportion of a revolution during which
air, steam, or fluid is required to be admitted to one side of the piston. At
the same distance from the centre of the circular face (constituting the back
face of the crank as described), but having its termination separated from
that of the foregoing by a space or interval of solid ungrooved metal, is formed
another segmental groove, which in like manner communicates by a branch
with a continuous circular groove of smaller radius than the two segmental
grooves described. This inner circular groove, which I term the exhaust or
outlet groove, communicates by four or any other convenient number of
channels or passages with a central hole or passage formed through the crank
shaft, and leading outward from the crank chamber. At each side of the
centre of the crank shaft at distances therefrom corresponding with the radii
of the segmental grooves, and opposite to each other, I form a port or opening,
the one at the one side of the centre leading by a passage or thoroughfare to
the one side of the piston, and the other by a similar passage or thoroughfare
to the opposite side thereof. Air, steam, or fluid enters the engine through a
third port situated between the two former, and coinciding with the outer
circular or inlet groove formed in the back face of the crank. The action of
the arrangement is as follows:-Air, steam, or fluid entering, by the port last
named fills the outer circular groove and the segmental groove connected
therewith, so that supposing the segmental groove (by the revolution of the
crank) to be just commencing its passage over the port or opening leading,
say, to the lower side of the piston, air, steam, or fluid will be admitted to pass
to that side, and will continue to be so admitted while any portion of the seg-
mental inlet groove remains over the port referred to. When, however, the
groove has passed that port, and the air, steam, or fluid which had filled the
cylinder at that side of the piston requires to be exhausted, the segmental
groove connected with the inner circular or exhaust groove will have com-
menced to pass over the port, and the air, steam, or fluid will be thereby
conducted to the inner circular groove, and from thence to the hollow crank

page_text: shaft by the passages described, and will thus pass away from the engine.
Meanwhile by the continued revolution of the crank the segmental portion of
the inlet groove will have been brought over the port leading to the opposite side
of the piston; with respect to which a precisely similar action will take place,
the continued revolution of the crank causing air, steam, or fluid to be alter-
nately admitted to and exhausted from the respective sides of the piston. By
this system any required amount of lead or lap may be given to either the
inlet or the exhaust. Means may be provided for keeping the crank to the
face.