Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Applying Com- bustible Mixtures of Air and Gas or Inflammable Vapour to Driving Motive Power Engines.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd July, 1893-Accepted. 26th Aug., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Applying Com-
bustible Mixtures of Air and Gas or Inflammable Vapour to
Driving Motive Power Engines.
We, WILLIAM SMETHURST, WILLIAM EDWARD VICKERS, and GORDON
ROBERT ROGERS, all of 39, Victoria Street, Westminster, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement and
accompanying drawing that is to say :-
This invention relates to new or improved methods of, and apparatus for,
applying an intimately and perfectly combined mixture of air with gas or
inflammable vapour, to the purpose of actuating motive power engines of a kind
resembling those in which steam is ordinarily used.
In gas engines or engines worked by the combustion of a mixture of air and gas
or inflammable vapour, it has hitherto always been usual to form such mixture in,
or adjoining, the cylinder in which combustion is to take place, the air and gas or
vapour being drawn into the cylinder or into a chamber by the movement of a
piston or plunger contained in the cylinder and the mixture being compressed by
the reverse movement of the piston before being ignited. In such methods of
construction and operation, the mixture of the air with the gas or inflammable
vapour is necessarily very imperfect, and the combustion also imperfect, gas being
wasted, the products of combustion being difficult to get rid of, and the operation
not being economical either in the first cost of the apparatus used, or in working.
By our invention we are able to make use of ordinary motive power engines of
the kinds usually actuated by high pressure steam, with certain modifications
necessary to adapt them to work with the mixture of gas and air.
For this purpose we use air very intimately and perfectly mixed with ordinary
gas or inflammable vapour, in such proportions and in such manner as to ensure the
perfect combustion of the gas or suitable vapour after ignition.
.
The air and gas or vapour are so mixed before entering the engine, preferably in
the manner described in the Specifications of Letters Patent granted to, William
Edward Vickers and George Alonzo Everett, No. 965, dated January 18th
A.D. 1892, for "Improvements in machinery or apparatus for effecting the
complete mixture of inflammable gas or vapour with air and William Smethurst
and James Wade, No. 2207 dated February 4th A.D. 1892, for " Improvements
in machinery or apparatus for mixing inflammable gas or vapour with air and for
utilizing such mixture."
1
The mixture may be made however in any other equivalent manner provided
that the air and gas or vapour are used in the proper proportions (which may be
varied more or less as may be found desirable), and the mixture is made as intimate
and perfect as possible.
The mixture of gas and air in suitable proportions is delivered from the mixing
apparatus into a receiver or reservoir into which it is compressed to a sufficient
pressure, which may be varied according to the circumstances in which it is to be
used, and a pipe from the reservoir conducts the compressed mixture to the valve
box of the engine, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1
is a horizontal section, Figure 2 a side view, and Figure 3 a transverse section
through the cylinder, shewing a form of engine to which our invention may be
conveniently applied. In the design a horizontal engine is shewn, a being the bed-
plate of the engine, b, b, bearings for the crank shaft c. The main cylinder is
shewn at d, its ends being provided with covers e, e.

page_text: The supply or inlet pipe from the reservoir of compressed air and gas above
described, is provided with a regulating valve, not shewn in the drawing, and with
a chamber or chambers i, i, containing a sufficient number of wire gauze or other
diaphragms, or safety devices, to prevent the possibility of flame cominunicating
with and igniting the mixture in the reservoir.
The admission valve f in a valve box or cylinder is actuated by an excentric
or cams or equivalent devices in the usual way, but it is so adjusted and operated
that when the piston n commences its stroke in either direction in the cylinder, the
compressed mixture is admitted behind it for a short part, say one-fourth, of the
stroke, and is then absolutely cut off by the valve from the valve box and inlet
pipe. After the piston n has travelled a very short distance further, partly by the
momentum of the fly wheels or wheel p and partly by the expansion of the
compressed mixture behind the piston n, the mixture is ignited, either by a flame
or an ignition tube, or other well known igniting devices of the kinds ordinarily
used in gas engines, or by electricity, and the combustion of the perfectly and
intimately mixed air and gas or vapour is rapid and complete, very great power
being developed upon the piston n by the expansion of the ignited mixture, which
pressure continues (with somewhat diminishing force) to the end of the stroke.
An exhaust valve k (which is shewn distinct from the inlet and cut off valve and
actuated by the excentric 2) then opens and allows the escape of the heated and
expanded air and gases through the exhaust pipe m during the return stroke of the
piston, during which return stroke a similar series of operations to those above
described is taking place at the other end of the cylinder d.
The cylinder and covers are provided with a water jacket at e through which
water is made to circulate in the usual way, and asbestos or metallic packing is
preferably used where necessary in the engine.
In some cases we make the valves by which the compressed mixture is admitted
to and cut off from the cylinder, double, the mixture being first completely shut
off from the valve box, and a second valve afterwards closing between the first
valve and the cylinder, by which the separation is made more complete and certain.
The second valve may be in the form of a separate valve working against the
first.
The several passages for the compressed mixture of air and gas or vapour may
also for greater security be filled or packed with a sufficient number of thicknesses
of wire gauze or other material by which the passage of flame is prevented, and in
this way the working of the engine can be rendered as safe or safer than an
ordinary high pressure steam engine.
The combustion of the gas is so perfect that the consumption of it is very small
and the cylinder remains clean and with little wear.
The apparatus for mixing thoroughly the air and gas or inflammable vapour (of
the kind already described in the Specifications already referred to), may be driven
by the motive power engine itself or by separate power.
The reservoir is preferably kept stored with a sufficient quantity of the compressed
mixture to start the engine.
The engine may be arranged in any convenient position and may be made with
one or more cylinders, and the details of construction and arrangement may be
varied more or less as may be found advisable to suit different circumstances, as it
is to be understood that our invention is intended to be applicable to motive power
engines of all forms and varieties, gas and air intimately mixed in the way
described outside the engine being admitted to the latter under pressure and
ignited.
Links or other valve gear of any of the well known kinds may be used for the
purpose of reversing the engine where it is required that it should run in either
direction.
A governor of any suitable kind is used by which the quantity of inflammable
mixture admitted to the cylinder is regulated and varied.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The method of using an intimate mixture of air and gas, or air and inflam-
mable vapour, as a substitute for steam in motive power engines, the mixture being
admitted under pressure to the engine at the commencement of the stroke of the
piston, through wire gauze or other safety devices, being then cut off after the
piston of the engine has made a part of its stroke, being then ignited and at
the end of the stroke an exhaust valve being opened through which the expanded
mixture of iguited gas and air is allowed to escape, substantially as described and
illustrated.
2. In motive power engines operating substantially in the manner described in
Claim 1, the combination of the safety chambers i, i, inlet and cut off valve f,
cylinder d, water jacket e, exhaust valve k, and piston n, driving the shaft c, by the
combustion of an intimate mixture of gas and air admitted under pressure through
the inlet pipe h, substantially as described and illustrated.
Dated this 22nd day of July 1893.
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicants.