MACHINERY FOR A METHOD OF GENERATING POWER APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MOSES
POOLE, of the Patent Office, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Third day of December, in the seventh year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Moses Poole, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Moses Poole, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, or such others as
I, the said Moses Poole, my exors, adiñors, 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, and also
in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, the Invention of
"MACHINERY FOR A METHOD OF GENERATING POWER APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL
PURPOSES," communicated to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Moses Poole,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Moses Poole, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to
The application of the principle of hydrostatics, so well known to all men
of science, and of the remarkable property of all fluids, has been hitherto very
limited. This property is :-" That an almost incompressible fluid, as water,
oil, quicksilver, &c., if confined in air-tight vessels, and a pressure (weight)
be brought to bear upon it, such pressure is propagated and increased in a
lateral, vertical, and, in short, in every direction in which it finds resist-
ance." This great increase of the pressure in all directions arises as follows:
-As much as a particle of water is pressed perpendicularly upwards or down-
wards, so much is it pressed against the adjoining particles, which adjoining
particles again press on those which adjoin to them, and so on; and thus the
pressure is propagated and increased. If, therefore, a certain quantity of water,
oil, &c., is placed in an air-tight cylinder A, which is connected with another
cylinder B of equal dimensions by a hermetically close pipe a from the centre
of the base of cylinder A, and is pressed on the surface by means of a move-
able piston loaded with a certain weight, and the empty cylinder B also con-
tains a piston lowered to its hase, then the fluid in cylinder A will raise the
piston in cylinder B as much as that in cylinder A is depressed. Now, let
the cylinder A, called the first power cylinder, be 6" 8" in diameter, and its
sides be parrallel to a certain depth to allow of the action of the moveable
piston, but from thence let it terminate conically in the aperture a of 1"
diameter, let this aperture be connected by a pipe 6 of the same diameter
with the cylinder B, which must also be 6" 3" in diameter (and may be
called the increased power cylinder), and the base of which is horizontal,
the moveable pressure in cylinder A will act as follows:-It must here not be
forgotten that the actual pressure in cylinder a is in the conical space Z to the
aperture a, and from the boundaries of the latter a, a, a, a, vertically to a
similar space on the lower surface of the piston, in which vertical direction
the pressure chiefly acts, so that the result of the action bears entirely on the
centre of the base a, i.e., a pressure of two hundred and thirty-two pounds
(Vienna weight), or a horse power on the piston A acts only on the aperture
a of the conical base of the cylinder, whilst the increased pressure created by
the size of the piston acts also vertically on the sides of the cylinder. Hence
follows the effect which has never yet been applied. That the pressure in a

page_text: cylinder of 6" 2" diameter or any other size terminating conically in a smaller
aperture a is the same as if the cylinder were of the same size of the aperture,
in which case a smaller quantity of fluid would be contained in the cylinder;
whereas, if the cylinder is enlarged above the aperture, it contains a larger
quantity of fluid, and the effect is consequently more powerful. This power
has hitherto only been partially applied in the hydraulic press in which the
injecting pump is of a smaller diameter than the embolus by which an
immense pressure is produced with a small power. The Inventor of the
hydraulic press (Bramah) imagined that the requisite pressure could only be
obtained by a piston of the same size as the injecting aperture, and this
erroneous view has hitherto prevented an enlarged application of this immense
power. By making the piston of the same size as the injecting aperture the
embolus could only be raised so far as the space filled by the water injected,
and by lessening the injecting pump or enlarging the embolus, as much was
evidently lost in time as was gained in power. But as the increase of power
required in an enlarged cylinder is only so much as is necessary to force the
increased quantity of fluid through the aperture a in the conically terminating
cylinder A into the corresponding cylinder B, therefore the original power of
two hundred and thirty-two pounds need only be increased by one hundred
and twelve pounds to produce this effect with a certain degree of speed, whilst
the increase in the original power, and the speed of the lengthened stream of
water accumulate at the aperture a, and are communicated by the pipe b to
the cylinder B. If, on the contrary, the space is considered which Bramah's
small injecting piston has to traverse backwards and forwards, as well as the
unavoidably greater friction of this small piston and cylinder, the friction
being in proportion to the diameter of the piston, it follows that in pumps
which raise water to a certain height, the friction in larger pumps expends
much less of the power than in smaller ones. The principle of Bramah's
hydraulic press is therefore the same as that of this new application of the
same principle, videlicet, that the pump in the cylinder A, with the conical
base produces the same effect as if the cylinder were of the same diameter as
the aperture a, and that the water, when forced through the pipe a, b, a, of
1" diameter into the cylinder B of 6" diameter, produces an increase of power
in the latter as one to thirty-six. Therefore, with the original power of two
hundred and thirty-two pounds, and the addition of one hundred and twelve
pounds, the embolus raised to a certain height, with the force of eight thou-
sand three hundred and fifty-two pounds, or, deducting one third for friction,
remain five thousand five hundred and sixty-eight pounds, which height is
equal to the depression of the piston in cylinder A. A slight deviation from

page_text: these figures, from friction or otherwise, need scarcely be mentioned. One
impediment to the action of the hydraulic press is here, too, avoided, videlicet,
that the resistance increases with the pressure; because, in the hydraulic
press the resistance is stationary, whilst in this new application the resistance
always remains the same, and therefore the power necessary to overcome it
may always be calculated beforehand. These principles have been confirmed
by experiment. Their application to machinery is preferable to any other
power for the following reasons:-a, water, oil, &c., being only imperceptibly
compressible, there is no danger of the vessels bursting, as in the case of
elastic fluids, as steam, &c. b, from its cheapness, as, by altering the size of
the cylinders A, A, B, B, and the communicating pipes, great results may be
produced with one or more horse powers as first movers. By the application
of twelve horse powers to a machine of which the cylinders are twelve
inches in diameter, the enormous result of two hundred horse powers may be
obtained. c, from the universality of its application, say, to all mechanical
operations, ships, carriages, &c. d, because every other power, as water,
wind, steam, &c., even on a small scale, may be applied to it, so as to pro-
duce proportionately immense results. This machine is undoubtedly much
improved in usefulness and originality by the contrivance which supersedes
the fly wheel, and renders it particularly applicable to carriages, as by it the
power of two men is enabled to produce the effect of four to six horses, and
more if necessary
Two pistons, in increased power cylinders B, B, of equal size, play on an
axle by means of the beam L, and if the height to which the piston has to
be raised, be 1', the length of the beam L, from one end to the centre on
which it plays, must be 2', and its whole length 4' and some inches, so that
the centres of the diameters of the two cylinders B, B, must be at a distance
of 4' from one another. The half diameters of the crank plates or cranks
N, N, which are fixed to the main driving shaft M, are therefore 0.5', and
the length of the connecting rod O, with the crank N, N, and the beam L,
must be 3' to the centre of the crank bolt P, besides the necessary length of
connection. Two feet nine inches behind and parrallel with the centre of the
cylinders B, B, is the horizontal central line of the first movement shaft
Q, Q, Q, Q, below which are the centres of the first power cylinders at a
distance of 1' to the right, and 1' to the left, from the centre of the parrallel
horizontal line. Each of the four cylinders A, A, B, B, is 6" 2"" in diameter,
of which 6" are filled by the four pistons R, R, R, R, and the remaining two

page_text: lines allow for the free action of the pistons. The pistons R, R, R, R,
are hollow cylinders, and must be exactly equal and correctly turned.
cc, cc, cc, cc, are hollow spaces, 5" deep and 1" wide, in each of the four
cylinders, which are filled with tow. This tow, which serves as packing for
the pistons, is pressed tight together by screwing down the lids dg, dg, dg, dg,
which have an opening in the middle of 6" 2". The triangular lower edges
in these spaces cc, cc, cc, cc, and the edges tg, tg, tg, tg, of the lower part of
the same facilitate the compression by means of the screws dd, dd, dd, dd.
The space of 8" between the inner circumference of the lids and the pistons
must be kept well fed with oil to facilitate the motion of the piston, and
diminish the friction, as well as to keep the packing constantly soaked with
oil. In order to remove any air or superfluous fluid that may be in the
cylinders on lowering the pistons, a circular aperture e, e, e, e, which is closed
by a screw head, is made in the centre of the bottom of each of the pistons
R, R, R, R, which is 1" thick. On lowering the pistons into the cylinders
B, B, the aperture e in each of them is closed tight by means of the screw,
whilst the apertures e in the pistons A, A, are opened, so that the superfluous
fluid flows slowly out at the apertures e, e, till the pistons have reached their
proper station. The filling of the four cylinders is at first best accomplished
by means of the reservoir S, by merely filling this reservoir, when the cylinders
will fill gradually, the air being expelled. This reservoir S communicates by
the pipes f,f, with the cylinders A, A; and in each of these pipes is a conical
valve 9, 9, which opens into the cylinders A, A. This reservoir is applied in
case the cylinders A, A, become short of the necessary quantity of fluid, by
suction, evaporation, or otherwise. The supply takes place instantaneously,
and in the necessary quantity, first, because the level of the fluid in the reser-
voir is horizontal with the highest station of the fluid in the cylinders A, A,
and B, B; secondly, because the suction of the pistons A, A, during their
elevation draws in the necessary quantity from the reservoir through the
valves g, g. The station of the four pistons is determined according to the
height to which they are to be raised, which is here taken at one foot. The
fluid is withdrawn from the hollow interior of the pistons by means of a lever,
and then the apertures e, e, in the pistons A, A, (those in B, B, being already
closed, are close by the screws. The interior fastening of the piston rods
ka, ka, kb, kb, is shewn in Plan II. It is effected by the round nuts
h, h, h, h, h, h, which are screwed on the studs i, i, i, i, i, i, vice versa in the
of the pistons, and this fix them immoveably. A cog wheel U is fixed on
the shaft T, which works into a driving wheel V on the shaft Q. Now, let
the water wheel J make six revolutions in a minute, then the wheel U will

page_text: The full orbit of the
with each revolution cause five revolutions of the driving wheel V, and the
two excentric disks m, m, on the shaft Q, (which alternate with each other for
raising and depressing the pistons, will be turned thirty times in a minute.
These disks m, m, move the oblongs Z, Z, each of which is furnished with a
direction rod a z, az, which runs in a broken rod av. Above and below the
excentric disks are metal friction rollers n, n, n, n.
excentric disks m, m, is 3' in diameter, and they are fixed at the distance of
0 5' from their centres on the shaft Q; therefore, these disks, in performing a
revolution, will raise and depress the pistons in cylinders A, A, one foot
alternately, and the pistons in cylinders B, B, will be depressed and raised
vice versa. At the moment that the piston in cylinder A is at its greatest
depression, and the reciprocal motion commences in the other cylinders, the
action of the piston opens the great conical valve in the pipe D, D, which
connects the cylinders A and B, (as may be seen in Plans I. and II. This
connection facilitates the passage of the fluid back again from cylinder B to A,
which is assisted by the descending piston in cylinder B, and is effected with-
out the need of any great power.
At the moment the piston in cylinder A
reaches its greatest elevation the commencing pressure closes the valve
instantaneously, and thus the reciprocal action of the fluid is constantly kept
up. By means of the parallelograms r, 1, 1, r, on the beam L, the piston rods
kb, kb, are always kept in a vertical position, and one end t of the beam con-
tains the bolt u, to which the connecting rod O is fastened. The crank bolts
P, on the crank wheels N, N, cause the revolution of the main driving shaft
M, on which a fly wheel may be placed. The further machinery for using
the power may be applied ad libitum and requires no notice here. The
following contrivance supersedes the necessity of a fly wheel for this machine,
and consequently enhances its value. As the speed of the main shaft M is
by no means regular, it also meets a varying resistance which is caused by the
circular motion from the 1° to 180°, which is sometimes faster and sometimes
slower. The power when the piston is at its lowest point of depression in
1° is 00, and increases to 23° 5. From this point it also encreases,
because the lever is lengthened, with a quicker motion to 90°, at which point
the greatest force is developed. From thence the power decreases to the
157, and at length becomes again =00 at the 180°, when the connect-
ing end has reached its greatest elevation. The average power, therefore, of
the lever at the 23° and 157° may be taken at 0.39, and the space which
reduces the power to 0.0, and from thence again into operation, is nearly 46°.
Let, now, (see Plan I.) the main driving M be lengthened so far that a simple
crank plate E moves at the distance of 6" from the first power shaft Q vertically

page_text: and parallel to the same; the elongated fork bolt F, F, moves on the pivot
bolt G (with its nut Ga) which turns freely in the crank plate E above the
centre of he crooked bolt H, H, on the first movement shaft Q (see Plan II.)
and turns on the centre Ha of the crooked bolt by means of the rod S, S,
which has a lateral joint t, t. By this contrivance the rotatory motion of the
first movement shaft Q will assist in maintaining the rotatory motion of the
crank plate E on the main driving shaft M. If the fork bolt is in the one
hundred and eightieth degree at the moment that the crank bolt P on the
crank plates N, N, is in the ninetieth degree (see Plan II.), it is easy to per-
ceive the valuable effect of the operation of the above-named station of the
fork bolt F and of the crank bolt P. The greatest power of the lever is the
ninety degrees where the crank bolt P is, is communicated to the fork bolt F,
and imparts to the original rotatory motion as much power as it receives from
the piston B, R; and whilst the lever of the crank bolt P, during its progress
to the one hundred degrees is shortened, the original power movement lever
F, F, is elongated inversely to the two hundred and seventieth degree, and
imparts, in the proportion of the loss of power of the lever P, its increased
power to the same, and at the moment that the crank bolt P is at the dead
point in the one hundred and eightieth degree, the full length of the first
movement lever F, F, in the two hundred and seventieth degree operates to
bring over the crank bolt P from its perpendicular dead station, after which
the crank bolt P imparts its increasing power up to the two hundred and
seventieth degree to the fork bolt F, F, of the first movement. Thus, a con-
tinued rotatory motion is produced without the fly wheel, and no exhaustion
of power; but an equalisation of power takes place which is further regulated
by the driving wheels X, X, on the driving shaft M.
The accompanying scale shews the size, and Plans I. and II. the situation
of the different parts. The woodwork must be as solid as possible, the
cylinders must be immoveably fixed, and, in short, the whole machine must
be built with the greatest accuracy.
In the plans a water wheel is represented as the moving power; but of
course any other power may be applied.
In witness whereof, I, the said Moses Poole, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Second day of June, in the year of our Lord One thou
sand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
MOSES
(L.S.) POOLE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1837, the aforesaid Moses Poole came before our said Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-seven.