IMPROVED MEANS, APPARATUS, AND MACHINERY FOR GENERATING ELASTIC VAPOURS AND APPLYING SUCH VAPOURS FOR PRODUCING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Tongue at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
August 1869.
I, WILLIAM TONGUE, of Brixton, in the County of Surrey, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
MEANS, APPARATUS, AND MACHINERY FOR GENERATING ELASTIC VAPOURS AND
APPLYING SUCH VAPOURS FOR PRODUCING MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to means, apparatus, and machinery for gene-
rating elastic vapours, and employing the elastic force of such vapours
in engines or machines for producing motive power.
It is well known that a great waste of fuel occurs when the elastic
force of steam is employed as a motive power in consequence of the
great amount of latent heat required to vaporize water.
According to my Invention I employ elastic vapours from volatile
oils, spirits, or liquids which do not mix with water, as, for example,
oil of turpentine or mineral oils and spirits of a low latent heat
compared with the vapour of water. Several difficulties present them-
selves in the use of the vapours of these liquids. They absorb and part

page_text: with heat, very rapidly, and are therefore liable to dangerous fluctuations
of pressure if enclosed in a vessel to which the heat arising from com-
bustion is applied. The high boiling point of many of these liquids
has also caused them to be regarded as unsuitable for employment as
a motive power.
Now I find that when a volatile liquid of a low latent heat is heated
by means or in the presence of a liquid or vapour of a higher latent
heat, the liquid having a less latent heat will become vapourized before
the liquid having a higher latent heat and the vapour of the liquid
having the lesser latent heat will displace the vapour of the liquid
having the higher latent heat though the boiling point of the liquid of
lesser latent heat may be higher than that of the liquid possessing
the greater latent heat. If turpentine (which boils in the open air at
about 316° Fahrenheit) be poured upon water boiling in the open air
at about 212° Fahrenheit the turpentine will at once start into violent
.ebullition and be vapourized before the water at the temperature of the
boiling water, and the same phenomenon occurs under pressure in a
closed vessel, the vapour of the water being condensed and displaced
by a highly elastic vapour from the turpentine.
Now according to my Invention I employ a liquid or vapour of a
comparatively high latent heat, such as water or steam of water, as a
reservoir of heat from which to generate a vapour of a comparatively
lower latent heat from a liquid of lower latent heat, such as turpentine
or petroleum oil or spirit, and I employ the vapour so generated in
the place of steam for driving a steam or vapour engine. Water is a
liquid of a comparatively high latent heat, and water alone or having
salts, minerals, or other substances in solution, or the vapour of water in
the form of steam, may be advantageously employed as the reservoir of
heat when carrying my Invention into practice.
Vegetable or mineral volatile oils, spirits, or liquids, such as oil of
turpentine, petroleum oils, and other liquids lighter than water, and
possessing a lower latent heat than water in the condition of liquid or
vapour, may be advantageously employed for producing vapour when
carrying my Invention into practice.
According to my. Invention the water and the volatile liquid may be
enclosed in the same vessel and heat applied thereto, in which case I
apply the heat to that part of the vessel only where the water is
contained, and I provide a safety valve so arranged upon a chamber

page_text: supplied from below the level of the water that the steam from the
water may blow off at a determined pressure; or I enclose water and
steam in onc vessel provided, with a safety valve or valves, and I enclose
the volatile liquid and water in another vessel, and I apply heat to
the vessel containing the water and steam, and I heat the vessel con-
taining the volatile liquid by bringing it in contact with the water or
steam contained in the other vessel. The vessel containing the volatile
liquid and water may be enclosed in the vessel containing the water
or steam, or I enclose the water and steam in one vessel, and the
volatile liquid in another (or others), and inject the water or the steam
from one vessel into the other vessel to vapourize the volatile liquid
therein. The water and steam vessel is provided with a safety valve,
and when using the steam from this vessel to vaporize the liquid in
the other vessel such steam is conducted by suitable pipes from the
steam space by the water vessel below the volatile liquid in the other
vessel, a valve being arranged in the steam pipe to prevent the reflux
of liquid into the water vessel. In some cases when it is desired to
have one pressure in the water and steam vessel and another pressure.
in the volatile liquid vessel, or when using a volatile liquid of a lower
boiling point than water, I admit the steam to the volatile liquid
chamber when required by means of a tap or valve, which is caused
to open by self-acting means, when the pressure in the volatile liquid
vessel diminishes, so that more steam may be admitted and so restore
the pressure. Such tap or valve may be operated upon in various ways.
but a weighted piston working in a cylinder to which the pressure of
the vapour is admitted will answer, or the steam may be admitted'
without the intervention of this apparatus. In order to return the water
condensed in the volatile liquid vessel to the water vessel various means.
may be employed, but a pump will answer the purpose, drawing the
water from the lower part of the volatile liquid vessel and returning
it to the water chamber, and if desired the action of the pump may-
be arrested by self-acting means after it has pumped out sufficient water
by means of a float in the water vessel, which upon rising to a sufficient
height will close the communication between the water vessel and the
volatile liquid vessel. The volatile liquid vessel must be enclosed in non-
conducting materials, and I surround it witli a steam or hot water
jacket. I provide all the vessels with pressure guages and valves and
with means for detecting the height of the various liquids in the vessels.
It is better to provide a separate boiler for generating the steam to be

page_text: used in heating the pipes and engine and other steam jackets or for
other heating purposes, so that the level of the water and volatile liquids
in the vessels may not be subject to variation.
о
It will be understood that in apparatus arranged according to my
Invention the water and steam contained in the one vessel act as a
regulator of pressure as well as a reservoir of heat for the volatile vapour
in the other vessel. Steam of a certain pressure in the presence of
water is of a certain temperature, and if the pressure is not allowed to
increase the temperature will remain the same, so that the pressure in
the water vessel being constant the temperature will also be constant,
and the pressure in the chamber containing the volatile liquid will also
be constant. The water and steam chamber will also form a reservoir
of heat by means of which the pressure in the volatile liquid chamber
will be maintained without serious fluctuation under varying or irregular
abstractions of its vapour. For convenience and safety I can arrange
the vessel or chamber containing the water to which the heat is applied
at any desired distance from the vessel for the volatile liquid, and
enclose such vessel in a fireproof chamber if desired. I can employ
volatile liquids having as high or a higher boiling point than water,
and produce vapour therefrom as above described, and I can employ
such liquids in situations or for purposes where the supply of water
for condensation is difficult to obtain or for locomotive purposes, as
the vapours from such liquids can be condensed at a comparatively high
temperature. I surround the pipes for conducting the elastic vapour
obtained as above described and the parts of the engine in which such
vapour operates with chambers, and heat such chambers by steam or
otherwise, so as to maintain the elastic force of the volatile vapour
until after the elastic force is expended, and water may be exposed
in the conducting pipes to assist in maintaining the pressure of the
volatile vapour. After the elastic force of the vapour is expended in
driving the engine I condense such vapour into a liquid and return it
by a pump or otherwise to the vapour generator. This condensation
may be effected in various ways. The vapour may be condensed at
the pressure of the atmosphere by currents of air, or water, or the vapour
may be condensed in a closed chamber or surface condenser. When
employing "benzoline or other volatile liquids having a lower boiling
point than water I proceed as above described, but in order to effect
their condensation a lower temperature will be required.
"

page_text: I can also employ the vapour of water or steam after it has expended
or partly expended its elastic force in a steam engine to vaporize the
volatile liquids which will not mix with water. I can inject the steam
from the engine into such liquids, and so generate vapour of greater or
the same elastic force but in larger volume, and employ the elastic
force of such vapours in driving an engine as above described, and
so obtain a large increase of power with no further expenditure of
fuel.