AN IMPROVED ENGINE TO BE OPERATED BY STEAM, HOT AIR, OR WATER, AND WHICH MAY ALSO BE USED AS A PUMP OR A FLUID METER
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED ENGINE TO BE OPERATED BY STEAM,
HOT AIR, OR WATER, AND WHICH MAY ALSO BE USED AS A PUMP OR A FLUID
METER." A communication from abroad by Joseph Symonds
Foster of Salem, Massachusetts. United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lako
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 7th September 1875.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
5 Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED ENGINE TO BE OPERATED BY
STEAM, HOT AIR, OR WATER, AND WHICH MAY ALSO BE USED AS A PUMP OR A
FLUID METER," a communication, to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to an engine of novel construction, which
O may also by slight modifications of its parts be adapted to serve as a
pump or a meter. The peculiar feature of the said Invention is a piston

page_text: working to and fro in a cylinder and provided with valves which are
operated or adjusted at each stroke of the said piston by coming in
contact with the cylinder ends or heads. The said piston has a peculiar
cross sectional form which closely resembles the figure or device
commonly known as the Maltese cross. The length of the said piston
is slightly greater than half the length of the cylinder, and it has at
each end a head or cover; the said piston therefore when these covers
are in place has four closed longitudinal spaces, two of which serve as
admission chambers and the other two as exhaust chambers. The
-supply-and-exhaust-ports-of-the-engine-are-at-the-sides-of-the-cylinder-
and communicate directly with the said chambers of the piston. The
two chambers which are opposite each other are in connection with each
other to equalize the lateral pressure on the piston. In one of the said
admission chambers I place a valve for regulating the admission of
steam or other fluid to the cylinder. The said valve is a rod of steel or
other suitable metal fitted to work to and fro in holes in the heads or
covers of the piston. The ends of the said rods have longitudinal holes
drilled in them for a short distance, and these longitudinal holes
terminate in apertures or passages formed through one side or both
sides of the rods. These holes and apertures are so arranged in relation
to the piston and the rods are of such a length that when one end of
the rod is flush or even with the outer surface of the piston head the
fluid will have a free passage through the hole and aperture at that end,
while the passage at the other end of the said rod will be closed. The
exhaust valve is also a rod of steel or other suitable metal fitted to work
to and fro through holes in the piston heads and in one of the chambers
or spaces connected with the exhaust pipe or port of the cylinder, but
this exhaust valve instead of having holes in the ends, as above
described, has a slot through each end, in such a position that when one
end of the said rod is flush or even with the outside of the piston head
the valve passage is closed at that end and open at the other end of the
piston.
When this Invention is to be used as a pump or fluid meter I provide
the same with clapper valves, those opening into the inlet pipe being on
the outside of the piston head, and those opening into the outlet pipe
being inside the piston head. A small pin in the centre of the cylinder
prevents the turning of the piston in the same.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th March 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THÈSE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her
special licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED ENGINE TO BE OPERATED BY STEAM, HOT AIR, OR
WATER, AND WHICH MAY ALSO BE USED AS A PUMP OR A FLUID METER," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Joseph Symonds Foster, of Salem,
Massachusetts, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawing forming a part of this Specification :-
My said Invention relates to an engine of novel construction, which
may also by slight modifications of its parts be adapted to serve as a
'

page_text: pump or a meter, and the said Invention consists in constructing the
piston with four chambers, and providing two of these chambers with
rods, which rods are formed and arranged to serve as valves, and as their
ends strike the heads of the cylinder allow the steam to pass from the
centre of the piston to each end alternately, and the exhaust steam to
escape, thus dispensing with the ordinary steam chest, slide valve,
eccentric, and parts connected therewith.

page_text: port R", thus reversing the motion of the piston when it moves towards
the head X which again changes the movement. A screw bolt J, the
end of which enters a longitudinal slot in one of the arms of the piston,
keeps the piston from turning in the cylinders.
This engine may be operated by steam, water, or hot air, and may be
used as a meter or a pump.
When used as a pump clapper valves are substituted for the steel
rods, those connected to the inlet pipe being on the outside of the piston
heads, and those connected with the outlet pipe being on the inside of
the piston heads.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my and seal, this Seventh day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.
Witness,
JA. EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)