IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING and Applying MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE IN THE MACHINERY AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Johann Ernst Friedrich Lüdeke, of 15, Wilmot
Place, Camden Town, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING and Applying MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE
Sealed the 25th July 1873, and dated the 19th May 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICAION left by the said Johann Ernst Friedrich
Lüdeke at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 19th May 1873.
I, JOHANN ERNST FREIDRICH LUDEKE, of 15, Wilmot Place, Camden
Town, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER,
AND IN THE MACHINERY AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the means of
obtaining motive power applicable to various uses or purposes, and to
the machinery and apparatus whereby such power is effected and
applied.

page_text: .
I propose to generate power by the agency of liquids or fluids, such
as mercury, water, or other suitable liquids or fluids, in the following
manner: I construct a suitable foundation plate or table, with four or
other number of standards or pillars attached thereto, the upper
parts of which are connected by cross heads or tie bars, the central
intersection of which bars forms the upper bearing for the main vertical
shaft or axis of the machine or engine. This shaft is made hollow
in its upper part, and may be solid or tubular in its lower part,
so as be partly solid and partly tubular, or entirely tabular, as hereafter
explained.
The shaft carries a horizontal cylinder or drum of iron, brass, or other
suitable metal closed at the base, but open at top; the cylinder contains
an annular chamber formed by the addition of an internal ring plate
extending to any vertical distance required within the external drum
or cylinder, and is closed at top by an annular plate, so as to form a
closed annular space or chamber within the drum, and being in fact a
portion of the cylinder itself. This chamber serves to contain a cor-
responding ring of cork, wood, or other light suitable material capable
of floating in mercury, water, or other fluids or liquids. The floating
ring however is of so much less width than that of the annular chamber
as to permit of its ascent and descent, without contact with the chamber,
thus enabling its position to vary as required, with perfect feeedom;
there being no interruption to the displacement of the liquid or fluid.
caused by the variation of the level of the floating ring.
This ring
is strengthened by a light metallic band attached thereto, and the
whole is connected to two vertical stems passing through bearings
or stuffing boxes on the surface of the annular plate; the stems are
then connected to a horizontal bar or beam passing diametrically across
the interior or upper part of the main cylinder, and a vertical rod is
then fixed in the centre of the beam within the hollow or tubular main
shaft, and is extended through the upper bearing of the shaft so as to
project above the cross heads, where it is finally connected to a rocking
lever beam for the purpose of transmitting a reciprocating motion
applicable to the power required.
The tubular shaft is cut with a slot on two opposite sides for the
reception of the horizontal beam or bar, and to allow of its rising and
falling. Beneath the cylinder the main shaft descends to its lower
bearing the foundation or bed plate of the engine, the shaft being

page_text: provided with a pivoted extremity working in a lubricated cup or
socket, above which the shaft is perforated laterally to admit the passage
of a chain, strap, band, or other equivalent, the two ends of which are
connected to two helical or other suitable springs attached to two pillars
or standards of the engine or machine; or instead of springs the main
shaft may be provided with a grooved pulley wheel containing a cord,
band, chain, or strap, to which a weight is attached, running over a
second vertical pulley at the edge of the foundation plate, each arrange-
ment constituting a counterbalance to the rotation of the shaft and
cylinder.
The horizontal beam or bar is also provided with two connecting rods,
one on each side of the central axis; they descend through the base of
the cylinder, and are attached to spring levers, whose fulcra are fixed to
the under part of the cylinder, near the periphery; this arrangement is
for the purpose of bringing down the beam and floating ring against the
buoyont influence of the mercury or liquid. Now the vertical rod
attached to the beam and passing through the upper bearing of the
hollow shaft may be continued downwards into a sliding seat in the
solid portion of the shaft, which would be quite sufficient to secure a.
steady motion of the beam and ring, but if the entire shaft is made
tubular, the vertical rod may be extended downwards throughout the
shaft and its lower bearing, and through the foundation plate, when it.
may be attached to a counterweight and consequently dispense entirely.
with the arrangement last described.
Having now detailed the general construction of the chief portions
of the machine or engine, it remains to explain the method of its action.
An inlet is arranged on the annular chamber for the supply of mercury,
water, or other fluid or liquid, to be employed, and a supply being
afforded sufficient to completely fill the space the inlet is closed.
The floating ring is steadied within the chamber by means of two or
more projecting guide pieces between the ring and sides of the chamber,
and is prevented from contact with the base of the chamber by similar
means; then the chamber is furnished with a divisional plate or
diaphragm near one of the stems uniting the ring with the beam; the
ring being free to rise and fall, the diaphgram or division intersecting
the ring.
The cylindrical chamber being turned to a sufficient extent in a
dincation to right on loft
ea nexuined the countomatina anmix

page_text: or other equivalents exert their power and reverse the rotating action
of the cylinder to a corresponding extent, by which means motion is
given to the mercury or other liquid or fluid, which is prevented from
remaining in position by the diaphragm plate, the consequence being
that by the reciprocating action of the counterweight or counter power,
and the momentum of the mercury or liquid, the ring or float ascends
and descends alternately in proportion to the extent of the alternate
rotation of the cylinder and its rapidity.
The springs or weights which act to depress the beam and ring
exercise their action at the moment when the float is elevated to half
its power, so that thes prings or weight or other equivalent should be
so adjusted and regulated to be equal to half the entire power of
flotation; the return motion of the cylinder caused by the mercury or
fluid causing the depression of the ring and beam.
The nature of the Invention and the principle on which it is based
will be easily comprehended from the foregoing description. The
mercury or other fluid or liquid employed being always equidistant
from the centre of motion, but acquiring a reciprocating horizontal and
circular motion without relative change of position in regard to the
annular chamber, within which it is contained, whereby the line or level
of flotation or buoyancy of the internal ring is constantly changing,
transmitting its power and action to the working beam. It is however
obvious that the annular chamber (in large machines especially) may be
supported by radial arms in lieu of the base of the cylinder described.
So also in large machines water may be the agent employed unless a
great power were required, when mercury should always be employed
as the agent of momentum and buoyancy.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Johann Ernst Friedrich Lüdeke in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 4th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHANN
ERNST FRIEDRICH LÜDEKE, of 15, Wilmot Place, Camden Town, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Johann Ernst Friedrich Lüdeke, Her
special licence that I, the said Johann Ernst Friedrich Lüdeke, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Johann Ernst Friedrich Lüdeke, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING AND APPLYING
MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE MACHINERY AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Johann Ernst
Friedrich Lüdeke, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Johann Ernst Friedrich Lüdeke,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:—
My Invention relates to certain improvements in the means of
obtaining motive power, applicable to various uses or purposes, and to
the machinery and apparatus whereby such power is effected and
applied.
1
I propose to generate power by the agency of liquids or fluids, such
as mercury, water, or other suitable liquids or fluids in the following
manner: I construct a suitable foundation plate or table with four or
other number of standards or pillars attached thereto, the upper parts of
which are connected by cross heads or tie bars, the central intersection
of which bars forms the upper bearing for the main vertical shaft or
axis of the machine or engine. This shaft is made hollow in its upper
part, and may be solid or tubular in its lower part, so as to be partly
solid and partly tubular, or entirely tubular, as hereafter explained,

page_text: The shaft carries a horizontal cylinder or drum of iron, brass, or
other suitable metal closed at the base but open at top. The cylinder
contains an annular chamber formed by the addition of an internal ring
plate extending to any vertical distance required within the external
drum or cylinder, and is closed at top by an annular plate so as to form
a closed annular space or chamber within the drum, such chamber being
in fact a portion of the cylinder itself. This chamber serves to contain
a corresponding ring of cork, wood, or other light suitable material
capable of floating or being suspended in mercury, water, or other fluids
or liquids. The floating ring, however, is of so much less width than
that of the annular chamber as to permit of its ascent and descent
without contact with the chamber, thus enabling its position to vary as
required with perfect freedom, there being no interruption to the dis-
placement of the liquid or fluid caused by the variation of the level of
the floating ring. This ring is strengthened by a light metallic band
attached thereto, and the whole is connected to two vertical stems or
rods passing through bearings or stuffing boxes on the surface of the
annular plate. The stems or rods are then connected to a horizontal
bar or beam passing diametrically across the interior or upper part of
the main cylinder, and a vertical rod is then fixed in the centre of the
beam, within the hollow or tubular main shaft, and is extended through
the upper bearing of the shaft so as to project above the cross heads,
where it is finally connected to a rocking lever beam for the purpose of
transmitting a reciprocating motion applicable to the power required.
In the Drawings this plan is not shewn, but the power can be transmitted
from the main shaft by any of the well known means.
The tubular shaft is cut with a slot on two opposite sides for the
reception of the horizontal beam or bar, and to allow of its rising and
falling. Beneath the cylinder the main shaft descends to its lower
bearing on the foundation or bed plate of the engine, the shaft being
provided with a pivoted extremity working in a lubricated cup or socket,
above which the shaft may be perforated laterally to admit the passage
of a chain, strap, band, or other equivalent, the two ends of which are
connected to two helical or other suitable springs attached to two pillars
or standards of the engine or machine; or instead of springs the main
shaft may be provided with a grooved pulley wheel containing a cord,
band, chain, or strap, to which a weight is attached running over a
second vertical pulley at the edge of the foundation plate, each arrange-

page_text: Fig. 3); W, represents a releasing catch so adjusted that when the
upper weight R is raised to a certain elevation it shall fall to a bracket
and relieve the cord.
An inlet is arranged on the annular chamber for the supply of
mercury, water, or other fluid or liquid to be employed, and a supply
being afforded sufficient to completely fill the space the inlet is closed.
The floating ring is steadied within the chamber by means of two or
more projecting guide pieces T, T, between the ring and sides of the
chamber (or by rollers) and is prevented from contact with the base of
the chamber by similar means T¹, T¹. Then the chamber is furnished
with a divisional plate or diaphragm U near one of the stems uniting
the ring with the beam, the ring being free to rise and fall, the
diaphragm or division intersecting the ring. The centrifugal as well as
the centripetal force in nature is a primary force, although hitherto the
centripetal force has been alone regarded and represented as such. The
ever operating mutually attracting force of bodies moving in space,
gravitation cannot be overcome even partially and for a moment, except
under special conditions. This is done by centrifugal force as shall now
be sn.
A hollow cylinder which I will call a fly wheel (as herein-
before described), and containing a ring or annular chamber, is filled
with water, mercury, or any other fluid.
The fly wheel having been set in rotatory motion (as herein-after
specified), the centrifugal force thereby engendered whilst acting on the
fluid produces in the same a tendency to effect a pressure. The fly
wheel containing the fluid being enclosed above, the rising of the latter
is prevented by which the motion would be impeded. The chamber
within the fly wheel, constructed as light as possible, is always sur-
rounded by the fluid, the specific gravity of which is as we assume ten
times greater than that of the fluid. If the fly wheel is open above and
set in rotation, the centrifugal force thus produced will drive more or
less of the fluid out of the fly wheel in exact proportion to the velocity
of its rotation, and thus to the power of centrifugal force. Consequently
what I will call the water line horizontal when the fly wheel was at
rest will take a direction more or less inclined towards the centre as
soon as the rotation of the fly wheel has commenced. The same change
in the direction of the water line would take place if the fly wheel were
not quite filled with water. If the fly wheel is closed and set in
rotation, the centrifugal force cannot cause the fluid to rise or escape,

page_text: and consequently no water line can be formed. But the centrifugal
force produced by rotation will instantaneously cause a change in the
direction of the pressure line or gravitation line of the fluid towards the
centre. When for instance in an open fly wheel by means of its
3 rotation, and thus by centrifugal force, the direction of the water line
towards the centre becomes a diagonal one, under the same conditions in
a closed fly wheel, the pressure line or gravitation line of the fluid will
become a diagonal one. If the gravitation line of the fluid in a closed
fly wheel when at rest formed an angle of ninety degrees with the
surface of the chamber, that angle will have become one of forty-five
degrees after the fly wheel has commenced to rotate with sufficient
velocity and the centrifugal force has been produced and has commenced
to act on the fluid. In the closed fly wheel the relation between the
specific gravity of the fluid and the specific gravity of the chamber has
become a different one in consequence of the action of centrifugal force
caused by the rotation of the fly wheel. If the original proportion was
ten to one when the fly wheel was at rest, the proportion has become
five to one as soon as the fly wheel has commenced its rotation round its
axis with sufficient velocity. The resistance which the fluid can oppose
to the chamber is reduced to one-half. If the inner chamber is to be
compelled to quit its floating position in the fluid and to be pressed down
to the lower surface of the fly wheel, the counterweight necessary to
effect this fall of the chamber need hardly exceed five pounds on the
above assumed conditions, and after having made the necessary allow-
ance for friction.
By the rotation of the fly wheel, and by the centrifugal force thereby
obtained, the action of the centripetal force or gravitation of the fluid
has been diminished by one half. This partial removal of the action
of gravitation is a continuous one so long as the alternate rotation
of the fly wheel has not been brought to that momentary standstill
without which the direction of the swinging motion of the fly wheel
could not be changed, which is, say, alternately to the right and to
the left. The velocity of this alternate rotation of the fly wheel is
a different one at every momemt, from which it follows, that the action
of the gravitation of the fluid will be more or less reduced during the
rotation, and will cease to be reduced when and so long as the fly
wheel has been brought to a momentary standstill or state of rest.
The object of this alternate rotation in different directions is to produce
a gradual increase, and then a gradual decrease of velocity, and finally

page_text: to bring the fly wheel to a momentary standstill. That same instant
the production and action of centrifugal force ceases, and with it ceases
the ever varying diminution of the action of the gravity of the fluid.
The result is that whenever that moment of rest for the fly wheel
occurs, the same instant the chamber, forced down in consequence of
the diminished action of the gravitation of the fluid surrounding it, rises
again to its floating position in the fluid.
The action of the gravitation of the fluid having been reduced under
the conditions assumed, from ten to five pounds, the resistance which
the fluid offers to the chamber every instant that the fly wheel is for
a moment at rest has been restored to ten pounds. Whilst this dimi-
nution of the action of gravitation to half its force has caused the inner
chamber to be pressed down to the lower surface of the fly wheel by
a counterpressure of only five pounds, every such fall of the chamber
will be instantaneously followed by a rise of the same under the
influence of the fluid's undiminished action of gravitation, that is, by
ten pounds, thus yielding a surplus force of nearly five pounds, which
can be utilized for motive power. The alternate action of nature's
centrifugal and centripetal force is a continuous one so long as the
alternato rotation of the fly wheel is not interrupted. Whenever the
inner chamber or ring floats in the fluid the equilibrium has been
established between the action of the centrifugal and of the centripetal
force. The surplus force thus produced at every rise of the chamber
would amount to fully five pounds on the above assumed conditions
if it were not necessary to employ a relatively insignificant part of the
same for the restoration of the force which has been lost by the friction
of mechanical parts.
The alternate rotation of the fly wheel first in one direction and
then in the contrary direction is regulated by spiral springs, or by
weights, or by air cylinders, and therefore not solely in such manner

page_text: The chamber is connected at two opposite points with two vertical
stems joined to a horizontal cross bar, and the centre of the latter is
or may be joined to a vertical rod or piston moving freely within the
hollow shaft or axis of the centre. This piston reciprocates the move-
ments of the chamber, and thus the surplus force, produced as above
described, can easily be utilized for motive power. The degree of motive
power thus obtainable from primary forces of nature depends solely on
the velocity of rotation, and on the size of the engine.
The original rotation of the fly wheel is effected by springs, weights,
or air cylinders, which require to be put into tension but once.
The combined action of nature's centripetal and centrifugal forces
by which the heavenly bodies are maintained in their path is likewise
exemplified in the self-acting and non-consuming motive power, as in
the machine or engine described, by means of which every available
degree of motive power can be obtained on land or water, or for air
locomotion.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is, to be performed, I do not restrict myself
to the precise details or configuration of parts expressed and shewn,
as the same may be varied without departing from the objects required
to be effected by the parts described; but what I claim and desire to
be secured to me by the herein in part recited Letters Patent are, the
improved means of obtaining motive power, and applying the same,
substantially as herein specified and shewn by the Drawings annexed
hereto.
In witness whereof, I, the said Johann Ernst Friedrich Lüdeke,
have hereunto set my hand and scal, this Seventh day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
thmon
0
Witness,
J. C. H. STEVIER,
246, Caledonian Road,
London.
J. E. F. LÜDEKE. (L.S.)