CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ALEXANDER GILBERT, late of Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, but now of Norfolk House, Battersea, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, send greeting."
.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Tenth day of September, in the fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Alexander Gilbert, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said George Alexander Gilbert, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said George Alexander
Gilbert, my executors, administrators, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all
Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING AND APPLYING MOTIVE
POWER;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,
the said George Alexander Gilbert, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in Her 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Alexander Gilbert, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention of improvements in machinery or apparatus for obtaining
motive power consist in certain novel features in the construction of engines
to be actuated by steam, air, gas, or other elastic fluid, whereby I am enabled
to dispense with the ponderous cylinder heretofore employed, and substitute in
its place certain tubes which slide one within another, in the same manner as
the tubes of a telescope, from which cause I denominate them telescopic tubes.
But in order that my Invention may be fully understood, I have shewn
in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings several views of a double-acting
engine, constructed on the above plan, similar letters of reference denoting
corresponding parts in all the Figures.
.. Fig. I is a side elevation of the engine, complete in all. its parts. Fig. 2 is
a plan or bird's-eye view of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the
working parts taken longitudinally, the fly-wheels and cranks being removed.
Fig. 4 is an end elevation of Fig. 3; seen partly in section; and Fig. 5
represents the side framing of the engine. That part of. the engine which is
intended as a substitute for the ordinary cylinder consists of two, tubes,
'a and b, Fig. 3. One end of each tube is bolted to a steam box or chamber,
which is divided in the middle into two compartments, c and:d. The tubes a
and b slide on stationary tubes e, f, affixed to the framework, and there are
stuffing boxes g, g, formed on, or attached to, the ends of the tubes a and b, to
keep the joints steam-tight. There are two cocks v, v, at the under parts of
the steam box, which are for the purpose of allowing any steam, air, or
'vapour contained therein to escape. Previous to setting the engine to work,
valves h and i, of the ordinary construction, are to be actuated in such
manner that they will alternately admit the steam into the tubes e, or f, and
afterwards allow it to escape therefrom. The valve h is in the position.it
would occupy when steam is passing into the tubes a ande; and the valve i
has its exit passage open in order to allow the steam in the tubes band f.to
èscape. Steam is conveyed from the boiler by the pipe j, into the end steam
box k, from whence it passes through the valve h into the stationary tube e, and
from thence through the sliding tube a into the steam chamber, or box.c, in
the middle of the machine. The steam exerting its elastic force against; the
partition or end of the chamber c, propels or forces the box and sliding tubes

page_text: 'a, b, c, and d, toward the right hand, and the steam or other vapour previously
occupying the chamber and tube d, b, and f, will be thereby expelled, and
escape through the (then) open valve i and pipe l, either to the atmosphere
or into a condenser. When the sliding tube 6 has arrived at the end of its
course, the valves h and i are shifted by means of an excentric not shewn in
the Drawing, which, acting upon the rod and levers m, n, changes the
positions; steam is then admitted by the pipe o, and passing through, the
valve i, the fixed tube. f, and sliding tube b, enters the steam box or chamber
d, where, exerting its elastic force as before, propels the sliding.tubes and box
in the opposite direction, that is, as the dotted arrow; and the steam which has
previously exerted its elastic force in the chamber and tubes a, c, and e, being
by these means expelled therefrom, passes off through the exit pipe p. The
box c, d, and tubes a, b, are mounted on pullies or anti-friction rollers
9, 9, 9, q, see Figures 1 and 2, which run in grooves formed in the framework
represented at Fig. 5. The reciprocating movement of the box and tubes
produces or is converted into a rotary movement in the following manner :-
Connecting rods r, r, are attached to the exterior of the steam box by means
of pivots represented in the plan view, Fig: 2; the reverse ends of these rods
are connected to the crank s, s, of the main shaft t, which is mounted in
plummer boxes u, u, u. From this shaft the moving power is communicated
by a pulley and band governed by a fly-wheel for the purpose of driving other
machinery.
I would wish it to be understood that although I have generally mentioned
steam as the vapour employed for actuating the engine, yet sometimes I
employ air or gas under certain circumstances, and find them more economical
than steam; I therefore do not intend to confine myself to any particular fluid
or fluids for actuating my improved engine, nor do I confine myself to the
precise arrangement of parts shewn in the Drawing, as I sometimes construct
the engine in such a manner that the sliding tubes shall move up and down
perpendicularly instead of sliding in the horizontal manner herein shewn and
described.
Lastly, I desire it to be understood that I claim as my Invention the mode
or methods of producing motive power by the use of steam, gas, or any other
fluid, conjointly or separately, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Alexander Gilbert, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
GEORGE ALEXANDER (L.S.) GILBERT.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of March, in the
fourth year.of. the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said George
Alexander Gilbert came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.