CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF ELASTIC FLUIDS TO THE WORKING. OF MACHINERY
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Sir JOHN
SCOTT LILLIE, of Kensington, Knight and Companion of the Most Honor-
able Military Order of the Bath, &c., send greeting.
WHEREAS I did by petition humbly represent unto Her present most Excel-
lent Majesty Queen Victoria that after considérable application and expence I
had invented "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF ELASTIC FLUIDS TO
THE WORKING. OF MACHINERY;" and Her said Majesty being willing to give
encouragement to all arts and inventions which may be for the public good,
was graciously pleased, by Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine;
in the third year of Her reign, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, to give
and grant unto me, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity; that I or 'they, 'by myself or themselves, or by my or their deputies,
servants, or agents, or such others as I or they should agree with, and no
others, during the term of fourteen years' from the date of the said Letters.
Patent, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend. my. said
Invention within that part of Her said Majesty's Dominions called England;
Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all
Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, in such manner as to me, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, shall seem ineet, and as that I or they
shall enjoy the whole profit and advantage arising by reason of the said Inven-

page_text: tion during the said term of fourteen years, and for that end Her said Majesty
requires and strictly commands all Her subjects whatsoever within England,
Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed aforesaid, that they shall not, neither directly
or indirectly, make, use, or put in practice my said Invention, or any part
thereof, nor in anywise counterfeit, imitate, or resemble the same, nor make
any addition thereto or subtraction therefrom whereby to pretend himself or
themselves to be the inventor or inventors thereof. And whereas the said
Letters Patent contain a proviso obliging me, the said Sir John Scott Lillie,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said 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
Sir John Scott Lillie, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described
and ascertained in manner following, that is to say:-
My said improvements in the application of elastic fluids to the working
of machinery consist, partly, in communicating forcible motion to moveable
pistons, and to machinery connected therewith, by means of artificial currents
of atmospheric air within suitable tubes or channels, by application of jets of
effluent steam or jets of fire, heated smoke, and gas arising from the combustion
of fusees filled with suitable compositions of the nature of slow-burning gunpow-
der, such as is used for filling rockets and other artificial fireworks, and which,
being emitted in the direction required, will give motion to the atmospheric air
contained in the said tubes or channels so as to produce powder capable of
moving the before-mentioned pistons, which are to be connected by suitable
moving parts with the machinery which is to be worked by means of my said
improvements, by the force and motion wherewith these pistons are impelled
along the tubes or channels by the currents of air produced by the emission
of the aforesaid jets within such tubes or channels. And whereas it is well
known and commonly practised in the chimney tubes of locomotive steam
engines that a rapid current of heated air, gas, or smoke contained in such
chimney tubes can be produced by the emission of jets of steam into such chimney
tubes for the purpose of exciting a strong draft through the fires or furnaces
of such engines, And whereas the means I use for producing currents as
aforesaid is very similar in principle of action to that whereby the currents are
produced in such chimney tubes. I wish to be understood that I make no
claim, under the aforesaid Letters Patent, to the producing of such currents for

page_text: such purposes, my Invention being the application of efluent jets of elastic
fluids for the purpose of working machinery by intervention of these currents
of atmospheric air, which it is well known can be produced within tubes or
channels by the known action of such jets into the same, such intervention of
currents being made between the aforesaid jets and moveable pistons which are
disposed within the said tubes or channels so as to receive impulsive motion from
the said currents, and which pistons are suitably connected with the machinery
that is to be worked for communicating to such machinery all the force and
motion which they derive from such current of atmospheric air; wherefore
the origin of the force and motion is the well-known means of the emission of
jets of elastic fluids, whether steam or fire-heated smoke and gass, resulting
from the slow combustion of compositions of the nature of slow-burning gun-
powder. These jets being applied in a well-known manner to produce currents
of air within tubes or channels, but by virtue of my improvements in the appli-
cation of such jets these elastic fluids are rendered available for the working of
machinery; and as to the details of the mode of constructing apparatus for
carrying my said improvement into effect, the same must be greatly varied to
suit the nature of the particular machinery which is to be worked thereby ;.
and by way of example I will first describe the manner of applying my said
improvements to the purpose of propelling or advancing a carriage or train of
carriages along a railway without horses or a locomotive engine, or without ropes,
as is usually done. A long tube or channel must be laid along the length of
the railway, and a moveable piston, which is disposed therein, must be connected
with the carriage or one of the carriages to be propelled by means of a stem
passing from the piston to the carriage through a longitudinal cleft or opening
along one side of the tube, which opening is kept closed by a suitable stopper
except at the place where the said stem is (for the time being) actually situated
and making its passage along the cleft. The atmospheric air being partially
exhausted from the interior of so much of the length of such tube in advance
of the piston, the ordinary atmospheric pressure acting behind the piston will
push the same forwards in the tube, and advance the carriage or train of
carriages along the railway, or the ordinary atmospheric pressure behind the
piston may be augmented by forcing compressed air into the hinder end of
the tube. Thus far is a well-known mode of advancing carriages along a
railway, which might be also applied to a common road, and contains no part
of my improvements which are applicable thereto for the purpose of producing the
requisite exhaustion of the air from within the interior of so much of the length
of the tube as is before or in advance of the said piston, and, if desired, for
also producing a compression of the air within so much of the length of such

page_text: tube as is in the rear of or behind the piston, which exhaustion and compression
has been heretofore proposed to be effected by action of air pumps; and for
such purpose I employ a jet of high-pressure steam proceeding from the orifice
of the pipe of a high-pressure boiler, that pipe being laid into the aforesaid
tube or channel near to the open end thereof which is for the time being that
towards which the piston is required to advance, and the jet pipe may be
disposed in the central line of the tube or channel, so that the jet of steam
which is emitted may issue, in conformity with such centre line, in the
direction of the length of the tube or channel within the interior thereof, but
near to the open end, and in the same direction as that in which the piston is
required to advance, in order that the action of the said jet may cause a
motion or current of the air contained in the tube or channel whereby a por-
tion of that air will pass out and produce a partial exhaustion or sufficient
rarefaction of the air remaining, to give effect to the piston, and cause it to
advance in the tube or channel; and in like manner another such jet pipe may
be applied to emit high-pressure steam within the other open end of the said
tube or channel which is behind the piston. The last-mentioned jet being
directed to emit the high-pressure steam' into the interior of the tube or
channel, so that the current of atmospheric air which is induced within the
tube or channel by the emission of that jet will cause external air to enter in
at the hindmost open end of the tube so as to produce compression behind
the piston; whereas, on the contrary, the jet of high-pressure steam first
mentioned, which is to be applied at the foremost open end of the tube or
channel, is directed to emit the steam out from that open end, an order that
the current which is induced may cause part of the contained air to go out
from that end so as to produce rarefaction before the piston; but in both cases
the direction in which the jet of steam is emitted to be that direction in
which the piston is required to move. And note.-In case it should be found
objectionable to have such jet pipes placed in the central line of the tube or
channel, as before mentioned, where the piston, if by accident it moved too
far, might be liable to strike them, the same effect may be produced by
disposing each of the said jets in the central line of a side branch proceeding
off from each end of the long tube or channel wherein the piston is to move,
and joining thereto with an easy curvature, the said branches being in that
case the open ends of the long straight tube or channel wherein the piston is
to move, and the actual ends thereof being closed. By this means the jet
pipes will be kept out of the way of the piston, although they will operate in
the same manner as if they were in the central line of the long straight tube
or channel wherein the piston moves; and the said jet pipes being provided

page_text: with suitable cocks to open or shut their orifices may be stopped or put in
action as is required, and also each of the said jet pipes may be made double,
or adapted to emit steam in either direction, according as the proper cock is
opened and the other shut, in order that an emission of steam, and consequent
current of atmospheric air, may be caused to take place either into that open
end of the long tube or channel whereat such jet is situate, or else out of the
said end, according to the direction in which it is intended for the time to
impel the piston and the railway carriage or carriages with which it is con-
nected. The cocks being so turned as in all cases to produce an outgoing
current from that open end, and consequently a rarefaction of the air within
that part of the length of the tube or channel which is for the time being
before the piston (according to the direction in which the same is required to
move), and also, if required, to produce an inflowing current at that open end,
and consequently à compression of the air within that part of the length of
the tube or channel which is for the time being behind the piston; but if it
is to be stopped in its course when in motion, then the said cocks being
properly turned may stop the jets, or may even open them in a contrary
direction, in order to begin to produce an inflowing current and compression
of the air before the piston, also an outflowing current and rarefaction behind
the same, for the purpose of opposing and stopping its motion, and, if required,
such contrary jets being continued after the motion is stopped, their action will
be suitable for causing the piston to return in a contrary direction. And
note. In lieu of jet pipes, with orifices for emitting jets of steam as aforesaid,
fusees or tubes filled in the manner of squibs or rockets, with any suitable
slow-burning composition of the materials used for making gunpowder and
artificial fireworks, may be substituted, so as when lighted the said composition
will burn in the fusee or tube, and cause a violent jet of fire-heated smoke
and gas to issue therefrom in the well-known manner of squibs or rockets
and other artificial fireworks; and such jets being applied in the manner above
directed as to jets of high-pressure steam will produce the same effects. And
note. In case of a long line of such tube or channel, such jets, whether of
steam or of fire-heated smoke and gas, may be applied at various intermediate
parts of the length of such tube or channel, as well as at the two ends thereof,
the said jets being put in action according to the manner already described, so as
to produce rarefaction of the air in so much of the length of the tube or channel
as is before the piston, and, if required, condensation in so much of the said
length as is behind the same, the terms behind and before being relative one
to the other, and according to the direction in which the piston is for the time
being required to move; and whenever in the course of such motion the piston

page_text: has passed by the place where one of such intermediate jets is applied in a
suitable side branch, then the direction in which such jet was playing must be
instantly reversed, because, although such jet was situated before the piston
until the piston has arrived at and passed by it, yet the same jet is then behind
the piston, and requires to be emitted in a contrary direction, in order that its
action may conform with what has been already described. And by way of
another example I shall next describe the manner of applying my said improve-
ments to the purpose of working machinery of the same kind, as is commonly
worked by steam engines, and for the same purposes as steam cylinders with
moveable pistons are employed. For having a cylinder with a piston fitted into it
similar to those used in steam engines, a rarefaction of atmospheric air may
be produced in one end of such a cylinder, and on one side of its piston, at the
same time that a compression of atmospheric air is produced in the other end
of the same cylinder, and at the opposite side of the same piston, whereby that
piston may be put in motion within such cylinder, and be moved from one end
to the other in the same manner as is usually done by action of steam; but
according to my improvements the requisite rarefaction and compression of
the atmospheric air contained in such cylinder will be produced by means
of jets of steam (or else by jets of fire-heated) smoke and gas emitted within
suitable branches which proceed from each end of such cylinder, so as to cause
currents of atmospheric air to take place within such branches, one of which
currents will produce an outflow of atmospheric air from one end of the cylinder,
and consequently a rarefaction of the air remaining therein, and which air is
in contact with one side of the piston, and at the same time the other of those
currents will produce an influx of atmospheric air into the other end of the
cylinder, and consequently a compression of the air therein, and which air is
in contact with the opposite side of the piston to that before mentioned with
which the rarefied air is in contact; and by such mutual action of condensed
and rarefied air the piston will be moved along in its cylinder, and on arriving
at the end thereof, or as far as the piston is intended to move therein, then, by
suitable mechanism of the same nature as what is called the working gear of
a steam engine, both the said jets are to be stopped, and are to be then
emitted each one in a contrary direction to that in which it is previously
emitted, that is to say, both the jets were previously emitted in the same
direction as that in which the piston was intended to move in its cylinder;
but the piston having been moved therein as far as it is intended to do, then
the direction of both jets is reversed, in order that they may both be then
emitted in the same returning direction in which the piston is next to be
moved; and the said piston being connected by its piston rod (and other suitable

page_text: moving parts, such as are commonly used in steam engines) with the pumps'
wheels, or other machinery which is intended to be worked according to my
improvements, the same will be worked, and the same effect produced as might
be done by a steam engine in the usual mode. And note.-The active force
of the piston will, according to the above description, be rendered operative
backwards as well as forwards, or upwards as well as downwards, in its cylinder,
in which case it will perform the offices of what are termed double-acting
steam engines, whereof the pistons exert an active force in moving both ways;
but such double action is not essential to my improvements, for the jets above
mentioned may be only provided to emit their steam or their fire-heated smoke
and gas in one direction, being that in which the piston is intended to move
whilst it is exerting its active force; but having been moved as far as it is
intended to go, then the said jets being stopped, but without opening other
contrary jets, the returning motion of the piston in a contrary direction may
be produced by action of what is termed the counterweight in what are called
single acting steam engines; and the piston which is thus worked with single
action, according to my improvements, will be adapted to perform the offices of
such single-acting steam engines, which are more commonly used for pumping
water than double-acting steam engines. And in like manner, when my said
improvements are applied for advancing carriages along roads or railways as
herein-before described, if the road or railway is laid with such an inclination
from the horizontal as is sufficient to enable the carriages to run down thereon by
their own gravity, then the jets will only require to be played in that direction
which will advance the carriages up the inclination, and when the said jets are
stopped, the carriages will be prepared for returning by their own gravity
without opening jets in a contrary direction as herein-before described.
as to the open ends or branches of the tube or channel, or of the cylinder
herein-before mentioned, within which the jets are to be eniitted as aforesaid,
in order to excite currents of air therein for the purposes aforesaid, those open
ends or branches should be of a less size or internal area than the tube or
channel or cylinder to which they belong, and wherein the piston works,
because the action of the jets will excite or produce such a rapid flow or
current of atmospheric air within or through each of such branches as that
the said current will, by its rapidity, be capable of withdrawing a sufliciency
of air from, or of forcing a sufficiency of air into, a tube or channel or a cylinder.
of much larger area than the said branches, whereby the current excited or
produced therein will become operative against a large piston, and consequently
will exert an increased force, but nevertheless with sufficient rapidity for
giving motion to the piston suitably for working machinery. In the case of
And

page_text: advancing carriages along roads or railways the size or internal area of the
said branches relatively to the size of the long tube or channel wherein the
piston is to move will depend upon the speed wherewith it is intended to travel,
and for moving with the speed usually required on railways. The internal area
of the said branches wherein the jets are to be played must be nearer to the
area of the long tube or channel wherein the piston is to move than will be
requisite if the piston is intended to advance with a slower speed, for then the
area of the branches may be smaller in proportion to the area of the piston;
but in case of the piston being applied to work such machinery as is usually
worked by steam engines, the motion required to be given to such piston will
in most such cases be slower than will be most commonly required to be given
to the piston whereby carriages are to be advanced (at least on railways),
wherefore the size of the branches wherein the jets are to be played (those
branches being at each end of the cylinder wherein the piston is to work, as
before explained,) may be of much smaller area in proportion to that of the
piston than would be suitable for railways, where the piston is required to
move with so much more rapidity. I have ascertained by experiments that
when a jet of steam having an elasticity of about sixty pounds avoirdupois
per square inch greater than the atmospheric pressure is used, the bore or
internal diameter of the orifice from which the steam issues should be about
one sixth or one eighth part of the bore or internal diameter of the aforesaid
branch wherein the said jet is emitted, and the length of such branch should be
not less than six or eight times its said bore or internal diameter. But note.-
It is not necessary that such branch should be of an uniform bore or internal
diameter throughout its said length, or altogether of a cylindrical form, but, on
the contrary, a tapering or conical form, or an enlarging or trumpet-mouth form
may be used, if preferred; but in such case the bore or internal diameter above
mentioned is to be taken at the smallest part of such tapering or conical or trumpet-
mouth, where it approaches to a cylindrical form, and it is within that smallest
part that the orifice from which jet is to be played is to be situated, the enlarge-
ment of the tapering or conical trumpet-mouth being towards that direction in
which the jet is to be emitted, and by such enlargement the jet of elastic fluid,
as it proceeds from the orifice through which it is emitted, will find more and
more room within the branch suitably to the dilation of the elastic fluid which
will take place as it so proceeds from the orifice, and room will also be left
within the branch all around the jet of steam in its dilated state for the air
which is to be impelled into a current by action of the jet; and in cases of
jets which are required to play sometimes in one direction and at other times
in a contrary direction in the same branch, as herein-before described, the

page_text: form of such branches may be that of two tapering or conical or trumpet-
mouthed tubes joined together by a short cylindrical tube answering to: the
smallest part of each of the said tapering or conical or trumpet mouths, where
the same approach to a cylindrical form, and within that short cylindrical part
the orifices of the jets are to be placed, the central line or.axis of the jet pipe
being in all cases coincident with the central line or axis of the branch within
which the jet is to operate; and as to the area of the piston compared with
the area of the said interior of the branches taken as aforesaid at the smallest
part of the branches, and opposite to those parts of the length of the branches:
where the orifice of the jet are situate therein, the area of the piston may be
from double the area of the interior of the branches in cases when the
piston is required to be moved with the greatest velocity that practice can
require, to six or eight times the said area in cases when the piston is
required to be moved with the slowest rate of motion that is usual for pistons.
And in order to avoid loss of effect by the cooling of the steam which is
emitted in jets for the purpose of exciting currents of air within the said
branches, the metal of those branches may be kept heated by application of
fire, and, if required, of the cylinder wherein the piston works in the interior
of, or in suitable appartments communicating with, the said tubes or cylinders;:
or else by carrying round them in a suitable flue a' current of heated smoke or
gas which proceeds from the furnace of the steam boiler before the same
escapes from the chimney or flue, or otherwise by surrounding such branches
(and, if required, the cylinder also) with steam contained in suitable steam
cases, in the manner well known and practised in steam engines for keeping
their cylinders and steam pipes warm enough to avoid loss of effect by cooling
and condensation of the steam contained within them. And although I have
hitherto mentioned pistons as being fitted into tubes or channels or into
cylinders, in order to be impelled by the action of artificial currents of atmo-
spheric air, which are excited within the tubes or channels or the cylinders by
the emission of jets of elastic fluid at or near to the open ends of such tube,
channels, or cylinders, or within suitable branches communicating with or
branching off from such open ends. And whereas such pistons must be moved
backwards and forwards, nevertheless machinery may be worked according to
my improvements by causing the said currents to act against pistons of a
different description, such, for instance, as the float boards of a wheel like an
undershot or breast water wheel, those floats being adapted to move in a curved
race or channel, the transverse section of which they completely fill, and
that race being answerable to the tube or channel or cylinder aforesaid, then
the current of air produced therein will push forwards those float boards in such

page_text: channel in the same manner as already explained respecting a piston; but
as fast as such float boards are removed other succeeding float boards will
enter the same channel, and will be impelled in their turn; wherefore the
wheel will be turned round with a continuous rotative motion, its flat boards
operating as a series of pistons coming into operation one after another in the
same manner as already explained respecting a single piston; or in other cases
a revolving wheel, with oblique vanes similar to a smokejack, may be placed
transversely within the aforesaid tube or channel or within a suitable enlarge-
ment thereof for the purpose of working machinery in the same manner as
the wheel of a smokejack is placed within a kitchen chimney, in order that
such wheel may be turned round by the action of the current of air excited,
as already described; or a spiral screw, such as is called the screw of
Archimedes, may be places within the said tube or channel, to be turned
round by action of the current of air therein against the oblique helm or
twisted surface of such screw.
And I claim as my Invention the aforesaid or any other modes of working
machinery by means of the currents of air which are or can be excited in
tubes, channels, or cylinders by means of the emission of jets of elastic fluids
at or near to the open ends of such tubes or channels, or within suitable
branches communicating with those open ends.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and forty.