A NEW ENGINE, DENOMINATED A REVOLVING STEAM ENGINE
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
PEEK, of Saint John Street, in the Parish of Saint James, Clerkenwell, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the First day of August, in the eighth year of His said
Majesty's reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Thomas Peek, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Peek,
my exors, admors, and assigns, by myself and themselves, or such other per-
or they should appoint or agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein and herein-
after expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend my
Invention of "A NEW ENGINE, DENOMINATED A REVOLVING STEAM ENGINE,"
within that part of His Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and also in all His Majesty's Plantations and Colonies abroad, in such manner
as to me, the said Thomas Peek, my exors, admors, and assigns, or any of
them, shall in my or their discretion seem meet, and that I, the said Thomas
Peek, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, should and lawfully might have and
enjoy all the profits, benefits, and advantages from time to time coming,
growing, accruing, and arising by reason of the said Invention, for and during
the term of fourteen years from the date of the said Letters Patent next

page_text: ensuing, and fully to be complete and' ended, according to the form and effect of
the Statute therein mentioned; in which said: Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso requiring me, the said Thomas Peck; 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 His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as by the said Letters Patent, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Peek, do, by this Instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the references thereto, and the
explanations and descriptions therein and herein-after mentioned and con-
tained, particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as follows (that is to say):-
I prepare a metallic cylinder A, which is truly bored within side, and
adapted to receive a moveable piston; this cylinder is mounted upon a hollow
metallic shaft or axis B, which may be cast with the cylinder, and projects out
on each side from the middle part of its length, at right angles thereto, in the
form of a cross. This shaft I place across a cast iron or other standard
frame C, which is sustained upon six upright iron columns R; on each end of
the said shaft, near to the cylinder, I fix a fly wheel D, and I unite the rims
of the two fly wheels together by suitable bolts applied at regular distances
from each other, so as to secure them firmly on the said shaft, as at 3, S, 8, 3, 3, 3,
Fig. 1. Upon the said standard frame C, I affix suitable bearings H, H,
Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, to support the said hollow shaft cylinder and fly wheels, in
such manner that the fly wheels shall be within the frame, and that the said
hollow shaft cylinder and fly wheels so fixed thereon can turn round. To one
end of the cylinder herein-before mentioned I apply a lid to close the same, and
render it steam-tight, and I fit a piston into the cylinder, the piston rod thereof
passing through a stuffing box in such lid in the usual manner.
The opposite
end of the cylinder is also closed by a tight bottom. A steam box is annexed to
the said cylinder, and communications are made from the said box to the two
ends of the cylinder by suitable passages, and by the aid of a sliding valve
applied in the manner herein-after mentioned, so as to give the necessary
entrance and exit to the steam, in order to impel the piston alternately from
one end of the cylinder to the other. The reciprocating motion thus given to
the piston and piston rod is communicated to the fly wheels and the cylinder
so as to turn the whole round with a continuous circular motion, the said com-

page_text: munication of motion being effected by certain connecting rods with toothed
wheels, which revolve in circular orbits around other toothed wheels, which
are fixed fast to the framework of the machine in the manner herein-after
mentioned. To one of the projecting ends of the hollow shaft B, I connect the
accustomed apparatus for communicating motion to any sort of machinery
which the revolving engine is intended to turn, and at the other end of the
said hollow shaft I introduce steam by a pipe from the boiler, and lead the
same into the cylinder to act upon the piston, and afterwards to let the same
pass off by the means and apparatus delineated in the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and explained by the references thereto, as follows:-
Figure 1 on the annexed Sheet of Drawings is a side view or elevation of
my new engine, called a revolving steam engine, the cylinder being drawn in
section, and one of the fly wheels being removed, and all belonging to the out-
side of that fly wheel. Figure 2 is a front view of the same, and Figure 3 a
sectional plan of the shaft and cylinder and steam passages. A, in all the 3
Figures, is the steam cylinder, which has a shaft B (more particularly shewn in
Figure 3) cast with it, so as to project out each way; the said shaft B is hollow,
in the manner of a pipe, to convey steam to and from the cylinder, and two
elbow pipes b, b, Fig. 2 and 3, are fastened by means of suitable flanges to
the shaft and to the steam box I, Fig. 1, 2, 3, and 21, which steam box con-
tains the sliding valve i, Fig. 1 and 21, to distribute the steam to the two
ends of the cylinder by means of suitable passages arranged in the manner
commonly practised in steam engines. The steam is supplied to the engine
from a suitable boiler through the steam pipe K, Fig. 2 and 12, which is
joined to one end of the hollow shaft B; for that purpose the end of the steam
pipe K is made conical, see Fig. 12, and a collar or ring, which is applied
over that conical part, and accurately fitted thereto steam-tight, is screwed
against the flange on the end of the main shaft B, so as to admit the shaft B
to revolve whilst the steam pipe K remains stationary. The steam thus intro-
duced into the end of the hollow axis B is conveyed by the elbow pipe b,
Fig. 2 and 3, into the steam box I, from whence it is alternately admitted by
the sliding valve i into each end of the cylinder, in order to impel the piston
therein. The waste steam, after having performed its office, is discharged through
the said sliding valve i and the elbow pipe b into the other end of the hollow
axis B, and blows out from the end thereof into the open air, if the revolving
engine is intended to be worked by high-pressure steam without condensation, or
else the steam may be conveyed away from the end of the hollow axis B to a suit.
able condensing apparatus by a pipe, which is joined with a joint to the end of
the axis B. D, D, are two fly wheels, which are mounted on the shaft B, one at.

page_text: each side of the cylinder A, and the shaft is supported in bearings II, H, Fig. 2, 3,
and 5, which are bolted to the standard frame C, C, so that the two fly wheels,
with the cylinder between them, can turn round within the frame. In Fig. 1,
2, and 21, a is the piston rod, with the piston fixed to one end of it in the
usual manner; the rod passes through a stuffing box in the cover of the
cylinder, and the other end of the piston rod is fastened into the middle
of a cross head c, by a key. The two ends of that cross head c have a
side rod each, e and c, at Fig. 1, 2, and 14, fastened to them at the
outside of the two fly wheels D and D, and those side rods e and e are
attached at their other extremeties to another similar cross head d, so that the
two cross heads must move simultaneously with the piston. The cross head d
gives motion to the sliding valve i within the steam box 1, by means of a rodf
Fig. 1, 2, and 21, which slides freely through the cross head d, and tappets v.
and are fixed upon the rod f, in order that the cross head d, every time that
it arrives near to the end of its reciprocating motion, may strike alternately
upon one or other of the tappets and ³, so as to give the rod f a short
and sudden motion endways towards the conclusion of each half stroke of the
engine, and just before the piston is required to begin its return.
The end of
the rod f is jointed to one end of a lever f¹, see Fig. 1 and 21, which turns
about a fixed centre in a bracket screwed to the bottom of the cylinder, and
the other end of the lever f' is jointed to the rod f of the sliding valve i; that
rod passes through a stuffing box in one end of the steam box I, and is attached
to the sliding valve i, which is contained within the steam box, so that when-
ever the end of the lever fis moved by the cross head a striking on the
tappets vor v¹, a corresponding motion is given in a contrary direction to the
sliding valve i, whereby the passages from the steam box I through the
nosle h, h, into the one or other of the two ends of the cylinder, are alternately
opened and shut, so as to admit the steam to act alternately at one side of the
piston or the other, and also to allow the waste or useless steam to be dis-
charged out from the opposite end of the cylinder to that in which the steam
is acting. In Fig. 1, 2, 7, 8, and 13, n and n, n and n, o and o, o and o,
o and o, o and o, m and m, m and m, are the parts of the parallel motion,
viz, n and n are main links mounted upon round parts of the cross heads c
and d, as appears at t, t, Fig. 15 and 16, as centres of motion. To each end
of the levers n and n are jointed the radius or bridle rods o and o, and the
other extremities of those rods turn upon centre bars m and m, fixed across
between the rims of the two fly wheels D, D, Figures 1 and 2. The main
standard or frame C, C, on which the bearings or plummer blocks H, H, for
the main shaft B are fastened, are composed of two strong cast-iron rails C, C,

page_text: which are united together at the ends beyond the rims of the fly wheels by
cross bolts or bars, so as to form a frame with a sufficient opening for the two
fly wheels to turn round within it, and the rails C, C, are supported upon six
strong upright columns R, which are firmly bolted to a foundation plate.
To communicate the alternate reciprocating motion of the piston in the cylin-
der to the fly wheels D and D, and main shaft B, so as to turn the same round
with a continuous circular motion, I apply six equal cog wheels F, F, G, G,
and L, L, Fig. 1, 2, and 4, at the outside of each of the fly wheels D and D.
These wheels are disposed in two sets of three wheels in each set. The two cog
wheels G and G are fixed immoveably by bolts through the two pieces 4, 4,
Fig. 4, cast on the wheels G and G to upright plates S, S, (see also Fig. 5),
which are formed on the aforesaid bearings H, H, for the main shaft B. That
shaft passes through the wheels G and G, but the centres of those wheels are
situated above that of the shaft B by a height equal to one fourth of the
length of the stroke that the piston is intended to make in the cylinder. The
other cog wheels F and F and L and L are so disposed as to be capable of
revolving around the fixed wheels G and G in circular orbits, and the teeth
of the fixed and the revolving wheels are engaged reciprocally with each
other. The revolving wheels are adapted to be turned round about their own
centres respectively by the action of the piston, and then those centres will be
impelled or forced to travel round in their circular orbits with the same
regular velocity as the revolving wheels are turned round about their own
centres. The centres of the revolving wheels F and F and L and L aro
retained within their circular orbits by means of two links N and N, (see also
Fig. 6), which have sockets at each end of each link to receive the centre
pins r, r, r, r, of the four revolving wheels, and at the middle parts of the
links N and N are circular openings, that the said links may avoid touching
the fixed wheels G and G at the parts where they are fastened to the upright
standards S and S. The links N and N prevent the revolving wheels from
getting out beyond their circular orbits. At the sides of each of the cog wheels
F and F, G and G, and L and L, are smooth circular rims, which are of tho
same size as the pitch circles of the teeth. Fig. 10 represents a ring of cogs,
which are secured on the wheels by screwing, or the cogs may be cast on.
Fig. 9, the wheel without the cogs; see also Fig. 11. The circumferences of
the said rims touch each other at the parts where the teeth of the wheels gear
together, and by their contact the wheels are retained at their distances
proper
apart from each other; the rims of the revolving wheels roll freely round about
the rims of the fixed wheels when the revolving wheels circulate in their
orbits. Each of the revolving wheels F and F and L and L has a socket 4, 1,

page_text: Figures 4, 9, and 11, bored through it at such a distance from it's centre as is
equal to one fourth of the stroke that the piston is intended to make in the
cylinder. By these sockets the revolving wheels are mounted upon four pins
1, 1, 1, and 1, which project out from the two side rods e and e; the pins and
are fixt on the side rod by a nut, as at z, Fig. 2, and transmit the force of the
piston to the revolving wheels by acting in the sockets at a distance from the
centres of those wheels with an alternate reciprocating motion, in the manner
of crank pins, so as to turn the said revolving wheels round about their own
centres, and by the teeth of the revolving wheels gearing in those of the fixed
wheels G and G, the revolving wheels are caused to circulate round in their
orbits, and by their connection with the pins 1, 1, 1, 1, they carry the fly wheels
and cylinder round with them. I call that end of the cylinder thro' which
the piston rod passes the top, and the opposite end of the cylinder the bottom,
and I use the terms upwards or downwards to signify that the piston moyes
towards the said top or bottom of the cylinder, although in reality the cylinder
in respect to upwards and downwards is in a continual state of change by
its revolution with the axis B. And further, when I speak of the revolving
wheels F and F and L and L turning round upon their own centres, that
turning round is to be considered in relation to the line which the pins 1, 1,
describe as they move to and fro' by the action of the piston, and in that sense
each of the revolving wheels may be said to make one revolution for every
complete stroke of the piston from one end of the cylinder to the other and
back again; but during that stroke and revolution of the revolving wheels
they will also go once round in their circular orbit, consequently, the actual
turning round of the revolving wheels in respect to a vertical or horizontal
line will be twice as much as in respect to the line described by the pins 1, 1.
The operation of my revolving engine is as follows:-The steam being
admitted through the hollow axis B and by the elbow pipe b, into the steam
box I, suppose the piston to stand at the top of its stroke, as shown in
Figure 1, and the lower cross head d, Fig. 2, to have struck the upper
tappet v on the rod f, so as to have moved the sliding valve i into the position
seen in Fig. 1, the steam passage is then opened to admit the steam to the
top of the cylinder, and at the same time the eduction or waste passage is
opened to the bottom of the cylinder. The steam acting by it's elastic force
upon the top of the piston will tend to press it downwards, together with the
cross head C the side rods e and e, and the pins 1, 1, 1, 1, of the excentric
wheels F and F and L and L. To start the engine, the fly wheels D and D
must be turned round a little in the direction in which the engine is intended
to move, and when the pins 1, 1, are by that means removed out of the lines,

page_text: between the centre r, r, of the revolving wheels F and F and L and L, the
force of the piston acting by the pins 1, 1, at a distance from the centre r, r, of
the revolving wheels, in the manner of crank pins, will force those wheels
to turn round about their own centres r, r, and by the connection of the
teeth of the revolving wheels with those of the fixed wheels G and G, that
turning round of the revolving wheels will also cause them to move round in
their circular orbits in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 1. The pins 1, 1,
move in an orbit at the same time, and carry the side rods with them;
the connection of the rods o and o, o and o, of the parallel motion with
the rims of the fly wheels D, D, at m, m, causes them to partake of the
revolving motion, together with the cylinder A and main shaft B, and
the machinery which is connected with it. As the piston continues to
move towards the bottom of the cylinder it will continue thus 'to urge
round the fly wheels and cylinder by the action which it causes the pins 1, 1,
to exert at a distance from the centre of the wheels F and F, tending to turn
the same round about their own centres r, r, and thus causing them to travel
round in their orbits about the fixed wheels G and G. During such motion
the pins 1, 1, of the revolving wheels F and F and L and L will move in small
circles about the centres r, r, of those wheels at the same time that the said
centres travel round in that circular orbit. The consequence of these com-
pound motions is, that the pins 1, l, will describe a curved orbit or endless
path, as is represented by the dotted lines in Figure 1. The pins l, l, of those
revolving wheels, which are on the descending side of their circular orbits,
will be made to approach nearer towards the centres of the wheels G and G,
corresponding to the motion of the piston towards the bottom of the cylinder,
and the pins 1, 1, of those revolving wheels which are performing the ascending
part of their course in the circular orbit will recede from the centres
of the wheels G and G, consequently, when the piston has reached the bottom
of its course, the revolving wheels F and F will be in the position where the
wheels L and L are represented in the Figure 1, having performed one
half of their circuit round the wheels G and G, and having also carried
round the fly wheels D and D and the cylinder half a revolution on their
common axis B. In this situation the cylinder and the revolving wheels
will be in the position represented in Fig. 21. The motion with which the
pins 7, 1, travel round in their curved orbit is transmitted to the fly wheels to
turn them round by the side rods e, e, the cross heads c and d, and by the
links n, n, and the rods o and o, of the parallel motion, all which parts must
be suitably proportioned in strength to resist the strain without yielding. The
said parallel motions are proportioned in the usual manner, so that by the

page_text: :
corresponding and opposite deviations of the circular arcs described about the
centres m, m, by the opposite ends of the rods o and o, which are jointed to
the ends of the links n, n, the centres of those links n, n, will always be
retained to correspond with the centre line of the cylinder. During the above
described motion of the piston the cross head d was sliding along the rod f
towards the tappet v, 1, until the piston had nearly arrived at the bottom of
the cylinder, and the engine had nearly completed its half revolution, as above
described, when the cross head d will strike the tappet v, 1, and move the
rod f. This motion is transmitted by the lever f¹ to the rod f of the sliding
valve i, which is thus placed so as to reverse the distribution of the steam.
Thus it is admitted into the bottom of the cylinder, and the upper end is
opened to the eduction passage. In consequence, the piston will be impelled
by the steam towards the top of the cylinder, the inertia of the fly wheels will
carry the engine forwards and continue the motion of the machinery, whilst
the pins 1, 1, are in the line between the centres r, r, of the revolving wheels;
but as the pins 1, l, depart from that line, the force of the piston will become
active to turn the revolving wheels round about their own centres, and conse-
quently to cause those centres to circulate in their orbit, and carry the
fly wheels and cylinder round with them through the remaining half of the
revolution by a similar action to that already described.
Figures 17, 18, 19, and 20 represent another construction of my new revolving
steam engine. It has two cylinders A and A, fastened to the rims of the two
fly wheels D and D, bý flanges, which project out from the cylinders, as at 6, 6,
Fig. 18. The cylinders are placed opposite to each other, and the same piston rod
serves for the pistons of both cylinders, one piston being fixed on each end of the
rod. The piston rod and the cross head d, and the side rods e and e, pass through
the shaft B, which is enlarged at the part between the two fly wheels, so as to
allow an opening through it, as is shewn by the section Fig. 20, to admit the
rod and also a cross head d, which is fixed on the middle part of the piston
rod. To the ends of the cross head d the two side rods e, e, are fastened, and
those side rods are fastened at their upper and lower ends to two other cross
heads c, c, .which have large circular openings through them in the middle, as
shewn in Fig. 19, in order to receive the cylinders-A and A, so as to allow
those cross heads to move to and fro' with the piston without touching the
cylinders. The links n, n, of the parallel motion are fitted upon the cross
heads c, c. The ends of the bridle rods 0, 0, of the parallel motion are
moveable on studs affixed to the rims of the fly wheels D and D, as shewn in
Fig. 17. The ends of the cross heads c, c, pass through the fly wheels
D and D, and enter into the sockets 1, 1, Figure 4, of the revolving wheels

page_text: F and F and L and L, which are on the same construction as those herein-
before described, and they operate in the same manner. Each of the two
cylinders has it's own sliding valve at I; these valves are moved at the proper
intervals by chocks s, s, fastened upon a rod f, Fig. 17, which is affixed to
the two cross heads cand c, and moves up and down with them and the
pistons. The chocks s, s, act upon a lever handle g, which is moveable:about
a centre supported by a bracket which is affixed to the main shaft B, and the
lever of the handle g is connected with the rod h of the two sliding valves. If it
is desired to make an engine with four cylinders placed at right angles to each
other, then, as the cross heads cannot pass through the main shaft, the fly
wheels must be of such dimensions, and the lengths of the stroke of the piston
must be so proportioned that the cross heads can move their full extent
without reaching the main shaft B, and each, cylinder must have it's separate
cross head d. The cylinder being fixed firmly by their flanges, as in Fig. 18,
to the rims of the fly wheels, there must in such a case be four revolving
wheels to circulate about each of the wheels G, at each side of the engine,
instead of two, as represented in Figure 4. Or a revolving engine with two.
cylinders may be made with two separate cross heads d, d, and the fly wheels
of such size that the full stroke of the pistons will not cause the cross heads to
reach the main shaft. A suitable hot-water pump may be applied to the
revolving engine to supply the boiler with water from a suitable reservoir.
The pump is placed at the outside of the standard frame C, and fixed to the
upright pillars thereof. The pump bucket is moved by an excentric fixed on
the main shaft B. My new revolving steam engine may be either a high-
pressure engine without condensation of the steam, or, if desired, to make
it act as a condensing engine, a condenser and air pump and cold-water;
pump of the ordinary construction may be applied to it. The buckets of the..
said pumps may be suspended from a lever, which is poised on a fixed centre,.
supported by suitable standards erected upon the frame C. The said lever
may be caused to vibrate upon its centre by means of an excentric circle fixed;
on the main shaft, and connecting rod fastened at one end to a ring, which
encompasses that excentric, and the other end jointed to one of the ends of
the said lever, or the air pump and cold-water pump may be wrought by
any other means commonly known and practised.
I do declare, that although I have herein-before described many things
which are commonly used in steam engines, such as sliding valves, parallel
motions, cog wheels, connecting rods, and fly wheels, I do not lay claim to
the nvention of any such in their separate and uncombined state, or in
combination with the common steam engine. But I do claim the benefit
7

page_text: arising from the application of revolving cog wheels, so as to circulate in
orbits round about other cog wheels, which are fixed immoveably near to the
axis of the fly wheel, but excentric thereto, the force of the piston being
applied by suitable connecting or side rods to pins inserted in the said
revolving wheels at a distance from their centres in such manner as to
turn the said revolving wheels round about their own centres, and, by
the connection of their teeth with those of the immoveable wheels, to
cause the said revolving wheels to circulate round in their orbits, and to
carry the fly wheels with them in the manner herein-before described. And
I do also claim the benefit of the several aforesaid parts (although separately
not my Invention) whenever they shall be combined with my new revolving
steam engine, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth
day of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-seven.