IMPROVED MEANS FOR PRODUCING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Mudge Marchant, of Torrington Square,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED MEANS FOR PRODUCING MOTIVE POWER."
Sealed the 8th October 1870, and dated the 13th April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Mudge Marchant
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th April 1870.
I, ROBERT MUDGE MARCHANT, of Torrington Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for 'IMPROVED MEANS FOR PRODUCING MOTIVE POWER," to be
as follows:
*
My Invention primarily consists in the compression by stages of the
air, steam, or gas to be used as a motive power by means of pumps
which are shewn and otherwise described. These pumps work, as shewn,
in their several compression chambers, a separate chamber being provided
for each stage, and in such manner as to prevent leakage by means
of the arrangement, whereby, with a pump in each chamber peculiarly

page_text: suitable to the operation, provision is also made that the air charge
shall in every chamber be placed over the water in that chamber, so
that all pressure tending to leakage shall be exercised by water on the
joints, with which joints the air is so precluded from coming in contact
by the difference of its gravity. One arrangement for maintaining the
required uniform level of the water in these chambers is evident in the
provision made, that each upper portion of these chambers which this
water occupies is only proportioned to the size of the pumps which are
made to pass water forwards as may be necessary to keep up the supply
as decreased by evaporation; also in the suction pipes which at one
uniform level pass such water as required at that level.
The pumps may be either constructed as described or be otherwise
arranged within any chamber wherein water is so confined and retained
under the pressure of the stored air or gas, so that the pumping for each
stage is executed in water which is retained under the attained pressure
of the air or gas, and these delivered through the water to the chamber
of storage for air or gas or to the pipe of their further transit, whether
such transit be to the chamber in which the next stage is effected, or
to the cylinder itself.
This Invention provides a perfect and specific arrangement and a
new packing for overcoming the difficulties due to obtaining and working
the high pressures contemplated. By the arrangement of the valve in
the pump bucket, the charge of air is taken in during the descent
of the piston (bucket) without pressure thereon, and the air so taken in
ascends through this valve and through the water in the chamber to
the air or gas compartment at the top, whilst on the return stroke the
plunger or bucket works in water and against the full pressure on the
water in the chamber, and the suction valve in the bottom of the pump
barrel admits air of the density or pressure already attained in the
previous chamber into what would otherwise be a vacuum formed by
the ascent of the bucket. The difference between these pressures is
evidently therefore the work on the pump during the up stroke.
As this Invention provides an engine manufacturing a power which
by its application in a different manner to the means of its storage
supplies power over and above that employed in the manufactory thereof
to any extent determined on, limited only by the number of stages
applied to the process, and the capacity of the material used, and the
completeness and perfection of the arrangements effected, and as such

page_text: th
a provision constitutes that desideratum so thoroughly "tabood" in its
assumed impracticability of attainment, that scientific bodies have in
instances determined to consider no such question, it seems desirable
that this Specification should embody some demonstration of cause and
effect. A simple way of doing this appears first to involve the con-
sideration of the action of a piston in a cylinder filled with atmospheric
air, and compressing such air into any fraction of its original volume,
say (scc diagram No. 1). Such compression being effected by the
expenditure of the required power on the piston rod in diagram 1; if
the piston be then let go the rebound by expansion will equal in
developed power the force applied, less the friction to be overcome in
charging up, and the friction to be equally overcome in the rebound,
hence the power applied must exceed that of the rebound by the entire
friction due to both. Whilst the provision shewn applies in this manner
to the fullest extent so rendered practicable the power stored up, the
actual storing up is obtained in a more economical manner by the stage
process of pumping, for each pump so storing power is after the first
stage worked in an atmosphere already densified by previous storage,
which densification is by this means converted into storing power.
For instance, the pumps in the engine work approximately as follows:-
The first two pumps receive at the suction valves the ordinary atmosphere
and compress to 3 atmospheres of density. The pump working the
second stage is supplied with this atmosphere of 3 (approximately
equivalent to that in a diving bell 100 feet under water) and compresses
to 6 atmospheres of density. The pump working the third stage is
supplied with this atmosphere of 6 (approximately equivalent to that in
a diving bell 200 feet under water) and compresses to 12 atmospheres
of density. The pump working the fourth stage is supplied with this
atmosphere of 12 and compresses to 24 atmospheres of density, and so
on for any number of stages, the increase of pressure effected by the
last pump being determined by the arrangements of the cylinder and
expansion. Setting aside the consideration of friction, the power
expended in compression and the rebound of the compressed gas in
"diagram 1" are equal. Consequently what is saved in expenditure of
power on the one side represents excess of power for use on the other.
This saving would appear comprehensible from the consideration of
diagram No. 2." From it will be seen that as soon as 3 atmospheres are
obtained they are converted into power towards the manufacture of the

page_text: 6, as soon as 6 are obtained these are converted into power towards the
manufacture of the 12, and so on. Were the power so stored up used
in similar stages, the several rebounds would again be equal to the force
expended, less the double friction, but whilst storing the power in the
manner proposed, it is used in the manner expressed in "diagram No. 1."
The work on each pump is also the same, the capacity of each pump
and the difference of pressures they work in being proportioned in
inverse ratios to each other. So that were another stage added to the
above “diagram 2" by the addition of a pump of half the capacity of
that working the 5th stage, then 48 atmospheres of pressure would
become the limited amount of storage effected by the 5th stage pump,
and the 6th stage pump so added would compress from 48 upwards as
determined by the charge supplied to the cylinder at each stroke, whilst
the additional expenditure of power required to work the pump so added
would be no greater than that on either one of the other pumps. In
the same manner if the two 1st stage pumps were converted into pumps
of supply for the 2nd stage by the addition of a previous stage (in
pumps of twice their capacity so connected as to supply the suction of
the former with air of the density of two atmospheres) such addition
would double both the supply and the pressure, and doubling the
necessary expenditure of power on every pump for storing purposes,
would double at the same time the power of any engine in its capacity
of stored power.
To use such increased provision of power with
advantage the capacity of the cylinder would require proportionate
increase. The saving in the storage of power in the application above
described is of a double character, for, as represented, the pressures
obtained are used in their several stages to assist in obtaining the further
compression required, and further, the higher pressures are obtained at a
continually reduced velocity of the motive power for each successive
stage, best comprehended by the consideration that the pump working
the 5th stage would, were its area of bucket the same as that of the 1st
stage pumps, travel at only 1/32nd the velocity of those pumps, and that
this reduction in speed is throughout with all the pumps proportioned
to the pressure on them so as to equalise the work, and referring to
diagram No. 1" to confine the work on the piston in this "diagram 1
at the end 6 (the last stage) by mechanical reduction of speed to the
same expenditure of force as was applied during the first stage from its
end a.
The decrease in size of the successive stage pumps does not
affect the result of such saving in the expenditure of power, but is a
"

page_text: "
"
per
66
mere mechanical arrangement to secure it with greater facility and
effect. The character of this double saving will be best expressed by
such an
"extension of diagram No. 1" as shall express the pressures
on the piston, by such direct storage as is thereby represented at points
demonstrating the commencement and end of each stage, as shown in
diagram No. 2," and also the comparative travel of each pump in its
particular stage for every revolution of the engine (see extension of
diagram No. 1.") In such comparison between the expenditure of
power in effecting storage by the direct action of "diagram No. 1," and
the stage process of "diagram No. 2," the capacity of the stage pumps
in "diagram No. 2 corresponds successively with the above referred to
proportion of contents of cylinder," but the 2nd pump has 3 atmospheres
at its back to help it store up the G atmospheres, the 3rd pump has 6
atmospheres at its back, the 4th pump has 12 atmospheres at its back,
and so on. Whereas in "diagram No. 1" one atmosphere is at the back
throughout the whole operation. Consequently in effecting storage, as
diagram "No. 1," there results an equal expenditure and storage
at a of 3, at 6 of 6, at c of 12, at d of 24, and ate of 48. Whereas by
the stage process, as per "diagram No. 2," there results the above storage
at an expenditure at a of 3, at 6 of 3, at c of G, at d of 12, and at e
of 24 in the saving effected by the admission at b. of 3, at c of 6, at d
of 12, and at e of 24 as already attained and supplied at the back of
the piston at the points a, b, c, d. In such comparison also the reduced
speed of travel given to the pumps in the different stages is expressed
by the "proportion of contents of cylinder" passed over in each stage,
of which stages the first is 2/3rds of the whole distance and the last is
1/48th of the whole distance, giving to the travel of each of the 5 stages,
the relative proportions of 32, 8, 4, 2, 1, effecting the further economy
due to a storage that would otherwise be obtained at an approximately
uniform speed; whereas by the stage process the speed of travel to the
pumps is so proportioned, and the highest result obtained at 1/32чd of
the highest speed, the mechanical arrangements effecting tlie whole.
result by one revolution of the engine, as for " diagram No. 1," where
no such demonstrated use of previous storage or proportionate reduction
of speed can be provided. The stage process of storing therefore lessens
the work of compressing gases intended for use in charges at the
highest desirable pressure, each charge to communicate the initial
momentum desired and to expend itself in maintaining such momentum
Were the
without any intermediate check on its action in doing so.

page_text: heat developed by the compression of the atmospheres all retained, the
gases would be delivered after expansion from the exhaust at the
temperature with which the atmosphere entered the first pump, but much
will necessarily be lost, and it appears desirable to apply such heat to
the stored air as shall secure its delivery from the exhaust above such
freezing temperature as would otherwise accrue from that full expansive
use, contemplated in "diagram No. 1" by the rebound, as being
desirable in order to avoid waste of the power so stored in stages. The
application of any heat may possibly be rendered unnecessary by the
manner in which it will be as it were stored up by the " latent heat
taken into the steam, manufactured by the heat which the air com-
municates during its compression; this heat so taken up by the steam in
the chambers will be given out by it; when in combination with the air,
it is expanded and condensed in the cylinder, so raising the temperature
of the cylinder where the condensation occurs, whilst reducing that of
the chambers in which the steam is manufactured. The cylinder may
be either entirely free of the chambers and supplied by a coil of piping
conveying the air to it through a heating chamber or otherwise, or it
may be fixed in the high pressure chamber and so placed in more
immediate connection with the high pressure air as stored over the water
contained in that chamber. The packing is of cork cut into nibs of
such size as shall not be crushed by the pressure put on them, but shall,
on the contrary, retain their clasticity, such cork being steeped in a
suitable preparation so as to form an uniform mass when under pressure,
and cork rings so steeped are used for packing the pump buckets.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Mudgo Marchant in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 11th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MUDGE MARCHANT, of Torrington Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
3

page_text: grant unto me, the said Robert Mudge Marchant Her special licence
that I, the said Robert Mudge Marchant my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Mudge Marchant,
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
"IMPROVED MEANS FOR PRODUCING MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Robert Mudge Marchant my
executors or administrators, 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 Robert Mudge Marchant, 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 thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
This Invention consists of improved means for producing motive
power. I compress, by stages, the air, steam, or gas to be used as
a motive power, by means of pumps, which are represented in the
accompanying Drawings and herein-after described. These pumps work
as shown, a separate pump and chamber being provided for cach stage,
and they are constructed in such manner as to prevent leakage by the
provision that the air charge shall, in every pump or chamber, be
passed by the law of gravity through the water in such pump or
chamber to a higher level, so that all pressure tending to leakage shall,
as far as practicable, be exercised by water on the joints, with which
joints the air is precluded from coming in contact, by the difference of
its gravity. One arrangement for maintaining the required uniform
level of the water in such chambers is evident in the provision that
cach upper portion of any chambers (Drawing No. 3) which this water
occupies shall be duly proportioned to the size of the pumps, which
are made to pass water forwards as may be necessary to keep up the
supply as decreased by evaporation; also in the suction pipes, which

page_text: at one uniform level pass such water as required at that level. The
pumps may be either constructed as represented in Drawing No. 3
(Sheet 2), or be otherwise arranged in such manner that water is
confined and retained under or between pressures of the stored air or
gas, so that the pumping for each stage is executed in water, below
which water the air, steam, or gas is admitted from a suction containing
such air and steam of any density, such air, steam, or other gas being
delivered with the beat of the pump by the difference of gravity through
the water to the chamber or pipe of storage for air or gas, or to the
pipe or passage of their further transit, whether such transit be to the
chamber in which the next stage is effected or to the cylinder itself, and
whether such storage be immediately over the water contained in the
pump or chamber or in a pipe or passage of transit only, with or
without an intermediate check valve between the water and stored air,
steam, or gas.
This Invention provides specific arrangements and a new packing for
overcoming the difficulties due to obtaining and working the high
pressures contemplated. Under one arrangement, by a valve opening
upwards in the pump bucket to, Drawing No. 3, the charge of air,
steam or gas may be taken in during the descent of the piston (bucket)
without pressure thereon, and the air so taken in will ascend through
this valve and through the water in the chamber to the air, steam, or
gas compartment at the top, whilst on the return stroke the plunger or
bucket will work in water and against the full pressure on the water
in the chamber, and the suction valve opening upwards in the bottom
of the pump barrel will admit air of the density or pressure already
attained in the previous chamber into what would otherwise be a
vacuum formed by the ascent of the bucket. The difference between
these pressures (that already attained and the stage in progress) is
evidently by this arrangement the work on the pump during the up
stroke.
It appears desirable for the purpose of explaining the stage process
of pumping to consider the action of a piston in a cylinder filled with
atmospheric air, and compressing such air into any fraction of its
original volume, say 1/48 th (see Diagram No. 1. on Drawing No. 4,
Sheet 2). Such compression being effected by the expenditure of the
required power at the end of the piston rod in Diagram 1, if be the piston
be then let go, the rebound by expansion will equal in developed power

page_text: the force applied, less the friction to be overcome in charging up
(compressing the air), and the friction to be equally overcome in the
rebound, hence the power applied must exceed that of the rebound by
the entire friction due to both (the whole travel of the piston). Whilst
the provision shown applies in this manner to the fullest extent, so
rendered practicable, the power stored up, the actual storing up is
obtained in a more economical manner by the stage process of pumping,
for cach pump so storing power is, after the first stage, worked in an
atmosphere already densified by previous storage, which densification is
by this means converted into storing power. For instance, the pumps
in the engine may for this purpose be considered to work approximately
as follows: The first two pumps receive at the suction valves the
ordinary atmosphere and compress to 3 atmospheres of density; the
pump working the second stage is supplied with this atmosphere of 3
(approximately equivalent to that in a diving bell 100 feet under water)
and compresses to G atmospheres of density; the pump working the third
stage is supplied with this atmosphere of 6 (approximately equivalent
to that in a diving bell 200 feet under water) and compresses to 12
atmospheres of density; the pump working the fourth stage is supplied
with this atmosphere of 12 and compresses to 24 atmospheres of density,
and so on, for any number of stages, the increase of pressure effected by
the last pump being determined by the arrangements of the cylinder
and expansion. Setting aside the consideration of friction, the power
expended in compression and the rebound of the compressed gas in
Diagram 1 are equal; consequently what is saved in expenditure of
power on the one side represents excess of power for use on the other.
This saving would appear comprehensible from the consideration of
Diagram No. 2. From it will be seen, that as soon as three atmospheres
are obtained they are converted into power towards the manufacture
of the 6; as soon as 6 are obtained these are converted into power
towards the manufacture of the 12, and so on. Were the power so
stored up used in similar stages, the several rebounds would again be
equal to the force expended, less the double friction, but whilst storing
the power in such stages it is used in the manner expressed in
Diagram No. 1.
Another, and possibly a clearer expression of the process, is to
consider that as soon as there is a resistance of (say) 3 to further
compression, the pump is placed in an atmosphere of 3 to avoid this
resistance, as soon as with a pump in an atmosphere of 3 I have

page_text: obtained a compression of 6, the pump is placed in an atmosphere of 6
to avoid this resistance, and so on to any degree of compression. The
work on cach pump is also the same, the capacity of each pump and the
difference of pressures they work in being proportioned in inverse ratios
to each other; so that, were another stage added to Diagram 2. by the
addition of a pump of half the capacity of that working the fiftli stage;.
then 48 atmospheres of pressure would become the limited amount of
storage effected by the fifth stage pump, and the sixth stage pump so
added would compress from 48 upwards as determined by the charge
supplied to the cylinder at each stroke, whilst the additional expenditure
of power required to work the pump so added would be no greater than
that on either one of the other pumps. In the same manner if the two
first stage pumps were converted into pumps of supply for the second stage;.
by the addition of a previous stage (in pumps of twice their capacity so
connected as to supply the suction of the former with air of the density
of two atmospheres) such addition would double both the supply and tho
pressure, and doubling the necessary expenditure of power on every
pump for storing purposes would double at the same time the power of
any engine in its capacity of stored power. To use such increased
provision of power with advantage the capacity of the cylinder would
require proportionate increase.
The saving in the storage of power in the application above
described is of a double character, for, as represented, the pressures
obtained are used in their several stages to assist in obtaining the further
compression required, and further, the higher pressures are obtained at a
continually reduced velocity of the motive power for cach successive
stage, best comprehended by the consideration that the pump working
the fifth stage would, were its area of bucket the same as that of the first
stage pumps, travel at only 1/32nd the velocity of those pumps, and that
this reduction in speed is throughout with all the pumps proportioned to
the pressure on them so as to equalize the work, and, referring to
Diagram No. 1, to confine the work on the piston in this Diagram at the
end 6 (the last stage) by mechanical reduction of speed to the same
expenditure of force as was applied during the first stage from its end a.
The decrease in diameter of the successive stage pumps does not affect
the result of such saving in the expenditure of power, but is a mere
mechanical arrangement to secure it with greater facility and effect
because of the inconvenience of obtaining such effect by diminution of
stroke only.
The character of this double saving will be best expressed

page_text: by such an extension of Diagram No. 1 as shall show the pressures on
the piston by such direct storage as is thereby represented at points
demonstrating the commencement and end of cach stage, as shown in
Diagram No. 2, and also the comparative travel of each pump in its
particular stage for every revolution of the engine. See "Extension of
Diagram No. 1, Sheet 2. In such comparison between the expenditure
of power in effecting storage by the direct action of Diagram No. 1 and
the stage process of Diagram No. 2 the capacities of the stage pumps in
Diagram No. 2 correspond successively with the "Proportion of Contents
of Cylinder" (as indicated in the extension of Diagram No. 1), but the
second pump has three atmospheres at its back (is placed in an atmosphere
of 3) to help it store up the G atmospheres; the third pump has 6
atmospheres at its back (is placed in an atmosphere of 6); the fourth
pump has 12 atmospheres at its back (is placed in an atmosphere of 12)
and so on. Whereas in Diagram No. 1 one atmosphere is at the back
(the work is done in an atmosphere of 1) throughout the whole opera-
tion. Consequently in effecting storage as per Diagram No. 1 there
results an equal expenditure and storage at a of 3, at 6 of 6, at c of 12,
at d of 24, and at e of 48. Whereas by the stage process, as per
Diagram No. 2, there results the above storage at an expenditure at a
of 3, at 6 of 3, at c of 6, at d of 12, and at e of 24 in the saving effected
by the admission at 6 of 3, at c of 6, at d of 12, and at c of 24, as already
attained and supplied at the back of the piston at the points a, b, c, d.
In such comparison also the reduced speed of travel given to the
pumps in the different stages is expressed by the "proportion of
contents of cylinder," passed over in each stage, of which stages the first
is 2/3rds of the whole distance, and the last is 1/18th of the whole
distance, giving to the travel of each of the five stages, the relative
proportions of 32, 8, 4, 2, 1 effecting the further economy due to a
storage that would otherwise be obtained at an approximately uniformi
speed, whereas by the stage process the speed of travel to the pumps is
so proportioned and the highest result obtained at 1/32nd of the highest.
speed, the mechanical arrangements effecting the whole result by one
revolution of the engine, as for Diagram No. 1, where no such demon-
strated use of previous storage or proportionate reduction of speed can
be provided. To anyone not educated to the point of incapacity for such
a consideration the demonstration given above would appear amply
sufficient. But as a rule the difficulties of surmounting an established
creed which has become a part of the being of its professor are as
с

page_text: insuperable as would be the difficulty of making an intelligent Christian
out of an intelligent Mahomedan.
A further demonstration is therefore added. See "Extension of
Diagram No. 1, and as before leave out the consideration of friction,.
and for this demonstration consider this Diagram as in a vertical
position. Assume the capacity of the cylinder so represented in section
to be such that over and above the friction to be overcome it takes
50 lbs. in weight on the rod to force the piston to the point a, at which
point a, therefore, there would be so 50 lbs. of resistance. A balance
being so established on one side of the piston weight and on the other
side of the piston pressure, both represented by 50 lbs., we have two
equals 50 weight = 50 pressure. Then in further direct compression
from a to the operation commences with a resistance of 50 lbs.
increasing from such commencement at a until at b, where the
compression is doubled the resistance rises to 100 lbs. Whereas by the
stage process such further compression is commenced at a with a
resistance of nothing because the pump is placed in an atmosphere of
3 in density to obviate such resistance, and the storage is effected to G
of density in an atmosphere already of 3 in density under a resistance
of 0 at the start a and rising to 50 lbs. at the completion b... The
direct operation is performed under a resistance rising from 50 lbs.
to 100 lbs. and the stage process under a resistance rising from 0
to 50. So in the stage from 6 to c the further direct compression
would commence with the resistance already accumulated at 6 to
200 lbs. at c, where the compression is again doubled. Whereas by
the stage process such further compression is commenced at b with
a resistance of nothing, because the pump is placed in an atmo-
sphere of 6 in density to obviate such resistance, and the storage is
effected to 12 of density in an atmosphere already of 6 in density under
a resistance of nothing at the start, b rising to 100 lbs. at the com-
pletion c. The direct operation is performed under a resistance rising
from 100 lbs. to 200 lbs. and the stage process under a resistance rising
from 0 to 100, and so on for every stage. The process of storing
therefore lessens the work of compressing gases intended for use in
charges at the highest desirable pressure, each charge to communicate
the initial momentum desired and to expend itself in maintaining such
momentum without any intermediate check on its action in doing so.
Were perfect expansion attainable and were the heat developed by

page_text: the compression of the atmospheres all retained, the gases would be
delivered after expansion and condensation from the exhaust at the
temperature with which the atmosphere entered the first pump, but
much will necessarily be lost, and it appears at least desirable to apply
such additional heat to the compressed gases, as shall secure their
delivery from the exhaust above such freezing temperature as would
otherwise accrue were that full expansive use to be proved obtainable
which is contemplated in diagram No. 1, by the rebound, and is desirable
in order to avoid waste of the power so stored in stages. This heat
given out by the air when under compression converts a portion of the
water in the chambers into steam, and will be given out again by the
steam. When in combination with the air it is expanded and con-
densed in the cylinder, so raising the temperature of the cylinder where
the condensation occurs, whilst reducing that of the chambers in which
the steam is so manufactured. The cylinder may be either entirely
free of the chambers, and supplied by a coil of piping conveying the
air to it through a heating chamber or otherwise. The number of
stage pumps so constructed and used is optional, as is also the propor-
tionate reduction in their capacity of content. The power is obtained
from the air so compressed and saturated by its passage through water
in the continued stages, and from the heat developed by such com-
pression, with such additional heat as is given to the gases so obtained
by the provision of any heating chamber determined on. Experiment
proves that under the stage process for providing such power the heat
developed or given out by the compression of the air in such pumps
as shown or herein specified is principally or entirely taken into the
saturation of the air so obtained, forming with the compressed air a white
cloud or combination of highly saturated air and steam under the
pressures indicated, and that the temperature of the water in the
chambers other than the conversion of such saturation into steam is
very little if at all affected, remaining at the temperature of the water
supplied. Whereas by other than the stage process and such saturation
some of the contemplated pressures are not even attainable in conse-
quence of that actual expression of heat, which would by any other
means be evolved by the air during compression. This engine is
consequently named the "white cloud engine." I mechanically con-
struct by the means herein specified and shewn a combination of gas
more or less under saturation, this gas consists principally of air and
steam, and as more or less saturated it is passed through a superheating

page_text: chamber where any determined expression of heat is given to it. The
active power above the pressure of the external atmosphere already
contained in the gases so subjected to any heating process in transit
is so increased, and any saturation not already converted into actual
gas becomes gas under the most favorable circumstances. There is
therefore by the stage process the smallest attainable consumption of
power in the mechanical manufacture of the gas at the pressure at
which it is determined to submit it to the increasing action of heat.
All consumption of fuel is therefore almost entirely applied to a super-
heating process, and pressures hitherto practically inattainable are so
attained and rendered applicable in the most ecconomical manner by
expansive action, and a small fractional portion of the space now occupied
by machinery and fuel suffices to obtain an equal motive power under
any comparison.
The new packing herein-before referred to and which is applicable to
motive-power apparatus generally is composed of cork, cut into nibs or
little pieces about the cubical contents of an ordinary pea, or of such
other size as shall not be crushed by the pressure put on them, but
shall on the contrary retain their clasticity, such pieces being prepared in
boiling fat, and so used as under great compression to form one uniform
mass. Such packing should be used compressed to its utmost, as no
perceptible additional friction arises from such compression, and as so
used it is impervious to any ordinary heat.
In the pipe conveying the compressed gases to the coil or other pro-
vision in the heating chamber, and immediately contiguous to the heating
chamber, I place a check valve so as to confine the action from the
heating chamber to an action onward to the cylinder or other application
of the power obtained as described. Immediately beyond the point of
exit from the heating chamber and between it and the cylinder I place
a repeater intended to prevent any occasional action forwards from the
water that might otherwise accumulate from any occasional excess of
saturation, to the injury of the regular action of the tappet valves
delivering the charge by which the piston is worked. This repeater is
merely a chamber receiving the heated gases from an aperture at a
slightly lower level than that by which these gases are passed forwards,
so that any particles of water are thrown to the bottom of the chamber
by their gravity, and the water being admitted through a check valve
opening downwards into a lower compartment chamber is re-injected in

page_text: the usual manner with the gases which are made to pass through this
lower chamber, and so made to repass the coil until completely
vaporized. It will be understood that the compressed gases delivery
pipe passes through the lower chamber to the coil. I provide from cach
pump a check valve opening upwards into the final storage or pipe of
storage transit. I place such check valve at a level of at least three inches
above its other passage for the continuance of its charge as the suction
to the next pump, so that only the gases can at any time pass, and any
water passing forwards from time to time with the gases may go to the
next pump as required, and not into this final storage, even when such
check valves are open in consequence of a final storage, inferior to the
pressure obtainable by that stage pump. I also place check valves opening
upwards in the bottom of each chamber for the admission, under
circumstances that may arise, of atmospheric air to either. The object
of these arrangements is the provision that any disarrangement of one
pump shall not altogether stop the engine, and that on such occurrence
with any pump a new stage process originates itself on either side of the
Drawing No. 1 represents a perspective view of an engine constructed
on the principles herein-before specified, and is so given for the purpose
of showing one actual application of one process by which I carry out
the means for producing motive power herein-before described.

page_text: PROPORTION OF PARTS OF ENGINE.
Experiment would appear to show the best proportions so constructed
and herein described to be that the cylinder should be in content 7
if the first pump (that compressing from the surrounding atmosphere)
be in content 1. That the relative proportions should so be 7 to 1
if for single-acting cylinders so used. For double-acting cylinders, the
proportions follow, of 3 to 1. That the water feed should be ¹nd of
the contents of such first pump. That there should be at least four
stages of pumps. That the best proportions of contents of charge for
the pumps in their several stages are relatively 12, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1,
retaining these proportions whatever the number of stages determined
on may be. These proportions appear the best for any pump effecting
the passage of the compressed air through the water in the manner
specificd.
I do not claim as my Invention the cylinders, pistons, valves, or
other known separate parts of the machinery described, but I claim,
constructing pumps and apparatus, substantially as herein-before
described and shown in the Drawings for the purpose of effecting the
compression in stages, and in the manner herein-before explained of air,
steam, or gas, with the object of employing such compressed air, steam,
or gas as a motive power.
I also claim the new packing, made in the manner and for the purpose
hercin-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Mudge Marchant, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of October One
thousand eight hundred and seventy.
MARCHANT