IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF STEAM COMBINED WITH AIR AS A MOTIVE POWER, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Parker, of No. 6, Lilford Road, Camberwell,
in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE APPLICATION OF STEAM COMBINED WITH AIR AS A MOTIVE POWER,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 15th April 1864, and dated the 23rd October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Parker at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
October 1863.
I, JAMES PARKER, of No. 6, Lilford Road, Camberwell, in the County of
Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF STEAM COMBINED WITH AIR AS A MOTIVE
POWER, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
I use steam, in preference superheated high-pressure steam, in one or more
jets to draw or drive atmospheric air into or through one or more air pipe
nozzles or openings into one or more pipes communicating with a receiver
from whence the steam and air is to pass to a steam cylinder or cylinders, like
steam in an ordinary steam engine, or the air pipe or pipes may communicate
directly with the cylinder. The air in its passage to the cylinder or receiver
becomes heated by the steam, whereby an increase of motive power is obtained
and the mixed steam and air is less liable to condensation than steam only.
The combined steam and air instead of steam only may be.used in an ordinary
non-condensing steam engine, but to obtain the same power a cylinder of a

page_text: larger sectional area must be employed. The steam and air after it has been
used as a motive power is further economically employed as a warm blast to
the furnace, where it will produce a more perfect combustion and prevent loss
by smoke, or by passing the steam and air first through gas tar, parafin,
petroleum, or liquids of a like nature, it will absorb a certain amount of the
same, and may then be passed to the furnace to be applied for heating the
boiler. I intend to apply engines worked with steam and air as above de-
scribed in place of the ordinary steam engine as stationary and portable engines,
as locomotives, and for propelling vessels, and also for propelling carriages on
the common road. In cases when it is important to reduce the weight of
the engine as much as possible, as for carriages for the common road and for
balloon propulsion, I propose to use bellows or similar apparatus in place of
the usual metallic cylinder and piston; when applied to balloons the hot air
and steam after being used as a motive power may be further used either,
alone or with gas for inflating the balloon. The steam and air may also be
advantageously used as motive power for working presses, either by direct
action or by acting by means of a ram upon water or other fluid. The
receiver and cylinder above named are heated by the waste heat of the
furnace.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by.
the said James Parker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd April
1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
PARKER, of No. 6, Lilford Road, Camberwell, Surrey, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Parker, Her special licence that I, the said James Parker,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Parker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN

page_text: .
THE APPLICATION OF STEAM COMBINED WITH AIR AS A MOTIVE POWER, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES." upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Parker, 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 James Parker, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
I obtain motive power from steam generated in a boiler combined with
atmospheric air in larger or smaller quantities, according to the pressure
required, by discharging the steam in small jets, each of which is opposite to a
pipe or, air nozzle which receives the steam jet after it has passed through
the air between the point of issue of the jet and its entry into the air nozzle.
The air nozzles communicate with a receiver in connection with the valves of
the cylinder, or directly with the valves of the cylinder, as in an ordinary steam
engine. The steam jet in passing through the air into the open end of the
air nozzle draws with it atmospheric air which thus becomes heated and
increased in bulk or pressure. I prefer to place the air nozzle at such a
distance from the aperture from which the steam jet issues as is equal to its
diameter, that is to say, if an air nozzle of half an inch diameter be used it.
should be placed half an inch distant from the aperture. Each of the jets
should shoot into the centre of its corresponding air nozzle, and I prefer that
each air nozzle should be in length six times its diameter, and that if the air
nozzles are not inserted directly into the receiver or chamber in which the
valves of the cylinder act they should be inserted in pipes of double their
diameter to convey the steam and air to the receiver or cylinder.. When a
small power is required a single jet is sufficient, but for greater power several
single jets may be used in a larger nozzle, like an argand burner, in a circle or
in a straight line, blowing into corresponding circular or flat air nozzles or
pipes, the distances between the small jets being more or less, according to the
steam and air pressure required. When a number of jets are used in a line
or circle the parts may be made of two or more pieces of metal which when
screwed up, or otherwise fastened together, will allow the jets to issue forth,
but by being separated a little will allow of a larger blast of steam being
passed through to blow away any obstruction that may have collected in the

page_text: nozzles or openings of the small jets. The steam pipe from the boiler may
be of copper or other metal not so liable to corrosion as iron, and a strainer of
metal gauze may be placed in or before it to prevent dirt or scale being
carried along the steam pipe to the injury or stoppage of the small jets. The
metal or nipples of the small jets to be as thin as practicable, so as not
unnecessarily to check the velocity of the steam discharging through the jets
by friction. I prefer platina for this purpose.
When several jets are used
I prefer that each should not exceed about one twenty-eighth of an inch
in diameter rather than that the steam should issue in larger and fewer jets.
Higher steam and air pressure is obtained by using small air nozzles but less
atmospheric air, while larger air nozzles give lower pressure and lower tem-
perature but with a very much larger bulk or quantity of atmospheric air.
The steam and air may either be used in an ordinary noncondensing steam
engine, which I prefer when using rather high pressure, or in a cylinder or
vessel with flexible sides hereafter mentioned, which I prefer when the steam
and air is to be used at a low pressure, and when, as before explained, a
much larger quantity of atmospheric air has been mixed or combined with
the steam in passing through larger air nozzles at lower pressure. This kind
of cylinder with flexible sides, with a moveable flap, which I call the piston,
works with a very small amount of loss by friction. It may be made like a
double-action pair of bellows, but I prefer to make the flexible or folding part
(which in bellows is generally made of leather) of vulcanized india-rubber,
cloth, made of canvass or other lighter material, of one or more thicknesses
according to the strength required, the moveable part of which I call the piston.
In describing the cylinder with flexible sides I do not confine myself to any
particular description of shape, size, or material, as sometimes circular may be
imore useful, at other times square or irregular forms would suit better, and
they may be made single or double action, or to act in series with connecting
shafting to the crank. Sometimes fixed central parts may be desirable, at
other times the ends, or top or bottom, or one or other, may be fixed, while the
other parts may be moveable and act as pistons. The flexible parts may either
be fastened to the other parts or made into distinct bags with pipes or apertures
for the admission and discharge of the steam and air, and which bags may be
fitted to the engine frame. They may also be made to act either vertically or
horizontally or in any other direction, sometimes with the piston rod passing
through both or either of the fixed ends in stuffing boxes, and which may act
as guides for the action of the centre part, as the piston or the centre may be
connected with the crank or crank rod by a shaft or ród from its outside without
the necessity of any stuffing box or rubbing piston rod; and where rapid action

page_text: is required with a small stroke the flexible cylinder may be formed like a pair of
double-action bellows, the top and bottom being stationary or fixed, while the
centre piece or piston may work in a joint at one end, while the other end, by
being lengthened beyond the flexible sides of the cylinder until a sufficient
length of lever is obtained, will give the requisite speed, and the steam and air
after being used as motive power may be conducted to the furnace, as hereafter
described.
Another mode of applying the combined steam and air is to make a press;
this may be in the form of large single-action cylinders with flexible sides, and
for this purpose I prefer to use the steam and air at a low pressure as the
heat of the steam and air is in proportion to the pressure, and therefore but
little loss will take place by condensation, even if the press be left charged for
some time, but where it is necessary for the press to act for several hours or
more I then condense part of the steam by passing the combined steam and
air through cold water by making the steam and air pipe discharge its contents
at the bottom of the water in a receiver, and after the air has passed through
the water it is thence conducted to the press. The top and bottom of the
press may be of planks, or of metal, or other rigid material, and may be covered
inside with air-tight cloth, or the flexible cloth may be at once made into a
large air-tight bag of the right size to fit the top and bottom of the press with
a single opening for the admission of the combined steam and air with or
without the partial condensation described; steam and air of higher pressure
may be used in such a press, in which case vulcanized india-rubber cloth
should be used composed of strong canvass of one or more thicknesses and well
dressed with india-rubber, and afterwards well vulcanized to enable it to stand
the heat and pressure. The steam and air after being used as motive power
may be led to the furnace, or into the ash-pit of the furnace, or into either of
the receivers hereafter mentioned, by all or either of which modes much of
the heat contained in the steam at the time of its first discharge from the
boiler is returned to the furnace. It is not necessary to have any grating to
the furnace where the steam and air is used, as these may be discharged on to
the surface of the furnace just beneath the boiler through an opening made
into the furnace for the purpose, as I find the surface of the fire may by the
steam and air blast returned or sent into it be brought to and kept at a bright
heat without any under draught. I prefer to have the air pipes leading the
steam and air into the furnace so distributed and under control by valves or
cocks that the blast may be regulated and directed at pleasure more or less
to any part of the fire, so as to allow of a bright uniform heat being obtained.
The combined steam and air after it has been used as a motive power may be

page_text: passed through either gas, tar, parrafine, petroleum, or liquids of a like
nature, whereby it will absorb a portion of the same or of the vapours arising
therefrom, when it may be passed to the furnace and used as fuel or to aid the
fuel in heating the boiler. As the steam and air after being used for motive
power will be intermittently discharged from the cylinders, the blast may be
made continuous by conducting it into a receiver either of rigid material or
with flexible sides, the top of which may be weighted to give the pressure
desired, the aggregate amount of discharge from the aperture or apertures from
this receiver to the furnace being, of proportionate size and supplied with
valves or other means of regulating the continuous discharge from the receiver,
so as to make it equal in quantity to that intermittently received from the
engine or into a receiver like an ordinary cylinder with a piston working in it
which may be weighted to give the desired pressure, or it may be sent into a
receiver from which the aggregate amount of discharge may be taken pro-
portionably to the intermittent supply, and which discharge may be regulated
by valves or cocks. Among other advantages of the modes here described of
using steam and air as a motive power is the facility with which it may be
transmitted or conducted to a distance by which the pressure in a long pipe
is much less reduced by condensation or cooling than when steam alone is
employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Parker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JAS. PARKER.
(L.S.)