CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER ENGINES WORKED BY LETTERS WORKED BY THE PRESSURE OF GASEOUS OR OTHER FLUIDS, WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Clarke Burleigh, of No. 27, Northumberland
Street, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER ENGINES WORKED BY
LETTERS PATENT to Richard Clarke Burleigh, of No. 27, Northumberland
Street, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER ENGINES WORKED BY
THE PRESSURE OF GASEOUS OR OTHER FLUIDS, WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO
Sealed the 10th November 1854, and dated the 13th May 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Clarke Burleigh
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th May 1854.
I, RICHARD CLARKE BURLEIGH, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER ENGINES
WORKED BY THE PRESSURE OF GASEOUS OR OTHER FLUIDS, WHICH
APPLICABLE TO PUMPS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
ARE ALSO,
The nature of my said Invention consists in the substitution of certain
vessels, herein-after more fully described, in lieu of the usual working cylinder
and piston of an ordinary steam engine, and will be more perfectly ascertained
and understood from the following description, and the accompanying Drawings
numbered 1 to 3. In place of the ordinary cylinder of a steam engine of
determinate and fixed dimensions, and containing a piston capable of motion
under the pressure of the steam alternately applied to either side of it, I.
propose to obtain a similar result by the substitution of a vessel so constructed
as to be capable of expansion under the pressure of the steam, and of subsequent
collapse upon the steam becoming condensed; so that, whereas in the present

page_text: steam engine the power is obtained by the movement of a piston in a fixed
cylinder, in that proposed the power would be obtained by the movement of the
vessel itself into which the steam was brought. Drawing No. 1 will more clearly
explain the nature of my said Invention; in which, Figure 1 is a transverse
section taken through the centre of the collapsible vessel above referred to,
and Figure 2 is a plan of the top of the same. This vessel must be so con-
structed as to be capable of dilation or expansion under the influence of
internal pressure; and of contraction or collapse, or return to its normal
condition and dimensions, upon such internal pressure being withdrawn; at the
same time and while possessing this power of expansion and contraction, it
must be so constructed as to be perfectly elastic, and not liable to distortion
of form, irregularity of movement, or unequal protrusion, or depression of any
portion of its surface; and further, that its external surface shall be so connected
with or attached to the working parts of the engine, as that the power to be
derived from the expansion or contraction of the vessel shall be received and
transmitted to the working point of the engine; and a vessel possessing such
requirements may be constructed in the manner shewn in the Drawing No. 1;
in which, A, A, are two disks of thin metal, of a circular or any other suitable
form, securely and hermetically rivetted, bolted, or otherwise connected to
each other round their entire margin or periphery, and having their surfaces
-so-corrugated as to admit of such a change taking place in their form as to
allow of their being separated or approximated by the respective application
of internal or external pressure. B, B, are two bosses or plates, one of which
is securely connected to the upper and the other to the lower surfaces or
disks A, A, and having attached to them radiating springs C, C, C, passing
through the staples D, D, D, attached to the surfaces. or disks A, A, and so
arranged as that while the springs C, C, C, shall be free to slide through
the staples D, D, D, they -shall-afford-support to and prevent distortion or
irregular expansion and contraction of the moving surfaces or disks A, A,
and-at-the-same-time-insure that any expansion-or-contraction-of-the-vessel
A, A, shall necessarily occasion a corresponding separation or approximation
of the bosses or plates B, B. One of these bosses or plates B,.B, being then
firmly secured to a bed plate or fixed framing, while the other is connected
with the moving parts of the engine, the reciprocating motion produced by
the alternate expansion and contraction of the vessel A, A, would be trans-
mitted to the working point of the engine by any of the usual mechanical
contrivances, such as the crank, &c., in precisely the same manner as that of
an ordinary piston rod in the existing steam engine. The expansion of the
vessel A, A, would be produced by the admission of the steam, and its con-

page_text: traction by establishing a communication with the condenser, which operations
would be effected in alternate and regular succession by any of the existing
modes or systems of valves, moved by eccentrics or otherwise, as in the
ordinary steam engine. The mode of action of the machine, as above described,
is obviously that of a single action steam engine, the direct pressure of the steam
being only employed in the up stroke, while that of the atmosphere is employed
in the down or return stroke; but the same principle may be applied to the
construction of a double-action engine, by the substitution of a flexible or
elastic diaphragm or disk in the place of the moveable piston of an ordinary
steam engine, in a manner similar to that shewn in Drawing 2, Fig. 3; in
which E, E, is a rigid vessel, answering to the cylinder of an ordinary engine,
circular or of any other suitable form on plan. This vessel is divided into
two chambers by a disk of thin metal A, precisely similar to those already
described, of the same form as the external vessel E, E, and securely and
hermetically connected therewith round its entire margin or periphery. This
disk is attached to a piston rod B, and a system or framing of springs C, C, C,
precisely similar to those already described, so as to admit of its form being
altered, and of its surface being raised or depressed under the influence of
pressure applied to its upper or lower sides, and of the motion so produced
being transmitted by the aid of the piston rod and intervening machinery to
the working point of the engine. The transverse form or section of the external
or enclosing vessel E, E, should be such as to approximate as closely as possible
to the form assumed by the moveable disk A, A, when raised and depressed
to its maximum extent. The movement of the disk would in this case be
produced by the alternate admission of steam to the upper and lower compart-
ments of the vessel E, E, which would be effected by valves moved by
eccentrics, or by any other suitablé means, as in steam engines of the present
form, and the power derived from such reciprocating motion of the disk or
diaphragm would be transmitted to the working point of the engine by any
of the existing mechanical contrivances suitable for that purpose.
And further, the same mode and principle of construction is equally
applicable to engines worked by the pressure or elastic force of any other fluid
than steam, whether gaseous or liquid.
And further, the same principle may be applied in the construction of
pumps, as is more particularly shewn in Drawings Nos. 2 and 3; in the
first of which, Figure 4 represents a single-action pump, similar in its
construction to the single-action engine in Drawing No. 1; while Draw-
ing No: 3-shews a double-action pump upon the same principle as the
double-action engine, represented in Figure 3, Drawing No. 2. In each

page_text: casc motion is supposed to be given to the movable disk or diaphragın
through the instrumentality of the piston rod by the application of some
extraneous power, and the action of the pumps will be sufficiently understood
by a reference to the Drawings.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Clarke Burleigh in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
CLARKE BURLEIGH, of Northumberland Street, Charing Cross, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Clarke Burleigh, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Clarke Burleigh, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Richard Clarke Burleigh, 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,
usc, exercise, and vend, witliin the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES AND OTHER ENGINES WORKED BY THE PRESSURE OF
GASEOUS OR OTHER FLUIDS, WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO PUMPS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Clarke Burleigh, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal,, 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 Richard Clarke Burleigh, 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, that is to say —
The nature of my said Invention consists in the substitution of certain
vessels, herein-after more fully described, in lieu of the usual working cylinder
and piston of an ordinary steam engine, and will be more perfectly ascertained

page_text: and understood from the following description, and the accompanying Drawings
numbered 1 and 2 :-
In place of the ordinary cylinder of a steam engine of determinate and fixed
dimensions, and containing a piston capable of motion under the pressure of
the steam alternately applied to either side of it, I propose to obtain a similar
result by the substitution of a vessel so constructed as to be capable of ex-.
pansion under the pressure of the steam, and of subsequent collapse upon the.
steam, becoming condensed; so that, whereas in the present steam engine the.
power is obtained by the movement of a piston in a fixed cylinder, in that
proposed the power would be obtained by the movement of the vessel itself.
into which the steam was brought. In the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1
is a transverse section of the engine taken through the center of the collapsible
vessel above referred to; Figure 2 is a section taken on the line A, A, in
Figure 1, giving a front view of the same; and Figure 3 is a horizontal section
taken through the center of the same. In Figure 3 the vessel is shown at the
termination of its stroke when expanded to its full extent, while in Figure 1 it
is shown at the commencement of its stroke in a state of collapse. This vessel
must be so constructed as to be capable of dilation or expansion under the
influence of internal pressure; and of contraction or collapse, or return to its
normal condition and dimensions, upon such internal pressure being withdrawn:
at the same time, and while possessing this power of expansion and contraction,
it must be so constructed as to be perfectly elastic, and not liable to distortion
of form, irregularity of movement, or unequal protusion or depression of any
portion of its surface; and further, that its external surface shall be so con-
nected with or attached to the connecting rod of the engine, as that the power
to be derived from the expansion and contraction of the vessel shall be received
and transmitted to the working point of the engine: and a vessel possessing
such requirements may be constructed in the manner shown in the accom-
panying Drawings, Figures 1 to 3, in which A, A, and B, B, are two circular
discs, of thin copper or other elastic and flexible metal, securely and hermetically
riveted, bolted, or otherwise connected together round their entire margin.or
periphery, and having their surfaces (as shown in the Drawing) so corrugated.
as to admit of such a change taking place in their form by the flexure or
bending of the metal as to allow of the discs being either separated or ap-
proximated by the respective applications of internal or external pressure.
C and D are two bosses or plates, one of which C is securely connected to the
disc A, and the other D to the disc B, and each having attached to them.
radiating springs E, E, E, passing through staples F, F, F, fixed upon the
external surface of the discs A, A, and B, B, and so arranged as that while

page_text: the springs E, E, E, shall be free to slide through the staples F, F, F, they
shall afford support to and prevent distortion of form or irregular expansion or
contraction of the moving surfaces or discs A and B, and at the same time
insure that any dilation or contraction of the collapsible vessel which they form
shall necessarily occasion and produce a corresponding separation or approxi-
mation of the bosses or plates C and D. One of these bosses C, being then
firmly secured to the bed plate or framing G, while the other D is attached by
the connecting rod H, with the crank shaft or beam (as the case may be) of
the engine, the reciprocating motion produced by the alternate expansion
and contraction of the collapsible vessel A, B, will thus be transmitted to the
working point in precisely the same manner as in an ordinary steam engine.
The expansion of the vessel A, B, will be produced by the internal pressure of
the steam admitted through the pipe I, and valve J; and its contraction by the
external pressure of the atmosphere, occasioned by shutting off the steam, and
establishing a communication through the valve K and pipe L with the con-
denser; the operations of opening and closing the communications with the
boiler and condenser being effected in alternate and regular succession by any
of the usual or existing modes or systems of valves moved by excentrics or
otherwise, as in the ordinary steam engine. The mode of action of the
machine, as above described, is obviously that of a single-action steam engine,
the direct pressure of the steam being only employed in the up stroke, while
that of the atmosphere is employed in the down or return stroke. But the same
principle may be applied to the construction of a double-action engine, by the
substitution of a flexible or elastic diaphragm or disc in the place of the move-
able piston of an ordinary steam engine, in a manner similar to that shown in
the accompanying Drawings, Figures 4 and 5, of which Figure 5 is a transverse
section taken through the center of the engine, and Figure 4 is a section taken
on the line B, B, in Figure 5. M, M, is a rigid vessel of fixed dimensions,
answering to the cylinder of an ordinary steam engine, and is divided into two
chambers or compartments by a thin metallic corrugated disc N, N, precisely
similar to those already described, of the same form as the external vessel M, M,
and securely and hermetically connected therewith round its entire margin or
periphery. The disc N is attached to a connecting rod O and boss or plate
P, to which is connected a double system of springs; one Q, Q, Q, on the upper
side, and the other R, R, R, on the under side of the disc N, which is thus
supported between them, and protected from any distortion or irregular move-
ment while admitting of its form being altered, and its surface being either
raised or depressed under the influence of pressure applied to its lower or upper
sides; and of the motion so produced being transmitted by the aid of the con-

page_text: necting rod O and intervening machinery to the working point of the engine.
The internal form or configuration of the vessel M, M, should be such as to
approximate as closely as possible to the form assumed by the moveable disc
N, N, when raised and depressed to its maximum extent, as shown by the
dotted lines in Figure 5. The movement of the disc would in this case be
produced by the alternate admission of steam to the upper and lower compart-
ments of the vessel M, M, which may be effected by a D valve, (as shown in
the Drawing, moved by an excentric, or by any other suitable means, as in
steam engines of the present form; and the power derived from such recipro-
cating motion of the disc or diaphragm would be transmitted to the working
point of the engine by any of the existing mechanical contrivances suitable for
that purpose.
The form of the discs A, B, and of the diaphragm N, is shown
in the Drawings as being circular on plan; but an elliptic or any other con-
venient form may be given to them. The system of double springs, shown in
Figures 4 and 5, may be employed in the first-described engine, instead of the
system of single springs and staples, and vice versa.
The object for which the discs A and B are corrugated is to admit of such
an extent of motion in the expansion and contraction of the collapsible vessel
as shall afford a practically useful length of stroke. The same purpose may,
however, be effected in the manner shown in Figures 6 and 7, without corru-
gating the discs, by the employment of a series of discs so arranged that the
separate motion of each may be aggregated or accumulated into one stroke.
Figure 7 is a transverse section taken through the center of such a compound
vessel, and Figure 6 is a section taken on the line C, C, in Figure 7. S, S, S, S,
are a series of flat circular plates or discs, of thin copper or other elastic and
flexible metal, securely and hermetically connected to each other in pairs round
their margin and at their center alternately (in the manner shown in Figure 7).
Their peripheries are sustained and kept in form by circular hoops of angle
iron, and their surfaces are strengthened by soldering or otherwise connecting
to them flat strips or plates T, T, T, T, of steel, or other sufficiently flexible
and elastic metal; the discs S, S, being exceedingly thin, and the plates T, T,
in short disconnected lengths (as shown in Figure 6), the former will possess
sufficient elasticity or flexibility to expand or separate under the influence of
internal pressure, assuming the position shown in Figure 7, and upon the
substitution of external pressure, again to approximate and assume their flat or
normal position. The lower disc being secured to the fixed framing U, and
the upper disc attached to the connecting rod V, the reciprocating motion thus
produced by the alternate separation and approach of the discs S, S, S, will
be transmitted by the intervention of the ordinary machinery to the working

page_text: point of the engine; the alternate application of internal and external pressure
being effected in the same manner as in the first-described engine.
And further, the same mode and principle of construction is equally appli-
cable to engines worked by the pressure or clastic force of any other fluid than
steam, whether gaseous or liquid.
And further, the same principle may be applied in the construction of pumps,
as is more particularly shown in Figure 8, which represents a single-action pump
similar in its construction to the single-action engine first described; motion
being supposed to be imparted to the moveable discs W, W, through the
instrumentality of the connecting rod X by the application of some extraneous
power, so as to cause their alternate separation and approach, the water will
by the action of the valves be drawn in through the passage Y, and expelled
by the pipe Z.
What I claim as my said Invention is, the employment in steam engines or
other engines worked by the pressure of elastic fluids, and in pumps, of a
flexible metallic disc or diaphragm, fixed within a rigid containing vessel, as a
substitute for the sliding piston; or of a collapsible metal vessel, as a substitute
for the ordinary cylinder and piston.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Clarke Burleigh, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
RICHARD CLARKE BURLEIGH. (L.S.)