Improvements in Rotary Engines.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Oct., 1890-Accepted, 29th Nov., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Rotary Engines.
A communication from abroad by JULIUS MINOTT FARMER and MANNING HALL
CASE, both of the City and County of Milwaukee, and State of Wisconsin, United
States of America, Inventor and Broker respectively.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F..S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both in
the County of Lancaster, and 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The invention has for its object a rotary engine in which the cylinders are fixed on
a revolving disc secured to the main driving shaft.
The invention consists in certain novel devices for conveying the steam to the
cylinders and for regulating and controlling the steam supply.
It also consists in devices for supporting and adjusting the cross head bearings for
the piston rods and in related mechanism.
Referring to the accompanying drawings:-
--
Figure 1 is a front elevation of an engine embodying the improvements, parts being
broken away to show interior and rear portions.
Figure 2 is a central vertical section of the engine at right angles to Figure 1.
Figure 3 is the inner face of a block provided with steam ducts or chambers having
ports arranged to be closed and controlled by the flat rotatable valve having some
corresponding ports, shown on the front of the block, a portion of the valve being
broken away to show the face of the block.
Figure 4 is a part of the disc showing the face of the hub of the disc, which
hub contains steam ducts and receives the bearing of the valve shown in Figure 3
against it.
Figure 5 is a central longitudinal section of mechanism for guiding the cross heads,
and taking up wear therein.
Figure 6 is a central longitudinal section of a portion of the same device shown in
Figure 5 taken at right angles thereto.
The base A supports the standards A' and A" rigidly thereon. A horizontal shaft B
has its bearings in the standard A' and is provided with a band wheel B₁ for transmitting
power therefrom. The shaft B also carries rigid thereon a disc C to the face of which
are secured four steam cylinders conveniently constructed integral therewith arranged
in sets or pairs D D and D' D' diametrically opposite each other. The pistons in each
set of cylinders are connected rigidly together by a single piston rod E and E¹
respectively, which piston rods are provided with central cross heads F and F¹
respectively each slotted at right angles to the piston rod.
The standard A terminates at its upper end in a short horizontal cylindrical head G
so located in front of the disc that the central line of the head is in the line of the axis
of the shaft B. A hub H revolving on the head G, is provided with radial arms H² H¹
which at their outer ends are secured rigidly to the cylinders D D and D¹ D¹ whereby
the cylinders are braced and held firmly in position on the disc. A hollow bolt Ĭ,
screw threaded externally a portion of its length, is turned by its screw thread through
the head G horizontally at one side or eccentrically of its centre, its inner end
projecting from the head and into the slots of the cross heads F and F at their point
of crossing and forms a guide and bearing for the piston rods. Movable blocks L
and L' are journalled on the pin or bolt I and fit and slide respectively in the slots in
cross heads F and F¹. The blocks L and L' are each bevelled inwardly toward each
other on two edges which bevelled edges fit correspondingly bevelled walls of the slots

page_text: +
in the cross heads F and F¹. A collar K rigid on the bolt. I, bears against the block L
and holds it up to its work. A jam nut M turning on bolt I against the head G locks
the bolt in position. A small bolt I¹ passing movably through the holt I is provided
with a jam nut N turning thereon against the outer end of the bolt I and with a nut N¹
turning on its inner end against the block L and holding it up to its work. By
turning the bolt I into the head G and by turning up the nut N₁ on the bolt I¹ the
blocks L and I respectively are forced into the slots in the cross heads, thus providing
for taking up any wear in those parts.
The disc C is provided with two sets of steam ducts, one set of which O and 01
lead respectively from the outer surface of the hub to the inner end of one
cylinder D and to the outer end of the opposite cylinder D¹ as shown in dotted
lines in Figure 1. Corresponding ducts 01 and 0 lead in the same manner to
the inner and outer ends respectively of the other steam cylinders. A movable
block P which for convenience is in the form of a sleeve on the shaft B is provided
with a steam induction duct or chamber R, which receives the live steam supply
pipe S and which is provided with two segmental ports R¹ and R" in the inner
surface of the block. This block is also provided with an exhaust steam duct T,
provided at its inner end with a segmental port T¹ in the face of the block P,
which duct at its other end is open to the air.
A plate or flat valve W rotatable limitedly on the shaft B and having two
segmental apertures or ports W₁ and W" is interposed steam tight between the
block P and the hub of the dise C. The port W' is arranged to register with the
ports R¹ and R and the port W" registers with the port T', the ports W₁ and W" being
also so arranged that the port W" will always be opposite and open to some part of
the port T, while the port W¹ may be turned opposite so as to open either port R¹
or R or may be shifted between ports R' and R so that the valve will close both
of those ports. The valve W is provided with a handle Q for shifting it and with
a spring latch Q arranged to engage the segmental rack Q fixed on the block P,
whereby the valve is locked in position. The valve W is adopted for reversing
the motion of the engine by shifting the port W' in front of the ports R¹ or Ri
as desired. The ports or ends of the ducts 0, 01, 0¹¹ and O¹¹¹ in the hub of the
disc C register with the ports W' and W".
The block P is held against the valve W and this valve in turn against the hub
of the disc C, forming steam tight joints, by the spring U around the shaft B
interposed between and bearing against a collar V fixed thereon and the outer end
of the block P or preferably against the interposed washer V₁.
Only such slight end wise movement of the block P is required as is necessary
to permit its constant adjustment to the surface of the valve W and that to the
disc C so as to make steam tight though movable joints between them, and this
movement is permitted by the slight flexibility of the steam pipe S. To provide
against any considerable revoluble movement of the block P a standard A11 is
provided fixed on the base A and terminating in a flat top near to the bottom of
the block P, against the top of which standard the block will impinge and be
held against rotation, if such rotation beyond a slight movement, were otherwise
permitted.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The combination in a rotary engine with a rotating disc provided with steam
ducts leading to cylinders thereon, of a movable block provided with steam ducts
registering with the ducts in the disc, an interposed shifting valve having apertures
or ports registering with the ducts in the block and in the hub of the disc, and
a spring bearing against the movable block whereby it is held closely but yield-
ingly up to the valve and the valve up to the hub of the disc, substantially as
described.
2. In a rotary engine the combination with a disc provided with steam ducts

page_text: leading from the outer surface of its hub to steam cylinders thereon, and a shaft
fixed in the disc, of a block about the shaft, which block is provided with induction
and eduction ducts registering with the ducts in the disc and is connected with
the live steam supply, a shifting valve interposed between the block and the hub,
which valve is arranged to open either one or two ducts for the passage of live
steam to the cylinders or to close them, and a spring about the shaft bearing
against a collar thereon and holding the block up to its work, substantially as
described.
3. In a rotary engine, the combination with a rotating disc provided with steam
ducts leading from the outer surface of its hub, of a slightly movable block provided
with steam ducts and segmental ports registering with the ducts in the hub of the
disc with which bub the block forms a movable steam-tight connection through an
interposed movable valve provided with registering apertures or ports, substantially as
described.
4. In a rotary engine, the combination with a rotating disc having steam
cylinders thereon arranged in pairs opposite each other, the cylinders being provided
with pistons connected together in pairs by rods crossing each other medially and with
steam ducts in the disc leading thereto in sets from the hub of the disc, of a movable
block provided with steam ducts registering with the ducts in the disc through an
interposed movable valve provided with registering ports, and means substantially as
described whereby the movable block is held yieldingly against the valve and that
against the hub of the disc.
5. In a rotary engine having cylinders arranged in pairs opposite to each other on
a rotating disc, the combination with rods connecting the pistons in pairs, which rods
cross each other medially and are provided with transverse slots having a varying but
constantly existing crossing point of bevelled sliding blocks fitted in the slots in the
piston rods and a block adjuster and guide fixed, eccentrically to the axis of the disc,
in a part of the frame, consisting of a hollow bolt turning by screw thread in the frame
and a bolt movable endwise and adjustable in the hollow bolt, the two bolts being
provided with collars and nuts arranged to bear against and take up the wear of the
sliding blocks, substantially as described.
6. The combination with the slotted cross heads F & F1 having a common point of
cross movement opposite each other, of bevelled blocks L. & L¹ fitted to corresponding
bevelled walls of the slots in the cross heads, a bolt 1 and a hollow bolt I carrying
thereon the blocks L & L and adjustable in a fixed support G, substantially as
described.
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