CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES TO BE ACTUATED BY STEAM OR OTHER ELASTIC FLUIDS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES.
CAMERON, lately Captain in Her Majesty's Eighteenth Regiment, formerly
residing at Mount Vernon, in the County of Edinburgh, and now of Darnaway
Street, in the City of Edinburgh, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
"Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourteenth day of January, in the fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Cameron, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Charles Cameron, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Charles Cameron, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
usc, exercise, and vend, within that part of Her Majesty's United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
ENGINES TO BE ACTUATED BY STEAM OR OTHER ELASTIC FLUIDS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Charles Cameron, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in: part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Cameron, do hereby declare that the nature of my certain improve-
ments in engines, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof
(reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon), that is to say :-
I place or arrange one or more cylinders made in the form of what are
commonly called reciprocating engines. I arrange one or more such cylinders
in or near the axis of a vertical or other plane of rotation. By the rectilinear
motion of its or their pistons the same are caused to revolve round the said
axis, and thus the rotatory motion is obtained from the rectilinear motion by the
engines' motion round the said axis' without the intervention of a crank.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Similar letters and similar figures upon the same Drawing refer to the same
or similar parts exhibited in the different views. A, A, A, Figure 1, is a curve
which forms part of the frame of my engine; B, B, are two cylinders revolving
upon the shaft or axis C. The piston rods of the two.cylinders (one of which
is seen at D, Figure 2), work through stuffing boxes at each end of each
cylinder, and the pistons are connected at both ends, to the moveable frame E, E.
The plummer blocks F, F, (Figs. 1 and 2), are fixtures, and strongly
connected with the frame H, H. G, G, are truck or friction wheels fixed in
the frame E, and running upon the inside of the curve A, A. Figure 2 is a
vertical section of the engine, with two cylinders, shewn in Figure 1; and
in both of these figures the engine is represented as at or near the dead point.
Figure 3 is a plan of the frame. Figure 4 is a plan of the cylinders and moveable
frame. Figure 5 represents a side elevation of the same engine when the engine
is near the half stroke. In this Figure 5 we suppose the action of the steam to
be upwards in the upper cylinder only, that is to say, causing the pistons of
both cylinders to travel in the direction of the arrows
shewn upon
the cylinders. The pistons will be forced out, and by the pressure of the
steam on the lower end of the upper cylinder, and of the wheel G against the
circle or curve A, the cylinders, and the whole moveable frame E, E, will
be caused to rotate in the direction of the red arrow H, H, H,
is a frame made of any suitable shape or dimensions, and which may be
bolted down to a frame of wood or other suitable material. Figure 6
represents an engine with a single cylinder. Figure 7, an irregular vertical
cross section of the frame: And Figure 8 is a plan of the frame. And

page_text: Figure 9 is a plan of the upper friction wheel, the cylinder and the moveable
frame E, E, (Fig. 7.) The steam is admitted to the engine or engines, and
allowed to escape therefrom, either into a condenser, or into the atmosphere by
the hollow shaft C, and it may be used either as a condensing or as a puffing
or high-pressure engine. I do not adopt any new form of valve or cock for this
purpose; any of those now in use may be made to answer the purpose; but I
prefer having induction and eduction ports as represented in Figure 2, at K, K,
and slide valve seats placed at or near the position (K The steam is
admitted into the hollow shaft C from the boiler through a properly stuffed or
ground joint, and the power of the engine may be availed of by connexion being
made by a crank wheel, or train of wheels or pulleys and bands, or any other
of the known and approved contrivances for transmitting power. The valves
or steam cocks may be worked by any of the well-known contrivances.
I have now described my improvements in engines to be actuated by steam
or other elastic fluids in such manner that any person or persons acquainted
with steam engines may practice the Invention, and avail themselves of the
same for using the motive power of steam or other elastic fluids. And I declare
that I claim as my Invention .the method above described for converting the
rectilinear motion of a piston in a cylinder into the curvilinear or rotatory
motion, and I do not restrict my claim to the proportions nor to the precise
arrangement of the friction wheels G, G, or of the moveable frame E, E, nor
to the fixed frame A, A, nor to the arrangement which places stuffing boxes
at both ends of the cylinders. It is obvious that these may be modified to
accommodate particular circumstances as they may occur..
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Cameron, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, at Edinburgh, this Tenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Charles Cameron,
in the presence of
JAMES WALKER,
CHA (L.s.) CAMERON.
21, Queen Street, Edinburgh.

page_text: One of the Judges of the C* of Session.
This Specification was produced and shewn to Thomas Deans, being the
same referred to by his Affidavit sworn before me,
S. DUCKWORTH.
Thomas Deans, of Fludyer Street, Westminster, Gentleman, maketh oath
and saith, that he knows and is well acquainted with the handwriting of John
Archibald Murray, one of the Judges of the Court of Session in Scotland,
before whom the Specification hereunto annexed purports to have been acknow-
ledged, and that the signature "John A. Murray," set and subscribed to the
acknowledgement of the said Specification, is of the proper handwriting of the
said John Archibald Murray, as this deponent verily believes; and that the said
John Archibald Murray was at the time of taking the said acknowledgement,
and now is, one of the Judges of the Court of Session aforesaid, and duly
authorized to take such acknowledgements.