IMPROVEMENTS IN AIR ENGINES
Year: 1858

page_text: ealed the 19th November 1858, and dated the 31st August 1858
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION, left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st August 1858.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of, the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County, of Middlesex,. Mechanical. Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AIR ENGINES," to be
as follows:-
The improvements consist, firstly, in so constructing, arranging, and
actuating the supply and working pistons within a single cylinder open at one
end and closed at the other, that the cold supply air in passing to the heater,
or close end of the cylinder, shall cool that portion of it in which the working
piston moves, and keep it at so low a temperature that any kind of metal, or
even-leather, may be employed as a packing for the piston..
In order to effect this, the_working and supply pistons are connected to the
crank of a fly-wheel shaft by a system of levers, rock shafts, and connecting
rods, of such a nature that an alternating, accelerated, and retarded recipro-
[Price 8d.].

page_text: cating movement will be imparted to the two pistons capable of effecting the
before-named cooling of the working cylinder, and at the same time to
produce motive power.
Secondly, the improvements relate to the employment of separate supply
and working cylinders, and consist in so combining the same, and in so moving
the pistons, that the loss of temperature which attends the increase of bulk of
the heated air during the outward movement of the working piston, shall be
made good by a process of reheating the air during its passage from the
supply to the working cylinder.
The mechanical arrangement for moving the supply and working pistons
consists of levers mounted on rock shafts, and connected respectively to the
supply and working piston rods; other levers on these rock shafts are connected
by rods to the crank of the fly-wheel shaft.
To prevent the return of the hot air to the cold end of the cylinder, the
head of the supply piston is fitted witha.. metal packing ring, which has a
small amount of play, and while the piston is moving in one direction covers a
series of notches made in the edge of the piston, .but when the piston moves in
the opposite direction, opens a passage for the cool air. The inside of the
cylinder, may thus be swept with a current of cool air at every stroke of
the engine.
The heater for raising the temperature of the air admitted to the cylinder is
placed within the working cylinder, or within a prolongation thereof. The
cold air in passing to the heater traverses over a telescope tube set within
the cylinder, which tube is so arranged as to cause every particle of the air to
traverse the whole length of the tube.
When using separate supply and working cylinders, their piston rods are so
connected together and to the crank of the fly-wheel shaft, that the supply
piston is retained in a nearly stationary position, whilst the working piston is
making its effective outward stroke, and the working piston is kept nearly at
rest, whilst the supply piston effects the transfer of the cold air to the heater.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton, in the Great Seal Patent Office on.
the 28th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County 3
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,' give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred. Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
J, the said Alfred Vincent Newton; 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN AIR ENGINES," being a communication from abroad, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of "Improvements in Air Engines," as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, consists, firstly, in so constructing, arranging,
and actuating the supply and working pistons within a single cylinder open at
one end and closed at the other, that the cold supply air in passing to the
heater, or close end of the cylinder, shall cool that portion of it in which the
working piston moves, and keep it at so low a temperature that any kind of
metal, or even leather may be employed as a packing for the piston.
In order to effect this, the Inventor connects the working and supply pistons
to the crank of a fly-wheel shaft by a system of levers, rock shafts, and
connecting rods, of such a nature that an alternating, accelerated, and retarded
reciprocating movement will be imparted to the two pistons, capable of effect-
ing the before-named cooling of the working cylinder, and at the same time
to produce motive power.
Secondly, the improvements relate to the employment of separate supply
and working cylinders, and consist in so combining the same, and in so moving
the pistons, that the loss of temperature which attends the increase of bulk of

page_text: the heated air during the outward movement of the working piston, shall be
made good by a process of reheating the air during its passage from the
supply to the working cylinder.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section of
an air engine with a single cylinder, and exhibits the improvements first
named. A is an open working cylinder; a, the working piston; a¹, an air-
tight leather packing, secured to the piston by means of a ring or follower.
a", a, the piston rod, composed of a broad flat bar kept in a parallel position
by a guide piece; b, c, is the supply piston made hollow, with a concave head
towards the heater, and elongated so as to form an open hollow cylinder
c, c. The hollow part between the two heads is to be filled with some non-
conducting substance, such as pounded charcoal. The circumference of the
piston c is notched at c, similar to a cog wheel; c' is a metallic packing ring
corresponding to the bore of the working cylinder, and forming an air-tight
joint over the notches c¹ in the circumference of the piston head. This
packing ring is permitted to move back as far as the check pins c³. The
supply piston is provided with a piston rod d, which passes through a stuffing
box in the main piston, and is held in a parallel position by the guide piece
b; e is a cylindrical heater made of cast iron, secured to the flange of the
working cylinder at e', with a head or bottom-e". The open end of the heater
is provided with a brick front e¹, and fire door e'; is the fire-place; j', the
grate, brick lining placed a short distance from the heater, to allow the
heat to act freely on the latter; f is the ash-pit, and f the flue for carrying
off the products of combustion; g is a cylindrical casing of light sheet iron,
formed like a telescopic tube, large enough to allow its casing of the supply
piston to move freely through. This telescopic tube is secured to the inside
of the working cylinder by small socket bolts, or by other similar means. On
the inside of the working cylinder is a cavity A', extending all round its cir-
cumference. An exhaust valve h communicates between this cavity and the
atmosphere. The valve is moved by suitable valve gear attached to the fly-
wheel shaft in such a manner that the valve opens when the supply piston has
performed. the outward stroke, and closes somewhat in advance of the com-
pletion of the inward stroke of the piston. An inlet valve i is inserted in the
working piston, guided by the stem i, and held against the valve seat by a
spring or balance weight in the usual manner. Both these valves h and i are
made of thin steel plate, pressed in a mould, formed as shewn, in order to
resist the internal pressure; k is a rock shaft extending across the cylinder,
terminating a short distance behind it, and supported at each end by pillar
blocks well secured. is. a lever attached to the rock shaft, for moving the

page_text: supply piston by means of friction rollers ", and the cross head d" is a
lever attached to the extreme end of the said rock shaft. Extending across
the cylinder, and supported by pillar blocks, like the rock shaft k, is a rock
shaft I, and attached thereto is a rock shaft. 1¹. This lever is inserted into a
square hole in the main piston rod, and lined with composition metal to dimi-
nish friction and wear; attached to the last-mentioned rock shaft, and close
beyond the lever is a lever ; m is the fly-wheel shaft; m', the crank
attached to the same, nearly in the same plane with and connected to the
levers and by means of connecting rods n and o.
Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal section of an air engine with two cylinders,
exhibiting the nature of the improvements connected with the reheating of
the air to make good the loss of temperature caused by expansion. A is 'a
cylinder, provided with supply piston, heater, telescopic casing, internal cavity,
and exhaust valve, all as before described and exhibited in Fig. 1. The
cylinder A, instead of being open, as shown in Fig. 1, is closed by a head a,
into which an inlet valve a' is inserted similar to the valve i in Fig. 1. The
supply piston rod passes through a stuffing box in the head a, as at d¹ in
Fig. 1b is the working cylinder, provided with an internal heater, similarly
constructed to the one before described, and differing only by having the brick
lining of the fire-place in contact with the inside of the heater, and by the
products.of the combustion being carried off at the top, and from thence into
the flue of the heater above; c is a passage connecting the internal cavity
round the cylinder A with the same cavity of the cylinder b; D is the
working piston, partially filled with a non-conducting substance and partially
open. Near the middle of the working piston is the head d; air-tight packing
b is secured to the open end of the working cylinder. e is the fly-wheel
shaft, and e¹ the crank attached thereto; f and g are crank levers attached to
a common axis h, supported by appropriate bearings; i and are connecting
rods attached to the crank pin e", and connected respectively to the supply
piston rod and crank lever g; 1 is a rod connecting the working piston with
the crank lever f.
.
It will be evident, on examining the relative position and movement of the
crank connecting rods and levers exhibited in Fig. 1, that the two pistons
will complete the outward stroke nearly at the same time, and that during
the inward stroke the supply piston not only performs a much longer move-
ment than the working piston, but also that it completes it before the latter. 1
It has been stated that the exhaust valve h. opens at the termination of the
outward stroke of the supply piston; it will therefore be seen that as this
piston moves away from the working piston during the inward movement,
شرة

page_text: fresh cold air will be drawn in, through the self-acting valve i; whilst the air
behind the supply piston heated by the-heater will pass off.into, the atmosphere
through the valve h.. It will further be seen that during the outward motion
of, the supply piston the packing ring c will recede from the face of the piston,.
and thus permit the air to pass through the notches or spaces. from the
cold to the hot end of the cylinder. Further examination of the crank and
lever movements in Fig.1 will shew that when the main piston has performed
a very small portion of the outward stroke, the supply piston is far advanced,
and that it quickly overtakes the working piston, and moves with it to 'the
end of the outward stroke. The cold air drawn in and confined between. the
two pistons during their inward movement will, therefore, be transferred to
the space between the heater and supply piston. The increased pressure
consequent on the elevation of temperature during this transfer will 'propel
the working piston through the outward stroke. The force thus exerted on
the piston constitutes the motive power of the engine. The inward motion
of the pistons is effected by the momentum of the fly wheel, or by a similar
engine applied to the other end of the fly-wheel shaft with a crank placed in
opposite direction to the crank m'.
I will now particularly describe the telescopic tube or casing g. This tube
is secured to the inside of the cylinder. its diameter being sufficient only to
admit the supply piston to work through, but leaving ample space. outside to
admit a free passage of the air, to and from the heater. It will be seen
that when the supply piston moves outward, the air during its transfer, and
after its passage through the notches must traverse the whole length of
the tube until it reaches the extreme end of the cylinder, from whence it must
in its turn also traverse the entire length of the heater, and hence that every
particle of the air will come in contact with the whole surface of the heater.
But the advantage, of the telescopic tube extends 'still further. During the
discharge of the hot air into the atmosphere heat is all the while being
imparted to the tube, and this heat is in duc process given out to the cold
air in its passage to the heater during the transfer. In relation to the ring c
it is important to notice that it serves the double purpose of packing and
yalve; and that it is instrumental in causing the necessary cooling of the
working end of the cylinder, by admitting a current of cold air to sweep the
inside of the cylinder as the supply piston is moving out, whilst it effectually
shuts off any return of the hot air during the inward movement. It is
proper to add that not only is this ring instrumental in cooling the cylinder,
and thereby preserving the packing of the main piston (besides other obvious
advantages), but through its agency considerable heat is imparted to the cold

page_text: air during the transfer, since the cooling of the cylinder, is effected by the air.
to be heated. In reference to Fig. 2, it will be seen, on examining the relative.
position and movement of crank levers and connecting rods, that whilst the
supply piston moves from 4 to 5, transferring nearly the whole of the cold
air to the heater, the working piston D moves froin 1.to 2. and back again
to 3. By further examination of the crank and lever movement it will be
seen, that whilst the supply piston remains nearly stationary, viz., whilst it
moves from 5 to 6, and returns to 5, the working piston performs nearly its
entire outward motion, lacking only the space between 7 and 8. I would
here observe, that the heated air as it enters behind the working piston D.
would suffer a great diminution of temperature by its expansion into an"
enlarged space but for being circulated round the heater in the cylinder b,
and by that means not only restored to the original temperature, but greatly
augmented in temperature. The outward stroke of the working piston is
effected by the pressure caused by the transfer of the cold air to the heater
in the cylinder A, together with the expansion due to the reheating in the
cylinder the return movement of the pistons being effected by the
momentum of the fly wheel, or by a second engine as before described. [
would call particular attention to the working gear devised for attaining the
important result exhibited in Fig. 2, viz., the retaining the supply piston in
a nearly stationary position, whilst the working piston is making its effective
outward stroke, and the keeping the working piston nearly at rest whilst the
supply piston effects the transfer of the cold air to the heater.
Having now described the improvements in air engines, as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim,-
Firstly, the mechanical arrangement which I have described, or its equi-
valent, for moving the supply and working pistons.
Secondly, I claim the ring and other devices. or their equivalents, applied
to the supply piston to prevent the return of the hot air to the cold end of the
cylinder, by which also I am enabled to sweep the inside of the cylinder with
a current of cold air at each stroke of the engine.
Thirdly, I claim the application of the heater within the working cylinder,
or within the prolongation thereof, substantially as set forth.
Fourthly, I claim the telescopic tube within the cylinder, by which I am
enabled to pass every particle of the air to be heated over the entire length
of the heater during the transfer.
Fifthly, I claim the application of a plunger piston, as shown in Fig. 2,

page_text: in combination with the crank and lever arrangement. exhibited in that
Figure.
And, lastly, I claim, independently of the form of the heater, the means
described for reheating the air to restore the loss of temperature occasioned
by expansion in the supply cylinder before operating on the working piston.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)