IMPROVEMENTS IN CYLINDER ENGINES AND PUMPS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Alexander Teulon, of 7, Haverstock
Terrace, Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CYLINDER ENGINES AND PUMPS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Alexander
Teulon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 16th March 1874.
. I, GEORGE ALEXANDER TEULON, of 7, Haverstock Terrace, Hampstead,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CYLINDER ENGINES AND PUMPS," to be as
follows:-
The object of my Invention is to increase the effective force of the
motive power employed, and has reference to improved means for con-
verting the reciprocating motion of the piston into rotary motion, and
also the rotary into reciprocating motion.

page_text: It has already been proposed to apply on the main shaft a drum or
cylinder with a right and left-hand screw, formed (by suitable channels)
in the surface of such cylinder or drum, and so arranged that the end of
the piston rod working in the said channels will produce a rotatory
motion of the drum and shaft.
My improvements consist in the employment of a projecting thread
for the two reversed portions of screws on the surface of the drum, acted
upon by two friction rollers or lateral projections from each piston or
other rod actuating or actuated by it; also in an arrangement of
additional cylinders. This drum or cylinder which I denominate the
"crank drum" as arranged by me is formed as follows:-Centred
axially on and revolving with the main shaft (which is parallel with the
piston or other rods connected thereto) is a drum or cylinder, the length
of which slightly exceeds that of the stroke of the piston or other rods,
and the diameter of which I form not less than the half of such length
nor more than equal to it. This drum has formed upon opposite parts
of its surface two raised or projecting portions of screw threads (a right
and a left hand of half a turn each), which form one continuous thread
by joining each other at opposite sides of opposite ends of the drum,
where they are rounded into curves to obviate the abrupt transition
from one diagonal thread to the other. These curves are formed with
that of the outer angle smaller than that of the inner, and I find a good
proportion of the various parts is that the radius of the outer curvo
should be one-third the radius of the inner, and the radius of the
friction rollers should correspond with that of the outer curve. If the
transverse section of the screw thread be, as in the case of small powers,
rectangular, then both friction rollers should be cylindrical; but for
larger powers greater ease of action is secured by making the friction
rollers slightly conical (applied with the base outward), and bevelling
the two acting surfaces of the screw threads to a corresponding degree.
The piston or other rod is applied parallel with the axis of the crank
drum, and the head of the rod is suitably guided slightly exterior to its
surface; and carries in it on the side nearest the crank drum the two
friction rollers with their axes radial to the main shaft; the planes of
rotation of these rollers will always be tangential to the surface of the
crank drum, and they are spaced apart just far enough to allow of the
passage between them and in contact with them of the screw threads of
the crank drum. Each of these rollers when in action has a rotation of

page_text: its own continuously in the same direction, one of them forward the
other backward. The roller nearest the piston transmits the thrust of it
to the screw threads, turning the crank drum through half a revolution,
when in the return stroke the roller farthest from the piston transmits
its pulling force and thereby completes the revolution.
In certain cases the said friction rollers may be dispensed with and
substituted by a lateral fork or projections on the slide block or head of
the piston or other rod acting upon the two sides of the screw threads
for the same purposes:
Facility is afforded by these arrangements for applying two or more
cylinders in conjunction to act upon or be actuated by the crank drum ;
and the crank drum may be similarly applied to transmit motion from a
revolving shaft to pumps or valves. When applied to a motive-power
engine steam, gas, air, or water may be employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Alexander Teulon in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ALEXANDER TEULON, of 7, Haverstock Terrace, Hampstead, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Alexander Teulon,
Her special license that I, the said George Alexander Teulon, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Alexander Teulon, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands; and Isle of.
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CYLINDER ENGINES AND PUMPS,"
upon the condition.(amongst others) that I; the said George Alexander

page_text: Teulon, my exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 George Alexander Teulon, 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 thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is to increase the effective force of the
motive power employed, and has reference to improved means for con-
verting the reciprocatory motion of the piston into rotary motion, and
also rotary into reciprocating motion.
It has already been proposed to apply on the main shaft a drum or
cylinder with a right and left-hand screw formed by suitable channels in
the surface of such cylinder or drum, and so arranged that the end of the
piston rod working in the said channels would produce a rotary motion
of the drum and shaft.
My improvements consist in the employment of a projecting thread
for the two reversed portions of screws on the surface of the drum
joined to each other by suitable curves, and acted upon by two friction
rollers or lateral projections from each piston or other rod actuating or
actuated by it; also in an arrangement of additional cylinders. This
drum or cylinder, which I denominate the "crank drum," as arranged
by me is formed as follows:-Centred axially upon and revolving with
the main shaft (which is parallel with the piston or other rods connected
thereto) is a drum or cylinder, the length of which somewhat exceeds
that of the stroke of the piston or other rods, and the diameter of which
I form not less than the half of such length, nor more than equal to it,
the most effective proportions being those herein-after shewn. This
drum has formed upon opposite parts of its surface two raised or pro-
jecting portions of screw threads (a right and a left hand of half a turn
each), which form one continuous thread by joining each other at
opposite sides of opposite ends of the drum, where they are rounded into

page_text: segmental curves to obviate the abruptness of the transition from one
diagonal thread to the other, and to maintain unbroken the contact of
the friction rollers with them. These curves are formed with that of tho
outer angle (of each point of junction) smaller than that of the inner,
and I find a good proportion of the various parts is that the normal
radius of the outer curve should be one-third that of the normal radius
of the inner, and that the normal radius of the friction rollers should
correspond with that of the outer curve. If the transverse section of the
screw threads be, as in the case of small powers, rectangular, then both.
friction rollers should be cylindrical, but for larger powers greater ease of
action is secured by making the friction rollers slightly conical (applied
with the base outwards from the drum), and bevelling the two acting
surfaces of the screw threads and their curves of junction to a corre-
sponding degree. (To find the proper bevel of screw thread and friction
roller when so formed, divide the total periphery of screw thread along
its inner edge by the normal periphery of friction roller, divide the total
periphery of screw thread along its outer edge by the quotient of the.
preceding sum, the answer will shew the proper outer periphery of
friction roller, and thereby the proper bevel of the screw thread). Other.
sections of screw thread and rollers may be employed, but these I find.
the most efficient. Each piston or other rod is applied parallel with the.
axis of the crank drum, and the head of the rod is suitably guided.
slightly exterior to the drum's surface, and carries in it on the side:
nearest the drum the two friction rollers with their axes radial to the.
main shaft. The planes of rotation of these rollers will always be:
tangential to the surface of the crank drum, and they are spaced apart
just far enough to allow of the passage between them and in contact
with them of the screw thread of the crank drum and its curves of.
junction. Each of these rollers (in each couple) has when in action a
rotation of its own continuously in the same direction, one of them:
forward the other backward; the roller nearest the piston transmits the.
thrust of it to the screw thread, turning the crank drum through half a
revolution, when in the return stroke the roller farthest from the piston
transmits its pulling force, and thereby completes the revolution.
In certain cases the said friction rollers may be dispensed with and,
substituted by a lateral fork or projections on the slide block or head
of each piston or other rod acting upon the two sides of the screw
threads for the same purposes.

page_text: Facility is afforded by these arrangemennts for applying two or more
cylinders in conjunction to act upon or be actuated by one crank drum,
and such a crank drum may be similarly applied to transmit motion
from a revolving shaft to pumps or valves. When the crank drum is
applied to a motive-power engine steam, gas, air, or water may be
employed. When two opposite rotary motions are required a single:
cylinder with duplicate sets of rollers upon the head of the piston rod
may be applied to actuate two crank drums placed side by side which
will then revolve in opposite directions.
That
my Invention be the better understood I will now describe. I
may
the same by reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
·
Figure I. is an elevation of a crank drum with its bearings and two
piston rods (shewn without guides); Figure II. represents the whole
surface of the same with the total contour of the screw threads and their
curves of junction projected on a plane. A, a, b, B, is the crank drum;
C, C, its shaft%; D, D, is one half of the screw thread described with its
two acting surfaces bevelled; E, E, are sections of the screw thread on
the central lines of the curves of junction (the centrifugal tendency of
these two parts to form an eccentric "couple" will when necessary bo
balanced by suitable counterweights); F is a transverse section of the
screw thread at any point not in the curves of junction, as at ƒ Figure II.;
G, G, is the head of a piston rod shown in section in Figure I., in.
clevation in Figure II. with conical friction rollers H, H; I, I, is a similar.
piston rod shewn in elevation in both Figures I. and II.; J, J, are collars
on the main shaft on either side of the bearing to prevent end play of
the drum and shaft; other arrangements may be used for this purpose.
The crank drum would most usually be employed in a position hori-
zontal or inclined, it is shewn vertical in Figure I. for facility of
comparison with Figure II., from which latter it will be seen that the
friction and lost motion" are very small indeed, and that the "dead
points" are passed instantaneously, and that when (as shewn) the two
portions of screw thread are at right angles with each other, making
their inner curves of junction all true quadrants, they are in the most
advantageous position for the conversion of power, the direct resultant
of every rectilinear effort of a piston acting upon them being then always
in a plane of rotation and conversely the direct resultant of their rotative
effort upon a piston actuated by them being always rectilinear.

page_text: I have not shewn in my Drawings the application of the crank drum
to a single cylinder, considering it sufficiently obvious.
Figure III. is an end view of a crank drum shewing an application of
it to a double cylinder or a compound engine, stationary, portable, or
marine, or to a steam pump. A, A, being the end of the drum; B, B, the
rectangular screw thread in profile; C, C, the outermost cylindrical
rollers or projections on the heads of the piston rods (shewn without
their guides); and D, D, the plummer block and bed plate. The valves
may if preferred be worked by eccentrics or cams in the usual ways.
Figure IV. shews a longitudinal elevation of a crank drum (with.
rectangular screw thread and cylindrical friction rollers) as applied to a
special arrangement of three cylinders with central shaft and double
acting rotary valves, two of the cylinders with the rotary valves being
shewn in longitudinal section. The guide bars are omitted for the sakė
of clearness. This arrangement of three parallel cylinders about a
central shaft or axis whether employed as a motive-power engine or as a
pump for air, water, or other fluid) can only be used to advantage in
connection with a "crank drum," and has great advantages in com-
pactness and simplicity, as the three cylinders with their bed plate may
be cast in one piece, their front covers with stuffing boxes, valve box,
and abutments, bed plate, and plummer block in one piece, and their
after covers with valve box and abutments in one piece. An extension
of the main shaft is centred in the triangular space enclosed betwixt the
cylinders and carries the rotary valves, this part of the shaft may be
made so as to disconnect for reversing the valves. The motive power
employed may be conducted (as shewn) through this central space to
the valves at either end of it.
'
:
Figure V. shows a section of the after rotary valve and the valve box,
and indicates the position of the three cylinders in transverse elevation.
A, A, is, the central shaft; B, B, the central annular space for steam,
(gas, air, water, or other fluid); C, C, C, valve openings into the three
cylinders separated by abutments D, D, D. The inner or supply flange
of the rotary valve, suitably slotted as shewn, admits and cuts off supply
from each cylinder in succession, the, outer, or exhaust flange, suitably
slotted as shown, opens from each cylinder in succession into the
annular exhaust passage E, E, E, leading to F, F, the exhaust pipe.
G, G, is the external_casing of the valve box, and H is a supply pipe.

page_text: This arrangement of three cylinders acting with a crank drum may also
be used with other systems of valves, more especially when employed
for pumping fluids or for compressing air.
Having thus described my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the
precise details herein shewn and described, as the same may be some-
what varied without departing from the peculiar character of my
Invention (and although I have only shewn my Invention applied to
two and three cylinders, it will be readily understood that other numbers
of cylinders with their pistons and piston rods may be similarly com-
bined for continuous operation), but what I claim is,-
-
The application to cylinder engines and pumps (either for converting
reciprocating into rotary motion, or rotary into reciprocating motion in
lieu of a crank as hitherto generally employed), of a drum or cylinder
formed with two projecting screw threads, a right and a left hand, of
half a turn each set diagonally to each other and joined into one con-
tinuous thread by curves of the character indicated, the said "crank.
drum" receiving or transmitting motion by means of two friction rollers
(or a lateral fork) on the head of the piston or other rod acting there-
with, substantially as described.
Also I claim the arranging or combining parts whereby such "crank
drum" may act in connection with the piston rods of two or three,
though it may be other number of cylinders formed parallel to each
other and about or around the central shaft or axial line of the crank'
drum which is also parallel with them, substantially as described.
t
In witness whereof, I, the said George Alexander Teulon, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.