Improvements in the Propulsion or Operation of Motors, the Invention being particularly applicable to Water Wheels, Turbines, and the like.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Apr., 1897-Accepted, 19th June, 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the
Propulsion or Operation of Motors, the
Invention being particularly applicable to Water Wheels,
Turbines, and the like.
I, LUDWIG RICHARD FIEDLER, of 57 Birkenstrasse, Berlin, in the German
Empire, 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 :-
energy
of
This invention relates to moang for utilizing the force or kinetic
currents of steam or compressed gases in driving motor engines to better advantage
than it has been feasible hitherto.
The well known formule for calculating the live energy L of a bode which has
currents of steam or compressed gases in driving motor engines to better advantage
than it has been feasible hitherto.
The well known formula for calculating the live cray L. of a
• energy
been set in motion is this:
body
which ha
L =
m v
2
m denoting the bulk or volume of the body; and vits velocity. Now in applying
this formula to existing motor engines, in which the live force of the outflowing
steam or the like is immediately made to do duty as driving power-as happens,
for example, in the case of steam turbines or similar apparatus-it has been found
that the value of was, indeed, considerable, but that the factor m (i.e. the
quotient resulting from the division of the moving body by the acceleration of
gravity) is of exceedingly small value, where steam or other gaseous bodies are
concerned. Thus it is well known that one cubic meter of steam (water vapour),
at an approximate pressure of 2 atmospheres, weighs about 1 kilogramme, so that
in this case m = This circumstance, therefore, in practice very materially
reduces the comparatively great value of v (velocity), owing to the little value
of m (bulk).
1
9.81°
As a matter of fact, however, it is not desirable, for practical purposes, that the
value of v should be so high, since the velocity of the escaping (out-flowing) steam,
or the expanding gases, which, as is well known, attains 1400 meters per second at
a pressure of only atmosphere, exceeds those limits within which it would
appear possible to convert it into useful effect, to the greatest conceivable
advantage.
Assuming, then, the object of the formula L:
1
2
== mv² to be a full compliance
with the demands of practice, it is necessary that it should be worked out in such
a manner as to lead to the following results :-
(1) The value m should as far as possible be raised; while
(2) The value v should be prevented from rising beyond those limits within
which a high velocity is likely to prove really serviceable in meeting practical
requirements.
With a view to attaining this double purpose in accordance with the present
invention, the course it is proposed to adopt is as follows. Instead of causing the
current of (out-flowing) steam or expanding gas-as hitherto-to act immediately

page_text: upon a steam turbine or the like, it is intended to compel such steam to yield up
or impart a portion of its velocity to a liquid; so that such liquid may then, by its
own pressure actuate the paddles of the turbine or the like, and thus be the real
medium by which the work is performed.
Nor is it deemed advisable, after the liquid has transferred to the paddles the
live force which it has received from the steam or gas, to simply let it be drawn
off or discharged as waste, as has heretofore been usual in the working of water-
turbines; it being generally preferred to send it back into circulation, so that it
may receive fresh live energy from the steam &c.; again pass on such energy to
the operative parts; and so continue to go through the same cycle over and over
again.
The results attained by this process, enabling a liquid confined in a closed
chamber to be maintained in continuous circulation by means of flowing steam or
expanding gases, are as follows:-
(1) The velocity (v), instead of being allowed to rise to a degree inconvenient
for practical purposes, is reduced so as to admit of a proportionate increase in the
value of the second factor (m); and
(2) The value of this factor m may, accordingly, be more or less considerably
enhanced (as compared to its present values) in proportion as the specific gravity of
the working fluid employed is greater or less.
The feature in which the construction of the steam motors, to be employed in
carrying out this method of operation, differs from that of the usual turbines, is
consequently this, that it is not the steam itself, but a working fluid set in motion
by such steam, that is the actual operating-medium; while that which differentiates
the said motors from the ordinary water-wheels is the circumstance that, in the
present case, it is not by its own weight (the height of fall or "head" of the
water), but by steam pressure, that the liquid acquires its outflowing velocity; and,
further, that such liquid, after use, is not as a rule allowed to flow off as waste, but
is over and over again re-introduced into circulation.
An example illustrating this method of operation as applied to steam is given
in the accompanying drawings, the apparatus there illustrated being what is known
as a "Pelton" wheel.
In the drawings,
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section, and
Fig. 2 a cross section of the apparatus; while
Fig. 3 is a sectional diagrammatic view of a somewhat modified form of
apparatus, as applied to a turbine.
Upon a shaft a Fig. 1 is mounted a Pelton wheel 6 of the usual or well known
construction, enclosed on all sides by an air-tight casing c, the lower part of which
contains the working liquid d rising to about the level of the lowermost paddle.
The liquid may either be simply water or a saline solution of a higher boiling point
and greater specific gravity than water, or oil, a readily fusible metal alloy or
mercury, in fact any fluid or diffusible body-may be employed.
Within the working fluid d, the driving apparatus is situated.
In the example
shown this apparatus consists of a casting e having a chamber f into which the
liquid d, contained in the chamber c, is admitted through a valve g. Steam is
supplied to the apparatus through a pipe h, and, by opening the valve i in the
transverse partition j, such steam enters the chamber f. The valve i is in the
present example caused automatically to open, at stated periods, by the cam k
mounted upon the shaft / driven from the main shaft a through the medium of a
chain, strap or the like m. The tappets of the cam k, as the latter revolves, act
upon the spindle of the valve and thereby compel it to open and admit steam;
while, as soon as the cam releases such valve-spindle, the steam under pressure, as
it effects its entry, instantly closes the valve.
The operation is as follows:-
We will suppose that the working fluid d has entered the chamber f, through the
bottom valve 9, and has filled both the said chamber and the nozzle n.
This being

page_text: so, the first slight impulse given to the wheel 6 will set in motion the cam k, so
as to momentarily open the valve i. The stean, confined behind such valve,
will then with a powerful impact rush upon the working fluid d contained in the
chamber and being under atmospheric pressure, with the result that it will drive
such fluid with considerable force against the paddles of the wheel b. In the
meantime the tappet of the cam has slipped off the valve spindle ¹, so that
the valve i has been closed by the steam. The steam which has passed into the
chamber continues to act by expansion and forces the fluid out of the injector or
jet tube n with a violent rush or blast the energy inherent in which is, in its
turn, imparted to the wheel b, after which the exhaust of such steam into the
atmosphere, or elsewhere, takes place at x.
The working fluid ejected in the manner described, after having yielded up its
force to the paddles, collects in the outer chamber or casing c and, passing through
the valve g, re-enters the space wherein, by this time, no back pressure exists
so that such space frapidly fills with liquid from the valve g, the next tappet of
the cam wheel k approaches the spindle of the steam valve i, which it once more
opens for a short space of time, so that the steam may again force the working
liquid outwards, the cycle of operations being repeated over and over again.
In order to ensure continuous action upon both the wheel b and its shaft a, a
number of such ejectors may be made to co-operate simultaneously, if desired.
The operation remains substantially unaltered where, instead of steam, some
other driving medium, in the shape of vapour or gas under pressure, say,
compressed air or carbonic acid, or a blast produced by an explosive mixture (such
as used in gas or explosive engines), is sent through the pipe h. In the modified
form of apparatus represented in Fig. 3 .the steam or the like, which forces the
operating liquid onward before it, does not, in this instance, issue from an ejector
direct; nor does it act conjointly with the liquid upon the blades or paddles of a
wheel, but it is conducted through tubing, such as o, from the casing e¹ of the
apparatus to the jacket p of a turbine q. After having given up its inherent
power to such turbine, the operating liquid either returns to the casing c¹ through
another piper or where ordinary water is used for an operating liquid it may be
simply discharged, or wasted. As regards the steam carried along with the water
through the pipe o, it escapes through an exhaust pipe s, fitted on to the turbine
casing p.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In the propulsion or operation of motors the employment of a current or blast
of steam, gas, air or the like in which a liquid or diffusible body is inserted and
moved along, the liquid or the like absorbing an amount of power proportionate
to its volume and to the velocity of the steam or the like and transmitting it to
an operative part of the motor substantially as described.
2. In the propulsion or operation of motors the employment of a current or blast
of steam, gas, air, or the like in which a liquid or diffusible body is inserted and
moved along such liquid or the like being projected against an operative part of
the motor and subsequently re-introduced into the current of steam or the like
substantially as described.
3. For the propulsion or operation of a motor such as a water wheel an ejector
having a chamber through a valve in which the liquid or the like is able to enter
a suitable nozzle, an inlet valve controlling the steam or the like and means for
periodically operating such valve substantially as and for the purpose described.
4. For the propulsion or operation of a motor such as a turbine or water wheel
an ejector apparatus substantially as described in the preceding claim and means
for carrying the steam or the like bearing the water or diffusible body to the
turbine or motor with or without means for returning the water or diffusible body
to the ejector substantially as described.

page_text: 5. The arrangement and construction of apparatus substantially as and for the
purpose described and as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.
6. The arrangement and construction of apparatus substantially as and for the
purpose described and as illustrated in Fig. 3.
Dated this 28th day of April 1897.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
Chartered Patent Agent, London,
For the Applicant.