A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE, ACTUATED BY SOLUBLE GASSES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of No. 11, Wellington
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE, ACTUATED BY
SOLUBLE GASSES."—A communication from abroad by Georges Thomas
de Kercado. of No. 64. Faubouro St Martin Paris Duence
Sealed the 6th June 1873, and dated the 12th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 12th December 1872.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE, ACTUATED
BY SOLUBLE GASSES," a communication to me from abroad by Georges
Thomas de Kercado, of No. 64, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France, to
be as follows:-
:-
The principle of this motive-power engine is based particularly on
the use of gasses having the property of dilating or expanding at a low
temperature, and of condensing with equal facility. Thus chloridric acid
gas, ammoniac, and "metillyac" gas possess these properties in various

page_text: degrees, and all have a very great affinity for water, from whence their
easy condensation. A volume of water absorbs about 400 volumes
of chloric acids, 600 volumes of ammoniac, and nearly 1000 volumes of
metillyac gas; preference is therefore given to this latter gas over the
others for this last property, and the apparatus herein-after described has 5
been constructed for its application.
The particular arrangements of this motive-power engine are therefore
based upon the expansion and the condensation of this gas, which after
having passed through its different phases reconstitutes itself again to
recommence the operation, and that with a very slight expenditure of 1
fuel.
These arrangements are illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawing forming part of this Provisional Specification.
A is the generator, in which the soluble gas separates itself under the
influence of heat from the liquid which had dissolved it. This gas, in
passing by the pipe a, gocs into the reservoir B, where it stores itself, to
come from thence, and alternately operate one of the cylinders C, O',
passing by the elbow pipe b and the distributing box m. These cylinders
are single action, and in order to avoid a loss of this gas by the stuffing
boxes it acts upon the driving pistons upon the side opposite to the 1
opening of the cylinder.
D is a condenser, in which the gas and the absorbing liquid reunite.
The gas coming from the cylinders through the pipes c, c', and the
liquid coming from the casing or jacket E by the pipe e. In the interior
of this condenser are inclined tables the one upon the other, on which
the liquid falling from the pipe e runs in a cascade, thereby facilitating
the absorption of the gas.
E, casing surrounding the reservoir B, and receiving the liquid forced
from the generator A through the pipe d; the liquid, after having cooled
therein by the distillation of the gas of the reservoir B, goes to the
condenser by the pipe c.
Thus from the generator to the condenser the gas passes by the pipe a,
the reservoir B, the pipe b, the distributing box m, the cylinders C or C³,
and pipes c, c². The liquid under the pressure of the gas disengaged in
the generator by the heat passes by the pipe d, casing or jacket E, and
pipe e.

page_text: The course of the gas is indicated by red and that of the liquid by
blue arrows.
After complete absorption of the gas by the liquid the solution made
in the condenser goes to the receiver F by the conduit f, which thus
forms the communication between the condenser and this receiver.
g, h, pipes establishing a communication between the receiver F and
the generator. These pipes f, g, h, are furnished with valves, which act
alternately in such a manner as to permit the entrance of the solution
coming from the condenser and its introduction into the generator, where
it soon reassumes its gaseous state by the effect of the distillation which
takes place in this latter, to recommence indefinitely the same circuit.
To sum up, the constitutive principle of this Invention rests upon the
chemical application of gas possessing the propertics above specified, and
which have been demonstrated by science, to the construction of a novel
motive-power engine so constructed as to conform to the exigences of
this new application.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, Į, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Gedge, 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
•

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"A NEW OR IMPROVED MOTIVE-POWER ENGINE, ACTUATED BY SOLUBLE GASES," a
communication to me from abroad by Georges Thomas de Kercado, of
No. 64, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, 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 William Edward Gedge, 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:-
The property which certain gases have of dissolving rapidly and in
considerable proportion in certain substances permits their employment
as a motive power :—
Take, for example, a cylinder similar to those of steam engines, having
a movable piston, and communicating with a receiver containing a
solution saturated with "methyliac" gas. If the temperature of the
solution be raised a few degrees a part of the gas will escape therefrom,
and by its expansive force uplift the piston. If the receiver be then
allowed to cool the gas will be again absorbed, and the piston will
descend either by its own weight or by the aid of a fresh supply of gas
coming from a second reservoir heated in its turn, or by means of any
power.
.
the
To obtain a rapid motion, the soluble gas may be compressed before-
hand in a reservoir and made to act on the movable piston. By suitably
arranging a slide valve and cocks or valves as in steam engines,
communication between the cylinder and the reservoir filled with com-
pressed gas may be cut off when the piston has completed its upward
movement, and communication be established with a second receiver
containing a substance having the property of rapidly dissolving the gas
employed. The gas contained in the cylinder having been absorbed, the
piston will be brought back to its point of departure either by a fresh

page_text: quantity of compressed gas acting in an inverse direction, as in double
action engines, by a weight, by atmospheric pressure, or any other kind
of power as in single action engines. This come-and-go movement may
be applied directly to certain purposes, for example, to a pump, a press,
a lever, or a jack, or be transmitted to any kind of machine by the aid
of a lever, connecting rod, or other known mechanical means.
To give an exact idea of this motive-power engine, it cannot be better
compared than to a steam engine in which the generator is replaced by
a reservoir containing the compressed gas, and the condenser by the
reservoir containing a substance which dissolves the gas when this latter
has acted on the piston of the machine.
When the entire supply of gas has been absorbed, by raising the
temperature of the solution the gas in the absorbing reservoir may be
distilled into the first receiver by means of a connecting tube, which
may be opened or closed at will. The same supply of gas will thus serve
indefinitely.
With the apparatus I have just described the play of the engine would
be interrupted during the distillation; it could therefore only be used in
cases where a continuous working was not required, but it is possible to
avoid all interruption. In fact the gas which returns from the absorbing
reservoir into the other receiver may be made to pass by the cylinder of
the engine. The condenser would, therefore, in its turn fill the office of
generator, and during the time lost in raising the temperature of the
absorbing substance, or, in allowing it to cool, a second system of
reservoirs identical with the first may be brought into action.
If the absorbing substance is liquid continuous action may be
obtained more simply by the aid of a third reservoir specially intended
for the distillation of the dissolved gas, and which would be constantly
fed while the other two reservoirs work as above set forth. Thus
from the generator in which the distillation takes place the gas goes
into a reservoir intended to store it. From the reservoir it passes
into the cylinder of the machine, then having acted on the piston it goes
into the condenser where it again dissolves in the liquid which arrives by
another conduit. In fact the liquid from the generator having given
off its gas is after being suitably cooled forced into the condenser,
there it absorbs the gas which comes from the cylinder, and then the

page_text: solution is brought by a particular mechanical arrangement into the
generator to be again submitted to distillation. By combining the
respective dimensions of the three reservoirs the absorbing liquid may
be constantly kept in the condenser below its point of saturation, while
the quantity of gas necessary to the continuous working of the engine is
being distilled.

page_text: In order that this double circulation may be seen at a glance the
course of the gasses is indicated by red, and that of the liquid by blue
arrows.
F, receiver, serving to bring back into the generator the solution made
in the condenser by the meeting of the liquid and the gas.
f, conduit furnished with a valve establishing communication between
the condenser and the receiver F.
g, h, pipes also furnished with valves, by which the receiver F com-
municates with the generator. When in the condenser, the gas has been
absorbed by the liquid, the solution passes by the pipe f into the receiver F,
then, by the aid of a special mechanical arrangement it returns by the
pipe 9 into the generator to be submitted to a fresh distillation, and begin
again indefinitely the same circuit.
The arrangement of valves, the play of which serves to bring the
solution from the condenser into the generator, is shown at Fig. 2.
8, 8', o, valves of the pipes g, h, f.
t, rod, uniting the valves s and s¹, and furnished with a projection
which opens the valve o when the two first are in the position shown by
the Figure.
C
The distillation takes place in the generator A. The gas goes by the
pipe a into the reservoir B, from thence it passes by the pipe b into the
slide box m, then into the cylinders C and C¹; and finally by the pipes c
and c¹ into the condenser D. On the other hand the liquid in the
generator after disengaging its gas is driven by its pressure into the
pipe d; this pipe leads it to the jacket E which envelops the reser.
voir B, there the liquid is cooled by the considerable lowering of
temperature produced by the dilitation of the gas which escapes from
the reservoir B into the cylinders, then it passes by the pipe e into the
condenser. In falling into this latter reservoir it absorbs the gas
arriving from the cylinders, and the solution then passes by the conduit
into the receiver F, from whence it returns by the pipe 7 into the
generator to be again distilled.
Thus it is the pressure of the gas occupying the upper part of the
generator which drives the liquid into the pipe d, and forces it to
circulate in the jacket E and pipe e until it falls into the condenser.
It must be observed that the interior of the condenser is furnished with

page_text: tables or plates inclined the one on the other, which allow the water to
fall in a cascade to the bottom of the reservoir in order to facilitate the
absorption of the gas.
There remains to explain the mechanism which permits the solution
to return from the condenser into the generator. For this purpose a
receiver F is placed level with the first reservoir and above the second.
It communicates with the condenser by the conduit f and with the
generator by two pipes 9 and h, the one starting from its base the other
from its upper part. The three pipes f, g, h, are provided with valves.
I
Assume the conduit to be open, the pipes 9 and h closed, and that
the receiver F is empty, the solution will rise in this receiver to the
same level as in the condenser; now if the valves of the pipes 9 and h
open and that of the conduit ƒ closes the liquid contained in the receiver
F being submitted top and bottom to the pressure of the gas from the
generator will fall into this latter by its own weight, and will be
replaced by the gas in the receiver F. When on the contrary the pipes
g and h close again, and that the conduit fopens, the solution in the
condenser, which is far from its point of saturation, will absorb the gas
which fills the receiver F, the vacuum will be produced and the liquid
will penetrate therein in virtue of the law of communicating vases to fall
into the generator when the valves of the three pipes again begin to
work as previously set forth. The valves are self-acting.
This will be clearly understood by reference to Figure 2. The valves s
and s¹ are united by a rod t, a projection upon which strikes against
a lever causing it to open the valve o. The valve s¹ receives from above, a
downwards, the same pressure which the valve s supports from below,
upward. These are only upheld in the position shown in the Drawing
by means of a spring. When a certain quantity of the solution has
penetrated into the receiver F its weight overcomes the power of the
spring, causes the valves s and s¹ to lower, opens the pipes 9 and h and
the liquid falls into the generator. At the same moment the valve o
being no longer upheld by the rod closes the conduit
pressure of the gas which has penetrated into the receiver F.
solution has fallen into the generator the spring brings back the valves 8
and s¹ to their first position, and the rod again uplifts the valve o; by this a
means this latter valve will close directly, the two others open, and vice
under the
When the

page_text: versa.
It should be observed that the quantity of liquid which falls
from the receiver into the generator is exactly equal to that which runs
from the generator into the pipe d. It is in fact this latter quantity
which drives an equal volume of liquid by the pipe e into the condenser,
and it is the level of the liquid in the condenser, which is the same in the
receiver F that regulates the weight necessary to the working of the
valves. In lieu of this mechanism there may however be employed
simply a pump which will force the solution from the condenser into the
generator. But the power by which this pump is to be worked must be
taken from the power of the engine.
The Drawing shows two cylinders, each single acting, in order to
avoid any possibility of escape of gas by the stuffing box. In fact, the gas
acting upon the part of these cylinders which has no communication
with the exterior will have two obstacles to overcome in order to escape.
It would have to pass firstly between the edges of the piston and the
sides of the cylinder into the empty compartment before it could escape
by the stuffing box. As an additional precaution the piston rods may
be made to pass through a double bottom containing some of the
absorbing substance for the purpose of dissolving, as fast as it arrives,
the small quantity of gas which might pass the first division. Finally,
if these precautions are more than sufficient it is clear that a single
double acting cylinder may be employed. Everything will depend upon
the perfection of the stuffing box.
The pipes a and d may be cooled, if necessary, by a current of cold air
or any other source of cold. They are provided with valves in order that
when the distillation is interrupted, and that consequently there will no
longer be any pressure in the generator, the liquid and the gas which
have already been separated may not again descend into it and there
again form a solution which would result in the loss of the benefit of
the distillation which has just taken place. The valve of the pipe a
closes automatically under the pressure of the gas contained in the
receiver B, and that of the pipe d by the weight of the liquid contained
in the jacket E.
The machine which I have just described necessitates the purchase of
a driving agent, but this expense once incurred it is always the same
sunnly which serves indefinitely, and if required without interruption.
'

page_text: The most soluble gasses will be the most advantageously used as
driving agent. Thus, water absorbing at an average temperature about
500 times its volume of chlorhydric acid, 700 times its volume of
ammonia gas, from 700 to 800 times its volume of fluoride of borium,
and more than 1000 times its volume of "methyliac" gas, a very small
quantity of water will be sufficient to absorb considerable quantities of
gas. Most of these gasses having also the property of becoming
liquified under more or less pressure, large quantities may be stored in
small bulk.
CE
Take for exaple "methyliac" gas, which is the most soluble of all
gasses and dissolves instantaneously in water. In a reservoir of 1 cubic
metre there may be condensed in a liquid state under a pressure of two
or three atmospheres a quantity of methyliac gas which under average.
pressure would occupy 900 cubic metres; this volume of gas would be
absorbed by less than one cubic metre of water at the ordinary
temperature. Water has also the property of dissolving less methyliac
gas the more the temperature of the water is raised; at about 60 degrees
centigrade" it abandons nearly all the dissolved gas. A great saving of
fuel will therefore be obtained in comparison with the consumption
required in the production of steam. Gas ammonia possesses nearly the
same properties as 'methyliac" gas, it is however absorbed in less
quantity and does not distil completely until at about 70 degrees "cen-
tigrade;" on these two grounds it is less advantageous than methyliac
gas, but as it does not liquify at the ordinary temperature excepting
under a pressure of 6 or 7 atmospheres it would give a greater driving
power. With chlorhydric acid which becomes liquid only under a
pressure of from about 40 to 45 atmospheres the motive-power is
enormous.
"
Water is not the only absorbing substance which may be used. Thus
gaseous chloride of cyanogen dissolving largely in alcohol, these two
bodies may be employed together, the first as motive-power agent,
the second as absorbent. In the same way chloride of silver which
largely dissolves gas ammonia may fulfil the functions of absorbent, and
as this body abandons the greatest part of the dissolved gas at a tem-
perature of from 38 to 40 degrees "centigrade," while water abandons
it only towards 70 degrees, a greater saving of fuel will be obtained in
the distillation,

page_text: In short any gas having the property of dissolving rapidly and in large
proportion in another body, and of being afterwards easily distilled
therefrom may be used as motive-power agent. The choice of one or
other gas or of one or other absorbing body will depend upon various
circumstances; on the facility with which these substances may be
procured; on the economy it is desired to realize in the distillation; on
the speed which it is desired to give to the machine; and the greater or
zon noquined