IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES TO BE WORKED BY AIR OR OTHER GASES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
HESELTINE, junior, of Bromley, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Ninth day of November, in the seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Heseltine, junior, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Samuel Heseltine, junior, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Samuel Heseltine, junior,
my executors, administrators, 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
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES
TO BE WORKED BY AIR OR OTHER GASES;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Samuel Heseltine, junior, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled 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
Samuel Heseltine, junior, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say :-
These Improvements in Engines to be Worked by Air or other Gases apply
to peculiar constructions of air engines, for which Patents were obtained in
England in the name of William Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chan-
cery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, being communications
from a foreigner residing abroad, and dated severally the Seventeenth day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, and the Fifteenth day
of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty, in which Patent rights I
am now beneficially interested. The engines alluded to are constructed by
the combination of certain parts, the adaptation and use of which produce a
mechanical force capable of being communicated to the purposes of driving
machinery, and consist in a means of obtaining power from the dilatation and
condensation of a volume of air or gas, by transferring that volume of air or
gas alternately from a heated to a cold medium, and back again from a cold to
a heated medium. This machine or engine has a vessel or vessels adapted to
contain a volume or volumes of air or gas, within which are to be performed the
double operations of heating, and thereby expanding the volumes of air, and of
cooling and condensing them, one end of such vessel or vessels being for that
purpose exposed to the action of heat, whilst the other end is kept at a low tem-
perature by its surface being exposed to the action of a current of cold water.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 represents an elevation of my
improved machine or engine in complete working order, consisting of two
close cylindrical vessels, A and B, with all their working appendages as they
would appear externally. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same, the furnaces
in both being shewn in section. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the machine
or engine as represented in Fig. 1, taken through the middle of the cylindrical
vessels. The cylindrical vessels A and B stand vertically, and have each a
recess in the under part formed as the frustrum of a cone a, a, a, against the
surface of which the heat of the fire in the furnaces C, C, below, is intended
to act continually. Within each of the cylindrical vessels A and B a movable
displacer or plunger D, D, is inserted. The external forms of these plungers
are cylindrical at b, b, b, b, fitting loosely to the interior of the vessels A and B,
and they have each at bottom a recess c, c, c, formed as a frustrum of a cone
to correspond to the. forms of the conical shapes of the recess a, a, a, at

page_text: bottom of the cylindrical vessels, and at top a similar recess d. d, d, corre-
sponding to a conical piston E, E, above. The internal surfaces of the cylindrical
vessels A and B are grooved or fluted vertically from the bottom nearly to the
top in the manner shewn in the horizontal section of one of these vessels at
Fig. 4. The plungers D I prefer to make hollow and to fill their interior
with asbestos or some other imperperfect conductor of heat. The pistons E
are formed as frustrums of cones made hollow, and are to be filled with cold
water. These pistons work up and down through short spaces in the upper
parts of the cylinders, which are there made smooth, and those parts of the
pistons which slide in contact with the cylinders are properly packed. The
peculiar constructions of the conical pistons will be better understood by
reference to the vertical section of one of them shewn at Fig. 5. Round
the internal surface of the piston I form a spiral groove e, e, e, and insert
within the piston a conical casing ff.f, which by fitting up to the edge of the
spiral groove forms that groove into a spiral channel for the upward
flow of the water. The top of the piston is covered by a disc formed
plate g. 9, made water-tight at the joints. Through this top plate a
pipe passes down, extending nearly to the bottom of the piston,
which is for the purpose of conducting a stream of cold water. Another
pipe i, passing through the top plate carries off the water as it becomes
heated, and the water so discharged is received into a circular chamber F, F,
surrounding each of the cylinders, from whence it flows off by pipes
into any convenient receptacle. The rods of the pistons marked k, k, are
made hollow for the purpose of allowing the free passage of a rod 1, 7, which
rods are severally attached to the displacers or plungers D, D. These hollow
pistons rodsk may be extended to the bottoms of the pistons, or tubes m, m,
may be carried through them, as shewn in the section, to allow of the free
passage of the rod l and prevent the escape of the water. The piston rods
k, k, pass through the air-tight cap plates n, n, of the cylinders A and B, and
have stuffing boxes; the water pipes h and i likewise pass through the cap
plates and have stuffing boxes, and also the rods 1, l, of the plungers, are
tightly packed in the tops of the hollow piston rods. A horizontal section of
the cylinder A and the other internal parts taken about the level of the dotted
line Z in Fig. 3, is shewn detached at Fig. 6. In this Figure the vertical
grooves of the cylinder A are seen with the section of the plunger D and its
outer surfaces b, b, also the piston E with the water pipe h and rod l; the
external circular chamber F is likewise seen in this Figure.
Having described and pointed out in the Drawings the principal parts and
the construction of my improved air engine, I proceed to shew the means by

page_text: which it is worked and made to exert mechanical force. Supposing all the
parts of the engine to be in the situations shewn in Figures 1, 2, and 3, the
crank G must be turned from the dead point, when a cam H (seen in Fig. 1)
fixed upon the crank shaft will as it goes round, depress the lower lever I ; at
the outer extremity of this lever a rod p is attached, which, at its upper
end is connected to a chain 9 passed over a wheel r above, and the other
extremity of this chain q is connected to and holds up the rod 1, which sustains
the plunger D in the cylinder A, consequently, by the depression of the lever I
the plunger D is raised in the cylinder A, by which rising a portion of the cool
air occupying the space between the recess d, d, of the plunger and the piston
E becomes displaced and passes down the channels or perpendicular grooves in
the interior of the cylinder into the lower recess c, c, of the plunger. In this
situation, the volume of air now within the lower recess of the plunger be-
comes heated, by having been brought into contact with the conical part a, a,
of the cylinder immediately over the furnace. This air, by its accession of heat,
immediately expands, and its pressure exerting itself upwards through the
vertical grooves of the cylinder, act upon the remaining portion of cool air
between the piston and the surface of the upper conical recess d, of the
plunger, and thereby lift the piston E. The main beam K, of the engine
vibrating upon an axle or trunnion s, supported upon the frame work, and the
upper end of the said rod k of the piston E being attached by straps at t to
the beam, when the piston rises the power of the engine is exerted which
lifts that end of the beam, and thereby through the rod u communicates the
driving power to the crank G. At the same time that the larger radius of
the cam H is depressing the lever I, and thereby lifting the plunger D in
the cylinder A, as described, the plunger D in the other cylinder B is allowed
to fall by its own gravity, its suspension rod being connected by a chain q
and rod p to the longer arm of a lever L, mounted on a fulcrum pin v, in a
bracket fixed upon the frame work, as seen in Fig. 1. By the falling of the
plunger in the cylinder B, the heated air in the lower part of that cylinder is
forced up the fluted grooves and is thence brought into contact with the surface
of the piston E (in the cylinder B), charged with cold water, which causes the
air to be instantly cooled and reduced in its elastic force. The piston E, in
the cylinder B, now consequently falls, and thereby assists in moving the
beam K upon its centre, and acts in conjunction with the other piston to
promote the rotary motion to the crank G. Thus it will be perceived (without
repeating the description of the operation as above given) that the actions of
the plungers and pistons in the two cylinders act reciprocally. In working
this engine with two cylinders, it is necessary that a volume of air should

page_text: occupy the upper parts of the two cylinders above the pistons, and that this
volume of air should pass freely from one cylinder to the other as the pistons
rise and fall. This is provided for by a junction pipe w, in the centre of
which pipe there is a throttle valve for the purpose of regulating, or if required,
of stopping the action of the pistons, and this throttle valve may be worked by
a governor in the usual way. The pistons are supplied with currents of water
by a pump and pipe x, x, x, shown in Fig. 1. An air pump y is employed
to increase the density of the air in the cylinders when greater power is
required. z, z, are very small lateral air pipes for preserving the mean density
of the air above and below the pistons.
Having now described the construction of my improved air engine, and the
manner in which it is worked, I desire it to be understood that I do not intend
to claim as new, under the present Patent, the principles upon which the
engine is made to operate. But the particular features of novelty which I do
claim are,
First, the employment of a piston or pistons made hollow and closed at the
top, through which a continual current of cold water is passed, for the purpose
of refrigerating the air in the cylinder.
Secondly, grooving the interior of the cylinder for the passage of the air
from the upper to the lower part of the cylinder, and vice versâ, without
confining myself to any particular forms of groove.
And lastly, I claim the general arrangements of the parts for the construc-
tion of an engine to be worked by the alternate heating and cooling of volumes
of air.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Heseltine, junior, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
(L.B.) SAM HESELTINE, Jun'.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Ninth day of May, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Samuel Heseltine, junior, came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the