IMPROVEMENTS IN ACTUATING MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED THEREFOR
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Colin Brown, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ACTUATING MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS
EMPLOYED THEREFOR."
Sealed the 24th December 1867, and dated the 28th June 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Colin Brown at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
June 1867.
I, COLIN BROWN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ACTUATING MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS
EMPLOYED THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the application of atmospheric air heated
whilst under compression for the purpose of driving motive-power engines,
and it is based upon an Invention for which Provisional Protection was granted
to Andrew McCallum, of Greenock, bearing date February 28th 1867, and
numbered 558, it consists as follows:-In compressing atmospheric air into
a receiver or vessel to any density required; when compressed the air is
heated by steam or other means suitably applied. The increased expansibility
of the air obtained from the elevation of its temperature constitutes the motive
force, whilst the original compression at a normal temperature is a constant
force in the receiver. The air after escaping from the cylinder may be allowed

page_text: to exhaust into the atmosphere, or it may be condensed or cooled in any
convenient manner to be again pumped and compressed into the receiver.
The engine may therefore under this Invention be used as a condensing
engine; if used as the latter the air may be cooled before being pumped into
the receiver in any convenient manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Colin Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
December 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, COLIN
BROWN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Colin Brown, Her special license that I, the said Colin Brown,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Colin Brown, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at auy
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ACTUATING MOTIVE-POWER ENGINES, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MEANS EMPLOYED
THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Colin
Brown, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Colin Brown, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object the application of atmospheric air
heated whilst under compression for the purpose of driving motive-power

page_text: engines, and it is based upon an Invention for which Letters Patent were
granted to Andrew McCallum, of Greenock, bearing date the 28th day of
February 1867, numbered 558, it consists as follows:-In compressing atmo-
spheric air into a receiver or vessel to any density required; when compressed
the air is heated by steam or other means suitably applied. The increased
expansibility of the air, obtained from the elevation of its temperature,
constitutes the motive force, whilst the original compression at a normal
temperature is a constant force in the receiver. The air after escaping from
the cylinder may be allowed to exhaust into the atmosphere, or it may be
condensed or cooled in any convenient manner to be again pumped and
compressed into the receiver.
The engine may therefore under this Invention be used as a condensing or
non-condensing engine, if used as the latter the air may be cooled before being
pumped into the receiver in any convenient manner.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I now
proceed more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner in or under
which the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, that is to
say:-
This Invention may be applied to actuate all engines constructed generally
similar to steam or other motive-power engines either on the high-pressure
or low-pressure system, or both combined. The air is compressed into a
receiver which may be enclosed in a furnace, or it may be situated in a steam
boiler or in the receiver, a coil or coils of pipes may be placed and surrounded
with steam of a high temperature, or through which steam may be passed,
thus maintaining the air in the coil or coils or receiver at the requisite tempera-
ture and pressure. In the high-pressure engine the motive force obtained is
that due to the pressure of the heated and compressed air in the receiver minus
the pressure of the external atmosphere. The admission of the heated com-
pressed air to the cylinder may be regulated by valves worked by expansion
gear; and in order to produce a more uniform rotation two or more engines
may be coupled together, in which the degree of expansion is regulated, so
that the combined pressure in the cylinders is nearly the same at all times.
After the heated compressed air has passed through the cylinders it may be
allowed to escape into the atmosphere. In the condensing engine the heated
compressed air is condensed in a condenser or cooled in any convenient
manner and again pumped and compressed into the receiver, thus the same
supply of air is repeatedly used without loss other than that unavoidable
through leakage.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner

page_text: in or under which the same is or may be used or practically carried into
effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I consider novel and original,
and therefor claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is, the actuating of motive-power engines, either
condensing or non-condensing, by the application of heated compressed
atmospheric air, substantially in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, 'the said Colin Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-seven.
COLIN BROWN. (L.B.)