IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPRESSING AIR AND GASES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury, in
the County of Middlesex, and of 24, Boulevart Poissonnière, Paris, in the
Republic of France, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of March,
in the fourteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, my exors, adiiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter
Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plan-
tations abroad, the Invention of "FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPRESSING AIR AND
GASES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," communicated to me from
abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, shall particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, declare the nature of the
said Invention .communicated to me, and the manner in which 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 there-
unto annexed, and to the several Figures therein contained, in which Figures
the several letters of reference represent, in all of them, parts which are
similar, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in compressing in one or more
recipients, by means of a liquid acted upon by bydraulic presses, the air or
gases contained in the same recipients, and to employ them in such a state
of compression as a motive power. To carry out the purpose of the Invention,
one or more recipients having a cylindrical form, and their extremities
terminated by two semi-hemispheres of a suitable capacity, are employed.
In one of those recipients, when several are required, which is generally the
case, the compressing liquid is forced to pass alternately by means of hydraulic
presses, which are set in motion by water, oil, or any other liquid, even by a
metallic liquid such as mercury. This liquid in its turn forces the air or gases
which are in the reservoir, and compresses them into other recipients, where
they are kept by means of valves. When the first reservoir receiving the
liquid is full, a valve which permits its egress is raised, and the said liquid is
taken back by the presses, and forced to get into the next recipient. During the
aforesaid first recipient is discharging, a valve on the top allows, when opened,
the ingress of the atmospheric air, which in its turn takes the place of the
liquid. The above-described operation is repeated until the required pression
is obtained. In hydraulic works the unemployed water during night time
serves to compress the air, which in its turn is employed in day time to increase
the power of the water wheel. In Figures 1 and 2, A represents the bodies of
the presses; B, B, the double-acting pistons; C, an axis, put in motion by
any convenient motive power; 1) is an elliptic excentric fixed to the axis C,
for the purpose of giving an alternate motion to the pistons B, B; E, E, small
rollers turning on their own axes, in order to avoid the frictions of the ex-
centric D, D; F, F, are the press valves; G, G, G, are cast iron or brass
reservoirs containing the liquid into which the internal valves F, F, plunge;

page_text: H, H, H, levers serving to raise the valves F, F, and plunged into the liquid
in order to counterbalance the effect of the presses; I, I, springs for main-
taining the lever H, H, and internal valves F, F; J, J, cast iron or brass
recipients into which presses force the liquid to enter, and this last, taking the
place of the air, compels it to pass into the one recipients R, R, R; L, lever
raising a valve similar to that represented by U, Figure 5. When this valve is
raised, the air enters alternately in one of the cast iron or brass recipients J, J,
and replaces then the liquid. K, lever, provided at one of the extremities
with another lever rod, raising the valve U, in order to allow the liquid to
return into the reservoirs G, G, G, when one of the metallic recipients J,.J,
is entirely full, and so on alternately. N is a lever serving to raise the
valve U, herein-after described in Figure 5, when the air or gases arc com-
pressed into one of the iron recipients R, R, and to shut also the said valve U
to prevent the return of the air or gases in one of the recipient J, J, when
the ingress of the liquid in one of the reservoirs G, G, takes place.
N is a
lever by which a valve, similar to the valve U, is put in motion, and serving
also to effect, when necessary, a communication between the two herein-before
described recipients J, J. O, Figures 1 and 2, is a small iron or brass
recipient placed underneath the conduct pipe X. It serves to warehouse the
surabondant part of the liquid, and prevents it to return in the recipients R, R,
herein-after described; P, discharge cock, fixed to the herein-before described
recipient 0; Q Figure 2, are discharge cocks of the recipients R, R, and by
which those recipients are cleared of the liquid which might have escaped
from the herein-before described small recipient O; R, R, Figures 1, 2, 3,
and 4, iron or brass recipients for warehousing the compressed air or gases
when they are to be used; S, S, S, S, S, are screw valves for the emission or
retention of the compressed air or gases; T, Figure 4, is a stopper or float
valve closing the passage above the transparent glass tube, and providing
against the neglect of the man conducting the apparatus; U, Figure 4, the
section of a lever and of its valve; V is a transparent glass tube for ascer-
taining the elevation of the liquid, or whether the recipient is quite full;
X, Figures 1 and 2, represent the conduct pipes through which the com-
pressed liquid passes into the recipient J, J; X', X', Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4,
represent the conduct pipes for the passage of the compressed air or gases
from the recipients J, J, into the recipients R, R; Y is the connecting pipe
between the two reservoirs G, G; Z is a safety valve for preventing the
breaking of the conduct pipes and recipients. When the apparatus is put in
motion, the hydraulic presses force the liquid into the recipients J, J, which,
being filled up by a non-compressible body, displace the air or gases contained