IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY ENGINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Blakeley, of Liverpool, in the County o:
Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY
ENGINES."
Sealed the 16th November 1860, and dated the 21st May 18 6
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Blakeley at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st May 1860.
I, THOMAS BLAKELEY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ROTATORY ENGINES," to be as follows:-
My improved rotatory engine may be worked by steam or other clastic fluid
for obtaining and transmitting power, or it may be operated by other power,
and used as a pump for raising and lifting liquids. My improvements relate
to that class of rotary engines in which the main shaft is carried through
one or both of the ends or the top or bottom of the cylinder, and in which it is
also the centre of the piston motion. The inside of one or both of the ends or
top or bottom of the cylinder is formed into a cam in which move friction
rollers or other contrivance fastened to the piston. The piston consists of
two wings or parts secured to the centre shaft, and dividing the cylinder into
two spaces, these wings or piston abutments are elevated or depressed by
the form of the cam for the admission and exit of steam and for allowing
the piston to pass the ports.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Blakeley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th November 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BLAKELEY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS ller most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Blakeley, Her special licence that 1, the said Thomas Blakeley,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Blakeley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make
tise, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ROTATORY ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
1, the said Thomas Blakeley, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Thomas Blakeley, 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 improvements relate to that class of rotatory engines in which the main
shaft is carried through one or both of the ends, or the top or bottom of the
cylinder, and in which it is also the centre of the piston motion. The inside
of one or both of the ends or top or bottom of the cylinder is formed into a
cam in which move friction rollers, or other contrivance fastened to the piston.
The piston consists of two wings or parts secured to the centre shaft and
dividing the cylinder into two spaces, these wings or abutments are elevated
when passing the steam entrance and exit ports by the form of the cam.
My engine may be worked by steam or other clastic fluid for obtaining and
transmitting power, or it may be operated by other power and used as a
pump; apart from the above as the most useful applications, it may be used

page_text: as a a hydraulic motive power engine, and for exhausting and forcing air, and
other fluids. The various adaptations, however, will be readily perceived by
engineers and others acquainted with such like machinery, and I will therefore
proceed to describe the various parts in a continuous delineation, making
reference by letters to the Sheet of Drawings accompanying this, which
represent at Fig 1, a transverse section, and at Fig. 2, a longitudinal section
of my Invention, arranged as a motive power steam engine. The same letters
of reference indicate the same parts in both views. a represents the framing
made of cast iron, and having suitable brass bearings b, for the main shaft c
which is made of sufficient length for connections to transmit motion; d the
cylinder of cast iron smoothly bored; e the cylinder ends or covers also of cast
iron properly faced and with elliptical cams or grooves f formed therein;
9 the boss of iron cast hollow, keyed to the main shaft, and which may
be considered as forming part of the same; h, rings (in segments or other-
wise) of metal neatly recessed in the boss, and with spiral or other springs at
the back to keep them close up to the cylinder ends or covers, and thus prevent
the steam from reaching the journals i, and the centre space in the boss g; j
the pistons, wings or abutments fitted in spaces in the boss g; k, friction rollers
attached to the pistons; 7, a veo-shaped space in the pistons to ensure perfect
lubrication in the cams or grooves f; m, the steam spaces; na divisional
block between the entrance port o and exit p; q the steam exhaust pipe; r
the steam supply cock. The steam may be worked expansively as in
ordinary engines by "cut off" gearing, or it may be used in a continuous
stream as shewn by the arrows on the illustrations herewith, in which it acts
on one side of one of the pistons, wings, or abutments, forcing it forward, and
then on the equivalent side of the other, moving it in the same direction, both
pistons being drawn from and pressed against the inner surface of the cylinder
at the proper time by the cams or grooves f and friction rollers k. I prefer
making the parts of the metals named, all of which require to be well finished
and closely fitted together.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention and
the mode of putting the same in operation, I would have it distinctly under-
stood, that I do not confine myself to the exact details laid down, neither do I
confine myself to the use of any of the metals mentioned herein, as such may
be variously modified and adopted without departing from the principle of the
same, but what I claim as my Invention and which to the best of my know-
ledge and belief has not been hitherto used within the realm is, constructing
rotary engines with pistons, wings, or abutments fitted in the main shaft or a boss
as part of the same, the said pistons, wings, or abutments having attachments

page_text: fitting into cams or grooves formed in the cylinder ends or covers, in connec-
tion with packing rings and springs and other necessary parts, as herein set
forth and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Blakeley, have hercunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
THOMAS BLAKELEY. (L. S.
In the presence of,
JOHN THOMSON KING, Patent Agent,
4, Clayton Square, Liverpool.