IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SIMONS STEAM-GAS MOTOR, WITH BURNING FLAME IN THE CYLINDER
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Carl Kesseler at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 13th October 1880. A communication from
Mr. Otto Henniges, of the Firm of Otto Henniges and Company, Martinicken-
felde, near Berlin.
"
CARL KESSELER, of 63, Mohrenstrasse, Berlin, W., in the Empire of Germany,
Civil Engineer and Patent Solicitor. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SIMONS STEAM-GAS
MOTOR, WITH BURNING FLAME IN THE CYLINDER." A communication from
Mr. Otto Henniges, of the Firm of Otto Henniges and Company, Martinickenfelde,
near Berlin.
This Invention relates to improvements upon the Simons steam-gas motor, with
burning flame in the cylinder, in which motor a cut off valve is arranged by
which the admission of steam to the working cylinder can be cut off or regulated.
This valve I omit, and substitute for it a valve (which I place upon the steam
pipe which conducts the steam to the distributing slide) which automatically opens
when the steam pressure in the chamber is greater than the pressure of the gases
in the working cylinder, and closes when the pressure of the gases exceeds that of
the steam. By this means only that quantity of steam is consumed which is
generated by the outgoing gases and the abstraction of heat from the walls of the
working cylinder, and by the automatic regulation no special application of power
is needed for working the valve.
It has been found in the Simons machine that the diaphragm arranged behind
the slide-chest, through which the gases flow into the working cylinder, frequently
becomes choked and requires cleaning. Now to render the sieve plates which I
employ easy of access I do not place them behind the slide-chest, but quite
independently, so that by unfastening a screw and removing a cover or lid they
can be taken out and cleaned in a very short time.
Further, it is inconvenient to light the flame burning in the interior through a
touch hole, and is not always successful. I therefore employ a conical burner-tube
in a cock chamber cast on the cylinder, upon the point of which a diaphragm is
arranged; the upper part of the tube is provided with a projecting cap, china, steel,
malleable iron, platina, or other not easily fusible material; the object of this cap
is to prevent the flame from being blown out by the outflowing gases.
The
external end of this burner-tube is fitted with a handle and connected by a flexible

page_text: or jointed pipe or tube to a gas reservoir. A pin or lug projects at right angles to
the length of the burner-tube, and catches upon a suitable projection upon the wall
of the cylinder, so that it holds the burner-tube securely when in place, but allows
of its easy removal. To light the gas take out the burner-tube and replace it with
the flame burning.
The brass sieves forming the diaphragm in the Simons machine cause friction
and loss of power, and to diminish this loss I prefer to conduct the gases through
fine tubes arranged upon the well-known plan of the surface condenser, and cooled
by a stream of water. To increase the cooling surface the gases may be conducted
through a narrow annular space formed by two tubes, one inside the other,
arranged in a suitable series within a chamber, the inner tube being filled with
water and the outer one surrounded therewith.
In the Simon machine a hand pump is used for compressing the mixture of gas
in a reservoir at starting, and to feed the flame; now I so combine this pump with
the machine that the former can, after starting, be coupled with the machine, so
that the igniting flame is always fed by this pump and not by the compressing
pump.
The lubrication of the compressing and driving pistons in most gas motors is
effected by lubricating cocks, by which oil is periodically admitted to the cylinder,
but this oil gets on to the upper surface of the piston in considerable quantities,
and this (upon the driving piston) is either burned at the next ignition of gas or
expelled as oil-vapour through the outlet valve; in either case the lubrication is
defective, and hardly lasts for more than a single stroke, if so long. Lubricant for
a longer period is provided in the walls of the compressing cylinder, but not with-
out unavoidably superfluous quantities being thrown against the diaphragm placed
between the compressing cylinder and the working cylinder and choking it. This
is a very important matter, and I seek to attain continuous and reliable lubrication
in the following manner :-Below the vertical cylinders I place annular oil
reservoirs, into which a ring or projecting rim upon each piston dips at every
stroke. These rings are notched and sharpened, and for the better distribution of
the oil oblique slots are made in between every two teeth close above them, and on
the outer periphery of the piston, and the supply of oil can be regulated by
increasing or diminishing the number of teeth, by alteration in their shape, or by
making the dips into the oil reservoirs deeper or shallower. The oil reservoirs are
fed from an oil holder closed at the top, and having a little valve at the bottom;
this is contained in a chamber or case, and so arranged that the bottom of the
holder is on a level with the proper height of the oil in the reservoirs, the stalk or
equivalent of the little valve resting on the bottom of the case so as to keep the
valve a little open for the flow of oil. When the oil in the reservoirs falls below the
proper level the valve becomes free, and air entering, oil passes out till the proper
level is again attained. The process is repeated till all the oil has passed away.
This device is well known in the old oil lamp with regulating oil reservoir, but its
application to this purpose is new. A set screw is provided for regulating the
height of the oil holder within the case, and the holder is preferably of size to hold
a supply for one day.
By this careful lubrication the steam which is used in the Simon motor becomes
unnecessary, and this is a very important improvement, because without the use of
steam the Simon machine is much simplified. Of course this method of lubrica-
tion is applicable to vertical cylinders only; in horizontal ones which are fed with
steam as that of Simon a continuous lubrication of the steam is provided.
In gas motors with double cylinders, of which one serves to take in and com-
press the gas mixture and the other is the working cylinder, the compressing
cylinder is fitted with a suction and a pressure valve, and between the two
cylinders a slide was hitherto inserted, which as soon as the working piston arrives
into its highest position, admits the compressed gas mixture into the working
cylinder. The slide I omit, and replace it by a device for keeping the pressure
valve of the compressing cylinder closed. I employ a weight or spring upon or in

page_text: connection with the spindle of the pressure valve, and bring a rod to the shaft of
the engine; this rod terminates in a roller which rests against a cam upon the
said shaft. The gases are compressed by the upstroke of the compressing piston,
because they cannot escape through the valve which is kept down by the load
until the piston in the working cylinder attains its highest position, when the
cam lifts the rod and valve and the gas then flows through the open valve from the
compressing cylinder through a diaphragm in the cover or other part of the
working cylinder and is burnt therein. By the shape of the cam the pressure
valve is quickly closed when this has been accomplished and suction can begin.
By this arrangement the machine is much simplified, as the slide and its actuating
mechanism are done away with, and power is also gained by the tight closing of
the pressure piston of the compressing pump.
But the suction valve of the compressing pump also causes loss by tardy closing;
I therefore weight it in the same manner as the pressure valve, and actuate it by
similar mechanism. As the quantity of gas used can be diminished by closing the
suction valve before the end of the stroke, this may be accomplished by the regulator
(or governor). To this end the cam which actuates this valve is fixed to a movable
sleeve upon the shaft, one side of which is helical, whilst the other is parallel to
the shaft. The governor is placed directly upon the shaft so that the balls rotate
in a vertical plane; this moves the sleeve to and fro by a pin in the shaft, so that
when the speed increases the roller in connection with the suction valve shall
make a shorter travel and the valve is sooner closed, and when the speed slackens
the opposite takes place. A vertical governor could of course be used with the
sleeve.
This action of the governor upon a sleeve provided with a similar cam is well
known, but its application for regulating the admission of gas in gas motors is
new.
The outlet valve of the working cylinder is actuated by mechanism similar to the
pressure and suction valves of the pressure cylinder.