IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE- WITH
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Heuri Adrien Bonneville, of the British and
Foreign Patent Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire
of France, and 38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PRODUCTION OF MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE-
WITH." A communication from Jacques Belou, residing at No. 12, Rue
Blanche, Paris, aforesaid, Civil Engineer.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 28th May 1867, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRI
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices, 24, Rue du
Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester Terrace,
Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PRODUCTION OF MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE-
WITH, a communication from Jacques Belou, a person resident at No. 12.
Rue Blanche, Paris, aforesaid, Civil Engineer, and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her
[Price 8d.]

page_text: Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn declaration that
it is a communication.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal,
fully describes and ascertains the nature of the Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the figures marked thereou, that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me relates to a combination of organs,
the object of which is to obtain a motive power by means of a overheated
mixture of air and steam, it is peculiarly distinguished by its mode of
heating in a closed fire-box, and by the arrangement of the parts made use of
to attain the practical result desired. The gaseous mixture is carried to the
temperatures of 400 or 500 degrees centigrade under the usual pressure.
The engine constructed according to this Invention comprises the expansion
gear (détente) as in steam machines generally, and like these may be with or
without a condenser, and receive such forms and applications as usage and
convenience may dictate.
The advantages accruing from the use of this machine are, a reduction in
the consumption of the fuel, and a diminution in the dimensions of the
generators ordinarily employed.
The accompaning Drawings represent a horizontal 25 horse-power engine
under different aspects, at a scale of one-tenth of its actual size, with the
principal organs in their respective positions.
Figures 1 and 2 are a section of the closed fire-box generator with its
accessories, and Figures 3 and 4 are views of the engine properly so called.
The fire-box generator is vertical, and the engine horizontal; the driving
cylinder and the air pump are upon the same frame, but this arrangement
may be followed or not; the essential and peculiar features of the engine
properly so called are to be found in the special form of the piston and in that
of the organs of distribution of the motive power; these latter are made up
of two slide valves within a box filled with a mixture of vegetable oil and
water, or water alone; one of these slide valves regulates the admission and
the expansion, and the other the emission or escape of the steam. These
organs of distribution might be replaced by valves, and in that case the water
box might be suppressed; the piston communicates with the water or with
the saturated steam, that is, the steam which is in contact with the liquid
which produces it of the generator.
Closed Fire-box Generator.-It is principally formed, as represented in the
Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings, of a fire-box surrounded with

page_text: water retained within two soft iron concentric cases, over which is a space
sufficiently large to receive the steam; the fire-box communicates if required
with the flue by means of a conduit, or with the driving cylinder by means of
another lateral conduit. This latter is composed of two concentric conduits
placed one in the other, leaving between each space in which the steam may
circulate; a grate for the fuel separates the fire-box from the ash receiver; a
fire-iron with several prongs serves to clear the grate of the ashes or scoria,
whilst it likewise distributes properly the fuel on the grate. A special fuel
feeder, as also necessary doors are adapted outside a third case, which partly
enveloping the others forms with them in the capacity of ash receiver, and
that which receives the saturated steam; a conduit brings the air compressed
by the pump, another the saturated steam partly below and partly above the
fuel, according to the state of the fire and the requirements of the engine;
the mixture of the air and of the steam, as also their admission into the fire-
box, being regulated by the play of two valves moved either by the hand or by
means of an ordinary regulator belonging to the engine; a third conduit
serves to convey the steam directly to the distribution box of the cylinder, and
to give the initial impetus to the engine; a valve retains the steam from
invading the fire-box during this operation; finally, a feeding water conduit,
a safety valve, a water level indicator, a steam guage, taps, and the necessary
closing fixtures of the flue and the doors complete the whole apparatus of the
engine. I have not represented the water supply pump in the accompanying
Drawings, as it may be replaced by a reservoir in which a sufficient pressure
would be exerted by means of compressed air supplied by the pump. Common
pit coal will be usually employed, but any other sort of fuel inay be used
instead, even gaseous and liquid fuels. As may be seen the steam is here
engendered solely by the action of the fire in contact with the metallic sides
which enclose it, to be afterwards overheated through the fire itself, and
mixed with the air coming from the pump and with the gases formed by the
combustion, but it would be of advantage to employ the heat of the gaseous
mixture in its coming out of the driving cylinder as an auxiliar, to form either
separate steam which would be added to the direct steam or to warm the
water supply in the reservoir. To effect this it would be merely necessary to
add on to the engine one of those apparatuses well known by the name of
regenerators (régénérateurs). The feed air pump might be replaced by an
injector liked that used to supply ordinary steam boilers with water.
It is well known that in these apparatus, generally called Giffard's injectors,
the steam carries away with it the supply water, and it is readily understood
that this apparatus may be applied in a like manner to carry away the air in

page_text: the fire-box.
What precedes relates to an engine actuated by means of
overheated air and steam, butone of these two agents may be used by itself, and
I
propose e in case overheated steam is to be used alone to replace the comburant
power (pouvoir comburant) exercised by the air on the fuel by a power equally
comburant, which the steam thus used would be made to acquire. To effect
this the steam would be brought into a very powerful heating apparatus placed
either in the closed fire-box or in any other separate fire-box, and it would
then be directed through the burning fuel. The property which the steam
acquires by a powerful overheating may be used to advantage in replacing the
comburant power of the air in fuel-tight engines, and in most cases where the
combustion is fed by ventilators or by blasts.
Having now particularly described the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would have it to be clearly
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details above enumerated,
as these may obviously be modified without departing from the principle of
the Invention, according to the special construction and intended applications
of the engines in which they are adopted; but what I claim is,
1º. The different combined organs which constitute the herein-before
described apparatus, as also the manner in which they are rendered co-
ordinate.
2. The manner of obtaining a motive power by the combined action of a
mixture of air and steam, by the means herein-before described and re-
presented in the accompanying Drawings.
3. The manner of protecting the slide valves against the action of the heat
and that of the friction under high temperatures, by causing them to move in
a mixture of vegetable oil and water, or in water alone.
4°. The manner of lubrifying or greasing the driving cylinder and its piston
by bringing under a sufficient pressure water, oil, or steam alone on the
friction surfaces, by putting the inside of the piston in communication with
the water or steam of the generator.
5. The manner of protecting the apparatus against the action of the licat
by surrounding the fire-box with water, and the conduits which connect the
fire-box and the driving cylinder with saturated steam.
6°. The manner of giving the initial impetus to the engine by means of the
steam alone, in preventing it from entering the fire-box until the air com-
pressed by the pump has attained a pressure equivalent to that of the steam.
7°. The manner of utilising over again the steam retained by the gaseous
mixture at its escape by means of a condenser or heating tubes.
8°. The means of carrying the air into the fire-box by an injector.

page_text: 9°. The means of producing the combustion of the fuel by overheated
steam.
10°. And any of the mechanical dispositions or arrangements figured in
the accompanying Drawings, such as the fuel distributor, the fire-iron, and
the closing fixtures.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
H. BONVILLE. (L.S.)