An Improved High Speed Gas or Hydro-carbon Engine.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 19th June, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 19th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 13th June, 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved High Speed Gas or Hydro-carbon Engine.
We, ALFRED GEORGE MELHUISH, of 208 Choumert Road, and CHARLES
BEAUMONT, of 37 Parkstone Street, both of Peckham in the County of Surrey,
Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is, first, to construct a gas or oil engine in such a
manner that the gas or oil vapour required to vitalize the air to form a combustible
mixture is drawn into a chamber by the instroke of a piston which works in a
cylinder closed at both ends and forms a partial vacuum at one end of said cylinder
during the indrawing of gas or oil vapour into the chamber in which it is retained
separate from the charge of air which enters at the termination of the piston's
instroke and destroys the vacuum, the air so entering being compressed on the next
outstroke of the piston into a pipe within which the gas chamber is preferably fitted
and has free cominunication with, so that the gas itself is compressed to the same
degree but kept quite separate from the air with which it only mixes to form a
combustible charge, when it enters the working end of the cylinder to drive out the
products of the previous explosion as hereinafter described.
The working piston is preferably connected by a rod to a guide piston which
may be utilised as a pump to compress air into a reservoir for use in starting the
engine, said pressure being utilised to keep the connecting rod down upon the
crank during the return stroke.
Another point is the particular method of controlling the said engine.
In carrying out our invention, we provide a working cylinder containing a
piston longer than the stroke of the engine, the cylinder having ports cast in said
cylinder in such a position that the exhaust is just uncovered by the top edge of
the piston when the latter is at the extreme outer stroke and having a port for the
inlet of air in such a position that it is just uncovered by the piston when it is at
the extreme instroke.
At the bottom or end of the cylinder nearest the crank is an opening by which
it is connected by a pipe or chamber to the end of cylinder remote from the crank,
and at the top of said chamber is an internal pipe or its equivalent which receives
the gas through a small valve provided for the purpose, at the opening to the
cylinder remote from the crank is a larger valve through which the air and gas is
introduced to the cylinder in the proper proportions at the same time they expel
the products of the previous explosion by means of the exhaust port before
mentioned. On the instroke of the piston the charge is compressed and a further
supply of air is let in on the under side of the piston at the completion of the stroke.
During said instroke a supply of gas is drawn into the internal pipe and retained
until the completion of the down stroke when it expands into the cylinder mixing
with the air in passing in.
The bottom of the cylinder has a cover through which a rod passes and transmits
the motion to the connecting rod and crank from a guide piston to which it may be
directly connected and which may be used as an air compressor for cushioning
purposes. A governor is provided which controls a small valve connected with the
gas inlet, and we arrange it in such a manner that the gas valve is always either
fully open or shut, and by this means if an explosive charge is introduced it is
always of the most efficient value.
In connection with the gas valve is a small piston which when the top side is
open to the atmosphere it admits the gas by the action of the governor, and when

page_text: the engine exceeds its proper speed the top of the piston is put in communication
with the under side of the valve and is in equilibrium but kept in position by a
spring.
If the engine is running at the proper speed, an explosive mixture is introduced
at every revolution but if the speed is exceeded only air is admitted.
If desirable, gear may be arranged so that the gas-valve is opened only every
other revolution by the action of the governor for the engine to work on the Otto
cycle.
The engine may be arranged vertically, horizontally, or in any desired form.
Dated this 19th day of June 1895.
We ALFRED GEORGE MELHUISH of 208, Choumert Road, and CHARLES
BEAUMONT of 37, Parkstone Road, Peckham in the County of Surrey, Engineers,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is to construct a gas or oil engine in such a manner
that the gas or oil vapour required to vitalize the air to form a combustible
mixture is drawn into a chamber by the instroke of a piston which works in a
cylinder closed at both ends and forms a partial vacuum at one end of said cylinder
during the indrawing of gas or oil vapour into the chamber in which it is retained
separate from the charge of air which enters at the termination of the pistons
instroke and destroys the vacuum, the air so entering being compressed on the next
outstroke of the piston into a pipe within which the gas chamber is preferably
fitted, and has free communication with so that the gas itself is compressed to the
same degree but kept quite separate from the air, with which it only mixes to form
a combustible charge when it enters the working end of the cylinder to drive out
the products of the previous explosion as hereinafter described.
The working piston is preferably connected by a rod to a guide piston which
may be utilized as a pump to compress air into a reservoir for use in starting the
engine, said pressure being utilized to keep the connecting rod down upon the
crank during the return stroke.
Another point is the particular method of controlling the said engine. A governor
is provided which controls a small valve connected with the gas inlet and we
arrange it in such a manner that the gas valve is always either fully open or shut
and by this means if an explosive charge is introduced it is always of the most
efficient value. In connection with the gas valve is a small piston which when the
top side is open to the atmosphere it admits the gas by the action of the governor,
and when the engine exceeds its proper speed the top of the piston is put in
communication with the underside of the valve and is in equilibrium but kept in
position by a spring. If the engine is running at the proper speed an explosive
mixture is introduced at every revolution but if the speed is exceeded only air is
admitted.
If desirable gear may be arranged so that the gas valve is opened only every
other revolution on the Otto principle.
The engine may be arranged vertically, horizontally, or in any other desired
form.
In order that our invention may be fully understood we have appended the
accompanying three sheets of drawings in which
and
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the upper part of an inverted type of engine,

page_text: Figure 2 is an external elevation oI they
chambers,
Figure 3 and 4 are detailed views of the governor mechanism and
Figure 5 is a sectional view of an alternative method of keeping the gas and air
eparate.
The cylinder a is preferably of inverted type closed at both ends, at the top
with a cover band at the bottom with a gland cover c and has working within it a
piston d with a greater length than the stroke.
The piston rode works through the stuffing box of the gland c, and is attached
at its lower end to what we may term a pump piston f, which is connected to the
crank by a connecting rod g for transferring the force of the explosion to the crank
in the ordinary manner.
The cylinder
a is formed with a passage h connecting with the combustion
chamber, in which the explosion takes place. The products of explosion are
expelled through the port j and the air enters by port k below the piston d which on
the down stroke compresses said air into a chamber by the port m, in which it is
retained until the piston d uncovers the port j, when the pressure of the air in
chamber opens the valve n, by overcoming the tension of the spring p for it to
enter the cylinder by the passage h.
l
The important feature of our invention consists in maintaining the air and gas
separately from each other in their respective chambers, both being compressed to
the same degree and entering the cylinder together to form a combustive mixture.
To accomplish this we provide a chamber within the chamber 1, said chamber q
being in communication with the gas supply by means of a non return valve
through which on the upstroke of the piston d gas enters into the chamber q by the
vacuum formed by the said uprising piston, air being only allowed to enter the
cylinder a when the piston d uncovers the port k which is at its extreme outward
stroke, the return stroke of the piston compresses the air as before stated in the
chamber and the gas in the chamber g to the same degree but inasmuch as one of
the said gases is of lighter specific gravity than the other they will remain separate
until the valve n is opened when air will enter by the passager and gas by the
holes ss into the cylinder a. In some cases instead of the chamber 9 we may use
a flexible bag q' as in Figure 5, which is not open to the air in the chamber and
consequently cannot possibly mix the gas with the air yet it allows the gas in the
bag q being compressed to the same degree as the air in the chamber for it to
enter by the passage t to the holes sa cock u being provided to regulate the
amount of gas that shall enter the cylinder. A non-return valve in communication
with the gas supply is also provided in this case. Although we have shewn a
flexible bag in Figure 5, we may use a flexible or other diaphram, and the flexible
bag 9' may if desired be enclosed in an open tube or by meshed wire netting to
prevent bursting by expansion.
The governors may be of any of the centrifugal kind and are suitably connected
to the rod v and levers for moving a small piston w Figure 4, which covers the
port w that communicates with the cylinder behind the piston a to which the
gas valve r is attached by a rod and spring r².
The closed end of the cylinder w² communicates with the chamber / by a pipe y
the other end being open to the atmosphere so that if the speed increases the
piston w is moved over to put the port w¹ in communication with the closed end of
the cylinder 2 with the result that when the suction occurs the valve r will not
open because said valve is in equilibrium, the pressure above the piston a¹ and
below the valve r being equal, and it is therefore kept closed by the spring 12.
When however the piston w is moved in the reverse direction by the governor the
valve will open on the suction stroke of the main piston d because the back end of
the cylinder w² and x is open to the atmosphere by the port w' and the pull on the
valver by the suction of the engine is sufficient to overcome the tension of the
spring allowing gas to enter the chamber q. The pump piston f is used as an
air compressor to compress air in the space above it formed in the extension c of its

page_text: cylinder which thereby tends to keep the connecting rod well down on the crank
pin to prevent chattering.
Having now described this general arrangement we will describe its action.
On the instroke of the piston d air is compressed in the extension c and a vacuum
or partial vacuum is formed in the cylinder a under the piston d which draws open
the valve r and allows the gas to enter the chamber 9 in sufficient quantity. At
the complete extremity of the instroke air enters the cylinder a by the port k and
destroys the vacuum. The outstroke now commences and the piston d in its
descent covers said inlet port and compresses the air in the chamber and also
compresses the gas in the chamberg to the same degree the said compression being
continued until the piston d has uncovered the exhaust port j to permit of the
escape of the products of combustion and reduces the pressure in the cylinder a
above the piston d to that of the atmosphere, when the valve n instantly opens and
the air in the chamber expands by the passage and the gas by the holes ss into
the cylinder a pushing out the remaining products of combustion before the exhaust
port is covered by the return movement of the piston d which is returning to
compress the mixture in the space i and passage when it is fired by the hot tube
in the usual manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is:
1. In gas or oil engines the particnlar arrangement described for indrawing a
charge of gas and air into separate chambers on the instroke of a piston, and com-
pressing said air and gas to the same degree and maintaining them separate until
the moment of entry into the working cylinder as described and shewn in Figures 1
and 5 of the annexed drawings.
2. In gas or oil engines the combination with a cylinder having closed ends and
air inlet and exhaust ports, of an air chamber and valve n, gas chamber and
g
valve fitted within said chamber and communicating with the holes s, s, in the
valve seat and of a piston f, fitted within a cylinder the extension of which forms
a stuffing box and compression space the whole being arranged in the manner and
for the purpose described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the annexed
drawings.
3. The particular arrangement of appliances shewn in and described with
reference to Figures 2, 3, and 4 for governing the speed of the engine.
ALFRED GEORGE MELHUISH.
CHARLES BEAUMONT.