A MACHINE UPON AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION WHICH MAY BE USED AS A STEAM ENGINE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1805

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
FLINT, late of Gee Street, Street, Goswell Street, but now of Northampton
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Millwright, send grecting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of November, in
the forty-sixth year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Andrew
Flint, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His especial licence that I, the said
Andrew Flint, my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A
MACHINE UPON AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION WHICH MAY BE USED AS A STEAM ENGINE,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
provisoe obliging me, the said Andrew Flint, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in
His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar months after the
date of the said recited Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Andrew Flint, do hereby declare that my said Invention is fully and fairly
described in manner following, and in the Drawings hereon, and that the
various modifications of the same are applicable to many important purposes,
as will more fully appear.

page_text: And in order to a clear understanding of the said Invention in all its parts,
it appears requisite that it should be first described as it is to be applied to one
purpose only; for example, that of a moving power to be worked by the force
of steam, and afterwards to notice such variations or alterations as may be neces
sary in order to adapt it to the other purposes to which it may be applicable.
In the Drawing herein, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, aro different sections or views of
the internal parts of an engine to be worked by steam; and although this
engine may be placed in any required position, either with its central shaft A, B,
in a horizontal, a vertical, or an oblique direction, yet, as I give the pre-
ference in most cases to that position of the engine wherein its shaft is placed
perpendicularly to the horizon, I shall describe it as such.
Fig. 1, therefore, is a horizontal section through the body of the engine, in
the line y, z, in Fig. 2, and-3, which are vertical sections of the same in the
lines w, x, 'and u, v, of Fig. 1, the same parts in each Figure being marked
with the same letter. C is the outer cylinder, of cast-iron or other proper
metal; D, the bottom plate of the same; E, the top plate, firmly fastened
down by screws passing through the projecting flanges at f, f. f. G is the
inner cylinder, hollow, and divided by the partition h. The two cylinders, C
and G, must be turned very true, and placed exactly concentrically. A, B, is
the hollow central shaft, cast in one pieco with the cylinder G, and forming
an axis to it, turning in the stuffing boxes I, I. K and L are two valves, each
consisting of a top and a bottom plate m, m, (see Fig. 4,) connected by a portion
of a solid cylindern; the plates m are sunk into the plates D and E, so as to
lic flush with their inner surfaces, and the connecting picce n lies in and fills
the cavity prepared for its reception in the outer cylinder Cato, and thus
completes the inner surface. of the same. N.B.-The valve K and half of the
inner cylinder G are omitted in Fig. 1, in order to shew the packing grooves,
&c., eeafter described. P is the steam float, firmly attached to the
cylinder G, and revolving with it through the circular passage left between the
two cylinders, which passage it accurately closes by means of a packing com-
posed of hemp, tallow, or other substances used in steam engines for that
purpose. 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, shew the manner of packing the top and bottom plates_
of the cylinder G and of the valves K and L, to prevent the escape of the
steam between them and the top and bottom plates of the outer cylinder. This
is alike in all these instances, but will be most readily understood by comparing
Fig. 1 and 3 with Fig. 5, which shows the parts to a larger scale. is a circular
groove sunk in the inner surface of the plates D and E, and concentrical
to the axis of the cylinder G and of the valves K and L respectively. In this
groove is placed a metal packing ring t, and it is then to be filled up with a

page_text: packing, against which the surfaces of the said plates of G, K, and L work,
and this packing may be lightened in any degree necessary by the screws 8, 8, 3, 3,
which press upon the back of the packing ring. It is proper to notice that
these circular rings of packing should in a small degree intersect each other
at 1, to prevent the steam from escaping between them into the vacuous part
of the engine. 2, 2, are chaces filled with packing, to prevent a similar escape
of the steam behind the valves. The steam float P is to be packed in its place
by means of the circular aperture in the top plate E, at 3, in Fig. 3 and 6,
which aperture must be securely closed by a plate fitted into it, and confined
by the strong dog 4, and screws 5, 5; or the packing may be introduced by
holes in the outer cylinder C, which may be closed in a somewhat similar
manner; but I consider this mode as less secure when steam of great clasticity
is employed. It is evident that if steam of sufficient force be admitted through
the hollow shaft A, it will fill the lower division of G, and passing through
the hole 6 into the circular passage already described, where (tho valve L being
first placed across the said passage), it will act upon the steam float P with a
power proportioned to its elasticity and the area of P, and thus force it round
till it passes the valve K, the air or steam before it finding a vent by the hole 7
into the upper division of G, and so through the shaft B into the condenser,
&c. If now the valve K be shut, the reaction, as it is termed, will take place
against it, and the valve L may be opened to allow free passage to the steam
float. These valves are placed in the required position by the working gear,
which may be such as shown in the Drawing, Fig. 6, or according to the
pleasure of the engineer.
It is hardly necessary to observe, that this engine may be worked by what is
commonly termed the expansive force of steam, or by condensation in any of
the usual modes.
To adapt this Invention to be worked by the pressure of a column of water,
instead of the clastic force of steam, its parts will be nearly resembling those
already described. The only precaution necessary is, to make the aperture of
the shaft A, B, and of the holes 6 and 7, at least equal to one third of that of
the float P. In this case, also, less accuracy is required in the packing. By
connecting the shaft A with water or other liquor to be raised, and applying
the external force to turn the machine, the water, &c. will be raised by the pres-
sure of the atmosphere into the circular passage before described, from whence it
will be driven by the motion of the float P in a continued stream through the
shaft B into the reservoir.
In this manner, also, engines for extinguishing fires may be constructed.