IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF BLAST ENGINES, PNEUMATIC MACHINES, AND PUMPING ENGINES GENERALLY
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Fréderic Vasserot, of 45, Essex Street, Strand,
London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF BLAST ENGINES, PNEUMATIC MACHINES,
AND PUMPING ENGINES GENERALLY."-A communication from Messrs.
H. Thirion and Son, of Mirecourt, Vosges, in the Empire of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Frederic Vasserot
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th April 1858.
I, CHARLES FREDERIC VASSEROT, of 45, Essex Street, Strand, London, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF BLAST ENGINES, PNEUMATIC MACHINES,
AND PUMPING ENGINES GENERALLY," (a communication from Messrs. H. Thirion
and Son, of Mirecourt, Vosges, in the Empire of France,) to be as follows:-
The several apparatuses, such as blast engines, pneumatic machines, and
pumps of any kind, are composed of a cylinder in which works a piston. To
obtain a perfect action of those machines the cylinders must be made with the
greatest accuracy, particularly so for the pneumatic machines, which require a
precision impossible to obtain for machines of a large diameter. In this case
it is usual to lubricate the cylinders with fat matters, which cause the adhering

page_text: of the pistons with the cylinders. The condition of a good working order is
consequently due to the very great friction of the pistons of the blast and
pneumatic machines, the result of this is that a very great motive power must
be used to work those machines, and as soon as the friction diminishes by the
constant use, the machines work badly and necessitates repairs, and con-
sequently stoppages. My machines present no such inconveniences, being
without friction since they have no piston; they are composed of three cylinders
of a given diameter, constructed so as to enter one in the other by leaving a
given space between their circumference. The inside and outside cylinders
are fixed on a base, and the intermediate is closed at top; the inside cylinder
bears a tube passing through its centre and furnished with a valve. This
valve is placed so as to open or to close, according if it be for a blast engine or
for a machine to make vacuum. For the blast engines, the space between
the three cylinders is filled with water, and with mercury for the pneumatic
machines.
My apparatus is composed of two sets of cylinders, consequently if by means
of a balance beam the intermediate cylinder on the right side is raised a
quantity of air equal to the volume and to the length of stroke of the cylinder
has been extracted from the recipient and given to the atmosphere. If the
apparatus is a blast engine, this quantity of air has been taken from the
atmosphere and forced by the lowering of the cylinder and simultaneously by
the cylinder on the left.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Fréderic Vasserot in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
FREDERIC VASSEROT, of 45, Essex Street, Strand, London, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Frederic Vasserot, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Fréderic Vasserot, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Fréderic Vasserot, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and.

page_text: at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF BLAST ENGINES,
PNEUMATIC MACHINES, AND PUMPING ENGINES GENERALLY," a communication from
Messrs. H. Thirion and Son, of Mirecourt, Vosges, in the Empire of France,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Frederic Vasserot,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 Charles Fréderic Vasserot, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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:-
.
It is composed of three cylinders of a given diameter so as to enter one
within another, leaving a proper space between the outer circumference of the
inner cylinder and the inner circumference of the outer cylinder, for the
purpose of receiving water or mercury or other liquid; the intermediate
cylinder is inserted and plays in this space, passing through the liquid, and is
covered at the top. The whole three stand upon one base, a tube furnished with
a valve at its mouth passes through the centre of the inner cylinder, and com-
municates either with the external atmosphere or with a reservoir of water or
air regulator, according as the machine is to be used for a pump, a pneumatic
machine, or blowing engine. Upon the cover of the intermediate cylinder is a
valve which is arranged to open outwards or inwards according to the action
of the machine, that is, whether it is used for collecting and forcing the liquid
from the exterior, or for lifting and exhausting it from the interior, in other
words, whether the pump is to work with exhaust or force action. Two
of these systems of cylinders being arranged and combined, having each
of their intermediate cylinders attached to a connecting rod, and suspended from
the end of a beam, vibrating upon a centre, and motion being communicated
to the beam, it will be evident these cylinders will have with the beam an
alternate upward and downward action, plunging each stroke within the liquid
contained between the outer and inner fixed cylinders. As the inner cylinder
moves up from the two stationary ones (supposing the machine to be a con-
densing pump or blast engine), the air will rush from the exterior through the

page_text: Figure 1 is a sectional elevation, and Figure 2 a plan of an arrangement of
the principle for a blowing engine. When A is the exterior cylinder of brass
or iron, B the compressing or moving cylinder, C the interior fixed cylinder,
within which is the tube D, the space between the inner cylinder C and the
outer one A is filled to the mark T with water; s are guides attached to the
moveable cylinder B, to keep it nearly vertical in its motion; Q is the frame
or base upon which the whole are placed; E is a flap valve placed upon the
cover of the cylinder B, for admitting the air or discharging, as the case may
be; F, forked guides connecting the rods G, and which bind the moveable
cylinder to the end of the beam I; K, the axis on which the beam vibrates ;
M, M, plummer blocks set on the beams L, L; H, a beam to support the
collar G; N and O, two cranks connected by the rod P, by which motion is
given to the beam. The tube D is connected by means of the bend R with a
corresponding tube D', which passes into the interior cylinder of the regulator,
which is similarly composed of three cylinders, namely, A' and C' and a moveable
one B', the valve E' is on the mouth of the tube D', opening on each stroke
from the cylinder B, and closing on the return stroke as the cylinder B' falls,
having been urged up by the forced air from D'; K' is an open tube leading
to the blast or forge; M', a loaded safety valve; F', the guide rod of the
cylinder B', passing through the guide G, and terminating with a platform I';

page_text: on which are mounted the weights according to the pressure required for the
blast. H' is a frame or bar to which the collar or guide G is fixed.
The action is as follows:-Upon the cylinder B descending, the air occupy-
ing the space it filled when elevated is urged down the tube D, along R, and
forcing open the valve E' raises the cylinder B'; upon the stroke being com-
pleted, the cylinder B rises up again, forming a partial vacuum; the pressure
then being removed from the cylinder B', the load forces it down, closing the
valve E', and the air is urged along the tube R' to the forge or furnace.
Having now described this Invention, and how the same is carried into
effect, I wish it understood that what I claim and wish secured by the before
in part recited Letters Patent are,-
First, the combination of three cylinders, two fixed and one moveable, and
the introduction of a liquid between the two fixed cylinders, within which the
third moveable cylinder works air-tight, producing a vacuum without the
inconvenience and loss by friction which is occasioned by pistons of the
ordinary kind.
Second, applying the said principle last mentioned of three cylinders and a
liquid medium to all kinds of pumps, blowing cylinders, fans, pneumatic
machines, and similar articles requiring a vacuum in their action.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Fréderic Vasserot, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
CHS. FRED. VASSEROT. (L.S.)