New or Improved Motive Power Engines to be Worked by Heated Air or by Other Heated Expansible Gaseous Fluid.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 24th May, 1898
Complete Specification Left, 8th Feb., 1899-Accepted, 11th Mar., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Motive Power Engines to be Worked by Heated
Air or by Other Heated Expansible Gaseous Fluid.
We, JOHN HENRY TANGYE, of Cornwall Works, Soho, in the County of Stafford,
Mechanical Engineer, and WILLIAM JOHNSON, the Younger, of No. 33, Beeches
Road, West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
:―
Our invention consists of the constructions and arrangements or combinations
of parts hereinafter described constituting new or improved motive power engines
to be worked by heated air or by other heated expansible gaseous fluid.
According to one arrangement of our invention we employ a short vertical
hollow cylinder or chamber the bottom of which is heated when in use preferably
by the flames of a series of gas or other burners. The top of the said cylinder is
made of thin elastic sheet metal with a concentric corrugation or corrugations.
In the said cylinder or chamber and occupying somewhat more than one half
the space thereof, is a large metallic plate or drum hereinafter called the displacer.
The said displacer somewhat resembles the piston of an ordinary steam engine
cylinder excepting that it fits the cylinder loosely and permits of the air within
the cylinder escaping by its edge from its upper to its lower side, and the reverse,
on the working of the engine. The displacer is connected to a rod passing through
a stuffing box in the bottom of the cylinder the said rod being connected by a
lever and connecting rod to a crank on the fly wheel shaft of the engine.
The elastic sheet metal top supports a disc and axial rod, which operate on the
working of the engine a lever connected by means of a connecting rod and crank,
preferably at right angles to the displacer crank. to the fly wheel shaft of the
engine. The elastic sheet metal top is kept cool by a supply of cold water con-
tained or circulating in a tank on the top of the cylinder.
The action of the engine is as follows:-
The gas or other burners under the bottom of the cylinder being ignited the
said bottom of the cylinder is in a short time highly heated. The displacer herein-
before described being near the bottom of the cylinder the engine is started by
turning the fly wheel by hand or by other means thereby raising the displacer and
causing the air above it to flow below it and there come in contact with the heated
bottom of the cylinder which causes the heating and expansion of the air within
the cylinder and the consequent raising of the thin elastic sheet metal top. On
the descent of the displacer caused by the motion of the fly wheel shaft the heated
air beneath it is forced to the top of the cylinder and coming in contact with the
cold elastic ton the air is cooled and contracts and the elastic top descends. The
expansion and contraction of the air within the cylinder takes place on each ascent
and descent of the displacer, the expansion and contraction of the air causing the
rising and falling motion of the elastic sheet metal top of the cylinder, which motion of
the elastic sheet metal top is transmitted to the fly wheel shaft of the engine by the

page_text: lever, connecting rod and crank, described in connection with the elastic sheet
metal top of the cylinder.
Where thought necessary or desirable the weight of the displacer may be counter-
balanced.
Further, the displacer may be provided with a series of fine holes or passages
through which the air may pass on the motion of the said displacer; in which
case the displacer acts to some extent as a regenerator.
Where it is desired to increase the power of the engine, the pressure of the air
or other expansible gaseous fluid within the cylinder may be increased.
The cooling capacity of the upper part of the cylinder may be increased where
thought desirable by arranging a coil of piping in the upper part of the cylinder
for the circulation of cold water.
According to another arrangement of our invention we make the expansible
or motor chamber separate from the cylinder or chamber in which the displacer
works, the two chambers being arranged side by side or one over the other and
connected by a pipe or pipes. The displacer in this arrangement fits its cylinder
as a piston, the top of the displacer cylinder being open.
Or the motor cylinder may be placed above the displacer cylinder the displacer
cylinder being heated by lamps under the same and cooled on the sides and upper
part by a water jacket.
The operations of the last described or modified engines are in all essential
respects the same as those of the engine first described.
Dated this Twenty-fourth day of May 1898.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicants.
New or Improved Motive Power Engines to be Worked by Heated
Air or by Other Heated Expansible Gaseous Fluid.
We, JOHN HENRY TANGYE, of Cornwall Works, Soho, in the County of Stafford,
Mechanical Engineer, and WILLIAM JOHNSON, the Younger, of No. 33, Beeches
Road, West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of our invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment:-
-
Our invention consists of the constructions and arrangements or combinations
of parts hereinafter described constituting new or improved motive power engines
to be worked by heated air or by other heated expansible gaseous fluid.
According to one arrangement of our invention we employ a short vertical
hollow cylinder or chamber the bottom of which is heated when in use preferably
by the flames of a series of gas or other burners. The top of the said cylinder is
made of thin elastic sheet metal with a concentric corrugation or corrugations.
In the said cylinder or chamber and occupying somewhat more than one half
the space thereof is a large metallic plate or drum hereinafter called the displacer.
The said displacer somewhat resembles the piston of an ordinary steam engine
cylinder excepting that it fits the cylinder loosely and permits of the air within
the cylinder escaping by its edge from its upper to its lower side: and the reverse,
on the working of the engine. The displacer is connected to a rod passing through
a stuffing box in the bottom of the cylinder the said rod being connected by a
lever and connecting rod to a crank on the fly wheel shaft of the engine.
The elastic sheet metal top supports a disc and axial rod, which operate on the

page_text: working of the engine, a lever connected by means of a connecting rod and crank,
preferably at right angles to the displacer crank, to the fly wheel shaft of the
engine. The elastic sheet metal top is kept cool by a supply of cold water con-
tained or circulating in a tank on the top of the cylinder.
The action of the engine is as follows:-
The gas or other burners under the bottom of the cylinder being ignited the
said bottom of the cylinder is in a short time highly heated. The displacer herein-
before described being near the bottom of the cylinder the engine is started by
turning the fly wheel by hand or by other means thereby raising the displacer and
causing the air above it to flow below it and there come in contact with the heated
bottom of the cylinder which causes the heating and expansion of the air within
the cylinder and the consequent raising of the thin elastic sheet metal top. On
the descent of the displacer caused by the motion of the fly wheel shaft, the heated
air beneath it is forced to the top of the cylinder and coming in contact with the
cold elastic top the air is cooled and contracts and the elastic top descends. The
expansion and contraction of the air within the cylinder takes place on each ascent
and descent of the displacer, the expansion and contraction of the air causing the
rising and falling motion of the elastic sheet metal top of the cylinder which motion of
the elastic sheet metal top is transmitted to the fly wheel shaft of the engine by the
lever, connecting rod and crank, described in connection with the elastic sheet
metal top of the cylinder.
Where thought necessary or desirable the weight of the displacer may be counter-
balanced.
Further, the displacer may be provided with a series of fine holes or passages
through which the air may pass on the motion of the said displacer; in which
case the displacer acts to some extent as a regenerator.
Where it is desired to increase the power of the engine the pressure of the air
or other expansible gaseous fluid within the cylinder may be increased.
The cooling capacity of the upper part of the cylinder may be increased where
thought desirable by arranging a coil of piping in the upper part of the cylinder
for the circulation of cold water.
According to another arrangement of our invention we make the expansible
or motor chamber separate from the cylinder or chamber in which the displacer
works, the two chambers being arranged side by side, or one over the other and
connected by a pipe or pipes. The displacer in this arrangement fits its cylinder
as a piston, the top of the displacer cylinder being open.
Or the motor cylinder may be placed above the displacer cylinder the displacer
cylinder being heated by lanips under the same and cooled on the sides and upper
part by a water jacket.
The operations of the last described or modified engines are in all essential
respects the same as those of the engine first described.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents partly in side elevation and
partly in vertical section a hot air engine constructed according to one arrangement
of our invention and Figure 2 is a plan of the same.
Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 represent modified arrangements of our invention herein-
after described.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the
drawings.
We will first describe the arrangement Figures 1 and 2.
a is the short vertical cylinder or chamber containing the air by the heating and
cooling of which the engine is worked. The said cylinder is closed at top by a
thin elastic metallic plate a¹ having an annular corrugation a² (or two or more
concentric corrugations) near its marginal edge. The elastic top a supports a
plate with a short axial rod 62 which is jointed to a lever c turning on a fulcrum
at d and jointed at e to a connecting rod or link f in connection with a crank g²
on the fly wheel shaft g of the engine. On the top of the cylinder a is a tank at
to which on the working of the engine a constant supply of cold water is main-

page_text: tained. In the cylinder a is a large disc or displacer h with rod 2 passing through
a stuffing box a³ in the bottom of the said cylinder. The rod 2 is engaged with
a lever operated, through a crank and connecting rod i, by the rotation of the
fly wheel shaft g of the engine. The bottom of the cylinder a is heated preferably
by the flame of oil lamps or burners 1, 1 to which a liquid hydro carbon is sup-
plied from a reservoir m in the base of the engine through pipes n, n.
The reser-
voir m is provided at m¹ with an air inlet valve and at m² with a stopcock by
which the flow of the liquid hydro-carbon can be regulated. When it is wished
to start the engine, air is forced into the oil reservoir m by an air compressing
pump attached to the valve m'. The stopcock m² is opened and the oil flows to the
burners, at which the said oil is ignited and by the flame of which the bottom
of the cylinder a is rapidly heated.
The engine is started by turning the fly wheel in the ordinary way of starting
engines, when the displacer h rising causes the air above it to pass to the under
side thereof where by contact with the heated bottom of the engine it expands and
causes the raising of the elastic top a¹ of the engine; the continued motion of the
fly wheel causes the displacer to descend, the heated air is thereby forced to the
top of the cylinder where it is cooled and contracting, the elastic top a resumes
its normal position. By the rapid heating and cooling of the air within the
cylinder a and consequent expansion and contraction of the said air the raising and
lowering of the elastic top a¹ of the said cylinder is ensured and the rotation of
the fly wheel maintained.
The cooling water for the tank at may be supplied from a reservoir in the
base of the engine in a way essentially the same as that by which the supply of
oil to the oil lamps or burners 7, 7 is maintained.
In order the better to ensure the rapid heating and cooling of the air within the
cylinder a we have in the modified engine Figure 3 arranged in the upper part
of the said cylinder a a coil of piping through which the cold water is forced
on its way to the tank at the air when on the upperside of the displacer h being
cooled partly by the cold elastic plate a¹ and partly by the said coil p. In other
respects the modified engine Figure 3 is the same as that represented in Figures 1
and 2 and corresponding parts are marked with the same letters of reference.
In Figures 4, 5 and 6 we have represented arrangements of our invention in
which the expansible or motor chamber is separate from the displacer chamber
the two chambers being connected by pipes or passages.
In Figure 4 the two chambers are arranged side by side and are marked
respectively A, a. The displacer chamber or cylinder a is open at top and the
displacer fits the said chamber or cylinder as a piston. The cylinder a is pro-
vided with a water jackets as represented by which it is kept cool. The pipe or
passage connecting the two chambers A, a is marked a5.
The arrangement Figure 5 differs in no essential respect from that represented
in Figure 4 excepting that the two chambers A, a are arranged one over the other
instead of side by side.
Instead of heating the expansible or motor cylinder the displacer cylinder may
be heated with the same or nearly the same effect. This arrangement of our
invention is represented in Figure 6 the two chambers or cylinders being preferably
arranged one over the other.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that we claim
as our invention of:-"New or improved motive power engines to be worked by
heated air or by other heated expansible gaseous fluid":-
First: The construction and arrangement or combination of the parts of hot
air and like engines hereinbefore described and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of
the accompanying drawings the said construction and arrangement of parts con-
sisting essentially in the employment of an expansible or motor cylinder the bottom

page_text: of which highly heated and the elastic top kept cool the said expansible or motor
cylinder being provided with a displacer by the raising and lowering of which
the air within the cylinder is made first to come in contact with the heated bottom.
and then in contact with the cold elastic top by which the said air is caused to
expand and contract and thereby operate the elastic top of the cylinder the motion
of the said top of the cylinder being transmitted to a fly wheel shaft through a
lever, connecting rod and crank or their equivalents, the displacer being operated
from the fly wheel shaft substantially as herein before described and illustrated.
Secondly; The modifications of the arrangement claimed in the prior claim
hereinbefore described and illustrated in Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the accompanying
drawings in which modifications two cylinders or chambers are employed an expan-
sible or motor chamber and a displacer chamber connected by a pipe or pipes,
whether the said expansible or motor chamber be heated and the displacer cylinder
cooled or the reverse, and whether they be arranged side by side or one over the
other substantially as described and illustrated.
Dated the Twenty-ninth day of January 1899.
JOHN HENRY TANGYE,
WILLIAM JOHNSON, Junior.