IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Miller, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent,
Gentleman, and Henry Edward Skinner, of Wapping Wall, Shadwell, in
the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ROTARY ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Miller and Henry.
Edward Skinner at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 18th June 1861.
We, JAMES MILLER, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Gentleman, and
HENRY EDWARD SKINNER, of Wapping Wall, Shadwell, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in the combination of a barrel or roller with a sliding
piston working in a cylinder or steam case, such barrel or roller being excentric
in relation to the cylinder, and the piston sliding through the barrel or roller,
and covering and opening at the required intervals the steam ports, which are
formed in one or both of the cylinder covers in such a manner as to dispense
with the use of slide valves; also the form of the cylinder in the cross section
is slightly varied from the circular, so as to admit of the piston fitting the
interior thereof in every part of its revolution. The diameter of the barrel or

page_text: roller is about two-thirds of that of the cylinder, and the centre of the axis
thereof is so placed as to admit of the barrel or roller nearly touching the
interior of the cylinder, the steam ports being formed on each side of the hole
in the cylinder cover or covers through which the said axis is passed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Miller and Henry Edward Skinner in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
MILLER, of Greenwich, in the County of Kent, Gentleman, and HENRY EDWARD
SKINNER, of Wapping Wall, Shadwell, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
James Miller and Henry Edward Skinner, Her special license that we, the
said James Miller and Henry Edward Skinner, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Miller and Henry
Edward Skinner, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said James Miller and Henry Edward Skinner, by an instrument in writing
under our bands 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 we, the said James Miller and Henry Edward
Skinner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :-

page_text: Our Invention of "Improvements in Rotary Engines" consists in the com-
bination of a barrel or roller with a sliding piston working in a cylinder or
steam case, such barrel or roller being fixed excentric in the cylinder, and the
piston sliding through the barrel or roller, and covering and opening at the
required intervals the ports, which are formed in one or both of the cylinder
covers in such a manner as to dispense with the use of slide valves; also the
form of the cylinder in the cross section is slightly varied from the circular, so
as to admit of the piston fitting the interior thereof in every part of its revo-
lution. The diameter of the barrel or roller is about two-thirds of that of the
cylinder, and the centre of the axis thereof is so placed as to admit of the
barrel or roller touching or nearly touching the interior of the cylinder, tho
ports being formed on each side of the hole in the cylinder cover or covers
through which the said axis is passed.
Having thus stated the nature of the Invention, we will proceed to describe
more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed by reference
to the accompanying Drawings, in which are represented the parts above

page_text: entering at the port F. In this manner the constant revolution of the sliding
piston E, and with it the shaft C, will be maintained. There is also an outlet
for the steam or other elastic fluid through the cylinder cover to prevent back
pressure on the piston.
When the engine is used as a rotary pump the operation is the same, except
that power is applied to the shaft C, by which it is caused to revolve and carry
the sliding piston round with it, so as to force water admitted into the cylinder
at one port out at the other, and in this manner to maintain a constant expul-
sion of the fluid from the cylinder through a pipe in the ordinary manner.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, we hereby declare that what we claim as of our
Invention is, the combination of a barrel or roller (fixed excentric) with a
sliding piston working in a cylinder of the form described, and having ports
which are opened and closed by the action of the piston without slide valves,
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Miller and Henry Edward
Skinner, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day
of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one.
Witness,
GEORGE PEEL,
16, John Street,
Commercial Road.
JAMES MILLER. (L.S.)
H. E. SKINNER.
(L.S.)