IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING TO THE TREATMENT, DISTRIBUTION AND APPLICATION OF COMPRESSED AIR FOR MOTIVE POWER AND OTHER PURPOSES AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Alfred English and John Sturgeon both of
3 Westminster Chambers Victoria Street in the City of Westminster for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND APPERTAINING TO THE TREATMENT,
DISTRIBUTION AND APPLICATION OF COMPRESSED AIR FOR MOTIVE POWER
AND OTHER PURPOSES AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR " Partly a communi-
cation to them from abroad by Carl Julius Tetens Hanssen of Flensburg
Germany, and partly their own invention.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Alfred English
and John Sturgeon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
10th November 1882.
THOMAS ALFRED ENGLISH and JOHN STURGEON both of 3 Westminster
Chambers, Victoria Street in the City of Westminster "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND
APPERTAINING TO THE TREATMENT DISTRIBUTION AND APPLICATION OF COMPRESSED
AIR FOR MOTIVE POWER AND OTHER PURPOSES AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
"
(the same being partly a communication to us from abroad by Carl Julius Tetens
Hanssen of Flensburg Germany and partly our own invention) :
The main or primary object of this invention is to provide pure compressed
air at a large or central station and to distribute it therefrom for the purpose of
providing motive power to any required number of workshops or other places, so as
to do away with special steam boilers or other power producers at such workshops
or places and the consequent pollution of the atmosphere by the smoke or gases
therefrom, to obtain a high economy in respect of expenditure of fuel, to save space
and labour, to prevent dangers from explosions, and to introduce into such places
pure air which is emitted from the air motors supplied thereby after having been
used therein. The pure compressed air distributed as aforesaid may also be utilized
for ventilation, for drying, blowing, raising fluid by jets, and for many other useful

page_text: purposes, and in some cases either irrespective of being applied to motive power
purposes or after having been used therefor.
We purify the air before compressing it by causing it to pass in a finely divided
state in contact with, through, along, or across water in a finely divided state, or in
currents, streams or spray. The air is drawn through the purifying apparatus by 5
the suction produced by the drawing-in stroke of an air compressing engine which
latter may be of any known suitable construction. One form of purifying apparatus
consists of one or more chambers through which the air is drawn and commingled
with water in the form of currents, streams or spray. The shower or spray may be
produced by a Barker's mill, or the air and water may be introduced together by 1
apertures in a disc revolving on a perforated lid on the top of a shaft or chamber.
Another form consists of one or more chambers provided with surfaces, wetted, or
otherwise so prepared, as to intercept the particles of dust or other impurities in the
air. Baffle plates and screens may be applied for the purpose of intercepting the
larger particles of water.
The air thus purified is by preference dried or deprived of part of its moisture
before entering the air compressing engine; for this purpose we pass it through
material of a spongy or absorbent nature whereby the bulk of the moisture is
absorbed, such moisture being afterwards discharged from the material by the
application of pressure; we may pass the air along suitable surfaces of a drying nature
such as felt or flannel, and we sometimes arrange these surfaces in the form of
endless bands passing over rollers and provided with squeezing appliances for
expressing the moisture or a great part of same, or in any other convenient form
suitable to the nature of the material used and applicable on the pressure side as
well as the inlet side; the rollers may be hollow and if required heated.
-
The purified. air having been compressed in the air compressing engine is next
distributed through a system of mains, branches and service pipes throughout the
town or locality so as to be made available-for any of the purposes hereinbefore.
stated or any other required-purpose. The mode of distributing the compressed air
is similar to that usual for gas and water, valves for shutting off parts of the system-8
when required being provided, also traps or syphons for removing any water that
might accumulate.
In the case of applying the compressed air to motive power engines, to forge
hammers such for instance as the present steam hammers, to donkey engines, to
pumping engines and to some other purposes such as drying, heating and blowing
smith's fires it is necessary or desirable to heat it first, and for this purpose we
avail ourselves of any waste heat from flues or otherwise, and lead the air through
one or more coils, drums, pipes, or compartments exposed to such or other heat, or
we may use any suitable well-known stove or heating apparatus, the object being to
heat the air sufficiently for increasing its volume and thereby its effective power or
action and also for preventing the formation of ice or "snow" when it expands.
We may thus provide the air supply pipe at or near the motor with a jacket in
which a jet or jets of gas or other means of heating are applied; or we may utilizo
the "steam jacket" of the cylinder of a steam engine for such heating of the air
used in the said cylinder. It will be observed that we utilize the ordinary motors
whenever practicable, thus an ordinary steam engine is made available as a motor in
our invention; where the air is heated several hundred degrees a suitable packing in
the cylinder stuffing boxes must be provided such as asbestos.
Instead of purifying the air before it enters the air compressor engine, we may in
some cases purify it partly before and partly after being compressed, so that
however the bulk or more injurious impurities be removed before the air enters the
air compressor.
In order to measure the quantity of air supplied to the consumers we provide
meters by preference of the following construction viz analogous in principle to the
"Beales" gas exhauster; the compressed air passing through the meter causes the
disc to revolve, each revolution representing a definite quantity of air thus supplied;
The number of revolutions is indicated by a counting appliance in a manner
.

page_text: analogous to that of a gas meter. Or we may use a meter somewhat analogous to
an anemometer and consisting of a small fan placed in a tube in a part of the air
delivery or service pipe to the consumer and by worm and worm wheel and a train
of wheels and a hand made to indicate on a dial the number of cubic feet or other
measure of air used; the wheel work and dial would all be enclosed with the
interior of the service pipe so that no stuffing box would be used.
Instead of heating the air at or near the place of consumption we may use tho
air hot from the compressor or heat it after leaving the compressor but at the
central or supply station, and in order to materially prevent radiation and other
inconveniences we may cover the pipes with, non-conducting material. throughout
the system or part of same, the air would thus be directly applicable for heating
purposes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Thomas Alfred English and John Sturgeon in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 10th May 1883.
THOMAS ALFRED ENGLISH and JOHN STURGEON both of 3 Westminster
Chambers, Victoria Street in the City of Westminster "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND
APPERTAINING TO THE TREATMENT DISTRIBUTION AND APPLICATION OF COMPRESSED
AIR FOR MOTIVE POWER AND OTHER PURPOSES AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
"
(the same being partly a communication to us from abroad by Carl Julius Tetens
Hanssen of Flensburg Germany and partly our own invention)
The main or primary object of this invention is to provide pure compressed air
at a large or central station. and to distribute it therefrom for the purpose of
providing motive power to any required number of workshops or other places, so-
as to do away with special steam boilers or other power producers at such
workshops or places and the consequent pollution of the atmosphere by the
smoke or gases therefrom, to obtain a higher economy in respect of expenditure of
fuel, to save space and labour such as attendance stoking &c. to prevent dangers
from explosions and to introduce into such places the pure air which is emitted
from the air motors after having been used therein. The pure compressed air thus
distributed may also be utilized for ventilation, for drying, blowing, drawing and
forcing fluids and liquids, for contractors work and for many other useful purposes,
and in some cases the air-having-being used for motive power may with especial
advantage be applied-for-refrigerating purposes.
We purify the air before compressing it by causing it to pass in a finely divided-
state in contact with, through, along, or across water in a finely divided state, or in
currents, streams or spray. The air is drawn through the purifying apparatus by
the suction produced by the drawing-in stroke of an air compressing engine which
latter may be of any known suitable construction. One form of purifying apparatus
consists of one or more chambers through which the air is drawn and commingled
with water in the form of currents, streams, or spray. The shower or spray may
be produced by a "Barker's mill" or the air and water may be introduced together
by apertures in a disc revolving on a perforated lid on the top of a shaft or
chamber. Another form consists of one or more chambers provided with surfaces,
wetted or otherwise so prepared, as to intercept the particles of dust or other
impurities in the air. Baffles plates and screens may be applied for the purpose of
intercepting the larger particles of water.
The air thus purified is dried or deprived of part of its moisture before
entering the air compressing engine. For this purpose we pass it through material
of a spongy or absorbent nature whereby the bulk of the moisture is absorbed,
such moisture being afterwards discharged from the material by the application of
pressure; we may pass the air along suitable surfaces of a drying or moisture-
absorbing nature such as felt or flannel, and we sometimes arrange these surfaces
in the form of endless bands passing over rollers and provided with squeezing
appliances for expressing the moisture, or a great part of same, or in any other
convenient form suitable to the nature of the material used; the rollers may be
hollow and if required heated by steam, gas-heat; or hot water.
In the accompanying drawings we have shown some constructions of
apparatus for carrying this part of our invention into effect. Figure 1 is a
vertical longitudinal section and Figure 2 a plan of a combined apparatus for
purifying the air by contact with water in a finely divided state and for depriving
the purified air of the greater part of its moisture. The air passes down the shaft

page_text: or chamber A the necessary current being produced by the drawing-in stroke of
the air compressing engine used in connection with this invention, the flue F being
connected to the suction side of the said engine.
The air from the chamber A ascends in the chamber B where it meets with a fine
; shower of water which descends from a series of fine lateral apertures in
the pipes C. This water-spray causes a great subdivision of the air, absorbs
the impurities therein and passes off at the bottom through one or more
openings A¹. The air thus purified but having absorbed moisture from
contact with the water descends in the shaft D, and is then passed through a series
of screens E, which consist of frames covered with or containing felt or flannel or the
like moisture-absorbing material. The frames E are arranged to slide in and out of the
chamber G from a lateral chamber G' from which latter they may be removed in
succession when charged with moisture and be replaced by others, the absorbing
surfaces of which have been dried meanwhile. The frames or screens are guided in
guide frames.
As shown in Figure 2 four of the screens are out of action in the lateral
chamber G' while two screens are in action in the chamber G.
Figure 8 is a vertical longitudinal section through a purifying apparatus in
which the air and the water descend together in the shaft or chamber B being
admitted thereto through apertures in the disc C which is revolved on a stationary
perforated disc by means of wheel gearing C³. The water and the air being
thus as it were cut up into small particles are intimately blended. The water
passes off below at A while the air ascending in the chamber D is deprived of
part of its moisture by striking against the baffle plates D' the remainder or the
bulk of it is absorbed by passing through screens E, as in the apparatus previously
described.
Figure 4 is a vertical longitudinal section and Figure 5 a plan section of a
moisture-absorbing apparatus provided with endless bands E made of moisturo
absorbing material passing over rollers E' which are revolved by wheel
gearing all so arranged as to compel the air to pass in close contact with and
through the endless bands E and in a circuitous way, finally passing over a
partition F and descending into the flue F. The bands E have the moisture
absorbed continuously squeezed out by means of squeezing rollers Es arranged in
frames weighted suitably for that purpose.
In Figure 6 is shown a plan section of a similar arrangement but where the
axes of the rollers are arranged in a slanting position to the direction of the air
current so as to cause the air to impinge upon both the outside and the inside of
the flannel bands.
The purified air having been compressed in the air compressing engine is next
distributed through a system of mains, branches and service pipes throughout the
town or locality so as to be made available for any of the required purposes. The
mode of distributing the compressed air is similar to that usual for gas and water,
valves for shutting off parts of the system when required being provided, also traps
or syphons for removing any water that might accumulate.
On sheet 2 we have at Figure 7 shown a general arrangement plan of compressed
air supply works on a scale suitable for a large manufacturing town viz
Birmingham. The various buildings and parts of the plant are indicated on the
drawing so that but little other explanation is needed. Figure 8 is a vertical
section through the boiler house, Figure 9 a vertical section through the engine
house, and Figure 10 a vertical section through the air purifying apparatus. The
purified air from the latter apparatus marked A in Figure 7 passes by the air
suction pipe to the air compressers B, one or more of which may normally be out of
operation in order to provide for contingencies, while the others suffice for the work
required. C are the engines which as here shown may be of the ordinary vertically
inverted marine or hammer engine form.
The compressed air is collected in the vessel D whence it passes off by the
compressed air main to be-distributed over the town as required.

page_text: In connection with the air compressing engines B and its driving engines C we,
may here remark that the heat imparted to the water used for cooling the air
compressors and the heat in the water from the condensers of the engines, should
be as much as possible utilized, and this large quantity of hot water produced
may advantageously be applied for warming buildings, for baths, wash houses,
laundries, and other establishments in the neighbourhood of the station,
Figure 11 sheet 3 shows the various streets & in the town, the dotted lines
representing the air mains; the numerals indicate the diameters of the mains.
•
Figure 12 is an enlarged portion of Figure 11 showing the position of the
necessary valves for shutting off any particular street or streets, in case of
alteration or repairs to the air mains and also showing position of the syphons..
The valves are in the plan Figuro 12 marked with the letters a¹ a² and so on
till a The syphons (which are shown separately. in Figure 13 and Figure 14) are
in Figure 12 marked with the letter b. Supposing now for some cause or other
it should be necessary to shut off that portion of the 12 inch main which lies in
Mosley Street between valves a³ anda" (Figure 12) then the valves a³, a³,
a & as would have to be closed, and only that portion of the entire mains
would for the time, being be out of action. Figure 13 and Figure 14 are vertical
transverse and longitudinal sections respectively of a syphon. Any water.deposited
and collecting in the mains will flow.down to the syphons which like syphons in
gas mains are placed in such positions that the mains have a sufficient fall towards
the syphons; the water will accumulate in the lower portion e from which the
internal air pressure will force it out through the pipe ff on opening the cock d.
In syphons where much water collects the cock or valve d may be left a very
little open so that water is constantly flowing out but where only little water
collects the cocks & may be opened periodically. They require some attention but
_are so far selfacting as the water is discharged by the pressure of the air on the
surface of the water in the syphon. They can be made entirely self acting by
connecting on-to-the-lower-end of the pipe fa small ball valve or cap garranged.
in connection with a forked lever h having a ball float jat-other-end-in-such_a_
manner that the valve g would open as the water is accumulating in the syphon
(the opposite action of that of an ordinary cistern supply ball cock).
•
""
In the case of applying the compressed air to motive power engines, to forge
hammers, such for instance as the present steam hammers, to donkey engines, to
pumping engines and to some other purposes such as drying heating and blowing
smiths. fires it is necessary or desirable to heat it first, and for this purpose wo
avail ourselves of any waste heat from flues or otherwise, and lead the air through
one or more coils, drums, pipes or compartments exposed to such or other heat, or
we may use any suitable well known stove or heating apparatus, the object being
to heat the air sufficiently for increasing its volume and thereby its effective power
snow
" when it
or action, and also for preventing the formation of ice or
expands. We may thus provide the air supply pipe at or near the motor with a
jacket in which a jet or jets of gas or other means of heating are applied, or we
may utilize the "steam jacket" of the cylinder of a steam engine for such heating
of the air used in the said cylinder. It will be observed that we utilize the
ordinary motors whenever practicable, thus an ordinary stean engine is made
available as a motor in our Invention. Where the air is heated several hundred
degrees a suitable packing in the cylinder stuffing boxes must be provided such as
asbestos.
On sheet 4 we have illustrated various methods and apparatus for heating the
air before it enters the cylinder of the engine which it is to drive and also apparatus
for preventing the air from becoming overheated.
Figure 15 is a vertical section and Figure 16 a plan section of a heating
apparatus placed in the flue of any furnace, so as to utilize the waste heat other-
wise escaping into the chimney. The flue a is the main flue and b is the side flue
ar bye-pass flue into which the heating apparatus is placed; the compressed air to
be heated enters at. d.into the box c and passes between the outside tubes ff and

page_text: the inside tubes g, g into the box c', c' and from thence through the pipe e to the
engine; the heated air and gases from the furnace passes through the pipes 9, 9 and
all round the outside of the pipes f. f the compressed being thus heated both from
the exterior and interior. In case no heated compressed air is required the
damper h is closed and the damper i is opened.
Figure 17 is a vertical section view of an arrangement for opening and shutting
the dampers automatically in case the air should get overheated. a is a cylindrical
hollow vessel, b is a material or composition which will melt at a temperature of
say 120° F, C is a cylindrical weight resting below on the said composition and
at the top attached to a chain which passes over a pulley d, and is connected to the
chain by which the two dampers h and i, are suspended. The compressed air after
having actuated the engine passes through the vessel a entering at k and leaving
at. In case now it is of a higher temperature than say 120° F, the composition
will melt, and the weight C will descend thereby opening the damper i and shutting
the damper h.
Figure 18 is a vertical sectional view illustrating another method of opening and
shutting the dampers in case of overheating. a is the air main conveying the
heated air to the engine, b is a fusible plug made of 8 parts of bismuth, 32 parts of
lead, and 36 parts of tin; if the air in the tube a is heated above 320° F, the
plug 6 melts, and the compressed air rushes into the cylinder c below the piston d
thereby forcing up the piston d and thus by means of the rack and pinion e and f
moving the dampers in the manner described with reference to Figure 17.
Figure 19 is a vertical and Figure 20 a horizontal section through another kind
of heating apparatus adapted to the flue of a furnace, so as to utilize the waste heat.
The compressed air to be heated enters in this case at a traverses the first row of
tubes, in this case 5 in number, to the chamber d, returns from thence to the
chamber c', and from thence through another row of tubes to the chamber d' and
therefrom through the outlet pipe 6 to the engine.
Figure 21 is a vertical transverse and Figure 22 a vertical longitudinal section
through a heating apparatus placed in a furnace heated by gas.
The compressed air enters at a traverses a set of upper pipes returns by a next
lower set of pipes and passes then through a lowermost set of pipes off by the
pipe b; the pipes are heated by gas jets c and the fumes from the latter pass off by
a small pipe d.
The main cock of the gas supply pipe may in this case be actuated by the
Engine, so that the engine regulates automatically the amount of gas at all times
necessary to heat the air passing through the tubes.
Figure 23 is a vertical transverse and Figure 24 a vertical longitudinal section
through an apparatus heated from a coke fire c. The air to be heated passing from
a pipe or through a nest of pipes and off by a pipe b.
Figure 25 is a transverse and Figure 26 a longitudinal_section through an
apparatus using hot water or steam for heating the air. The latter enters at a
passes through one set of pipes returns by another set of pipes and passes off at b;
the pipes are enclosed in a hot water tank e the hot water entering at d and passing
out at c.
Figure 27 is a plan and Figure 28 an end view of a motor cylinder provided
with a hot water jacket for warming the cylinder and the air supplied thereto;
where hot water is available this arrangement is convenient.
Figure 29 is a longitudinal and Figure 30 a transverse section through a motor
cylinder surrounded with a coil of hot water or steam pipes which again are covered
with felt or other non conductor.
Figure 31 is a longitudinal and Figure 32 a transverse section through a cylinder
provided with an outer jacket which is heated by gas jets a the fumes passing.
off at b.
Figure 33 is a longitudinal part section and Figure 34 a transverse section
through an apparatus for preventing overheating of the air in any of the air heating
apparatus. It is inserted in the pipe a for leading compressed heated air to the engine,

page_text: b is a reservoir filled with mercury, and c an elastic corrugated steel plate forming
the top of it. d is a piston rod resting thereon and passing out through a guiding
cover d. To the rod d is connected one end of a double armed levere the other
end of which is connected to the spindle f¹ of a diaphragm valve f which closes the
inlet g from a cold water supply of say fifty pounds pressure. The apparatus is so
adjusted that the water valve f remains closed as long as the temperature of the
air is not too high but if it exceeds a certain point, the mercury in 6 will expand
so much as to raise the diaphragm and the rod d, and begin to open the valve f
the water from g will then rush through the valve f and enter the pipe a at h.
Or the connection may be made at h¹ as shown in dotted lines to prevent over-
heating of the mercury. In case no water of 50 pounds pressure is available we
may place a small closed tank say about 10 feet above the valve f, and pressure
be applied to it by a small pipe leading cold compressed air from the main into it.
As we do not intend generally to compress the air, more than about 3 times
that is to say to about 52 pounds per square inch instances will occur where the
motors heretofore worked by steam of much higher pressure would not, when
supplied with the compressed air as motive fluid, give out the power required for
the work. In many such cases however it will be advantageous to erect one or
more additional engines for driving separate and distant parts of the works, thereby
in many cases doing away with shafting, belting and wheel gearing with their
concomitant losses by friction; such additional engine or engines would then also
be supplied with pure compressed air.
Sometimes it will be found more economical to drive each separate department
floor or group of machinery by a separate compressed air engine thus not only
saving shafting & but ensuring the peculiar advantages as regards ventilation and
the introduction of pure air into the workshops. Moreover in case of a break
down only a small portion of the works will be stopped. In some cases the steam
cylinder may be bored out larger to make up for the lower air pressure-used.-
As applied to electric lighting, instead-of-having-a-large-central station_with_
large dynamo machines and large expensive conductors proceeding therefrom to
the various districts of a town, our system affords facilities for supplying small
motors for dynamos in each district.
We may also apply the compressed air to organs thus doing away with bellows
machinery, and to gas engines, thus doing away with special air supply pump.
For refrigerating purposes in breweries and distilleries, and for fishmongers,
butterfactors, butchers, and other trades we apply the pure air after it has been
used in the motors and expanding while exhausting; thus doing away with special
cooling machines consisting of air compressing and expanding cylinder in one
machine, the expanding cylinder only helping to drive the compresser.
Where the exhaust air from a motor driven by the compressed air is available,
we thus utilize such exhaust air for the aforesaid cooling purposes but where that
is not possible or convenient we provide in the place where needed a special air
expanding engine working against a brake or other load so that the air while
performing work in the said engine loses heat and expands, and when exhausting
is utilized for cooling purposes. In many cases it will be found advantageous to
add a motor cylinder to an existing engine.
Figure 35 sheet 3 shows such an arrangement where a is the original cylinder of
the engine and b the additional cylinder of the required diameter; the two cylinders
have piston rod and slide valve rod in common and are supplied with pure
compressed air from a common pipe c.
To supply tramway cars with compressed air we tap the air supply pipe or main
at suitable stations or intervals along the line and provide hose screws for
connecting to a pipe on the tramway car.
Figure 36 Sheet 5 is a longitudinal part section of so much of the lower part of
a tramcar as is necessary to illustrate this mode of charging tramcar reservoirs with
highly compressed air. We provide the tramcar propelling cylinder B with a back
prolongation C-of its piston rod serving as the ram for a small air compressing

page_text: pump P. The hose pipe D from the main A supplies compressed air both for
working the piston in the cylinder B and for supplying the inlet side of the com-
pressing pump P. E is the delivery pipe from the latter to the air reservoir F on
the tramcar. G is a branch pipe for supplying the cylinder H, which is provided
with a ram I, with compressed air from the hose pipe D. Thero is one such
cylinder on each side of the tramcar, and the rams I are situated directly over the
tram rails. When compressed air is admitted to these cylinders the rams are forced
down & the. tram wheels K at that ond of the car are raised free of the rails so
that they can revolve freely, their axle forming the shaft of the driving engine.
When a valve L for letting out the compressed air is opened the wheels drop on to
the rails again and the weighted levers M raise the rams clear of the rails. N is a
stop which comes against a corresponding stop O on the rod, which carries the ram
I, and serves to limit the lift. Instead of the air pressure cylinders we may use
ordinary hydraulic jacks fixed to the frame work of the car and provided with
means for raising their rams clear of the rails when out of use. Instead of thus
utilizing the car driving engine for driving an air compressor on the car we may
provide a special independent donkey engine for such purpose and arrange it in
any suitable position or manner on the tram car or locomotive, in such case the
means for raising one end of the car is unnecessary.
Figure 37 Sheet 5 shows another arrangement. A service pipe B from the main
A is led to the cylinder C of the air compressing engine, the compresser pump C¹ of
which is also supplied with air from the main and compresses the air still more into
an high pressure air reservoir D, say to about 200 pounds per square inch. E is a pipo
from the latter to a stand pipe F which by hose connection and valve admits tho
highly compressed air to air reservoirs a arranged in any convenient manner on the
tram car.
In order to measure the quantity of air supplied to the consumers we provide
meters by preference of the following construction viz analogous in principle to tho
Beales "gas exhauster: " the compressed air passing through the meter causes tho
disc to revolve, each revolution representing a definite quantity of air thus supplied;
the number of revolutions is indicatod by a counting appliance in a manner
analogous to that of a gas meter. Or we may use a meter somewhat analogous
to an anemometer and consisting of a small fan placed in a tube in a part
of the air delivery or service pipe to the consumer and by worm and worm wheel
and a train of wheels and a hand made to indicate on a dial the number of cubic
feet or other measure of air usod. The wheel work and dial would all be enclosed
within the interior of the service pipe so that no stuffing box would be used.
Figure 38 is a longitudinal and Figure 39 transverse section through an
apparatus constructed as first named. It is inserted between the compressed air
service pipe and the air consumers engine and consists of a cylinder B provided
with transverse slots for the disc pieces A A¹ to work in; these are one after the
other by the pins a working in grooves c in the cylinder Ċ carried out against the
inner periphery of the enclosing cylinder C, the air pressure acting on one side of
such disc forcing it round with the cylinder B. The cubic contents of the air thus
passed through the meter is indicated by wheel work D and hands E E' on a dial
F as shown also in end view at Figure 40.
Figure 41 is a longitudinal and Figure 42 a transverse section through a meter
constructed as secondly named. The air in the main a¹ causes the fan A to rotate,
the revolutions of which are counted and indicated by the wheel work D; Figure 43
shows an end view of part of the latter and Figure 44 shows the dial with the
usual counter hands.
And having thus described and ascertained the nature of this Invention and the
manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect We declare that we are
aware that apparatus for air purifying simply and air heating simply somewhat
similar to those herein before shown and described have heretofore been proposed;
we are also aware that syphons are used now in connection with pumps for
removing the accumulated water from gas mains; we are also aware that steam

page_text: and other hot fluids have been used in jackets for keeping the steam in steam
cylinders hot; we are also aware that apparatus somewhat similar to the meters
herein before described have been proposed to be used for measuring fluids and other
purposes but We claim.
First: The combined method of dealing with air consisting in purifying it,
compressing it, distributing it by pipes to any required number of places, and
applying it there by measure, in a heated condition or otherwise, for motive power
or refrigerating, ventilating or other purposes substantially as set forth.
Second-The combination of parts forming the improved apparatus for
purifying and drying the air as described and shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and
10 and for the purposes set forth.
Third The special modes described for facilitating the application of com-
pressed air substantially as set forth with reference to Figures 35 and 36.
Fourth-The combination of air purifying apparatus motor and air compressing
plant and pipe system with syphons or traps, valves and meters substantially as
described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fifth-In a compressed air supply system the application of means for beating
the air in combination with self acting means for regulating the heat substantially
as described with reference to the accompanying drawings..
Sixth-The special construction of self acting syphons substantially as described
and shown in Figure 14.
In witness whereof we the said Thomas Alfred English and John Sturgeon
have liereunto set our hands.and seals this Tenth day of -May-in the year-
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eightythree: