IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROTARY ENGINES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Baumann, of Heilbronn, in the
Kingdom of Wurtemberg, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Baumann
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th March 1868.
I, ALEXANDER BAUMANN, of Heilbronn, in the Kingdom of Wur-
temberg, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROTARY ENGINES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention consists in certain improvements in the construction
of rotary engines, whereby great simplicity is combined with efficiency
of action. The rotary motion is obtained by the operation of the weight
of one or more pistons upon the internal surface or surfaces of a cylinder
or cylinders in which such piston or pistons is or are free to move, or
the arrangement may be reversed, and the rotary motion derived from.

page_text: the action of one or more cylinder or cylinders upon a piston or pistons.
The actuating power is obtained by the admission of steam into the
cylinder or cylinders by means of a slide valve or valves, the driving
power of the pistons or cylinders being obtained by constructing them
of sufficient dimensions and weight to acquire the desired momentum,
or by attaching weights thereto, as will be well understood by persons
conversant with mechanism. The cylinders may be of ordinary form,
or they may be of an annular form. The valves receive their motion by
springs or equilibrium weights, actuated by the projection of the moving
weight in any direction, the momentum of the moving weight around
the centre of rotation and the centrifugal force, or by one or more of
such forces.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said
Alexander Baumann in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
September 1868.
7
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
BAUMANN, of Heilbronn, in the Kingdom of Wurtemberg, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alexander Baumann, Her special licence
that I, the said Alexander Baumann, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Baumann, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROTARY ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alexander Baumann, 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

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office, on or
before the Eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Baumann, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the annexed Drawings
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists in certain improvements in the con-
struction of rotary pressure engines whereby great simplicity is combined
with efficiency of action. The rotary motion is obtained by the operation
of the weight of one or more pistons upon the internal surface or
surfaces of a cylinder or cylinders in which such piston or pistons is or
are free to move, or the arrangement may be reversed, and the rotary
motion derived from the action of one or more cylinder or cylinders upon
a piston or pistons. The actuating power is obtained by the admission
of steam into the cylinder or cylinders by means of a slide valve or
valves, the driving power of the pistons or cylinders being obtained by
constructing them of sufficient dimensions and weight to acquire the
desired momentum, or by attaching weights thereto, as will be well
understood by persons conversant with mechanism. The valves receive
their motion by springs or equilibrium weights actuated by the pro-'
jection of the moving weight in any direction, the momentum of the
moving weight around the centre of rotation and the centrifugal force,
or by one or more of such forces.
The nature of my said Invention will be more clearly understood by
a reference to the annexed Drawings, in which Figure I. is an elevation
of the apparatus partly in section; Figure 2 is a sectional plan view
taken through the middle thereof; Figure 3 is a detached sectional
view of the lever L herein-after mentioned; Figure 4 is a front view of
the apparatus, and Figure 5 is a detached view of the sliding segment S
herein-after mentioned, and the parts in connection therewith. In these
Figures similar letters indicate corresponding parts of the apparatus.
A is the cylinder; B is the valve box for the admission of the steam;
C is the steam way leading to the valve box B from the steam pipe D;
E is the valve box for the exhaust; F, the steamway leading from the
exhaust valve box to the exhaust pipe H; I is the piston, in the inside

page_text: of which is shewn the tap T, which slides therein; K, L, M, N, O, are
a system of levers by which a reciprocating motion of the guided bar G
is transmitted to the valves; P, are springs interposed between the
motive power and the fly wheel V; Q is a metal plate fitted with bolts
upon the piece R so as to connect the springs P to the piece R, which
is invariably fixed upon the shaft U of the engine; S is a sliding
segment moved by two connecting rods W, X. The connecting rod W
is guided upon the piece R, and the connecting rod X has a link on the
piece Z, which last-mentioned piece is also guided upon the piece R;
Y is a pin, which is invariably fixed to the cylinder. By a consideration
of these arrangements it will be seen that the cylinder and the pin Y
which is fixed thereto can have three kinds of relative movements by
reason of the connection between the cylinder and the piece R, which is
made by the springs P. The first of these relative movements is a
translation in the direction of the axis of the cylinder; the second is
a translation perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder, and parallel to
the plane of the fly wheel; and the third relative movement is a
rotation round the axis of the pin Y. These relative movements are due
first, to the projection of the weight of the piston in any direction in a
plane parallel to the plane of the fly wheel; secondly, to the centrifugal
force of the piston, and to its momentum round the centre of the motion;
and, thirdly, to the pressure of the motive power upon the bottom of the
cylinder, which occurs during the movement of the piston in the direc-
tion of its axis. The two first relative movements have an effect upon
the position of the sliding segment S, whilst the third relative movement
has an effect only upon the position of the guided bar G relatively to the
sliding segment S. As long as the momentum of the moving weight is
positive the guided bar G will be nearly parallel to the connecting rod X,
and therefore the reciprocating motion of the bar G is stopped, and it
remains in the middle of its course. When the momentum of the
moving weight is zero or negative, which corresponds to the lowest
possible position of the piston, the guided bar G will have passed into a
position nearly parallel to the connecting rod W, and the first relative
movement being at the same time near its maximum, the reciprocating
motion of the guided bar G comes near to one of its dead points, and the
steam is consequently admitted. In consequence of the movement of
the piston which is now effected in the direction of its own axis, the
second relative movement accompanied by the third relative movement
will take place. As these two movements compensate each other, or

page_text: both produce the same effect, each of them being positive, zero, or
negative according to the speed of rotation of the engine, the steam
pressure, the weight of the piston, the momentum of inertia of the fly
wheel, and the speed of the piston in the direction of its axis, the admis-
sion of the steam will be cut off in proper time. In order to prevent
the striking of the piston against the bottom of the cylinder the tap T
which has small holes therein nearly shuts the exhaust before the piston
arrives at the end of its stroke, and so forms a steam cushion. From that
moment the momentum of the moving weight will again become positive,
and the same action as before will be repeated. It may be useful under
certain circumstances instead of fixing the fly wheel V invariably upon
the shaft of the engine to fix it with a ratchet wheel or other similar or
analogous contrivance, so that if the momentum of the moving weight is
negative, the cylinder ceases the positive rotation, and the moving weight
acts again when it has acquired the proper positive rotation and speed.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which it is to be performed, I would observe
in conclusion that what I consider novel and original, and therefore
claim as constituting the Invention secured to me by the said herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the combination and arrangement
of parts and mechanism as and for the purposes herein-before described
and set forth, or any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Baumann, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
Witness,
E. P. H. VAUGHAN,
54, Chancery Lane.
A. BAUMANN. (L.S.)