Improvements in Hydro-carbon Explosive Engines.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 1st July, 1889-Accepted, 1st Oct., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hydro-carbon Explosive Engines.
HERBERT AKROYD STUART of Bletchley Iron & Tin Plate Works, Bletchley in
the County of Buckinghamshire, Mechanical Engineer, and CHARLES RICHARD
BINNEY of 5 Hackney-road, London, Consulting Engineer do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to Engines or Motors driven by explosion within their
cylinders and wherein the explosive mixture is produced by combining Hydro
Carbons with due proportions of air; but it relates more particularly to the means of
controlling the supply of the liquid Hydro Carbons by means of utilizing a portion
of the compressed mixture (on the compression stroke of the cycle of the engine) in
combination with a valve arrangement subject to the action of the engine governors,.
and further to a means of vaporizing and mixing liquid Hydro Carbons with air
within the cylinder or cylinders or compression chamber or chambers or by a combina-
tion of these.
In carrying the said invention into practice a bed-plate or foundation is employed
to which the necessary mechanism may be attached.
One cycle of the engine or motor may be as follows:-
The induction of the explosive mixture ou the first outward stroke of the piston ;
the compression on the return stroke; the explosion on the second outward stroke ;
and the clearance of combustion on the second return stroke.
A supply of the petroleum or other volatile liquid is preferably contained in a tank
or receptacle which may be placed on the ground or other suitable place, or may be
formed in the bed plate of the engine. One or more ports or passages are arranged
between the cylinder or compression chamber, and the receptacle for containing the
combustible liquid. These ports or passages are provided with valves which are
controlled by springs or otherwise, so that they are kept tight to their seats according
to the weight or pressure at which the compression is required to pass. One of these
valves may be worked mechanically and the other by the compression of the mixture
contained in the cylinder.
By forcing some of the combustible mixture, during the compression stroke of the
piston, through the above ports or passages into the receptacle containing the
combustible liquid, that liquid may be kept by a weighted valve from escaping till
required and may be retained at the proper height for entering the vaporizing
chamber or cylinder and the desired quantity when required forced as a constant or
intermitting supply for the proper working of the engine or motor.
It must be understood that the combustible liquid in the tank is not kept under
pressure by an air pump or solely by compressed air but by the compressed com-
bustible mixture forced on it by the piston in its first return stroke and that the piston
in conjunction with the valves may cut off the combustible mixture in the cylinder
from that in the tank at any desired pressure.
inay
Hydro Carbons be vaporized and mixed with air in various ways. When the
Hydro Carbons and air are vaporized and mixed within the cylinder the said cylinder
is provided with a cylinder-cover or its equivalent at each end and a piston and rod
are employed instead of a trunk as in the case of a cylinder closed at one end only.
The liquid Hydro Carbon is preferably fed into the cylinder at the opposite side of
the piston to its working side, and it is delivered into a properly shaped piece of
metal, asbestos, or other suitable material and which may be non-conducting or
isolated from the cylinder or it may have partial contact therewith. When starting
the engine this piece of metal asbestos or other material is heated by a flame, so that

page_text: the liquid Hydro-Carbon delivered thereon is, by the heat, changed into a gas and
retained in the cylinder. On the exhaust stroke of the engine a valve is opened, and
the piston draws in a supply of air, which mixes with the vapor thus forming the
explosive mixture. On the induction stroke of the piston the said mixture is trans-
ferred through suitable passages to the opposite or working side of the piston,
entering the cylinder through the compression chamber which may or may not be
heated by a flame when first starting the engine.
This compression chamber is made non-conducting or isolated from the cylinder
or to have only partial contact therewith, so that during the working of the engine it
quickly attains a great heat and thus the mixture passing through is raised in
temperature and also in explosive power.
The flame which is at first employed to vaporize the mixture may be dispensed
with the heat from the cylinder or compression chamber being sufficient.
We wish it to be particularly understood that the necessary heat for vaporizing
and mixing the explosive mixture after the engine is started is dependent not only
upon the exhaust gases but also on those from the explosion or combustion of the
mixture or from a combination of the combustion and exhaust.
When the other referred to means are employed the liquid Hydro Carbon, when
vaporized is contained in a separate chamber or portion in connection with the
cylinder and compression chamber.
The piston on its induction stroke draws into the cylinder the vapor therein as well
as a supply of air which also enters the cylinder through the compression chamber.
The supply of air may as well as the liquid Hydro Carbon, be controlled by the
engine governors and the mixture may be ignited by valve mechanism or an electric
spark. The necessary mechanism for actuating the several valves is obtained from
one or more worm wheels fixed to the crank shaft and has suitable shaped cams
formed thereon. These worm wheels gear into pinions having alternately a long
tooth and a short tooth so that during one revolution of the crank shaft no motion
is transmitted through the pinions to their respective valves but on the next
revolution the cam on the worm acts on the long tooth and produces a suitable
motion which is transmitted through levers to the valve or valves. It will be under-
stood that more than one valve may be actuated during every revolution of the
crank shaft but each valve is actuated on every alternate revolution. It will be
seen that the cams may be formed on the pinions instead of on the worm wheels if
desired.
Dated this 29th day of September 1888.,
HERBERT AKROYD STUART.
C. R. BINNEY.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hydro-carbon Explosive Engines.
We, HERBERT AKROYD STUART of Bletchley Iron Works, Fenny Stratford, in the
county of Buckingham, and CHARLES RICHARD BINNEY, of 5, Hackney Road,
London; E., Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained.
in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in engines or motors operated by the
explosion or combustion of a mixture of liquid hydro-carbon vapour and air and
consists principally in providing means for controlling the supply of the liquid
hydro-carbon to be vapourized and means for vapourizing such liquid hydro-carbon.
In order to enable our invention to be fully understood we will describe how it can
be carried into practice by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which,
Figures 1 and 2 are respectively an end elevation and a plan of an engine
constructed according to our invention; and,
Figure 3 is a sectional side elevation of the same.

page_text: are views WOICH WI be more any meremaer dese
Similar reference letters indicate similar or corresponding parts throughout the
drawing.
a is the base plate of the engine, b the cylinder, and c the cránk shaft mounted
in bearings in the framing d, all of which parts are of known construction.
e is a tank, which attached to the base plate a and serves together with a recep-
tacle a¹ in the said base plate to contain the liquid hydro-carbon for the use of
the engine. Or the receptacle in the base can be dispensed with.
The tank e communicates with the cylinder b by means of a pipe e¹, spring
valve and port ³, the said valve which is shewn in section at fig. 4 serving to
allow a portion of the compressed combustible mixture in the cylinder to pass into
the said tank in order to impart any desired pressure to the liquid hydro-carbon
for the purpose of forcing it to the measuring valve hereinafter described.
e is a back-pressure valve to prevent the return of the pressure from the tank,
when the valve e is opened. is a pressure gauge on the said tank for registering the
pressure and e' is a valve through which the tank is filled with the liquid hydro-carbon.
f is a casing in which are arranged the exhaust, air and gas valves g, h and i
respectively, all of which are spring valves. The valve g is operated by a lever gl
fulcrummed at 92 and attached to the eccentric rod g³ of an eccentric g* mounted
upon a fixed shaft g* and attached to a spur wheel g, actuated from the crank-shaft c
while the air valve h is operated by a lever ', fulcrummed at 2 and attached to the
eccentric rod ³ of an eccentric also attached to the wheel g°. The gas-valve i
is operated through the medium of a spring rod by a double cam attached to the
eccentric. To the eccentric g is attached a cam 9" for operating through the
medium of a spring rod e' the spring valve e².
jis a three-way cock or valve for measuring the liquid hydro-carbon to be
vapourized, which valve is connected to the tank e by a pipe and is provided with
an air-chamber similar to that described in the specification of Letters Patent
applied for by us July 24th 1888 No. 10667. The valve is operated by the
lever through the medium of a lever k, rod ¹, toothed sector k³, pivotted at g
and pinion upon the spindle of the said valve, the rod bearing upon a cone of
a centrifugal governor, so that when the speed of the engine is increased above the
normal, the balls of the said governor will move the cone so as to disengage the
rod k¹ from the toothed-sector thereby stopping the operation of the valve j, the
said rod being provided with a forked end to enable it to be so disengaged from a
pin on the said sector.
As this mechanism for governing and controlling the supply of liquid hydro-carbon
forins part of the subject matter of an application for Letters Patent dated September
20 A.D. 1889 No. 14868 I make no claim to it in the present application.
For vapourizing and igniting the compressed mixture we make use of a tube m,
containing a metallic spiral similar to the igniting tube described in the said former
Letters Patent, the said tube being surrounded by a casing m¹ and placed so that the
liquid hydro-carbon, passing through the measuring valve will fall into it so as to be
vapourized, a lighted lamp being placed beneath the said tubes so as to vapourize
or ignite as required the said liquid hydro-carbon. In some cases this tube may be
bent to a U- or other suitable shape so that both the air and gaseous vapour may pass
through it on their way to the cylinder.
o is an additional vapourizer or superheater arranged in the compression chamber f¹
in the casing f, which vapourizer while increasing the degree of vapourization of the
hydro-carbon also tends to thoroughly mix it with the air, it being provided with a
Buted exterior for that purpose. The chamber is connected to the interior of the
cylinder by the port 61, the vapourizer o is shewn drawn to a larger scale in
elevation and horizontal section at figs. 5 and 6 respectively.
The operation of the engine is as follows, that is to say, presuming its parts to be
in the position shewn in the drawing, if the fly-wheel be turned in the direction of
the arrow fig. 3, the eccentric * and one portion of the cam will open the
valves and respectively. Previous to this, however, the movement of the

page_text: eccentric will have caused the valvej to deliver the quantity of liquid hydro-
carbon, forced into the air-chamber by the pressure in the tank e, into the tube m,
where it will have been instantly vapourized by the heat of the lamp n.
The piston
which is moving upwardly draws into the cylinder the vapourized hydro-carbon
together with a certain quantity of air through the valve until it arrives at the
end of its stroke, when the valves and i are closed and the piston returns and
compresses the mixture. During the compression stroke the valve e is opened
by the cam to allow some of the compressed gaseous mixture to enter the
tank and at about the completion of the said stroke the valve i will be
opened by another portion of the cam to allow the compressed mixture to com-
mmunicate with the tube m and to ignite thereby causing the piston to make another
upward stroke, at the same time the valve will be operated by the eccentric ht
so as to allow the chamber to receive some liquid hydro-carbon from the tank e.
At the completion of the said stroke the exhaust-valve g will be opened by the
eccentric so as to exhaust the products of combustion during another downward
stroke of the piston, thereby completing one cycle of movements of the engine.
In some cases we dispense with the use of two valves for admitting the air and
vapourized liquid hydro-carbon respectively, and use only one. This arrangement is
shewn at figure 7, which represents a vertical section through the casing fp being
the said valve. In this case the valve is preferably coned, as shewn, so that the
liquid hydro-carbon is blown off it by the induction of the air. This valve is kept in
place by a spring, as shewn, and may be actuated similarly to the valve h
figures 1 to 3, or it may be automatic. Instead of the vapourizer m, shewn in the
last mentioned figures, we prefer to use a thin tube q which serves the same purpose,
and connects the valve p with the compression chamber and cylinder. The air and
liquid hydro-carbon having to pass through the said tube prevent it becoming too
hot from the heat of the lamp n.. In this case we use a separate igniting tube y¹
so arranged that the lamp n imparts heat to it at some distance from its point of
junction with the compression chamber f¹, for the purpose of preventing the com-
bustible mixture reaching the heated part of the said tube until it is under the desiral
compression, for after each explosion the said tube is filled with the products of com-
bustion or incombustible gas, which has to be compressed into the portion of the
tube to the right of the lamp before the fresh mixture can reach the heated part.
Instead of placing the superheater in the compression chamber as described we
sometimes prefer to place it in the cylinder for the same purpose.
In some cases we arrange a valve which is preferably kept open during a portion
of the compression stroke so that some of the mixture may be pushed back by the
piston into a separate receptacle to prevent its escape until the next induction stroke.
This means enables us to have a smaller quantity of mixture, which is equivalent
to a long working stroke so that the products of combustion may expand to atmos-
pheric pressure or thereabouts at the end of the working stroke instead of being at a
higher pressure, as when the full charge is ignited.
The same effect may be produced by actuating the air and gas valves h and i
during say one half or two thirds or any other portion of the induction stroke, so
that during the remainder of the stroke the piston would be tending to produce a
partial vacuum, but we prefer to employ the first described means which we term a
cut-off arrangement as the quantity of combustible mixture used is equivalent to a
quantity which has been cut off at any desired portion of the stroke. This arrange-
ment also makes the escape of exhaust gas quiet. The means described are employed
when the piston draws in its own mixture, but when a compressing pump is employed
its capacity is proportional to the capacity of the desired portion of the stroke at
which the mixture is to be cut off.
We do not confine ourselves to the exact configuration and arrangement, as illustrated
and described herein, as it will be obvious such may be performed in various other ways,
as instead of the engine or motor receiving an explosion every alternate revolution,
the parts constituting this invention are equally applicable to engines receiving an
explosion every revolution..

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
(1) In liquid hydro-carbon explosive engines or motors utilizing a portion of the
compressed combustible mixture to maintain the liquid hydro-carbon at any desired.
pressure in the oil supply-tank, substantially as, and for the purpose set forth.
(2) In liquid hydro-carbon explosive engines or motors, the use of a tube such
as m for vapourizing the liquid hydro-carbon, substantially as described with reference
to figure 3 of the accompanying drawing.
(3) In liquid hydro-carbon explosive engines or motors, the modified form of
vapourizer, substantially as described with reference to figure 7 of the accompanying
drawing.
(4) In the liquid hydro-carbon explosive engine or motor hereinbefore described,
the use of a superheater, such as o, in the cylinder or compression chamber,
substantially as, and for the purposes described and as illustrated in the accompanying
drawing.
(5) In the liquid hydro-carbon explosive engines or motors herein before described,
means for the purpose of gaining an equivalent of a long working stroke so as to
utilize the combustion down to atmospheric pressure or thereabouts, substantially as
described.
(6) The improved liquid hydro-carbon explosive engine or motor constructed and
operating substantially as described 'and illustrated in figures 1 to 6 of the accompanying
drawing.
(7) The modification of the liquid hydro-carbon explosive engine or motor,
substantially as described with reference to figure 7 of the accompanying drawing.
Dated the 1st dow of Jul. 1080
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.