NEW INVENTED STEAM WHEEL OR ENGINE FOR RAISING WATER, AND FOR VARIOUS OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES IN ARTS AND MANUFACTURES
Year: 1805

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JONATHAN
HORNBLOWER, of the Borough of Penryn, in the County of Cornwall, Engineer,
do send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the forty-fifth year of His
reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Jonathan Hornblower, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, His special licence, that I, the said Jonathan
Hornblower, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my "NEW
INVENTED STEAM WHEEL OR ENGINE FOR RAISING WATER, AND FOR VARIOUS OTHER
USEFUL PURPOSES IN ARTS AND MANUFACTURES;" in which Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said Jonathan Hornblower, under my
hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jonathan Hornblower, do declare that the following is a description of my said
Invention, both in respect to its principles, and also the way and manner in
which the same is performed and rendered practically useful (that is to say) :-

page_text: First, in respect to principles, I cause the steam to pass from boilers of any
ordinary construction into steam vessels so particularly contrived and disposed
as to produce an immediate circular motion round an axis, and thereby
communicate a rotary motion also to other parts that may be appended to or
connected with the machines, without the intervention of wheel work and other
complicated machinery, which has hitherto been found necessary where motions
that are rotative are produced by means of such as are.rectilinear and inter-
changeable.
Secondly, I cause the steam to operate on certain moveable parts, so con-
nected with an axle within the aforesaid vessel that they occasionally and al-
ternately present unequal areas to the action of the steam, by which means the
counterbalance or equipoise which would otherwise exist on opposite sides of
the axis is done away.
Thirdly, the moveable parts which compose the said unequal areas do succes-
sively form a partition, thereby, constituting two several apartments in the said
steam vessel, so that in the act of their interchanges a continuous circular
motion is produced without suffering any communication to exist between the
aforesaid two apartments.
Fourthly, the steam vessel is so constructed as for one of its apartments to
receive a constant supply of steam from the boiler, whilst the other appart-
ment communicates uninterruptedly with the condensing apparatus.
Lastly, from the practical application of the aforegoing principles (as herein-
after more particularly set forth), I obviate all those inconveniences attendant
on such steam engines as are retarded in their operation from vis inertiae, as
often as the direction of their motions are reversed, or such as require fly
wheels of a magnitude so enormous as to occasion a vast absorption of power.
And in order for the better comprehension and understanding how the afore-
said principles may be reduced to practical use, I do hereby further declare,
that although I vary my modes of construction as a difference in circumstances
may offer to produce the same effect and obtain the main purpose intended,
yet I principally adhere to the following method as being fully answerable to
what is required, and as best calculated to be understood from a description of
the same (that is to say):-
First, the vessel in which the steam operates is made of cast iron, exter-
nally resembling a globe flattened at its poles, see Fig. the 1st, which shews
one its sides, the other being similar to it. Fig. 3d is a representation of
the parts of the machine which move round within the steam vessel, as already
generally expressed, and these I call vanes; and Fig. the 2d represents the
interior of Figure the 1st with its lid removed. The pipe A at Fig. the 1st

page_text: receives the steam from the boiler, to which is connected a valve box of any
usual construction by which to regulate the admission of steam. At B the
eduction pipe is connected leading from the upper apartment to the condensing
apparatus, and turning in such a direction as may be most convenient for the
discharging pump to be wrought by means of an arbor turned by the axle of
the machine, on which arbor is a small fly wheel for the purpose of regulating
the inequality of the crank to which the pump rod is attached. C, C, is a
square plate of metal cast with the lower part of the steam vessel, by which
means the whole is fastened down at the corners to the flooring of the house
with iron bolts. D, D. is a middle part of the steam vessel furnished
with flanches for the purpose of screwing it to E, E, and also for receiving
the lid F, by which means the partition within is secured to its place in the
middle of the machine, and the lid may easily be removed for the purpose of
rectifying and repairing the internal structure. G is the square part of one
end of the axis of the machine, over which is placed a gland I, divided into
two parts, in order that it may be put on over the square and properly embrace
the round part of the axis; within this gland is a stuffing box for the purpose
of keeping the axle both air and steam-tight. In one side of the lower
apartment of the steam vessel is a small opening (secured by a lid) for the
purpose of cleaning that part of the machine.
Figure the 2nd represents the partition within the steam vessel, which may
be made either of brass or irou, or of both those metals combined. B, B, is
the lower flanch, the upper parts being taken away; C, C, are the two
openings or passages for the vanes; these I call vane ports, and to obtain a
proper idea of their figure it must be observed that the largest vane port is
formed by the exterior portions of two cones Z, Z, and at Y, Y, by a portion
of a concave part of a sphere. The extent of this passage throughout must
at least be equal to ninety degrees of a circle, and the vanes of a sufficient
width so that two of them may always make their entrance into the vane ports
before the other two make their exit. The edge c, c, may therefore be
supposed to descend into the lower apartment one half of their depth, and to
rise the other half to meet the eye; but it is not necessary that Z, Z, be so
deep all the way as Y, Y, but converge towards the centre of the machine. This
is the ascending vane port. The descending one is included between D, D, which
are rabbets or seatings for receiving a packing herein-after further described;
and a, a, represents a rising edge so as to obtain a depth at least equal to the
thickness of the vanes, one half of which edging is below and the other half
above the main axis. These edges receive two metal plates fixed down with
screws on them for the purpose of confining the packing. The part E is also

page_text: formed spherically, and is provided with a packing groove which meets the
edge of metal in the middle of the vanes K, K, Fig. 3. F, F, is the main
axle of the machine laid in its place without the vanes, one end of which
is to perform the necessary work required, and the other is applied to the
discharging pump. At D, D, the packing extends to W, W, so as to
embrace the nave as well as the descending vane, by which means both
the nave and the vanes move steam-tight in their revolutions. v, v, v, v,
is that part of the partition which forms a plane at the axis of the
globe, and it is secured in its place by being seated into a rabbet with
the usual jointing materials; on the interior margin of the steam vessel
G, G, are two brasses let down into the partition, and they are raised or
depressed with screws, as adjustment may require. At t, t, spaces are left for
packing round the axle, and the upper brasses, which keep down the axle,
serve also to keep it in its place. At H, H, are the stuffing boxes, mentioned
in Figure the first; they have a division plate of metal in them, so that S, S,
being supplied with steam from the valve box, the packing on each side of
these vacuities are rendered air-tight. The manner in which the partition and
vane ports are constructed is by rivetting the two parts v, v, v, v, together, by
means of flanches at I, I, first having mounted them on an axis to correct by
turning (either by hand or otherwise) the want of smoothness and truth from
the casting; and when this is done, the main axle is fixed to its place as a
guide by which to set up the four vanes as at Fig. 3d, where, by a mere in-
spection, it is plain how this is performed. The open vane exhibits a frame of
metal, which receives a plate on each side; these plates, with the edge of metal
K, K, cast with the frame, form grooves and vacuities to receive the packing;
the nave being hollow, receives two iron axles, which are curved in the middle
and there cross each other. The manner in which they receive the vanes is
shewn by the Figure; also how the packing renders them steam tight on the
spherical part of the nave, and that when one of them is moved its opposite
vane on the same axle must likewise be moved. The main axle is turned true
by rivetting the two parts together at the nave, and rivetting them after the
cross axles are set in their places. All the several parts of the machine being
then put in their respective situations, it is very evident that when steam is
admitted into the lower apartment, the rising vane which occupies the largest
passage must overpower the other in its decent, and that if by any means one
of the vanes be turned a quarter of a revolution, it must at the same time
carry with it the one which is connected on the opposite side of the nave, and
this turning is effected by fixing with screws a block of wood on the partition
at K, K, in the form of a strong bracket. This block will not permit the

page_text: ascending vane to pass it without being turned on its edge, by which means the
one below is turned at the same time, to present its broad surface to the large
vane port. It may be necessary to remark that when the machine is to be
set at work the steam is not admitted into the upper apartment of the
vessel to exclude the air, but enters immediately from the valve box to the
eduction or discharging pipe, in order to preserve the grease which which is
made use of to lubricate the internal moveable mechanisin of the engine. For
the further explanation of the manner in which I prepare the packing for the
necessary parts of the machine, I further remark that I arrange strands of
rope yarn by a method somewhat similar to that adopted in making fringe.
A sufficient number of fringes are laid at the side of each other for filling the
grooves or spaces they are to occupy, and then they are sewed slightly together;
after this, they are for the vanes placed edgewise on a flat iron collar jointed
at its corners, and then lashed firmly thereto by means of rope yarn passing
through the body of this fringed fabric, and wrapping round the iron collar, so
that when the collars of hemp and iron are in their respective places the end
of the fibre of the hemp is presented to the abrading parts, and by means of a
small pin driven through the thickness of the vane at S, S, Figure the 3d, the
whole are immoveably retained in their proper situations. I also adopt the
same kind of fabric for the side packing at D, D, Figure the 2nd: but I here
fasten the hempen fringes to pieces of wood instead of iron, and present the
ends of their fibre to the sides of the descending vane. At other places where
this kind of packing is not eligible nor so much required I adopt the common
method of packing. As it is not eligible any more than absolutely necessary
to pack the vanes whilst they are situated in the large vane port, they are by
cutting or shearing successively made to enter it and receive their proper con-
figuration. Where circumstances will admit, I adopt the use of angular teeth
in the form of a cheveron, for the purpose of connecting and turning any
wheel-work that may be an appendage to the machine, by which means I
obtain all the advantages resulting from small teeth in respect to what artists
call their taking and leaving, without the liability of their being so soon
broken or otherwise affected from the diminutiveness of their size.
Figure 4th shews an eligible proportion for such angular tecth, their depth
being equal to the part of the tooth at S, in the direction of the dotted line.
In order to make my machine appropriate to the draining of mines, &c., I
adopt the use of a rope or ropes, with buckets so appended to them that the
rope being endless and made to revolve by the engine, a number of the said
buckets are caused to descend on one side whilst others are ascending on the
contrary side of the shaft.