IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES TO BE DRIVEN BY WATER AND STEAM, AND IN PUMPS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Kemp West, of Crown Place, Kentish
Town, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES TO BE DRIVEN BY WATER AND STEAM, AND IN
PUMPS."
Sealed the 31st July 1874, and dated the 21st February 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Kemp West
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st February 1874.
I, DANIEL KEMP WEST, of Crown Place, Kentish Town, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES TO BE DRIVEN BY WATER AND STEAM,
AND IN PUMPS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the construction of steam or water
engines and pumps in a more compact form, and so as to diminish
friction in working, and consists in the combination of a number of
cylinders, the axes of which are parallel to each other or to the shaft to
be driven. Each of these cylinders is furnished with a piston or plunger,

page_text: which pistons or plungers are caused to act successively on the surface
of a conical disc, working on a corresponding inverted fixed cone, thereby
imparting to the said disc a rolling motion without revolution on its
axis. To the disc is or are connected an arm or arms, the end or ends
of which is or are caused by the motion of the said disc to describe a
circle about the axial line of the shaft to be driven, and thereby drive
the crank on the same.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Daniel Kemp West in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
KEMP WEST, of Crown Place, Kentish Town, in the County of Middle-
sex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Daniel Kemp West, Her special
licence that I, the said Daniel Kemp West, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Daniel Kemp West,
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 ENGINES TO BE DRIVEN BY WATER AND STEAM, AND IN PUMPS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Daniel Kemp West,
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 Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great

page_text: Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE,' that I, the said Daniel Kemp West, 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 Drawings here-
unto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
My Invention of "Improvements in Engines to be Driven by Water
and Steam, and in Pumps" has for its object the construction of steam
or water engines and pumps in a more compact form, and so as to
diminish friction in working, and consists in the combination of a
number of cylinders, the axes of which are parallel to each other or to
the shaft to be driven. Each of these cylinders is furnished with a
opiston or plunger, which pistons or plungers are caused to act successively
on the surface of a conical disc working on a corresponding inverted
fixed cone, thereby imparting to the said disc a rolling motion without
revolution on its axis. To the disc is or are connected an arm or arms,
the end or ends of which is or are caused by the motion of the said disc
to describe a circle about the axial line of the shaft to be driven, and
thereby drive the crank on the same.
The valve gear for working the pistons in the cylinders may be the
ordinary slide valve driven by the motion of the shaft, or a rotary valve
or valves worked by the rolling motion of the said conical disc, or a ring
worked by an excentric on the crank shaft.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will now
procced to describe more particularly in what manner the same is to be
performed by the aid of the accompanying Drawings, in which are
represented the parts of engines above referred to.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section, and Fig. 2 a horizontal section representing
an engine having a number of cylinders with their axes parallel to the
crank shaft A, such cylinders having pistons working in them, the ends
of which pistons bear upon the flat surface of the conical disc B, as
shewn at Fig. 1.

page_text: The cylinders are arranged in a circle, of which the shaft A is the
centre. The shaft carries a crank C, in which the stem D of the conical
disc works as a crank pin. The conical surface of the disc has its bearing
on the base plate E, its apex being steadied by a ball-and-socket joint.
The pistons acting alternately or in rotation on the circumference of the t
cone force it down in such a manner as to keep its surface in constant
contact at the lowest point of its motion with the conical surface on the
base plate E. By this means a rolling motion is communicated to the
conical disc B without revolution on its axis, the connection of its stem D
with the crank C giving motion to the latter.
In the Drawing the pistons are shown single acting and without any
connection to the disc B, the ends of the pistons being coned to corre-
spond with the angle of the disc.
In Fig. 3 the conical disc is shown of a different section from the
above, the bearing surface for the pistons to work upon being lowered to 1
the plane of the apex of the cone.
In Fig. 4 is shown a method of connecting the rods of the pistons
with the rolling conical disc where such connection is necessary, as in
double acting engines.
On the circumference of the rolling conical disc is a guide a, in which ?
a slide b works, being free to travel in any direction in the guide. A
pin c, which is free to turn in a hole in the slide b, is jointed to the piston
rod, and in this manner the required connection is formed between the
piston rod and the circumference of the rolling conical disc. Any other
suitable form of universal joint may be employed, but the one described
above will effect the purpose required.
When increased power is required a second set of cylinders (either
single or double acting) in addition to those represented may be adapted
to the opposite side of the disc.
In Figures 2 and 3 is shown an arrangement of valve gear, which I
prefer, for admitting the fluid under pressure to the cylinders. For this
purpose the shaft A carries an excentric G, which works a ring H, which
is caused to reciprocate with the motion of the excentric, and thereby
forms a moveable partition between the two compartments of the chest I.
One of these compartments is in communication with the admission
pipe and the other with the exhaust. The ring H in its reciprocating
1

page_text: motion passes over the ports, thereby placing them alternately in com-
munication with the two chambers. The ring is kept tight as required
between the top and bottom surfaces of the chest by means of ordinary
packing, or is formed of two steam-tight cylinders, one within the
other.
The motion of the rolling cone upon the fixed base causes the air or
fluid lying between them to be driven round with the revolution of the
engine, and the centrifugal force thus generated I use as a means of
pumping, making suitable openings for the admission of the fluid at the
centre and its delivery from the outside of the space below the disc.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what I claim
as of my Invention is,―
First. The combination and arrangement of parallel cylinders, the
pistons of which act on or are driven by the surface of a conical disc,
having its bearing on a corresponding inverted conical surface on the
base plate of the engine, as herein-before described.
And, Secondly. The application of the centrifugal force given to air
or water between the fixed and rolling cones for the purpose of pumping
or forcing.
In witness whereof I, the said Daniel Kemp West, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eighth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
25 Witness,
R. W. LEACH,
DANIEL KEMP WEST. (L.S.)
14, Woburn Buildings,
Euston Square, N.W.,
Clerk,