Year: 1885

page_text: We WILLIAM FRANKLIN MARTIN of 2048 Ellsworth Street in the City of
Philadelphia State of Pennsylvania United States of America Engineer JAMES
SCOTT of 1403 South Eighteenth Street in said City of Philadelphia Woollen
Carder JOHN ALBIZITTI of 1531 Christian Street in said City of Philadelphia
Wool Comber and JOHN JEROME MAHONEY of 1724 Tasker Street in the said
City of Philadelphia Clerk 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 :-
The object of this Invention is to construct a condensing engine in such a
manner that the vacuum may be controlled the power exerted being in proportion
to the work to be done by the Engine and this object is attained in the manner
bereinafter described reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which
Figure 1 is a side view of an Engine constructed in accordance with the Inven-
tion and,
Figure 2 an enlarged side view of the cylinder shewing the valve operating
devices more clearly than figure 1.
The Engine valves and valve gear may be constructed in a manner similar to
those of an ordinary high pressure steam Engine and in the drawing the Engine
is shown as being provided with valve gear of the well known Corliss type although
it should be understood that the invention is not limited to valve gear of this
character.
The exhaust chest of the engine should be in communication through a pipe a
with a condenser of any suitable construction in which a partial vacuum is
continuously maintained and the cut off gear is reversed, as compared with an
ordinary high pressure engine, that is to say it is applied to the valves in the
exhaust chest, instead of to the inlet valves in the steain chest, so that the com-
munication of either end of the cylinder with the condenser may be cut off at any
desired point in the stroke of the piston.
In order to neutralize the vacuum in either end of the cylinder after the same
has been cut off from the condenser the said cylinder is provided near each end,
with an air valve b under control of a weighted arm d, which is connected to
a bell crank leverf having a rod g- with tappet h, adapted for the action of a
lug or projection i. on or carried by the rocker arm A forming part of the valve

page_text: gear of the engine, the tappets being adjustable so that the air valve at either end
of the cylinder may be opened immediately after the closing of the communication
between the said end of the cylinder and the condenser, or at any time between
the closing of communication and the completion of the stroke.
In order to permit the quick closing of the air valve, the rod g- has a cam m
which is acted upon by a pin n so that as the rod approaches the limit of its
movement it will be lifted by the pin n, the tappet h being finally freed from the
control of the lug i, and the weighted arm permitted to drop until the weight rests
in the socket.p-, the valve being then closed.
By this means the vacuum can be cut off and its effect neutralized at any
desired point in the stroke of the engine in the same manner as the steam is
cut off in an ordinary high pressure engine, and the engine can therefore be run
by vacuum and the power of the engine regulated in proportion to the work.
The steam may be under such low pressure or the passage through the steam
pipe throttled to such an extent, that the steam simply serves to fill the cylinder
in the rear of the piston, no material share in the work of the engine being due to
the pressure of the steam, in fact the steam may pass directly to the condenser
without entering the cylinder of the engine, the partial vacuum in the con-
denser being relied upon as the effective agent for driving the engine, and air
being admitted to that end of the cylinder opposite the one open to the condenser,
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
First. The combination of an engine having valved inlets, and an exhaust
chest communicating with a condenser, and having exhaust valves valve gearing for
operating said inlet and exhaust valves, and cut off mechanism, applied to the
valves in the exhaust chest, and under the control of the governor of the engine,
all substantially as herein before described.
Second. The combination of the cylinder having valved inlets and an exhaust
chest communicating with a condenser, and having exhaust valves, valve operating
gear, cut off mechanism acting on the exhaust valves, and air inlet valves under
control of the valve gear substantially as hereinbefore described.
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