IMPROVE- MENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC ENGINES
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
RICHARD ATHA, of Tralton, near Wakefield, in the County of York, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourth day of November, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs.and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Richard Atha, my. exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph Richard Atha,
my exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Richard Atha,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times 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 Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC ENGINES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that I, the said Joseph Richard Atha, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Richard Atha, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
The Invention consists of four or more sails fixed upon a stationed supporter,
which sails are made to revolve by the pressure of the wind; to the fulcrum
or shaft of the sails are attached two force pumps employed for forcing the
atmospheric air into an iron box or boxes called the main receivers. Upon
the receivers is fixed a valve called the safety valve, which valve, after the air
within the main receiver has arrived at such a pressure, opens and allows the
air to escape
into the atmosphere, and prevents the receivers from exploding.
Attached to the receiver is a pipe, the other extremity of which can be attached
or detached as required to a minor receiver which is fixed upon the frame of a
locomotive carriage; the pipe is furnished with a stopcock, which, being
turned, a communication is formed betwixt the main and minor receivers, and
the atmospheric air within the main receiver rushes into the minor one until
it arrives at such a pressure, which pressure is indicated by a valve which acts
upon a spring balance, being fixed upon the minor. receiver; to that receiver
is also attached a pipe, the other extremity of which is attached to one or
more cylinders called the main cylinders, in which
"pipe" is fixed a valve
or stopcock; the cylinders are each furnished with a piston, the rod of
which is attached to a crank, which crank, when the piston moves, drives the
engine.
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334
E:
*....
...METHOD OF WORKING.
......
. 2
"
The air is first forced into the main receiver by means of the sails, the pipe
"fixed in the main receiver is then attached to the minor upon. the engine, and
the stopcock turned; the minor receiver is then charged with air and detached
from the pipe of the main receiver: A communication is then opened between
the minor receiver and the main cylinders, and by turning the stopcock in
the pipe attached thereunto the air rushes against the pistons and acts in a
'similar way as stean. The cylinders; pistons, valves, excentrix, and cranks
are the same as ini steam engines.
...
In witness whereof," I; the said Joseph Richard 'Atha, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
.....
JOSEPH RICHARD ATHA.. (L.S.)
.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of April,
in the year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid Joseph Richard Atha came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.