IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY ENGINES."
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Meshach Brittan Cooper, of Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ROTATORY ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left: by the said Meshach Brittan Cooper
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th April 1864:
I, MESHACH BRITTAN COOPER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, do, hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-"
MENTS IN ROTATORY ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements on that engine for which John
Lane and John Taylor obtained Letters Patent, bearing date the 2nd June.
1855, No. 1259, and for which, for further improvements, John Taylor and the
present Inventor, the said Meshach Brittan Cooper, obtained-Letters Patent,"
bearing date the 2nd January 1861, No. 10, and consists essentially in so'
securing and fitting the several parts together that the cylinder is made sta-
tionary, and the piston to move and give rotary motion; or the piston made
stationary, and the cylinder to move and give rotary motion, instead of making
both the cylinder and piston rotate, as hitherto has been the case with
engines of this class constructed in accordance with the Specifications above
referred to.
In the modification which I prefer, the cylinder is stationary and the

page_text: piston moveable. The tongue piece is secured to the piston, and works in
and through an opening in the cylinder, or in a raised piece thereon formed or
thereto attached. The eccentric movement or motion of the piston is by a
crank or cranks, or its or their equivalents conveyed to the shaft to give
rotary motion thereto. Induction and eduction ports are made through the
cylinder, the one at the one side of the tongue piece opening or projection,
and the other at the other side thereof.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Meshach Brittan Cooper in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MESHACH
BRITTAN COOPER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Meshach Brittan Cooper, Her special licence that I, the said Meshach
Brittan Cooper, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Mesbach Brittan Cooper, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN ROTATORY ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Meshach Brittan Cooper, 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 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 Meshach Brittan Cooper, 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 (that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements on that engine for which John

page_text: Lane and John Taylor obtained Letters Patent, bearing date, the 2nd June:
1855, No. 1259, and for which, for further improvements, John Taylor and the
present Inventor, the said Meshach Brittan Cooper, obtained: Letters Patent,
bearing date the 2nd January 1861, No. 10, and consists essentially in so
securing and fitting the several parts together that the cylinder is made sta-.
tionary, and the piston to move and give rotary motion; or the piston made.
stationary, and the cylinder- to move. and give rotary motion, instead of
making both the cylinder and piston rotate, as hitherto has been the case with
engines of this class constructed in accordance with the Specifications of;
Patents above referred to.
C
In the modification which I. prefer the cylinder is. stationary and the
piston moveable. The tongue piece is secured to the piston, and works; in
and through an opening in the cylinder, or in a raised piece thereon formed
or thereto attached. The eccentric movement or motion of the piston is by.
a crank or cranks, or its or their equivalents conveyed to the shaft to give
rotatory motion thereto. Induction and eduction ports are made through the
cylinder, the one at one side of the tongue piece opening or projection, and
the other at the other side thereof; or one of the ports, either inlet or outlet,
may be through the piston.
.
That
my Invention may be clearly understood, I have hereunto attached.a:
Sheet of illustrative Drawings of that modification of my Invention in which
the piston is moveable and the cylinder stationary. And I have shewn the
details of this arrangement only, for since the filing of my Provisional Specifi-:
cation I have found that the modification in which the cylinder rotates, is not
an effective or desirable one compared with that in which the piston rotates.
I would here state, however, that the Drawings hereto attached, when studied
in connection with those attached to the Specifications of the Inventions
patented in 1855 and 1861, and mentioned above, disclose to the mind of a
mechanician sufficient information to enable him to manufacture an engine
according to my Invention, in which the cylinder is moveable and the piston
stationary.
Fig. 1 represents a longitudiual elevation; Fig. 2, an end elevation ;
Fig. 3, a longitudinal and vertical section, and Fig. 4, a transverse section.
In all these views, as well as in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, which are plan, end, and
side elevations of the shaft and crank, like letters of reference indicate the
same parts.
a is the sole plate; b, the cylinder, with raised space c for tongue piece;
d, cylinder covers secured by bolts and nuts; e, packing plate, with india-
rubber or other springs and screws, with lock nuts 9 for keeping it, the

page_text: said plate, up against the end of the piston h; i is the tongue piece. The
parts of the raised space c which bear on the tongue piece might be fitted
with strips of suitable metal the more effectually to prevent leakage from
wear by friction. The crank pin jis secured at one end to the piston h, the
other end works in a slot k in the circular crank piece l, on or made with the
shaft m; n is a bearing for the crank pin, with an india-rubber or other
spring ở underneath the same to keep the surface of the piston close up to
the circular surface of the cylinder. The shaft m rests on the frame p, and on
the said shaft there is a pulley q, to or from which motion is given according
as the engine is used as a pump or motive power, steam, or other elastic
vapour or air engine. rands are inlet and outlet ports; the one is by a pipe
into the cylinder on one side of the piston, and the other is by a pipe into the
piston h, and out of the same by the opening t. Fig. 8 is a transverse section
of the same engine, with inlet and outlet openings or ports arranged to
terminate one on each side of the tongue piece; and Fig. 9 is a similar view
with one of the ports, the same as in Fig. 8, and the other arranged through
the cylinder, past the tongue piece working space.
. Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and particularized'
the same by illustrating and describing the best modifications with which I
am acquainted, I would have it understood that the details shewn and men-
tioned may be variously altered without departing from the leading features
of my said Invention; what I claim is, constructing rotatory engines
substantially in the manner herein described. .
In witness whereof, I, the said Meshach Brittan Cooper, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
In the presence of
JOHN DAVIES, witness.
MESHACH BRITTAN COOPER.. (L.S.).