CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1846

page_text: ALLINGHAM AND M°GAULEY'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
ALLINGHAM, of Dublin, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Gentleman, and JAMES
WILLLAM MCGAULEY, Clerk, of the City of Dublin aforesaid, 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 Seventh day of April, in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said James
Allingham and James William McGauley, Her especial license, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that we, the said James Allingham and James
William McGauley, our executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others
as we, the said James Allingham and James William McGauley, our executors,
administrators, 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 mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM ENGINES;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging us, the said
James Allingham and James William McGauley, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, particu-
larly to describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next 1
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,

page_text: as in and by the same, reference being thereunto bad, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, tho said
James Allingham, on behalf of myself and of the said James William
McCauley, do hereby declare that the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the lotters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
Our Invention consists in the. construction of a novel rotary engino to bo
worked by steam power, the motive force of the engine being obtained by
gravitation, in the following way:-We effect our Improvements by causing
hollow weights, which are raised by the power of steam, to fall in such manner
as to communicate rotary motion to machinery by their gravitating tendency.
The annexed Drawing, Fig. 1, represents what wo terin our "double acting"
engine. The letters A, E, B. and D, indicate weights or cylinders, borod
truly, and enabled to slide in radial directions upon hollow radial rods
H, S, P, T, the weights or cylinders moving between lateral guides a, a, a.
The weights or cylinders A and E are so connected by side rods. 6, b, or other
convenient means, as shewn in the Figure, as that one of the weights, as A,
cannot be moved without its raising or drawing the other weight E in the same
direction. The weights B and D are similarly connected by side rods c, c.
H, S, T, and P, are hollow piston rods fixed immoveably in radial directions to
the central-box I of the frame work F, F, F, F, F, F. The main rotary axlo
C, C, on which the frame work is mounted is hollow, and is divided into four
steam-tight longitudinal chambers communicating respectively with apertures
situated between the flanges 0 and Q, and with the hollow piston rods
H. P, S, and T. The apertures seen in the Figure at the outer end of the
axle near are intended to be closed in the engine, and are shewn in the
Drawing merely to point out the partitions of the longitudinal chambers.
Also the arrangement and proportions of the parts as given in the Drawing
represent merely an efficient and convenient mode. of carrying out our
intention, but to this arrangement we do not intend to confine ourselves.
Figure 2 represents (detached) an apparatus intended to be fixed between
the flanges O and Q, in such a way as that, while it is made stationary for the
purposes of working the engine, it is also capable of moving one quarter round
for the purpose of reversing the direction of rotation. The axle C, C, revolves
freely, though it is ground steam-tight in the socket, shown at Figure 2. The
pipe of the socket is for the admission of steam to the longitudinal cham-

page_text: bers in the axle, as the machine revolves, and from them respectively the steam
proceeds through the hollow piston rods H into the hollow weights or cylinders,
according as each aperture in the hollow axle between the flanges O and Q
passes the tube or pipe z. The part R of the socket, with its screws, is used
for tightening the apparatus as it works or wears, but it may be employed also
as an eduction passage, to convey a portion of the steam as it returns from
the hollow weights or cylinders (as they pass round at the situation of D)
through the longitudinal chamber of the axle into the atmosphere or to a con-
denser. The retention of a portion of the steam in the cylinder D causes an
elastic cushion to be produced, which gradually retards and ultimately stops
the rectilinear motion of the weights or cylinders, and thus prevents concussion
between the ends of the pistons and the closed ends of the hollow weights or
cylinders. In the position given at Figure 1 to the different parts of the
engine, the steam is assumed, by passing through the longitudinal chamber
and hollow piston rod H, to have just raised the weight or cylinder A, and
this, by the connecting rods B, B, has also drawn up after it the opposite weight
or cylinder E, which has parted with the greater portion of the steam pre-
viously used to raise it, leaving only enough of steam to produce a resistance
to gradually destroy the rectilinear motion of both. In this engine a wheel is
used, rather as a convenient frame than as a means of rendering the motion
uniform. Raising the common centre of gravity between each pair of hollow
weights or cylinders causes (when the upper weight is a little beyond the per-
pendicular) a rotary motion of the whole apparatus, since their centre of
gravity tends to assume the lowest possible position, and hence the power pro-
duced by this descent of the weight, being communicated through the main
shaft, is made the effective agent for driving other machinery. The
same elementary principles may be modified in various arrangements of
machinery. Instead of the double-acting engine above described, we produce
a similar effect by the means shewn at Figs. 3 and 4, which we denominate a
single-acting engine.
Figure 3 represents an elevation of this engine, consisting of a weight or
cylinder A, sliding upon a stationary piston B, and its hollow rod C, C, the
extremities of the piston rod being firmly fixed in the rectangular frame D, D,
which frame, by means of its trunnions, turns in bearings upon the standards
E, E.
Figure 4 is a section taken through the middle of the cylinder A, and of the
piston rod C, C, and also through one side of the frame D, shewing the steam
passages. The tube that conveys the steam from a boiler is shewn at F, and
which, though generally stationary, is capable of being turned one quarter

page_text: round to shift the position of the steam-ways, and thereby reverse the motions
of the engine when necessary. The steam admitted through the aperture
"a" of the steam cock passes through the passage "6" of the frame, and
then proceeds, as shown by the arrows, down the hollow piston rod C to the
upper part of the interior of the cylinder, and there, by exerting its elastic
force, raises the sliding cylinder or weight A to the upper part of the frame.
The centre of gravity of the weight being thus placed on one side of the axle,
the frame, with the whole engine, necessarily falls over and produces a rotary
motion of the axle or trunnion from whence the effective force or power is given
out, to which a fly-wheel G is attached, to govern its motion. When, as the
engine revolves, the cylinder is brought to the lower part of the frame, steam
is then admitted in the same way to the opposite part of the hollow cylinder or
weight, and it is again raised in like manner to shift the centre of gravity as
before, and produce a continuation of the rotary motion. Wo desiro it to be
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the use of any particular number
of weights or pairs of weights. We propose, when it is desirable for the sake
of greater strength, to use a solid axle, and to convey the steam to and from
the hollow weights or cylinders by external passages. We also propose, when
it is desirable for the purpose of economizing steam, to use slide or other valves
attached to the hollow piston rods to the axle, to the hollow weights, or cylinders,
to the framework, or to any other parts we may deem most convenient, and to
work these valves by an excentrix by the rectilinear motion of the hollow
weights or cylinders, or in any other suitable manner.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and our mode of
carrying it into effect, we would not have it understood that we confine our-
selves to the precise details herein described so long as the peculiar character of
our said Invention, or any part thereof, be retained. And we do not claim the
invention of the several parts of a steam engine which we adopt, and which
were invented and used publicly by others, but only the more convenient appli-
cation of them. We therefore desiro it to be understood that we claim the
use of "hollow weights" or cylinders raised upon radial arms by steam power,
and which, by their tendency to fall when moved out of the perpendicular,
produce a rotary motion of the axle or trunnions to which they are connected.
We also claim the use of hollow piston rods intended for the transmission of
steam in the way and for the purposes above shown.
In witness whercof, I, the said James Allingham, havo hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
JAMES (L.S.) ALLINGHAM.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Seventh day of October,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid James Allingham came before our
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statuto in that case mado and provided.
Inrolled the same Seventh day of October, in the year above written.