IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Andrew, of Greenock, in the County of
Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER."
Sealed the 25th February 1859, and dated the 4th September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Andrew at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th September 1858.
I, DAVID ANDREW, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," to be as follows, that is
to say:
This Invention relates to the obtainment of motive power from steam,
water, air, or other fluid matter by the agency of a cylinder and piston move-
ment arranged to work upon the direct rotative principle. According to this
Invention, a steam cylinder is cast with a pair of central trunnions, on which
it can revolve freely, being suspended in suitable bearings in a fixed frame for
that purpose. This frame also carries a stationary ring in the plane of which
the cylinder is fitted; its centre of motion, however, being eccentric to the
centre of the ring. The cylinder is fitted with a piston, with a piston rod
long enough to work out to a considerable extent beyond a stuffing box in
each end cover. Each end of this rod is fitted with a running wheel, bearing

page_text: against the inner surface of the stationary ring of the framing, which ring
forms the actual piston guide. The steam is admitted to and exhausted from
the cylinder by thoroughfares in the trunnions, either through ports operated
upon by the direct effect of the oscillatory movement, or by suitable valves
worked in any convenient way. In this way, as the steam is admitted to the
cylinder, the piston traverses and re-traverses through the cylinder, whilst the
two wheels or pulleys of the piston rod run round the fixed ring as the
cylinder rotates within it upon its axis. Instead of a single piston rod, a pair
of parallel rods may be used, the end pulleys or wheels being set between
them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Andrew in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
ANDREW, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said David Andrew, Her special license that I, the said David Andrew,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
David Andrew, my executors, administrators, or 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
APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said David Andrew, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 David Andrew, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the obtainment of motive power from steam,
water, air, or other fluid matter by the agency of a cylinder and piston move-
5 ment arranged to work upon the direct rotative principle. According to this
Invention, a steam cylinder is cast with a pair of central trunnions, on which
it can revolve freely, being suspended in suitable bearings in a fixed frame for
that purpose. This frame also carries a stationary ring, in the plane of which
the cylinder is fitted; its centre of motion, however, being eccentric to the
centre of the ring. The cylinder is fitted with a piston, with a piston rod
long enough to work out to a considerable extent beyond a stuffing box in
each end cover. Each end of this rod is fitted with a running wheel, bearing
against the inner surface of the stationary ring of the framing, which ring
forms the actual piston guide. The steam is admitted to and exhausted from
the cylinder by thoroughfares in the trunnions, either through ports operated
upon by the direct effect of the oscillatory movement, or by suitable valves
worked in any convenient way. In this way, as the steam is admitted to the
cylinder, the piston traverses and re-traverses through the cylinder, whilst the
two wheels or pulleys of the piston rod run round the fixed ring as the
cylinder rotates within it upon its axis. Instead of a single piston rod a pair
of parallel rods may be used, the end pulleys or wheels being set between
them.
.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several Figures on the explanatory Sheet of
Drawings, which I have hereunto appended for the purpose of showing
certain modifications under which my improvements may be judiciously
carried out in practice.
Figure 1, on my Sheet of Drawings, is an elevation or front side view of one
arrangement or modification of my improvements in obtaining motive power;
Figure 2 is a partially sectional end view of the arrangement taken at right
angles to Figure 1. According to this modification of my Invention, the
framing of the machine consists of a large cast-iron ring A, on one part of the
periphery of which are cast two laterally projecting feet, that form a base or
stand for the circular framing. The ring A, as shown in Figure 2, is a broad
ring of metal, having two snugs B cast on its circumference; these snugs are
arranged in a diametrical direction, and are somewhat below or eccentric to
the centre of the circular frame A. To the snugs B are bolted two horizontal
beams C; each of these beams has a boss formed in the centre, the two serving
as bushes or bearings to receive the trunnions of a rotatory steam cylinder,

page_text: which is arranged between the supporting beams C. The boss D of the beam,
shown in Figure 1 and to the right of Figure 2 on the accompanying
Drawing, is cast hollow, and has diverging from its periphery the two pipes F
and G, which form the steam and exhaust pipes of the engine. The other
boss E of the beam on the left-hand side of Figure 2 has simply an aperture
The
in the centre, through which the main shaft of the engine passes.
cylinder H has cast on it the central lateral trunnions I and J, which work in
the bosses D and E, in order to admit of the cylinder rotating freely therein.
The trunnion J is made hollow to allow the steam to pass from the hollow
boss D to the interior of the cylinder, the boss D thus forming the valve chest
of the engine. The cylinder H is fitted with a piston of the ordinary kind.
This piston is provided with duplex rods K, which work out through the end
covers of the cylinder. In lieu of this arrangement, a single rod of sufficient
length may be used, the piston being fitted thereto in the centre of its length.
The outer extremities of the rods K are made with duplex or forked ends,
which serve to carry the spindles of the antifriction rollers L. These rollers
work against the level surface of the internal part of the circular frame A, the
rollers being kept in contact therewith by the reciprocatory action of the piston,
The steam is admitted through the pipe G to the valve chest or hollow boss D,
which is divided by a partition into two chambers, two segmentally-shaped
ports being formed in the face of the valve chest, which works in contact with
the vertical part of the hollow trunnion J. Two corresponding segmentally.
shaped ports are likewise cut through the face of the trunnion J, which com-
municates with the interior of the cylinder H. The position of the induction
and eduction ports is indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1 on my illustrative
Drawing, and as thus arranged the ports in the cylinder trunnion J are
alternately opened and closed to allow of the ingress, the expansive action, and
the egress of the steam.
As delineated in Figure 1 on the accompanying Drawing, the moving parts
of the engine are represented in that position in which the steam is impelling
the piston in an upward direction. The pressure of the steam against the
piston causes the upper antifriction roller L to traverse over the surface of the
frame A; and this curvilinear motion is greatly assisted by the gravity of the
lower portion of the cylinder, which causes the lower roller L to rapidly
traverse the inclined surface of the frame A. During this movement the
steam above the piston passes off through the exhaust ports, and escapes by
the pipe F away to a condenser or to the atmosphere. The momentum
imparted to the cylinder by the downward motion of its lower end is more
than sufficient to carry it beyond the vertical position, and the steam being.

page_text: now admitted to the upper side of the piston, its force tends to urge the lower
roller L to ascend the incline of the frame A; the now overhanging weight
of the upper part of the cylinder causing this ascent to be effected with a very
trifling expenditure of power. In this manner the curvilinear motion or
revolution round its own transverse axis of the cylinder H imparts rotatory
motion to the shaft M attached to the trunnion I, and which, in its turn, is
caused to drive machinery, or is applied as a prime mover to other purposes.
The Diagram right lines and circles indicate a series of positions of the cylinder
and its appurtenances during a revolution.
In another modification or arrangement of my improvements, instead of
using a single piston rod projecting through each end cover of the cylinder,
the piston is fitted with duplex projecting rods, that is to say, each cylinder
cover is made with two or more stuffing boxes, through which the duplex
piston rods work; and these double piston rods are arranged parallel to each
other, and at their outer ends are connected to each other by a spindle, which
carries a broad antifriction roller or pulley. The antifriction roller, at each
extremity of the duplex rods, traverses in a groove formed in the inner face of
the circular frame, which, with this exception, is in all respects similar to that
berein-before described. In this modification, the arrangement of the ports
for the supply and emission of the steam, as well as that of the driving shaft,
correspond to the engine herein-before described and delineated in the
illustrative Drawing hereunto annexed.
Engines arranged according to these improvements may be used singly, with
or without the usual fly wheel attached thereto, or they may be arranged in
pairs, the cylinders being made to work at right angles to each other as
regards their plane of revolution.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe in conclusion that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating
from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I con-
sider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of machinery or apparatus
for obtaining motive power, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of arranging and constructing machinery or
apparatus in order to obtain motive power therefrom, as herein-before described
and shown in the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: Third, the system or mode of obtaining motive power by means of a steam
cylinder arranged within a stationary frame, and actuated in the manner
herein-before described, or any mere modification thereof.
Fourth, the system or mode of obtaining motive power by the combined
actions of a right line traversing piston and a rotating cylinder, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Andrew, have hereunto set my
. hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
DAVID ANDREW. (L.S.)