CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING STEAM, FLUIDS, AND GASES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR COMPRESSING AND RAREFYING AIR AND GASES, AND FOR RAISING LIQUIDS."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Dominique Girard, Civil Engineer, of Paris,
in the French Empire, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPLYING STEAM, FLUIDS, AND GASES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING MOTIVE
POWER, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR COMPRESSING AND RAREFYING
AIR AND GASES, AND FOR RAISING LIQUIDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Dominique Girard
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th January 1855.
I, LOUIS DOMINIQUE GIRARD, Civil Engineer, of Paris, in the French
Empire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING STEAM, FLUIDS, AND GASES FOR THE PURPOSE.OF
OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR COMPRESSING AND
RAREFYING AIR AND GASES, AND FOR RAISING LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in a new description of rotary engine or turbine to be
worked by water, air, gas, or steam. It is composed of a series of vanes fitted
to a disc which forms a moveable crown, and of another series of vanes which
form a stationary crown; the latter series of vanes direct the fluid upon the
vanes of the moveable crown, and motion is communicated to a shaft fixed
to and passing through the centre of the moveable crown.

page_text: Fluid, air, gas, or steam is brought through an induction pipe to the centre
of the machine, flows from the centre to the circumference into the first series
of vanes, upon which it expends part of its force. The fluid, on its exit from
the first series of vanes, slackened in consequence of the action it has imparted
to the machine, enters an annular space, in which there are no vanes or other
obstructions, and in which it will not turn with the apparatus. The pressure
is less in this annular space than in the induction pipe and generator, but this
pressure being greater than that in the 'succeeding compartments (in their
order from the centre to the circumference), will cause the fluid, air, gas, or
steam to enter the second series of vanes, upon which it will also act. The
number of series of vanes may vary from two, three, to five, six, and more.
The fluid, on leaving each of the compartments fitted with vanes, will pass into
the next, after traversing a space without obstructions, in which there is a less
pressure than in the preceding free compartment; it finally makes its exit
from the last compartment into the case of the machine, and thence into the
atmosphere; or else into a condenser. 'The general construction of this turbine
enables me to use a shaft for communicating motion which is easy to lubricate,
and, when necessary, to replace. The power which I derive from the employ-
ment of this turbine is always equal, regular, and continuous, let the machine
be taken at any portion of its stroke, thus constituting an essential difference
from most known.motive power agents, in which, in consequence of their dead
points, variations in power occur. The mechanical advantages are great. In
a twenty-horse engine of the present construction all its parts must be so con-
structed as to resist a power of forty horses, whereas in my power engine no
part need. be. calculated for a greater resistance than the actual power of the
engine, and thus weight, friction, and wear and tear may be diminished fifty
per cent. Upon the same general principles I construct an engine for forcing
fluids, and utilize their vis viva. The vis viva of the fluid will be produced by
the motion of the machine, while in the preceding case the vis viva existed
naturally in the fluid.
The compartments with vanes and those free or without vanes are concen-
tric; the gaseous fluids expand as they recede from the centre, and therefore
require a larger space. If rotary motion be communicated to the machine,
the fluid in the compartments which are provided with vanes will partake also
of this rotary motion, while that which is in the free compartments or spaces
will remain in a state of rest; but as soon as centrifugal force acts upon the
fluid in the compartments with vanes, it will be forced away from. the centre,
and will draw in air or other fluid through channels connected, to the machine.

page_text: This steam, compressed or expanded air, or other gas turbine admits of such
fluids being used at any pressure, whether for fixed, marine, locomotive, or
aërial purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Dominique Girard in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
DOMINIQUE GIRARD, Civil Engineer, of Paris, in the French Empire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Louis Dominique Girard, Her special licence that I, the said Louis Domi-
nique Girard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Louis Dominique Girard, 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPLYING STEAM, FLUIDS, AND GASES FOR THE PURPOSE OF
OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR COMPRESSING
AND RAREFYING AIR AND GASES, AND POR RAISING LIQUIDS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Louis Dominique Girard, by an instrument
in writing, under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Louis Dominique Girard, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My improvements consist in apparatuses for obtaining and applying motive

page_text: It is requisite, in order to obtain the best result, that the relative velocity of
the fluid be not altered by the pressure resulting from the resistance of the
channel, which would, in fact, act upon a single molecule or series of mole-
cules, but not in the case of a stream of fluid running continuously and filling
the channel at its entrance a, a¹; but as I propose presently to explain, these
conditions will be satisfied, although my apparatus is constructed without fixed
or directing vanes.
In fact, the fluid stream, being admitted into the receiver with a relative
motion, will exert on the side a, b, c, of the passage a pressure resulting from
the centrifugal force developed by the relative velocity, as I have previously
described. As it moves forward in the passage or channel its thickness
diminishes more and more up to the point c', c', at. which it leaves the vane;
but as in this distance the relative motion of the fluid should not be altered, it
is requisite to enlarge the channel in a direction perpendicular to the motion of
the fluid from a, a', to c, c, thus preventing any disturbance in the motion
of the stream of fluid; and utilizing the greatest possible portion of the vis
viva. The form of the enlargement may, however, be varied, provided always
that the section of the channel traversed by the fluid in absolute motion may at
any point be in an inverse ratio to the diminished velocity at this point, which
is obtained by combining the enlargement of the lateral sides with the curvature
of the vanes.
I now propose to. describe the manner in which the apparatus, based on
the principle above laid down, is constructed and arranged, whereby the vis
viva contained in the fluids or motive agent employed is converted into working
power.
.
Figure 1 is a vertical section, and Figure 2 a horizontal section, of the appa-
ratus. C is a tube for admitting the fluid. (steam or gas, or other motive agent
employed); it communicates with a generator in which such fluid is generated.
Towards the centre of the apparatus this tube becomes annular, and assumes a
form suitable for avoiding any disturbance or loss of the vis viva. D, D, is
a circular piece, pláced on the centre of the tube, and forming an orifice,
through which the fluid is directed into the receiver. E, E, is the wheel or
turbine, composed of several concentric series of vanes F, H, J, L, N, P,
arranged between two metallic plates, as represented in the horizontal section,
Figure 2. By the dotted line 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, a few of the vanes
in each series are shewn in the Drawings.
I now suppose the apparatus to be in motion. The fluid enters by the
channel c, through the orifice D, D, on to the' wheel or turbine, the nave of

page_text: which is provided with a circular orifice, exactly coinciding with the orifice in
D, D, and which changes the direction of the' fluid into another direction at
right angles to it, so as to send it on to the vanes of the first series F, in a
direction perpendicular to the motion of the apparatus. The fluid then acts
on the vanes of the series F, as explained previously, for which purpose the
vertical section of these passages is gradually enlarged from the inner to
the outer parts. During the passage of the fluid through the vanes it expends
a portion of its working power, thereby losing a corresponding portion of its
velocity.
On leaving the compartment F, the fluid, with its velocity thus diminished,
is ejected into the annular space G, in which there are no vanes, and in whichi,
consequently, it cannot revolve with the apparatus. The pressure in this
space G is a less pressure than that in the tube C, but greater than that in
the succeeding compartments: The excess of this pressure above that in the
succeeding compartments produces in the fluid a new velocity, which increases
progressively from the centre to the circumference, owing to the diminution
of the breadth of the annular passage, in which there are no vanes.
With
this fresh velocity the fluid enters the second compartment, provided with vanes
H, where, owing to their curved forms and the enlargement of their sides, the
fluid acts therein in the same manner and on the same principle as on the
vanes F. The fluid thus leaves each compartment provided with vanes, and after
having passed through an annular space in which there are no vanes, and in
which there is a greater degree of pressure than in the succeeding compart-
ments, whether free or with vanes, passes into the next succeeding compartment
provided with vanes, and the excess of this pressure in a free compartment
over the pressure in the succeeding free compartiment imparts to the fluid a
renewed velocity, with which it enters the compartment provided with vanes,
which separates the two. From this difference of fluid pressure in the two
compartments arise the successive expansions of the steam or other fluid
employed to which the power obtained is due.
The steam may be admitted to each row of vanes with a great degree of
velocity; and, moreover, the velocity which the fluid retains on leaving the
vanes of one compartment may be combined with that resulting from the excess
of pressure in one compartment over that in the other, and with the velocity
resulting from these the fluid is admitted into the vanes successively. The
united action exerted on each series of vanes constitutes the motive power
of the machine.
On leaving the last compartment, the fluid escapes into the area Q, Q, óf

page_text: the tank or case R, R, and passes into the condenser or the external atniosphere
through the pipe S. The number of compartments may be greater or less
than that shewn in the Drawings, according as it may be desired to distribute
the pressure of the fluid.
R is a cylindrical case, closed by a cover Z, and fixed on a bed plate; the
injection pipe is in a piece with the bottom of this case, and is so arranged
at the centre as to form with the piece T the annular mouth-piece D, D: E is
the turbine, which is mounted on a (steel) shaft, passing through the case R,
and turning in brasses or journals d, f, fixed at the central orifices of the top
and bottom of the case. The journal d, d, is mounted in a case, formed in
two parts connected together, which allows of its being easily removed and
another substituted for it without dismounting the turbine. At its lower
end the shaft is stepped in a centre, on which it turns. The centre is screw-
threaded at g, so as to regulate and alter the position of the turbine E when
necessary.
the journal f',
The vessel U is
In order to keep the centre lubricated, a recess is cut in
which communicates with an oil vessel U by the pipe h, h.
connected with the steam pipe C by the tube i, i, opening into the top of the
vessel U. When the apparatus is at work, the cock in the pipe i, and the
cock in the pipe h, are opened, and the steam or other motive fluid, entering
the oil vessel, exerts on the oil or other lubricating material employed, such a
degree of pressure that it rises through the tube h to the journals, whereby
the centre is always kept well lubricated, and prevented from becoming
too hot.
DESCRIPTION OF APPARATUS B..
I now propose to describe the apparatus B, and the principle on which it
acts. I suppose a passage formed by two succeeding vanes of the form
represented in Figure 2, and a rotary motion imparted to the apparatus, and
that a stream of fluid enters, continuously in a direction perpendicular to the
motion, that is to say, in the direction of the radius m, m²; representing the
section of the fluid on its admission: as soon as the fluid enters the passage,
it will be carried by the vanes in their rotary movement, and consequently,
subjected to the action of the centrifugal force resulting therefrom, and the
absolute velocity of the fluid on arriving at the vanes will combine with the
velocity of rotation imparted to it, which increases in proportion to its distance
from the centre. When it arrives at the point n, n', the fluid acquires a
degree of velocity resulting from the two preceding velocities; that is to say;

page_text: the initial vélocity at which it first entered the vanes increased by that which
it acquired in the direction of the radius, resulting from the shape of the
passage and the action of the centrifugal force, and the velocity of rotation
which it possesses at this point, and which is that of the apparatus itself. On
causing the fluid to turn sharply from n,. n', 'to o, o', in a direction opposite to
'that of the rotary motion; it will exert a pressure on the vane; which arises
from the deviation or from the centrifugal force developed by the relative
degree of velocity with which it changes, its direction. This pressure on the
yane, following the direction of the. rotatory motion of the machine, will assist
in turning it, and consequently the vis viva imparted to the fluid before and
during its passage from m, m³, to n, n¹, will be converted into working power.
This is the new principle of ejection or evacuation of fluid, having for its
object to restore to the.fluid the greatest portion of the vis viva imparted to it
without changing the effect of the centrifugal force, resulting from the action
of the vanes on the fluid which is to compress it (if it be a gaseous fluid), or to
force it (if it be a liquid) into the free space without vanes at a pressure
which may be represented (for the passage in a vane) by the formula
r
of the fluid occupying the space m, m', 'n, n', before the change in the direc-
tion of the fluid takes place. For the purpose of increasing the centrifugal
force of the fluid in the space m, m, n, n', the sides of the passages are
enlarged or hollowed out, as in the case of the apparatus A.
The construction of the apparatus B is as follows:-E¹ is a wheel or turbine,
composed of a series of compartment's provided with vanes, arranged as
represented in Figure 2, and separated from each other by an annular space
in which there are no vanes, which space is formed by the plates which
embrace the vanes. C, C, is a tube which connects the interior of the
machine with a reservoir containing the fluid to be forced or compressed.
The fluid enters the centre of the wheel at D', and deviates at an angle of 90°,
in order to enter the passages formed by the vanes with an initial velocity in
the direction of the radius. Rotary motion being imparted to the apparatus,
the fluid as it enters the wheel is subjected to the action previously described.
It leaves the vanes of the first compartment under a pressure determined as
described, and with a slight amount of absolute velocity in the direction of the
motion of the apparatus, which velocity is requisite for its admission with a
relative motion into the next compartment, which is furnished with vanes;
thus, any disturbance of the fluid on its admission is avoided, although the
use of guides is dispensed with. When the apparatus revolves, it produces a
sucking action in the passage-C¹, which brings the fluid into the apparatus

page_text: its
continuously. On leavin the first compartment, the fluid passes through a
free compartment G¹, which is between the first compartment and the second
or succeeding.compartment, provided with vanes H³, into which it is admitted
through the opening, and through which it is drawn by the action of the vanes
in the same manner as before. The same action is then exerted on the fluid,
the effect of which is to add a fresh pressure to that which it has acquired in
passage between the preceding vanes, and thus successively the fluid drawn
through the tube C¹ will leave the wheel and become compressed or forced
into the case R¹ with a pressure which equals the sum of all the pressures
imparted to it by the centrifugal force during its passage through the apparatus
in motion, not only in the compartments provided with vanes, but also in the
free compartments, in which latter the fluid would successively acquire a slight
rotary motion, which produces an effect contrary to that which takes place in
the compartment provided with vanes. The best result is obtained by having
the form of the vanes of the first compartment different from that of the vanes
of the succeeding compartments; on account of the velocity of rotation which
the fluid retains on leaving the vanes, and which it did not possess on enter-
ing the first vanes. The necessary difference of shape may be obtained by
giving a slight inclination to the inner ends of the vanes in the direction of
the motion of rotation; this, however, is not important when the number of
compartments is sufficiently large; V' is the shaft of the wheel stepped in a
threaded centre, q'; ., 1,,, are the journals of the shaft. This shaft (together
with its journals, lubricating arrangement, &c.) is similar to that described
in reference to the other apparatus. C¹ is the entry pipe, or pipe by which
the fluid to be forced or compressed enters the apparatus; S¹, the ejection pipe
through which it escapes after being forced or compressed.
The manner in which the combined apparatus works is as follows:-Sup-
posing steam to be the motive agent employed, it is admitted into the receiver
A through the passage C, and after setting the wheel E in motion, escapes into
the condenser X. The shaft of the wheel E carries a pinion W, gearing
into a large wheel W', mounted on the shaft V, which is the main driving
shaft of the machinery to be set in motion; at bottom, this shaft carries the
apparatus E', which is in connection with the condenser through the pipe C¹, C¹.
When the steam engine or apparatus A is at work, the apparatus B is also
set in motion, and removes the air and water combined from the condenser,
and forces them into the vessel Q', whence they escape through the pipe S¹.
In the apparatus A, the compartments furnished with vanes F, H, J, L, N, P,
and the free compartments, or those without vanes, G, I, K, M, O, of the

page_text: .
turbine E, are made concentric, because the gaseous fluid expands in propor-
tion as it recedes from the centre, and hence it becomes necessary to allow it
a greater amount of space; or it might have the same form as the turbine E',
of the apparatus B; the vanes, however, retaining the form shewn at a, a, b, b',
c, c', Figure 2. In the apparatus B, the compartments with vanes F, H, J',
and those without vànes G¹, I', are placed one above the other, so as to be all
at the same distance from the axis. The wheel E¹ as well as the wheel E
may have a greater or less number of compartments than is represented; but
when it is required to force water or compress gas at a slight pressure, a single
compartment might be employed.
These apparatuses may be employed separately or combined. The motor
may be worked by hot air, compressed air, steam, gas, or other fluid. The
other apparatus may be used as a pump, blowing machine, &c., and worked by
any suitable motor.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, as of my
said Invention, the apparatuses herein-before described and represented in the
Drawings annexed, whether used separately or combined..
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Dominique Girard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
CH. ARMENGAUD, Ing Civil,
Rue Filles du Calvaire, 6, à Paris.
L. D. GIRARD. (L.S.)