IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henry Ellis, of 91, Gracechurch Street, in
the City of London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ROTARY ENGINES."
Sealed the 14th January 1870, and dated the 21st July 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henry Ellis at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st July 1869.
I, GEORGE HENRY ELLIS, of 91, Gracechurch Street, in the City of
London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES," to be as follows:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in rotary engines.
For this purpose I employ a disc or wheel mounted on a hollow fixed
shaft or axis. In this disc or wheel I form suitable cylindrical chambers,
in which weighted pistons provided with any convenient packing are
caused to. work steam or air tight. The cylindrical chambers are
placed in a line with each other on opposite sides of the shaft or axis,
and the pistons opposite each other are connected together in pairs by

page_text: suitable connecting rods. In the hollow shaft or axis openings are
formed to conduct the steam or other motive fluid to and away from
other openings formed in the disc or wheel communicating with the
cylindrical chambers, so that the steam or other motive fluid may be
alternately admitted to and conducted away from the steam chambers,
and in doing so to move the pistons in pairs, so that one of each pair of
pistons may be moved outwards towards the periphery of the disc or
wheel, and the other inwards towards the axis, whereby the pistons are
caused in turn to act by their leverage to give rotary motion to the disc
or wheel. If desired the shaft or axis may be fixed to the wheel, in
which case suitable ways or ports are made in the standards or supports
to conduct the steam or other motive fluid to and away from the
cylindrical chambers, suitable ways or passages being formed in the
necks or axes to come alternately opposite the ports or ways in the
standards or supports. And instead of separating the cylindrical
chambers opposite each other by a central part of the disc or wheel
such cylindrical chambers may be made to pass completely across the
centre of the disc or wheel, and a single weighted piston be employed
in each cylindrical chamber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Henry Ellis in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st January 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HENRY ELLIS, of 91, Gracechurch Street, in the City of London,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Henry Ellis, Her special licence
that I, the said George Henry Ellis, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Henry Ellis, 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

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ROTARY ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Henry Ellis, 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 George Henry Ellis, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
The Invention has for its object improvements in rotary engines.
For this purpose I employ a disc or wheel mounted on a hollow fixed
shaft or axis. In this disc or wheel I form suitable cylindrical chambers,
in which weighted pistons provided with any convenient packing are
cáused to work steam or air tight. The cylindrical chambers are
placed in a line with each other on opposite sides of the shaft or axis,
and the pistons opposite each other are connected together in pairs by
suitable connecting rods. In the hollow shaft or axis openings are
formed to conduct the steam or other motive fluid to and away from
other openings formed in the disc or wheel communicating with the
cylindrical chambers, so that the steam or other motive fluid may be
alternately admitted to and conducted away from the steam chambers,
and in doing so to move the pistons in pairs, so that one of each pair of
pistons may be moved outwards towards the periphery of the disc or
wheel, and the other inwards towards the axis, whereby the pistons are
caused in turn to act by their leverage to give rotary motion to the disc
or wheel. If desired the shaft or axis may be fixed to the wheel, in
which case suitable ways or ports are made in the standards or supports
to conduct the steam or other motive fluid to and away from the
cylindrical chambers, suitable ways or passages being formed in the
necks or axes to come alternately opposite the ports or ways in the
standards or supports. And instead of separating the cylindrical
chambers opposite each other by a central part of the disc or wheel
such cylindrical chambers may be made to pass completely across the

page_text: centre of the disc or wheel, and a single weighted piston be employed
in each cylindrical chamber.
And in order that my Invention may be more clearly understood and
readily carried into effect I will proceed, aided by the accompanying
Drawings, more fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of an
engine constructed according to my Invention.
a, a, b, b, are cylinders fixed around a tubular axis of motion c,
which forms the inlet and outlet passages for the steam or other motive
fluid, the tube c being suitably divided, and having an opening d at the
upper side to admit steam or other motive fluid to the cylinders, and a
corresponding opening at the under side to permit of the escape of steam
from the cylinders at the times desired. In the cylinders a, a¹, b, b¹,
pistons a², a³, 62, 63, are fitted; these pistons have each connected thereto
a segmental shaped weight e, as shewn, or they may be weighted in
any suitable manner, whilst each pair of pistons are connected together
by connecting rods f, which pass through guides g, as shewn, or such
guides g may, if desired, be dispensed with. h are india-rubber cushions
or buffers. Instead of connecting the weights e, e, to their pistons
rigidly, as shewn, the weights may be connected thereto by links or
connecting rods, and may be caused to turn upon axes of motion, as
shewn at Figure 3.
The action of the engine is as follows:-The steam or other motive
fluid is admitted to the under side of, I will suppose, the cylinder a, at
which moment the outlet port from the cylinder a¹ will also be open.
Thus the piston a³ will be forced outwards away from the axis of the
engine, and the piston as will be thereby carried to the bottom of the
cylinder a¹, that is, close to the axis. By this means the weight of the
piston a² being further away from the axis of motion will by its leverage
give rotary motion to the engine until the cylinders b, b', are brought
opposite to the inlet and outlet ports, when they will be acted upon as
previously described with respect to the cylinders a, a'; and each
weighted piston will continue to exert its leverage to give motion to the
engine until it arrives opposite the outlet port, when it will be drawn
towards, and its corresponding piston will be forced outwards from, the
axis of the engine. In order to start the engine in either direction I, by

page_text: a suitable lever, turn the hollow shaft or axis c on its axis, so as to place
the inlet port at a slight angle from the vertical, after which it is turned
so that the inlet and outlet ports are placed in a vertical line."
At Figures 4 and 5 I have shewn another arrangement of engine
constructed according to my Invention. In this case I have shewn
only two cylinders a, b, which are fixed at right angles to each other,
and are continued across the axis of motion of the engine, so that the
pistons a, a, may, when steam is admitted to the cylinders a, b, be
carried from one end to the other of the cylinders, and thereby exert
their entire weight on the one side of the axis. In this case necks c, c,
are fixed to the cylinders a, b, and these necks are mounted in
standards or supports, as shewn, suitable inlet passages d, d, and outlet
passages e, e, being formed in the necks or axes c, c, communicating
with corresponding inlet and outlet passages f, f, and g, g, as shewn.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the mode
in which I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise details herein shewn and described,
as such may be varied without departing from the peculiar character of
my Invention; but what I do claim is, the employment of weighted
pistons, which are caused by steam or other motive fluid to act by
leverage on one side of their centre of motion, so as to impart a rotary
motion to an engine, substantially as herein shewn and described.
In witness whercof, I, the said George Henry Ellis, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Nineteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
GEORGE H. ELLIS. (L.S.)
Witness,
C. M. WHITE,
Clerk to Harris & Mills,
Patent Agents,
35, Southampton Buildings,
London.