IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER " MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Joseph Rice, of College Place, Chelsea, in
the County of Middlesex, House Steward, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
"
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
"
Sealed the 13th October 1865, and dated the 10th May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Joseph Rice at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th May 1865.
I, WILLIAM JOSEPH RICE, of College Place, Chelsea, in the County of
Middlesex, House Steward, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion. for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," to be
as follows:-
My Invention of improvements in machinery for obtaining motive power
relates to a novel arrangement of mechanism whereby motive power can be
obtained from the expansive force of compressed air.
In carrying out my Invention I have a reservoir of suitable capacity and
strength to contain air under considerable pressure. This reservoir communicates,
by means of valves opening outwards, with a rectangular chamber acting as
the working cylinder of an engine, and in which there is a rectangular piston

page_text: with suitable rods whereby it is connected to one end of a vibrating beam.
The piston is provided with valves for the purpose of allowing the air to pass
through the piston from one side to the other. In the cylinder below the
piston is a vibrating diaphragm provided with a sector piece so as to form
two separate chambers below the piston. This diaphragm is mounted on a
rocking shaft which also carries another and similar diaphragm which works
in a chamber communicating with the reservoir of compressed air. These
two chambers communicate by means of openings through the side of the
working cylinder or vessel and provided with valves opening inwards. The
reservoir having been supplied with compressed air by means of any suitable
air pump, the action of the engine will be as follows:-Air from the reservoir
will first be admitted to the cylinder of a small auxiliary engine whereby the
diaphragms are put in motion. At the same time a regulated quantity of
compressed air is admitted into the cylinder above the piston, and the latter
will thereby be driven down, and in so doing will force down the diaphragm
beneath it. This latter as it descends will compress the air behind or beneath
it and force it forward into the compressed air reservoir so as to keep up
the pressure therein. The valves in the piston will be opened by the downward
stroke and allow the compressed air from above to enter between the piston
and the diaphragm and assist in raising the former for the return stroke, when
all the operations will be repeated. Four working cylinders may be arranged
with pistons connected with the vibrating beam so as to overcome the dead
points of the stroke and make the working of the machine continuous. By
this arrangement the engine will be made to pump and compress its own
air, and the excess of pressure obtained may be applied to drive the working
pistons of a cylinder or cylinders to be employed for actuating any machinery
that it is desired to drive.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Joseph Rice, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOSEPH RICE, of College Place, Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, House
Steward, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the

page_text: said William Joseph Rice, Her special licence that I, the said William
Joseph Rice, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Joseph Rice, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Joseph Rice, 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 William Joseph Rice, do hereby
declare the nature of iny said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:_
My Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for Obtaining Motive
Power," relates to a novel arrangement of mechanism whereby motive power
can be obtained from the expansive force of compressed air.
In carrying out my Invention I have a reservoir of suitable capacity and
strength to contain air under considerable pressure. This reservoir communicates
by means of valves opening outwards with the motive-power engine which
forms the subject of the present Invention. The engine is shewn in sectional
elevation at Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawings and in plan at Fig. 2. It
consists of two or more rectangular chambers A, A', which constitute the
working cylinders of the engine.
In the Figures in the accompanying Drawing there are two of these chambers,
one being shewn in vertical section and the other in side elevation at Fig. 1.
In these chambers work rectangular pistons C, each of which is provided with
suitable rods C', C', whereby they are each connected to one end of a vibrating
beam C. The piston C is provided with valves shewn in sectional elevation
at Fig. 3, and in plan at Fig. 4, for the purpose of allowing the air to pass
through the piston from one side to the other. In the cylinder or chamber A,
below the piston, is a vibrating diaphragm E, mounted on a rocking shaft
at F, and provided with a sector piece C³. By this diaphragm E the chamber

page_text: or cylinder A is divided into two separate compartments below the piston as
seen at H and L. The diaphragm E is mounted on the rocking shaft F,
which also carries another and similar diaphragm D which works in a
chamber B communicating with the reservoir of compressed air. These two
chambers A and B communicate with each other by means of the pipe P.
The air reservoir (which is not shewn in the Drawing) having been supplied
with compressed air by means of any suitable air pump, the action of the
improved motive-power engine will be as follows:-Air from the compressed
air reservoir will first be admitted to the cylinder I of a small auxiliary engine,
whereby the rocking shaft F of the diaphragms D and E will be put in
motion by means of suitable gearing as shewn in the Drawing. At the same
time a regulated quantity of compressed air is admitted into the cylinder A,
above the piston C, and the latter will thereby be driven down, and in so doing
will force down the diaphragm E beneath it. During the descent of the
piston C the valve R of the compartment L is opened so as to allow the
latter to communicate with the atmosphere, and as the diaphragm E descends
it will compress the air behind or beneath it in the compartment H, which is
also supplied with compressed air from the reservoir through the pipe P.
The continued descent of the diaphragm E will force forward the compressed
air in the compartment H into the compartment M of the other chamber B,
behind the diaphragm D or back into the compressed air reservoir. The air
in the compartment K on the other side of the diaphragm D will be compressed
by the rising of the diaphragm D and will be forced out through the valve N
into the compressed air reservoir so as to keep up the pressure therein, by
the descent of the diaphragm D the compartment K will become filled with
common atmospheric air which will enter at the valve S. The valves in the
piston C, will be opened by the downward stroke and will allow the com-
pressed air from above the piston to enter between the piston and the
diaphragm E, the valve R having been previously closed. This compressed air
will thus assist in raising the piston C for the return stroke when all the
operations will be repeated. Four working cylinders may be arranged with
pistons connected with the vibrating beam C³, so as to overcome the dead
points of the stroke, and make the working of the machine continuous. By
this arrangement the engine will be made to pump and compress its own air,
and the excess of pressure obtained may be appl d to drive the working
pistons of a cylinder or cylinders to be employed for actuating any machinery
that it is desired to drive.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in machinery for
obtaining motive power, and having explained the manner of carrying the

page_text: same into effect, I claim as my Invention the arrangement of machinery
herein set forth for obtaining motive power by means of compressed air.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Joseph Rice, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
WILLIAM JOSEPH RICE. (L.S.)