IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Menzies Holland at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th.
August 1870.
I, CHARLES MENZIES HOLLAND, of No. 8, Essex Street, Manchester,
in the County of Lancashire, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY ENGINES," to be as follows :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in rotary engines.
Some of the main features of my engine are that the motive power of
steam used is continually exerted upon the opposite sides of two discs or
pistons which have an eccentric motion, and when acted upon by the
steam revolve in similar directions round their axes. These two pistons
are enclosed in a moveable casing or cylinder so suspended and balanced
as to both allow free movement to the pistons, and also to remove any
unnecessary friction that might arise from the weight of moveable
machinery connected with the movement of the pistons. This cylinder
is common to both pistons, and within it both. pistons revolve in similar
directions, but with the steam power acting in a diametrically opposite
direction on either piston, and its corresponding steam side of cylinder
so that the cylinder is thus equally pressed in opposite directions by the

page_text: steam. The two pistons are so placed that their centres of motion are
diametrically opposite to each other, while these centres of motion are
kept equally distant and relatively situated throughout their every motion
by means of connecting rods and cranks. The prevention of a stoppage
to the motion of the two pistons which have different spheres or orbits
of rotation in the same cylinder is provided for by constructing one of
the pistons so as to allow it a free and independent motion round its own
centre of rotation by making its centre shaft moveable and free to rotate
in its bearings, but connecting it with the main shaft of the other piston
by means of cranks, so as to involve reciprocal motion between these two
shafts and their respective pistons, and the centres of motion of the two
shafts are kept opposite each other during every movement of the pistons
by means of connecting rods.
The Invention is illustrated by the Drawings annexed, but it is not
intended to restrict the building of the engine to the precise forms and
methods of construction and arrangement herein shewn. The admission
steam is from the steam dome of the boiler direct into the cylinder
through a hollow shaft bolted to the side of the piston, and this shaft is
continued on the opposite side of the piston and called the motive shaft.
The form of valve for the admission of steam can be perceived from the
Drawings it admits steam, to one side and withdraws any escaped steam
or air accumulated on the opposite side of the piston, this exhaust steam
or air being conducted through the circular valve and to the outer air by
openings. These opposite spaces on the reverse sides of the pistons,
whether occupied by steam or air are connected by means of flexible.
copper pipes of small diameters. The admission steam can be varied to
either side pistons by turning the steam valve. The action of either
piston is rotary, carrying with it in its motion the cylinder which is "slung"
by rods, which permit it an up and down combined with a pendulous
motion; both pistons rotate in similar directions, brass piston rings are
used to keep steam-tight joints. The second piston (on the right hand
side in the Drawing) is bolted to a shaft which in turn is connected by
rods and crank to the motive shaft, motion will follow when steam is
admitted. The cylinder is a plain casting turned smooth in the interior
surface.
In stopping or reversing the engine the steam is first shut off by
shutting the valve by a lever. Then a break applied if necessary, and, if
it is intended to reverse the engine, the wheel is turned, which again turns

page_text: a rod with a screw thread on it to give horizontal motion, by which it
catches in a slot in the rod connected with the steam valve and so turns
this valve and reverses or alters the admission steam as required.
Advantages of my system of constructing rotary engines are,—
1. The small consumption of steam used in obtaining motion.
2. A diminution in the usual amount of friction attending the working
of such engines, and the combination of machinery used for obtaining
such diminution of friction.