IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS WHEREBY COMBUSTION UNDER PRESSURE IS APPLIED TO GENERATE FLUID FOR WORKING ENGINES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Piors Watt Boulton, of Tew Park, in the County
of Oxford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS WHEREBY
COMBUSTION UNDER PRESSURE IS APPLIED TO GENERATE FLUID FOR WORKING
ENGINES."
0
Sealed the 8th August 1876, and dated the 31st May 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Piers Watt Boulton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 31st May 1876.
MATTHEW PIERS WATT BOULTON, of Tew Park, in the County of Oxford. "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS WHEREBY COMBUSTION UNDER PRESSURE IS APPLIED
TO GENERATE FLUID FOR WORKING ENGINES."
This Invention relates to apparatus in which compressed oxygen in conjunction
with compressed gas or with inflammable vapour is burnt in a chamber under high
pressure, and the products of combustion are brought in contact with a liquid,
which they convert into vapour, the mixed fluid being used to work an engine. I
regulate the pressure at which the oxygen and the inflammable gas or vapour are
supplied to the combustion chamber by means of governors of any known con-
struction. In order to effect thorough mixture of the combustible fluids I prefer to
mix them in two successive operations; mixing in one chamber the whole of the
one fluid with a portion of the other, so as to make an incombustible or imperfectly
combustible mixture, and afterwards introducing the remaining portion of the latter
fluid, so as to render the mixture properly combustible. I prefer to effect the
combustion in a chamber of refractory material in order that the combustion may
be complete. From this chamber the hot products of combustion pass into another
chamber or compartment, where they are brought into contact with the liquid to be
evaporated, so as to generate its vapour. Any of the known methods by which
liquids can be efficiently exposed to the heating action of hot gases may be employed
for this purpose. One method which I employ is to inject the liquid amongst
asbestos, through the interstices of which the products of combustion are caused to
pass. Another method is to cause the liquid to strike against a plate or plates, so
as to be deflected in one or more thin films across the current of the hot gases.
These films are broken up by them so as to produce spray which is carried along
with them. The mingled current is made to pass through a passage of varying
area, so as to mix intimately the liquid and gases until the liquid is converted into
[Price 6d.

page_text: vapour. Or the current inay be made to pass through interstices of asbestos or of
refractory material in order to effect the same object. Another method is to cause
the hot gases to pass in a sinuous or alternating course between trays containing
shallow layers of the liquid to be evaporated. Another method is to cause the hot
gases to issue out of apertures beneath the liquid to be evaporated, and pass through
it in bubbles. The issuing gases carry with them a certain amount of the liquid in
the form of spray. They are caused to pass through the interstices of asbestos or
other material, where the spray is turned into vapour either wholly or partially,
such portion of it as is not evaporated returning to the body of the liquid. When
inflammable vapour is used as one of the agents of combustion I prefer to heat the
vessel in which it is generated either by a flame independent of the combustion
maintained under pressure, or by the waste fluid which has performed work in the
engine. I use a governor, by means of which the pressure or heat in the boiler in
which the inflammable vapour is generated is made to regulate the flame or the
quantity of the wuste fluid acting on it.
Engines worked by the means above described may be conveniently applied in
cases where smallness of bulk and weight in proportion to power is desirable, as in
the propulsion of torpedoes and of vehicles on streets or roads. In the latter case
by employing carbonic anhydride as the liquid evaporated all inconvenience from
heat is avoided, as the temperature of the working fluid need not exceed that of the
atmosphere. The absence of smoke, soot, and dust, and of steam blast may also be
mentioned as advantages whatever liquid may be employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Matthew Piers Watt Boulton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th October 1876.
MATTHEW PIERS WATT BOULTON, of Tew Park, in the County of Oxford. "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS WHEREBY COMBUSTION UNDER PRESSURE IS APPLIED
TO GENERATE FLUID FOR WORKING ENGINES."
This Invention relates to apparatus in which compressed oxygen in conjunction
with compressed gas or with inflammable vapour is burnt in a chamber under high
pressure, and the products of combustion are brought in contact with a liquid, which
they convert into vapour, the mixed fluid being used to work an engine. I regu
late the pressure at which the oxygen and the inflammable gas or vapour are supplied
to the combustion chamber by means of governors of any known construction. In
order to effect thorough mixture of the combustible fluids I prefer to mix them in
two successive operations; mixing in one chamber the whole of the one fluid with
a portion of the other, so as to make an incombustible or imperfectly combustible
mixture, and afterwards introducing the remaining portion of the latter fluid so as
to render the mixture properly combustible. I prefer to effect the combustion in a
chamber of refractory material in order that the combustion may be complete.
From this chamber the hot products of combustion pass into another chamber or
compartment, where they are brought into contact with the liquid to be evaporated,
so as to generate its vapour. Any of the known inethods by which liquids can be
efficiently exposed to the heating action of hot gases may be employed for this pur.
posc. One method which I employ is to inject the liquid amongst asbestos through
the interstices of which the products of combustion are caused to pass. Another
method is to cause the liquid to strike against a plate or plates so as to be deflected
in one or more thin films across the current of the hot gases. These films are
broken up by them so as to produce spray, which is carried along with them. The
mingled current is made to pass through a passage of varying area, so as to mix in-
timately the liquid and gases until the liquid is converted into vapour. Or the
current may be made to pass through interstices of asbestos or of refractory material
in order to effect the same object. Another method is to cause the hot gases

page_text: Fig. 1 represents a vertical section of apparatus according to my Invention for
effecting the combustion of inflammable gas or vapour with oxygen under pres-
sure. A¹ is a reservoir of compressed oxygen, A" a reservoir of compressed inflam-
mable gas or vapour. The gases from these reservoirs flow by passages a¹, a², into
chambers B, B, in which a nearly uniform pressure is maintained by the action of a
governor of any known construction. From the chamber B the gas flows by a
passage c into the chamber d, and a portion of the oxygen flows into the same
chamber by the passage c'. The passages c', c, are inclined to one another, and the
gas and oxygen flowing through them mix intimately in the chamber d, so as to
form a mixture either incombustible or only imperfectly combustible. The mixture
of gas and oxygen flows by a passage e into a chamber g, and an additional quantity
of oxygen, viz., such a portion as is requisite to make the mixture properly com-
bustible, flows into the same chamber by a passage ff. Combustion of the mixture
is maintained within the chamber g, which consists of a strong metal casing lined
internally with refractory material. The heated products of combustion pass off by
a passage to a chamber, in which they become cooled by causing evaporation of a
liquid according to various methods which I will now describe.
Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of one form of apparatus in which the hot
products of combustion are applied to effect evaporation of a liquid. is a passage
by which the hot products of combustion from the combustion chamber enter; i is
a plate. The liquid to be evaporated, supplied by a pipe k, issues from a nozzle l,
and, impinging upon the plate, is deficcted laterally in a thin film. This film, being
curved and broken up by the current of the gaseous products and mixed with them
in the form of spray, is partially converted into vapour in the chamber E. The
mixed current passes onwards through the chambers or enlargements of passage F
and G until the whole of the liquid is evaporated. The fluid, consisting of the
vapour mixed with the cooled products of combustion, is then led by a pipe to the
engine which it works.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section of another form of evaporating apparatus. It consists
of a strong vessel H capable of resisting high pressure supplied with the liquid to
be evaporated by a feed pump or otherwise. The hot products from the combustion
chamber pass by a pipe h to branches m, m, from which they issue by numerous
small apertures n, and rising through the liquid in bubbles they generate vapour.

page_text: The mixed gases issuing from the liquid and carrying a portion of it with them in
the form of spray are made to pass through the interstices of asbestos K, which is
supported on a grating o, or a diaphragm of wire gauze or perforated refractory
material. In passing through the asbestos a further portion of the liquid is con-
verted into vapour, and the mixture of vapour and cooled products of combustion
is led by a pipe L to the engine.
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of a boiler for generating inflammable vapour
under pressure by the products of combustion from a flame, or by the waste fluid
which has performed work in the engine. P is a passage by which the heating
fluid enters; Q is a conical plunger worked by the piston in a cylinder R, so as to
regulate the aperture of the passage P. The heating fluid, after passing the plunger
Qis led through the flues of the boiler S, which is kept supplied with the liquid to
be evaporated. When the pressure of the vapour in the boiler increases the piston
of the cylinder R, being forced upwards in opposition to a counterweight or spring,
causes the conical plunger Q to descend, thereby contracting the aperture of the
passage P and so diminishing the flow of the heating fluid.
With apparatus such as has been above described compressed air might be used
instead of compressed oxygen, but this would not so well serve the purpose chiefly
aimed at, namely, reduction of the weight and bulk of the engine. When liquefied
carbonic anhydride or other liquefied gas is employed as the liquid to be converted
into vapour, it may be kept at a very low temperature and at a low pressure in the
manner described in the Specification to a Patent granted to me on the 17th
February 1875, No. 574. As when a liquefied gas is employed it is generally
desirable not to generate by the combustion vapour of water, which might be
condensed by the high pressure, carbonic oxide may be employed as the gas to be
burnt in conjunction with the oxygen.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, I claim―
First. For generating fluid for working an engine the use of apparatus whereby
a store or reservoir of compressed oxygen carried with the engine supplies oxygen
which maintains combustion under pressure, either in conjunction with gas supplied
from a reservoir of compressed gas carried with the engine, or with inflammable
vapour generated from a boiler carried with it; the products of this combustion
being brought in contact with a liquid which they convert into vapour, and the
mixture of the vapour and cooled products of combustion being applied to work the
engine.
Second. The combination, for the purpose set forth in the preceding claim, of
portable reservoirs, governors for regulating the outflow therefrom, mixing, com-
bustion, and evaporating chambers, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the Matthew Piers Watt Boulton, have hereunto set
iny hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
TATTHDAY
M. P. W. BOULTON. (L.S.)