IMPROVEMENTS IN EMISSION OR REACTION ENGINES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Martyn Nicholls, of 39, Gower Place,
Euston Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
T
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Martyn
Nicholls at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th February 1853.
I, HENRY MARTYN NICHOLLS, of 39, Gower Place, Euston Square,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN EMISSION OR REACTION ENGINES" to be
as follows:-
Heretofore the steam or other elastic fluid in emission or reaction
engines has been allowed to flow out continuously into the atmosphere,
or to a vacuum. Now my Invention consists of applying a chamber
or chambers in such manner that such chamber or chambers, being
filled, shall be cut off from the boiler or source of supply, and then
discharge the contents, by which the flow of elastic fluid will be rendered
intermitting in place of being constant.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Henry Martyn Nicholls, in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 23d August 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
HENRY MARTYN NICHOLLS, of 39, Gower Place, Euston Square, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Martyn Nichols, Her special
licence that I; the said Henry Martyn Nicholls, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Martyn Nichols,
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 Ghannel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN EMISSION OR REACTION ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Henry Martyn Nicholls, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 Henry Martyn Nicholls, 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):
Heretofore the steam or other elastic fluid in emission or reaction
engines has been allowed to flow out continuously into the atmosphere,
or to a vacuum. Now my Invention consists of applying a chamber
or chambers in such manner that such chamber or chambers, being
filled, shall be cut off from the boiler or source of supply, and then

page_text: $
discharge the contents, by which the flow of elastic fluid will be ren-
dered intermitting in place of being constant!
"
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means
pursued by me.
190
My improvements in emission or reaction engines consist in this';
that instead of allowing the steam or other elastic fluid to escape in a
continuous stream from the engine, as has hitherto been the practice,
I cause it first to enter a chamber or chambers attached to the engine,
which, when it has filled its communication with the boiler, or other
generator, is shut off, and it is allowed to escape from the chambers by
its own elastic force merely. This process is kept up continually while
the engine is in operation.
+ it
The accompanying drawings represent an engine constructed on this
principle. The same letters refer to similar parts in both views.
Figure 1, is a side elevation of the engine, a portion being in section
Figure 2, is an end view, the valve-casing of the upper arm being
removed to show the valve, &c. a, is the main shaft or axle, on which
the engine revolves; it is hollow, and the steam passes through it into
the hollow arms b, 61. c, c¹, are valves, one valve in each arm serving
to admit the steam to the chamber (which in this arrangement is formed
in the valve itself), and to allow of its escape therefrom, in the posi-
tion of the valve c¹; steam passes from the arm b', through the
port d', and fills the chamber e', on which the valve rises in the position
which that in the other arm now assumes, and the steam escapes
through the exhaust-port f¹. It will be observed that the communica-
tion between the chamber in the valve and the steam-port closes before
its communication with the exhaust opens. Motion is given to the
valves, in this arrangement, through their attachment by means of the
links g, g', and the levers h, h', with the cranked axles i, ¹. These
axles are made to revolve by the pulleys K, K, K¹, K', attached to
their extremities, passing under the belts surrounding the large fixed
pulleys 1, 1. m, is a stuffing-box; n, pipe leading to boiler. Motion
can be communicated to machinery from the shaft at o, in any of the
usual methods.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no
claim to the parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the details as
herein described; but what I claim is, the constructing of emission
engines in such manner that the flow of the fluid may be rendered
intermitting in place of being constant.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Martyn Nicholls, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
HENRY MARTYN NICHOLLS. (L.S.) 1
Witness, ROBERT GRIFFIN BOWYER, Northfleet, Kent.
ROBERT HARVEY, Northfleet Dockyard, Kent.