Year: 1886

page_text: I, GEORGE MARIE CAPELL, of Passenham Rectory, Stony Stratford, in the
County of Northampton, Clerk in Holy Orders, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to the construction of high-speed fluid-pressure motors, and
is especially applicable to the production of an engine for the purpose of driving
mine fans, centrifugal pumps, and similar fluid exhaust or blast apparatus.
To put my invention into practical operation, I provide a cylinder the diameter
of which is much larger in proportion to its length than is usual in the cylinders
of prime movers.
This cylinder is divided by two solid sectors in which are formed proper valves,
or other equivalent devices for regulating the admission and exhaust of the motor
fluid.
A solid metal cylinder, turned and packed to make tight joints with the solid
sectors aforesaid, is carried upon a suitable shaft. Both cylinder and shaft are
bisected by a longitudinal slot through which passes a diaphragm, having suitable
packing, and fitting the working cylinder accurately.
This diaphragm when standing at right angles with the central radii of the solid
sectors divides the working cylinder into separate chambers.
The motor fluid is admitted to the opposite sides of the diaphragm above and
below the shaft, the pressure being therefore equally balanced by means of the
valves and a reciprocating circular motion is communicated to the diaphragm and
shaft, which motion can be converted in rotary or any other type of motion by any
convenient and well-known means.
The working cylinder is provided with suitable end covers and stuffing boxes.
The valves are in suitable valve chests and may be actuated by power taken
from the motor through any, convenient mechanism.
I do not confine myself to the use of only one diaphragm. Several may be used,
the number of sectors and chambers being increased accordingly; nor to the use of
any particular motor fluid, so long as it is capable of being admitted to the
diaphragm at a high initial pressure.
It is obvious that a motor constructed according to my invention is capable of
being actuated by inducing vacua on the opposite sides of the diaphragm, in
place of admitting pressures thereupon; or the two agencies may be combined.
My improved motor may be compounded by placing it in series, and arranging
the respective areas of the diaphragms according to the available initial pressures
of the motor fluid.

page_text: An Improved Construction of High-speed Fluid-pressure Motor.
I, GEORGE MARIE CAPELL, of Passenham Rectory, Stony Stratford, in the
County of Northampton, Clerk in Holy Orders, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
"
My invention relates to the construction of high-speed fluid-pressure motors in
which the linear reciprocating motion of the ordinary piston is replaced by the
oscillation, through a given arc, of a balanced diaphragm within a cylinder.
The plane of oscillation is, as a matter of course, at right angles to the axis of
the cylinder, and it therefore follows, constituting, at the same time, a distinctive
feature of my invention, that an extended diameter of cylinder, with a concentration
of the energy of the motor fluid upon the extremities of the diaphragm, produces
what is virtually a high piston speed and a powerful leverage on the orank; with,
at the same time, a low number of vibrations per minute in the moving parts of
the motor, especially as compared with the number of vibrations per minute of
the moving parts of high-speed piston engines now in vogue.
In order that my invention, and the means by which it is to be carried into
practical effect, may be thoroughly understood, I will proceed to describe the same
in detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying drawings which are to be
taken as part of this specification and read therewith. Like parts are marked
throughout the figures in which they occur with the same reference letter.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a motor constructed according to my invention, with
the valve chests attached, the power being communicated from the motor crank to
that of a shaft carrying an ordinary fly-wheel, and an eccentric for actuating the
valves of the motor.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the motor, after the cylinder cover has been
removed.
Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the motor taken on the line A-B of Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional elevation taken on the line C-D of Fig. 3.
The motor is shewn, in all the foregoing figures, at half-stroke, the pistons
moving in the direction indicated by the arrows.
Fig. 5 is a detail drawing illustrating a method of packing the pistons.
E is the motor cylinder, the diameter of which is, as a result of the nature of
my invention, about double its length.
The motor cylinder is closed by two end covers in which are formed the
bearings for the motor shaft, F.
G, G¹, are two projections on the inner face of the cylinder, preferably sector-
shaped in cross section, and extending the full length thereof.
They divide the annular space produced by the central drum within the motor
cylinder, E, into two equal parts.
H is a central cylinder, or drum, fast upon the shaft F.
The object of this drum is to occupy the central space of the motor, the pistons
being external to the drum, and no use being made, according to my invention, of
the space occupied by the drum, for the generation of energy.

page_text: The sides and periphery of this drum are packed for the purpose of preventing
the motor fluid passing between them and the respective contacting surfaces of the
drum and the sectors. The contacting surfaces of the drum can be conveniently
lubricated by ducts passing through the cylinder covers from lubricators fixed
thereon.
The two sectors G, G¹, and the central drum, H, leave therefore, inside the
motor cylinder, two arc-shaped chambers I, I¹, of equal size, each chamber being
the equivalent of the bore of an ordinary reciprocating piston motor.
The pistons of a high speed motor constructed according to my invention are
furnished by the extremities of a diaphragm passed through the common axis of
the motor shaft, F, and the drum, H. The length of this diaphragm is equal to
the internal diameter of the motor cylinder, and the width of it to the internal
length of said cylinder. In Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the pistons J, J¹, are shewn as plates
projecting from boxes formed in opposite sides of the drum H, the pattern of the
latter rendering such an arrangement more convenient than the carrying a
diaphragm centrally through the drum would, generally, be in practice. The
dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate the carrying both pistons and boxes through
the drum and shaft.
I wish to draw attention to the excess of diameter on the part of the drum,
according to my invention, over the depth of the pistons, and to point out that the
larger the diameter of the drum is, the longer will be the arc through which the
pistons will oscillate; and, consequently, the greater will be the energy imparted
to the motor crank, for it is self evident that the space near to the axis, along a
short radius, is of small value as a source of energy, because of the short length of
the are through which the extremity of the radius can oscillate, the size of the arc
being necessarily limited; while no matter how considerable may be the speed of
the pistons, the power can be taken from the motor shaft by a crank of a radius
less than that of the stroke of a piston.
The figures illustrate the engine fitted with two pistons, the one balancing the
other, and both receiving. the pressure of the motor-fluid on their respectively,
opposite sides at the same time. This number, or a multiple of it, with a corre-
sponding complement of. sectors, is preferable to an uneven number. But the
number of pistons can always be varied according to the requirements of any
particular case.
i
The valve-gear illustrated consists of two valves and valve chests, K, K¹, of the
well-known construction fitted upon a cover. The ports for the delivery into,
and exhaust from, the arc-shaped chambers, I, I¹, are, preferably, formed in the
sectors, G, G. The valves are illustrated as actuated alternately by a rocking bar
from the rotary shaft, O, by an eccentric of the usual type, or they may be
actuated directly from the motor shaft, F.
Suitable arrangements are, of course, necessary for keeping the three projecting
edges of the piston in tight contact with the adjoining faces of the cylinder and
cylinder covers.
Fig. 5 illustrates an efficient device for effecting this.
The piston is built up of four angular plates, ¹, which are rebated along their
adjacent edges,, as indicated by the dotted lines, and lie in the same plane.
The piston packings are held between pairs of metal plates, j, the rivets connecting
them passing through slots in the angular plates, 71..
The centre of the parallelogram produced by the assemblage of the said four
plates, is cut out to produce a recess in which I fit an expanding ring, ³, which
always keeps the three edges of the piston up to their work. The plate nearest the
axis is shewn as to be continued through the drum and shaft; its opposite extremity
will therefore furnish the corresponding plate of the opposite piston.
The dotted
lines in Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate this construction of piston and boxes.
C
L is the motor fluid supply, and 1, 1, the exhausts.
I do not confine myself to the use of any particular motor fluid provided that it
can be admitted to the pistons at a high initial pressure,

page_text: M is the crank on the end of the motor shaft, from which it receives a corre-
sponding oscillating motion, which may be converted into a rotary one by means
of the connecting rod, N, the crank shaft, O, and fly wheel, P ; or any other equi-
valent mechanism; for I would have it distinctly understood that I do not confine
myself to the system of conversion illustrated. There may be motor cranks, as M,
on both ends of the motor shaft, F, connected by a yoke passing over the top of
the motor, the connecting rod joining the central part of the yoke. And the shaft
of a motor constructed according to my invention may be coupled direct to the
machine to be driven, without the intervention of a second crank with its shaft and
fly-wheel, especially where, as in the case of fans or centrifugal pumps, the rotating
part thereof discharges the function of a fly-wheel.
The motor as illustrated has been described as driven by the pressure of the
motor-fluid upon opposite sides of the two pistons in alternate directions, but it is
clear that it can be driven by creating vacua in the chambers, I, I¹, and admitting
atmospheric pressure to the opposite sides of the pistons; or an artificial pressure
upon one side of the pistons (i.e. by the above mentioned motor-fluid) may be used
in conjunction with the vacua on the other side thereof.
These vacua may be produced by any convenient agency, suitable ports and valve
gear, for controlling them, being provided.
The motor above described is non-compounding, i.e., the several pistons are driven
by motor-fluids of the same pressure at any given moment.
When it is desired to compound a motor according to my invention, I make one
half of the motor of a larger radius than the other, as indicated by the dotted
lines on the left hand side of Fig. 2, which represent the enlarged flange, cylinder
side, and two faces of two sectors.
This gives a larger arc, and, consequently, a longer stroke to the low pressure
piston, and also allows of the area of the piston being increased, so that by either,
or both, of these means-preferably both-the relative values between the piston
areas and strokes with reference to the initial pressures of the respective motor-
fluids high and low pressure-can be correctly adjusted. I may provide an inter-
mediate chamber between the two valve chests to receive the fluid from the high
pressure chamber as it passes to the low-pressure chamber.
Or, instead of making a motor with the high and low-pressure chambers in the
same plane; two or more motors, duly proportioned in respect of piston areas and
strokes, may be arranged in series.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The combination of a drum making a reciprocating circular motion within a
concentric motor cylinder about the common axis of both and carrying two or more
pistons projecting from its periphery, with sectors projecting from the inner face of
the cylinder to the periphery of the drum and, therefore, producing with them,
arc-shaped chambers in which the pistons make their reciprocating strokes; sub-
stantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
2. The combination of arc-shaped chambers produced by a drum mounted con-
centrically within a motor cylinder and sectors projecting from the inner face of
said cylinder to the periphery of said drum, with said sectors which have formed
in or near them suitable ports along which the motor fluid can be delivered into
and exhausted from said arc-shaped chambers; substantially as described with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
3. In a high-speed fluid-pressure motor, the combination of arc-shaped chambers
produced by the division, by sectors, of an annular space produced within a cylinder
by mounting a drum therein, with pistons projecting from the periphery of said
drum and to which a reciprocating motion through said arc-shaped chambers is
given, by exhausting the arc therein from opposite sides of the pistons alternately;
substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

page_text: 4. In a high-speed fluid-pressure motor in which the pistons make a reciprocating
stroke through arc-shaped chambers between the cylinder, an internal concentric
drum, and sectors extending from one to the other; compounding said motor by
increasing the radius of one (or more) said are-shaped chambers according to the
relative initial pressures of the high and low pressure motor fluids; substantially
as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
5. In a piston making a stroke through an arc-shaped or annular chamber of a
rectangular, or approximately rectangular, section, providing for the proper packing
of said piston by making it of angular rebated pieces, the central corners of which
are removed to form a circular recess in which is fitted an expanding spring,
substantially as described with reference to the accompanying figures.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.