IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Vickers, of Tynemouth, in the County
of Northumberland, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING MOTIVE POWER,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Vickers at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th March 1873.
I, MATTHEW VICKERS, of Tynemouth, in the County of Northumber-
5 land, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING MOTIVE
POWER," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the combination of machinery or apparatus
herein-after described whereby motive power is obtained from atmo-
Ospheric and water pressure. At the upper part of the apparatus is a
reservoir for containing water, such reservoir being open so as to admit

page_text: of the full pressure of atmospheric air on the surface of the water. In
the centre of this reservoir is fitted a hollow ball, from which extends
downwards a tube open at the bottom to receive water from the
reservoir. There is also a central pipe with an open top which passes
into the hollow ball so as to admit water from the ball. The central 5
pipe extends downwards and enters a water chamber of the form of an
inverted cone,
the bottom of which chamber communicates with a
turbine, through which revolving motion is communicated to a shaft, as
herein-after described.
In four columns of the apparatus there are four pipes, which together 1
arc equal in sectional area to the said central pipe; these pipes also
have open tops, which enter hollow balls, and they are provided at their
upper parts with syphons capable of discharging water from the said
pipes into the reservoir when the water level therein is below the mouth
of the syphons. There are also four hydraulic rams with weights 1
applied to them, which rams are caused to exert a downward pressure
on the water contained in the conical water chamber fixed between the
central pipe and the turbine, and thereby increase the pressure on the
descending side of the turbine. In the tops of the hollow balls
surmounting the central pipe and also the said four pipes there are 2
valves which close inwards, and when closed prevent the entrance of
· atmospheric air into the balls.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:- The reservoir at the top
of the engine is filled with water up to a level higher than the hollow
balls of the said four pipes, and reaching the top of the ball of the 2
central pipe, then on the valves of the several balls being closed and
the water drawn off to a level below the mouths of the syphons the
water will be set in motion and caused to circulate through the
apparatus, thereby producing motive power.
•
The pressure of atmospheric air on the surface of the water in the a
reservoir will cause it to rise in the central tube and pass into the ball,
whence it will pass down the central pipe into the conical water
chamber, and be discharged therefrom at its contracted bottom outlet
on to the descending side of the turbine, the revolution of which will
force the water up the said four vertical pipes, whence it will be
discharged through the syphons into the reservoir. The force thus
applied to the turbine results from the combined effect of the column of

page_text: water in the central pipe and the pressure of the four rams on the water
contained in the conical water chamber.
In order to maintain the circulation of the water, as described, it will
be necessary to keep the level of water in the reservoir at a little below
the mouths of the syphons by supplying as may be required the quantity
lost by evaporation.
The action of the engine may be reversed, as required, by means of
suitable hand gear applied so as to guide the water from the chamber
on to the opposite side of the turbine to that above described.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said
Matthew Vickers in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
VICKERS, of Tynemouth, in the County of Northumberland, Engineer,
send greeting.
-
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Matthew Vickers, Her special licence that
I, the said. Matthew Vickers, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Matthew Vickers, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING MOTIVE POWER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Matthew Vickers, my executors or admini-
strators, 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

page_text: and also the said four pipes, there are valves which close outwards, and
when closed prevent the entrance of atmospheric air into the balls.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The reservoir at the top
of the engine is filled with water up to a level higher than the hollow
balls of the said four pipes, and reaching the top of the ball of the
central pipe; then on the valves of the several balls being closed and
the water drawn off to a level below the mouths of the syphons the
water will be set in motion and caused to circulate through the apparatus,
thereby producing motive power.
The pressure of atmospheric air on the surface of the water in the
reservoir will cause it to rise in the central tube and pass into the ball,
whence it will pass down the central pipe into the conical water chamber
and be discharged therefrom at its contracted bottom outlet on to the
descending side of the turbine, the revolution of which will force the
water up the said four vertical pipes, whence it will be discharged
through the syphons into the reservoir. The force thus applied to the
turbine results from the combined effect of the column of water in the
central pipe and the pressure of the four rams on the water contained in
the conical water chamber.
In order to maintain the circulation of the water as described it will
be necessary to keep the water in the reservoir always at the required
level by supplying as may be required the quantity lost by evaporation.
The action of the engine may be reversed as required by means of
suitable hand gear applied so as to guide the water from the chamber on
to the opposite side of the turbine to that above described.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe more particularly in what manner it is to be carried into effect
by the aid of the accompanying Drawings, in which is represented the
machinery or apparatus above referred to.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

page_text: A is the base plate of the machine or apparatus; B, B, are four
hollow columns, on the top of which are supported a reservoir C for con-
taining water, such reservoir being open at the top in order to admit
of the full pressure of atmospheric air on the surface of the water. D is
a hollow ball, from which descends a tube E open at the bottom to
receive water from the reservoir. The ball D is provided with a valve
at the top opening outwards. F is a central pipe open at the top
and bottom and extending downwards from the tube E to the water
chamber G, which is in the form of an inverted cone, the bottom of
which chamber communicates with the turbine H mounted on the:
shaft I, which is furnished with two fly wheels J, J.
The turbine, as will be seen on reference to Fig. 3, is open at the top
to receive water from the chamber G, such water being directed to either
side of the turbine, according to the position in which the wedge-formed
valve K is placed. The arrows in Fig. 3 shew the course the water takes
when the valve K is in the position shewn. The water on entering at
the top is divided by the partition L, so as to cause one portion of it to
act on the side of the turbine as it passes downwards, the other portion
thereof passing in the same direction outside the partition L, but both
portions unite at the valve M, and pass upwards between the partition N
and the opposite side of the turbine, on which it acts in its upward
course towards the exit passage O, through which the water escapes to
the well formed in the base plate A, whence it is discharged into the four
vertical pipes P, P, (see Fig. 4) within the hollow columns B, B.
On reference to Fig. 3 it will be seen that the water which does not
escape through the passage O will pass down outside the partition N,
and enter the well in the base plate. In this Figure is also shewn, by
dotted lines, the reversed position of the wedge-formed valve K and the
valve M, from which it will be understood that when these two valves
are so reversed in position the course of the water through the turbine
will also be reversed, and the turbine turned in the opposite direction.
It is to be observed that in connection with the valve K there is a sliding
plate to cover and uncover the passages leading to the well in the base
plate, as required.
The mechanism for regulating the position of these valves is shewn in
Figures 1 and 2. It consists of a worm Q gearing with a worm wheel R,
on the axis of which is a pinion 8, the upper part of which works in the

page_text: internal toothed part of the valve K, and on the same axis there is
another pinion T, the lower part of which works in a toothed sector, so
as to act on the connecting rods U, U, in order to turn the axis of the
valve M, and move that valve, as required, in relation to the wedge-
formed valve K. The cross head, which connects the upper ends of
these two rods, turns on a pivot at V. The mechanism is put into and
out of gear as required by a clutch W, and is worked by means of the
hand wheel X. There is a pointer Y to indicate the position of the
valve M.
Z, Z, are the hollow balls on the open tops of the vertical pipes P, P,
such hollow balls being furnished with valves at the top, opening out-
wards; a, a, are syphons, through which water may be discharged from
the pipes P, P, into the reservoir C, when the water level therein is below
the mouths of the syphons; b, b, are four hydraulic rams, with weights c, c,
applied to them. These rams are fitted in tubes d, d, at the top of the
water chamber G. They are hollow, so as to receive air under pressure
supplied by a pump e, worked by an excentric on the shaft I. This
pump is shewn detached at Fig. 5, in which the shaft I is shewn in
section, also the sliding piece f, which is slidden laterally in the strap by
the revolution of the excentric, thereby giving to the strap an even
vertical motion, as required, to work the plunger of the pump.
On reference to the Drawings it will be seen that after the reservoir O
has been filled, and the valves in the several hollow balls have been
closed, and the water drawn off to a level below the mouths of the
syphons a, a, the water will be caused to circulate through the apparatus.
On entering the hollow ball D it will pass down the central pipe F into
the conical water chamber G, and be discharged therefrom at its bottom.
outlet into the turbine H, passing through the same in the manner
described above, and giving motion to the shaft I. At the same time
the action of the turbine will force the water from the well of the base
plate A, upon the four vertical pipes P, P, into their hollow balls, whence
it will be returned through the syphons into the reservoir.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I hereby declare that what I
claim as of my Invention is, the combination of the reservoir with the
central pipe, conical water chamber, turbine (constructed as described),
hydraulic rams, and return water pipes fitted with syphons, whereby

page_text: motive power is communicated to a driving shaft by the circulation of
water through the apparatus in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Vickers, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy- 5
three.
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.
MATTHEW VICKERS. (L.S.)