IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY THE AID OF EXPLOSIVE GASES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Constantine John Baptist Torassa, of Genoa, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY THE AID OF
EXPLOSIVE GASES."
Sealed the 18th November 1856, and dated the 31st July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Constantine John Baptist
Torassa at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 31st July 1856.
I, CONSTANTINE JOHN BAPTIST TORBASSA, of Genoa, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY
THE AID OF EXPLOSIVE GASES," to be as follows:-
This machine has the appearance of a steam engine without boilers,
chimney, or fire-place, as the Drawings, which will be sent with the Complete
Specification, will clearly shew. A voltaic battery, or any other more proper
means, will produce hydrogen gas, which in certain proportions is mixed with
atmospheric air, and, if thought convenient, with oxygen gas, constantly
generated, but only in proportion as it is consumed, in order to avoid risk.
This mixture of gas and air, with a proper regulator or pump, is intro-
duced alternately in both ends of a cylinder, and by the electric current or
discharge of the above electric apparatus, is made to explode without any

page_text: danger or noise, and so generate the power or force required to move alter-
nately the piston, and consequently give a proper action to the machine, so as
to make it able to replace the steam engine in all it's uses.
The proportions that we use of the above-mentioned mixed gas is two parts
of hydrogen and three parts of atmospheric air.
BPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Constantine John Baptist Torassa in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CONSTANTINE
JOHN BAPTIST TORASSA, of Genoa, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Constantino John Baptist Torassa, Her special licence that I, the said Con-
stantine John Baptist Torassa, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Constantine John Baptist Torassa, 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 Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY THE
AID OF EXPLOSIVE GASES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Constantine John Baptist Torassa, my executors or administrators, 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 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 Constantine Jolin Baptist Torassa, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by tho
following statement :-
This machine is similar in shape to a steam engine, but it has neither furnace
or boilers, nor does it require fuel of any kind.
To set it in action, I make use of a mixture of gas and atmospheric air in

page_text: different proportions, but generally I prefer a mixture of one-third part of
bydrogen gas and two-third parts of atmospheric air.
I obtain the hydrogen gas by the well-known means, and usually by
the decomposition of water, in making use of a galvanic battery, or other
means, as it is demonstrated in the relative Drawings (Fig. 1 and 2). This
gas from a gasometer or gasogenus (Fig. 1), to which are connected two
tubes or pipes, fitted with registered valves or cocks, which communicate
with the two interior extremities of the cylinder, carry the said mixture of gas
and air in a similar manner as steam is carried in the cylinder of a steam engine,
or else I introduce this mixture in the cylinder by means of appropriated pump.
When the requisite quantities of hydrogen gas and air are entered into the
cylinder, an electric spark, or a red hot platinum wire, obtained by a galvanic
battery, as it is demonstrated in Fig. 3, fires it and produces the explosion,
which forcibly drives the piston from one extremity of the cylinder to the
other. This operation is repeated alternately at both ends of the cylinder, so
that the action being sustained, the power is produced.
I obtain the spark or electric discharge by means of a galvanic battery;
whose poles communicate by isolated conductors with both sides of the interior
of the cylinder. A mediator, whose action is simultaneous with that of the
machine carries the spark or electric discharge alternately to one side or the
other of the piston into the cylinder. Thero is no danger in the action of this
machine, it is regular, rapid, and powerful, without making any disagreeable
noise. This apparatus might become of great public benefit, dispensing as it
does with boilers, furnace, and fuel, and offering a great economy in space and
weight, which is of the highest importance, particularly on board ships.
I claim a Patent, not for any specific advantage of construction of this
machine, or peculiar admixture of gas and atmospheric air, but for the dis-
covery of my system, method, or principle, viz. :-"For my system of sub-
stituting for steam power, the explosive power of amalgamated gases with
"atmospheric air; the explosion being effected by means of a spark or dis-
charge from a galvanic battery."
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And further, I can apply the above-described power of exploding gases to
every description of steam engine already existing, or which can be made; this
I do in two different and simple ways; say, first, in removing the boiler, the
furnace, and the chimney, and making a few little alterations, particularly in
the cylinder, as to make it answer for using explosive gases instead of steam,
in the way already described; and, second, in removing only the furnace and
chimney and the water from the boiler, as to have it quite empty, then by
the power of exploding gases according to my principle, and by a simple

page_text: disposition as demonstrated in the Drawing, No. 3, Fig. , I force atmospheric
air into the boiler to a pressure equal to that of steam, and, if necessary, to
heat the air either in the boiler or otherwise, and thereby increase the expan-
sion and consequently the pressure also; and I make use of that compressed
air for the purpose of working the engine in place of the steam, without any
alteration in it.
I claim the Patents too for that new application of the said power of
explosive gases directly to steam engines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Constantine John Baptist Torassa, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this day, the Twenty-third day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-seven.
CONSTANTINE JOHN BAPTIST TORASSA. (L.B.)