A NEW OR IMPROVED ENGINE, MACHINE, OR APPARATUS, FOR PRODUCING OR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY MEANS OF GASES OR VAPOURS PRODUCED BY COMBUSTION
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MILES
BERRY, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send gr eeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of June, in the fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Miles Berry, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Miles Berry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Miles Berry, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED ENGINE,
MACHINE, OR APPARATUS, FOR PRODUCING OR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER BY MEANS
OF GASES OR VAPOURS PRODUCED BY COMBUSTION," being a communication from a
foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said Miles Berry, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Miles Berry, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention consists, firstly, in the production of a motive power by the
use of gases generated in a peculiar way by the immediate combustion of cheap
inflammable substances; and; secondly; the construction of an engine, by which
this motive power may be made available for the driving of other machinery.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the engine,
and Fig. 2 is a horizontal view of the same, as it would appear from above, the
same letters referring to the same parts. Two cylinders A, A, of cast iron, or
other suitable metal, are, placed horizontally opposite to each other, their axes
being coincident; they are closed at their outer extremities by plates T, T, which
are'secured to the ends of the cylinders by screws, the inner ends of the cylinders
being left open. B is a metallic rod connecting together the two metallic
pistons C, C, one of which acts in each cylinder. To the rod B a transverse bar
or cross head D is affixed by means of the screws X, the extremities of the
cross head being attached by couplings to the sweep rods E, E, which are at
their other extremities connected to the crank shaft F, F, and on one end
of this crank shaft is to be affixed fly wheel to regulate the motion, the
power being communicated from that shaft to drive other machinery. At the
outer ends of the cylinders A, A, are connected the induction pipes L, L, and
the eduction pipes J, J, and supported by brackets. At the outer end of each
of the cylinders are the boxes or chambers G, G, containing the valves, which
are of copper, and kept in their respective places by the springs H, H. "The
valves are partly formed by apertures in the horizontal sliding rods K, K, the
reciprocating motions of which effect the opening and closing of the valves
or apertures for the admission and emission of the gas in a similar way to the
action of the valves in ordinary steam engines. These two sliding rods K, K,
are united by two small cross bars I, I, against which the piece or upright
arm V, projecting from the cross head on the rod B of the pistons, alternately
strikes as it reciprocates. A cylindrical reservoir W is placed behind the
cylinders for collecting the vapour and gas, and communicating it to 'cylin-
der's by means of the pipes L, L (seen best in Fig. 2). At the top of this
reservoir W is placed the tube of the safety valve M, M,
which safety valve
is of the ordinary construction, having an area of 'about one inch and a half.
From the reservoir W also rises a tube N, in the upper part of which there

page_text: is a cock O. The socket and plug, of this cock are perforated in portions of
their length, and have three apertures to allow of the passage of the gas. To
the outer part of the stem, or plug of this cock is screwed the tube Z (as shewn
upon, an enlarged scale in section at Fig. 3), and which, tube Z necessarily
rises and falls as the plug of the cock is turned round. In the outer end of this
tube there is a female screw to receive the end of the cartouch Q. A spike or
needle Y is fixed in the tube Z, for holding a piece of lighted tinder, by which
the cartouch is to be set on fire; pipes P, P, closed by screwed caps, as stoppers,
may be, adapted, as shewn, for cleaning the engine when necessary. The
whole machine is mounted on a metallic plate at bottom, and is inclosed in a
wooden vessel lined with sheet lead, forming a tank, which is to be nearly filled
with water. The joints of this tank may be packed or stopped with tow
dipped in boiling bitumen, and the whole must be strongly connected together
by means of bolts to prevent the escape of the water. The ends of the crank
shaft F, F, are intended to work through the sides of the vat in stuffing boxes,
and the tank is to be nearly filled with water so as to cover and surround, that
is, immerse the whole of the machine excepting the tube Z and cartouch Q,
and the safety valve and; the eduction pipes for the escape of the gas. A lid
may be placed over the tank, leaving a proper opening for the introduction of
the cartouches, which opening is to be closed by a small door. That part of
the apparatus which is called the cartouch Q, is a metallic tube, intended to
contain an inflammable composition. This tube is shewn in section upon an
enlarged scale.at-Fig. 4; it is closed at one end and open at the other. The
open end has a circular flange, which is to be placed between the nozzle piece
R and the collar or ring S, shewn at Figure 5, and they are held together by
screws. The composition to be employed in the cartouch is formed of seventy-
two parts of pure saltpetre, sixteen parts of sulphur, and twelve parts of wood
charcoal. These substances must be ground separately, reduced to powder,
then weighed, and intimately mixed with care. The cartouch may be loaded
by introducing into the tube successive layers of one inch thick, each layer
being rammed by, a. rod; which must be driven in by ten or twelve blows of
a mallet. The tank having been filled with water up to the level of the upper
parts of the pipes L, L, leading to the valve, the cock O must then be turned
until the end of the tube Z, which is to receive the cartouch, is just above the
level of the water, otherwise the water would penetrate into the interior of the
machine. On the point of the needle Y is to be placed a small wad of tinder,
properly prepared to render it highly inflammable, and which tinder must be
ignited when the cartouch is introduced. The cartouch having been previously
attached, as described, to the nozzle piece R, and collar S, is to be connected

page_text: to the machine by screwing the nozzle into the tube Z, when the tinder being
in a state of ignition will immediately set fire to the combustible composition
in the tube, and cause it to burn like a fusee. The cartouch Q and tube Z
must then be lowered quickly, by turning the plug of the cock O, until the
cartouch is completely immersed in the water contained in the tank. The com-
bustion of the cartouch thus effected will immediately generate elastic gases,
which, by passing through the tube Z and through the cock O, descend by the
tube N into the reservoir W. From this reservoir the elastic gases pass by
the induction pipe L, through the slide valve G, into the working cylinder,
and there exert their elastic force against the piston, which by that means is
projected along the cylinder, and, in so proceeding, the upright piece or arm V,
fixed on the piston rod, is made to strike against one of the cross rails I, and
thereby to drive the sliding rods K, K, longitudinally, which movement shuts
off the induction vapor from that cylinder, and opens the induction valve of the
other cylinder. The gases which have thus produced the stroke of the piston now
escape by the eduction pipe J, and the fresh volume of gases admitted into the
other cylinder operating in a similar way upon the other piston, drive it and
the rod B back again, and hence produce the reciprocating movement by
which the cross head D is made to actuate the sweep rods E, E, and thereby
to give rotation to the cranks and their shaft F. When the combustible
matter of the cartouch is entirely consumed, the tube Q must be raised out of
the water and replaced by another, previously prepared, and connected to a nozzle
piece R, which must be screwed into the end of the tube Z, as before described.
The needle Y, heated by the combustion of the first cartouch, will ignite the
second without using fresh tinder. The wad of prepared tinder consists of a
cylinder of half an inch long, one half of which must have been dipped in
melted sulphur, and then covered with ground saltpetre or pulverized gun-
powder. The cylinders must be rendered internally smooth and perfectly true,
and adjusted with care as to the coincidence of their axes one with the other.
The same precaution must be taken with respect to the pistons, which are to
be so packed as not to allow the water to penetrate into the cylinders. The
parts of the rods K, K, which pass through the slide valve chamber, must be
ground perfectly true, and pass through stuffing boxes, that the gas may not
escape. The same care must be taken with respect to the cock O, which is
inserted through the tube N. Provided the various parts of the machine be
sufficiently strong to stand the pressure (regulated by the safety valve), there is
no danger of explosion, and even in case of explosion the whole would be con-
fined to the bursting of one of the tubes L, or of the cartouch Q. In machines
of great dimensions it may be desirable to place between the mouths of the