IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATED AIR ENGINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Simon, of the Town and County of the Town
of Nottingham, Bronze Powder Manufacturer and Machine Builder, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATED AIR ENGINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Simon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th December 1860.
I, LOUIS SIMON, of the Town and County of the Town: of Nottingham,
Bronze Powder Manufacturer and Machine Builder, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEATED AIR ENGINES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object improvements in heated air engines, which
consist of various parts, the main or chief part being composed of a cylinder
in which two pistons move, one piston moving with greater speed than the
other one end of the cylinder is covered by a vessel, the top part whereof
reaches into the cylinder, the other end of the cylinder is open, and there the
two pistons move. The vessel and that part of the sides of the cylinder where
the piston does not touch is heated by fire, and in this way the atmospheric;
air also is heated in the cylinder. The difference in the speed of the two
pistons is effected by the working together of various levers. By this arrange-
ment it will occur that while one piston moves towards one direction, atmo->

page_text: spheric air is received by the engine at each turning or revolution of the main
shaft, and the air used previously is let out; and while the other piston moves,
the air is heated and expanded, and moves the piston which is next to the open
end of the cylinder. In this way the engine is kept in regular motion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Simon in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS SIMON,
of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Bronze Powder Manu-
facturer and Machine Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Louis Simon, Her special licence that I, the said Lonis
Simon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Louis Simon, 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 HEATED AIR ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Louis Simon, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
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 Louis Simon, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained. in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention has for its object improvements in heated air engines. In
this my improved engine, constructed according to my present Invention, a
cylinder is employed in which two pistons move, one of such pistons moving

page_text: with greater speed than the other; one end of the cylinder is covered by a
vessel, the top part whereof reaches into the cylinder; the other end of the
cylinder is open, and there the two pistons move. The vessel and that part of
the sides of the cylinder where the piston does not touch are heated by fire,
and in this way the atmospheric air also is heated in the cylinder. The
difference in the speed of the two pistons is effected by the working together
of various levers. From this arrangement it will result that while one piston
moves towards one direction, atmospheric air is received by the engine at each
turn or revolution of the main shaft, and the air used previously is let out; and
while the other piston moves, the air is heated and expanded, and moves the
piston which is next to the open end of the cylinder. In this manner the
engine is kept in regular motion.
I now proceed, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, more parti-
cularly to exemplify my Invention, and the manner in which the same may be
carried into effect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side clevation of a complete engine constructed according to
my Invention, and Figure 2 a sectional view of the engine in the direction of
its length; (Figure 2 is on a larger scale than Figure 1.) Figures 8, 4, 5,
6 and 7, shew the several positions of the pistons and levers during their
forward and backward strokes.
W is a cylinder cast with each end open, and bored out perfectly true for
somewhat more than half its length from the right-hand end; in the turned
or bored-out part are fitted two moving pistons, A and B. The opposite end
of the cylinder receives a dome, chamber, or vessel C, which is secured to the
cylinder by a flange at the bottom of the same, as shewn. The dome is pro-
vided with a grate C', the space under which forms an ash-pit. A fire upon
the grate is fed with fuel through the door at the end thereof. C² is a grating
of fire-clay, which keeps the fuel from falling into the dome C; the front
and sides of the furnace and the passage D are lined with fire-clay. The heat
from the fire warms the sides of the dome C, and passes out through the pas-
sage D in the direction of the arrows over the top of the cylinder, around it,
up the back of the cylinder, through the pipe E into the chimney. The
piston A, which is the working piston, is fitted with leather on its circum-
ference close to the wall or side of the cylinder, and it is also provided with
two steel 'valves, through which air is admitted into the cylinder. The feeding
piston B fits closely to the side of the cylinder, and has vertical grooves about
one-third of an inch wide and three-sixteenths of an inch deep on its circum-
and

page_text: ference; these grooves can be closed by a steel ring F, which fits close to the
cylinder side. When the ring. is in the position shewn in Figure 2, the air
cannot pass from one side of the. piston to the other. The ring is free to move
a short distance vertically in a recess in the circumference of the piston at the
back thereof, which position the ring occupies when the piston is moving from
the centre of the cylinder to the right-hand end. Attached to this piston is a
cylinder G, G, made of iron plate, the right-hand end of which is of a similar
form to the end of the dome C. The space H, H, is filled with charcoal, and
the spaces B, B, in the feeding piston are fitted with wood. To the left-hand
end of the cylinder is fitted a second iron plate cylinder, and between this and
the dome C the cylinder G of the feeding piston moves. I is the valve which
lets out the air, this valve being opened by a lever K by means of a cam E¹
on the shaft of the fly-wheel. The air used goes out whilst the feeding piston
is moving from the right-hand end to the left-hand end. M¹ is.a regulator
or governor, which is moved by a bevil wheel on the shaft of the fly wheel, and
is in connection with a cock or valve, which when the engine goes too quickly
can be opened in order to let out a portion of the air which is in the cylinder.
The feeding piston has a cast-steel rod passing air-tight through a stuffing box
in the working piston. The feeding piston is moved by levers. The piston A
has a peculiar movement, which may be described as follows:-The pressure
of the air is only on one side of the piston, which is in connection with a series
of levers connected to the crank of the fly wheel, consequently the machine is
single-acting. The fly wheel being cast hollow, lead or other metal is inserted
in a portion of the hollow part thereof, where required, to effect the backward
motion of the piston. When the piston moves from the right to the left, the
ring F closes the grooves on the feeding piston, and the hot air escapes by the
valve; this piston has, through the system of levers here used, a quicker
motion than that of the working piston, thus causing a vacuum, and air is
admitted by the valves of the working piston into the inside of the cylinder.
If the motion is in the other direction, the valves close, the feeding. piston goes
quicker and presses upon the air between both pistons, the air passing through
the grooves of the feeding piston into the space between the piston and the
dome. Thus the cold air must pass the space between the hot cylinder sides
and the plate cylinder on the dome, and between the dome and the plate
cylinder on the piston. During the motion the air has a temperature of
572° Fahrenheit, and the heat produces the requisite pressure of the heated
air for moving the piston, the piston driving the fly wheel through the system
of levers as shewn.
The engine is started in the following manner :-There are two strong

page_text: levers M and N, each of which has a projection upon the end, which pro-
jections take into recesses P¹ cast in the inside of the rim of the fly wheel,
these recesses forming the inside of the rim; into a series of teeth, as shewn, the
lever M turns on a pin in a short arm fast on the shaft O on the end near to
the fly wheel; the lever N works loose on the end of the same,shaft, and will
lie in one of the recesses P¹ by its own weight when the wheel is being moved
partly round, tooth by tooth, by means of the lever M and short arm, which are
worked by hand by means of a rod P. When the engine is started, the
rod P is allowed to rest upon the floor, its weight keeping the levers M and N
clear of the wheel as shewn. When it is desired to stop the engine, the
lever L is moved to the right hand in the direction of the arrow, whereupon
the short end of the lever will press upon the collar on the escape valve spindle,
and open the valve, thereby allowing the air to escape instead of expanding
and moving the piston.
Having now described, the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that I claim, as constituting my im-
provements in heated air engines,―
Firstly, arranging and combining the cylinder, pistons, and internal dome
or vessel in the manner and to operate as herein-before described.
Secondly, the arrangement and combination of engine hercin-before described
and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Simon, have bereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-one:
Witness,
GEO. JON. ROBINSON,
Patent Agent,
Nottingham.
LOUIS SIMON. (L.S.)