CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY STEAM ENGINES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO PUMPS FOR LIFTING AND FORCING WATER
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
LEACH, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Second day of November now last past, did, for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Matthew Leach, my
exors, adññiors, and assigns, Her especial licence that I, my exors, admors,
and assigns, and such others as I, my exors, admors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY STEAM ENGINES, WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS ARE APPLICABLE TO PUMPS FOR LIFTING AND FORCING WATER;" in
which said Letters is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Matthew Leach,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same Letters
Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Matthew Leach, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in the following improvements:-First, in the application to a rotary
steam engine or to a rotary pump (such as I shall herein-after describe) of a
triangular cam or tappet, which is placed between the valves of the inner
cylinder, and which communicates pressure from each valve to the others, so
as at all times to keep the outer edge of each valve against the inner side of
the external cylinder. Secondly, in the construction of the valves themselves,
whereby a constant pressure is maintained by each of them between the inside
of the external cylinder and one of the outer edges of the triangular cam or
tappet, so that the spaces in the engine or pump which are separated by the
different valves may be steam-tight in an engine and water-tight in a pump, or
as much so as is particularly required. And in further compliance with the
said proviso, I, the said Matthew Leach, do hereby describe the manner in
which the said Invention is to be performed by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereto annexed, and to the letters marked
thereon, (similar letters of reference being used to denote similar parts in all
the Drawings), that is to say:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of an engine or pump, with the flanges
of the external and internal cylinders removed so as to exhibit my improve-
ments. Figure 2 represents a front elevation of the same engine or pump, in
section cut through the middle. Figure 3 represents a side elevation, and
Figure 4 a front elevation of the same engine or pump ready to be attached
to either steam pipes or water pipes. Figure 5 represents a side view and
Figure 6 a front view in section cut through the middle of one of my improved
valves. Figure 7 represents a section forming one of the parts of the internal
cylinder, containing an opening in which one of the angles of the triangular
cam works freely. Figure 8 is an edge view of the same section. Figure 9
represents a side elevation of an engine or pump with the flanges of the
external and internal cylinders removed, so as to exhibit my improvements
under a different arrangement from that shewn in Figures 1 and 2. Figure 10
is a plan of the external cylinder of the same engine or pump in section, cut
through the middle. Figure 11 is a side view, and Figure 12 a front view in
section, cut through the middle, of another modification of my improved valves.
In Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, and 10, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, represent
the outer cylinder or framework of the engine, and in Figures 1, 2, and 9,
b, b, b, b, b, b, b, b, b, b, represent the inner cylinder of the engine, which is

page_text: attached to and works upon the shaft g, see Figure 2. In Figures 1, 2, and 9,
c, c, c, represent the triangular cam or tappet, placed so as to work freely in
openings, one of which is formed in each of the three sections or parts of the
internal cylinder; one of these sections or parts is shewn in Figures 7 and 8
detached from the two flanges. The three sections or parts marked b, b, b, in
Figures 1 and 9, with the flange on each side to which they are bolted, consti-
tute the inner cylinder, in which three spaces are left, in which spaces work the
three valves d, d, d, see Figures 1 and 9. The construction of the valves will
be seen by examining Figures 5, 6, 11, and 12. In Figures 5 and 6 a side
view, and a section of one of them, is shewn. In Figures 11 and 12 may be
seen a side view, and a section of another of the valves made in rather a
different manner; either construction may be adopted. In Figure 5 a slot is
shewn which is cut out of the top of the valve from side to side. At the
bottom of the slot is placed a metallic spring f, which is so curved that the two
ends bear upon the bottom of the slot near each end of it, whilst the highest
part of the spring is at or near its middle (see Figure 6). Upon the top of this
spring is placed a triangular shaped bar, extending across the valve, with the
longest side of the triangle next to the spring. The angular spaces above this
bottom bar are then filled by two other bars or pieces, one resting on each of
the other sides of the triangular piece. In Figures 11 and 12 the slot is cut
very much deeper at the sides of the valve than in the middle; the spring is
placed upon the middle part of the slot; a single bar, the base of which is
greater than the top, rests upon the spring; two other bars are placed in the
deep cuttings at the sides of the valve, so as to fill up the space left by such
cuttings; the tops of these bars overlap and rest upon the centre bar. The use
of the spring is to force the top of each valve against the inner side of the
external cylinder, and also to force the bottom of each of the valves against the
triangular piece, and which force is communicated by that triangle to the other
valves, whereby a compensating pressure is maintained between the three
springs, and separations are thereby made between the two cylinders of the
engine or pump by the valves and the cam or tappet, with a less amount of
friction than is usual in rotary engines ad pumps. h, h, h, h, in Figures 1, 9,
and 10, represent packing fixed in the outer cylinder to prevent a current of
steam or water from passing between it and the inner cylinder. It will be
obvious to persons conversant with engines of this description that steam of
suitable pressure may be admitted by either of the pipes shewn in Figures 1
and 9, and that the inner cylinder, with its valves and cam, will be turned in
the direction taken by the steam in its passage from the one pipe to the other.
When this engine is used as a pump for lifting or forcing water a pipe is con-

page_text: nected to one of the pipes shewn in Figures 1 and 9, and is passed down into
the water in the usual manner of pump trees, and when the valves by means
of the inner cylinder and shaft are turned along the open space or spaces
between the two cylinders, water will be thereby lifted into the pump, and
(provided the water so received into the pump be required to be forced there-
from), the usual appliances attached to the exit pipe, and additional power to
impel the pump, will force the water in the direction and at the speed required.
When the engine is used as a pump for lifting and forcing water, my improve-
ments in the valves and cam or tappet, whereby all the springs are made to act
upon each other in the manner I have already described in reference to a
steam engine, prevent the loss, by friction, of a large amount of the power by
which such pumps are actuated. When the engine is constructed in the
manner described in Figure 1, only one open space is left between the external
and internal cylinders which leads from the entrance to the exit pipe, and all
the steam or water goes through that space on its passage through the engine.
When the engine is constructed as in Figure 9, the external cylinder is made
with a double or false casing, the inner casing perforated with two holes for the
admission and two for the exit of the steam or water (see Figures 9 and 10).
There are also two spaces between the external and internal cylinders for the
passage of the steam or water through the engine, and two packings attached
to the external cylinder (h, h, h, Figures 9 and 10). This construction causes
the steam or water immediately upon its entrance into the engine to be divided
into two parts; one part goes through the nearer admission hole along one of
the openings between the two cylinders, in which opening it comes in contact
with one of the valves; it afterwards escapes by one of the exit holes into the
space between the two casings of the external cylinder and thence through the
exit pipe the other part of the steam or water goes along the space between
the two casings of the external cylinder as far as the second admission hole,
through which it passes into the other opening between the two cylinders,
where it comes in contact with one of the valves; it then escapes by the other
exit hole through the exit pipe. There is a division of that part of the space
between the outer and inner casings of the external cylinder, which is used for
the passage of the steam or water before it is admitted into one of the openings
between the external and internal cylinders from the other part of the same
space which is used for the exit of the steam or water which has already passed
through the other opening between the two cylinders.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I do hereby declare that I do not claim any of the
parts of the engine herein-before described separately. But I do claim as my

page_text: Invention the construction and operation in rotary steam engines and pumps
for lifting and forcing water, of the parts marked b, c, d, e, and f, as herein-
before described. And such my Invention being entirely new, and never before
used within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and
that I do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply, in all respects,
fully and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent contained. Wherefore I do hereby claim to
maintain exclusive right and privilege to the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Leach, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of April, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named Matthew Leach, in the
presence of
MATTHEW (L.s.) LEACH.
Enrolled the Second day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-four.