AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APParatus for UTILIZING COMPRESSED AIR FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APParatus for
UTILIZING COMPRESSED AIR FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER."-A com-
munication from abroad by Louis Mekarski, of Paris, France,
Architect.
Sealed the 28th March 1876, and dated the 8th October 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th October 1875.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS
FOR UTILIZING COMPRESSED AIR FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," a communi-
cation, to be as follows:-
In the Specification of former Letters Patent, bearing date the 9th
November, A.D. 1872, No. 3338, I have described a motive-power engine

page_text: actuated by compressed air under regulated pressure. My present
Invention relates to improvements upon the same.
The said Invention consists essentially in heating the compressed air
at the moment of its introduction into the motive cylinder; in mixing
it with a certain quantity of vapour of water at a high temperature,
whereby it is expanded as much as the vapour itself, while preventing
the great cooling to which there is a tendency, and the consequent
inconveniences. Morcover, there is a material augmentation of the
quantity of work obtained from a given quantity of air; and I provent
leakage at the movable joints of the pistons and valves, which are very
difficult to make tight, against compressed air, and which are made so
in this instance by the water of condensation, which is produced as in
steam engines.
Although capable of general application this Invention has chiefly for
its object to render practicable the employment of compressed air for
locomotives and for other purposes where it is necessary to utilize in the
best manner possible a limited supply of air enclosed under a high
pressure in a reservoir, and renewable only at certain intervals. For
this purpose the said Invention comprises an automatic distributing
apparatus, which I term a discharge regulator, for dividing the air
which flows from a reservoir where the pressure changes in decreasing
to a fixed point lower than that of the reservoir, but which can be
caused to vary instantaneously within certain wido limits, so that I can
proportion at any moment the power of the engine to the resistance it
has to overcome.
The reheating of the air and its mixing with the steam are effected by
causing it to pass in a suitable state of division through a column of hot
water, with which it becomes equal in temperature.
The heater may be a boiler heated continuously by any suitable
means, or a cistern containing hot water obtained from a separate
generator, and which cools in proportion to its work.
In the first case the temperature of the water remains constant,
therefore the air passes through it under a constant pressure, so that the
proportion of the steam or vapour brought with it is invariable; there-
fore the regulator should be placed between the air reservoir and the
honton

page_text: In the second case, on the contrary, the regulator must be placed
behind the heater, so that the pressure of the air diminishes in tho
latter, as in the air reservoir, at the same time that the water is cooled.
In the accompanying Drawing the apparatus represented by Figure 1
in elevation, and by Figure 2 in section is of the latter kind, and is that
which I have thought most suitable for a self-moving tramway carriage.
The water once cooled is renewed or reheated by a circulation of steam
during the charging of the air reservoir. The air enters by the central
tubes T, meeting the rose O, whereby it is divided into fine jets, which
riso through the liquid and reunite in a steam chamber formed in the
upper part of the apparatus; it is afterwards conducted to the cylinder
by means of the regulator. The two cocks R³, R³, are for establishing
or intercepting the communication with the air reservoir, which in this
application of the said Invention is divided into two distinct chambers,
of which one serves as a reserve; they serve equally at the charging of
the reservoir, the key of the cock R³ being then turned outward. The
cock R³ placed below serves for the introduction of hot water or steam
as well as for the emptying.
The regulator shown in these Drawings is of a form embodying the
following general idea, namely, to regulate the section of the orifice by
which the air flows by means of a suitable stopper (a valve or slide)
connected with a suitable partition or piston subjected on one side to
the pressure of the discharges, and on the other to a spring, whose
tension is determined arbitrarily.
It will be readily understood that the apparatus works in such manner
as to maintain an equilibrium between the two actions, the pressure of
discharge remaining fixed or varying like the tension of the spring.
The stopper is in this case the conical valve c guided in its travel by the
rod t, at whose upper end is mounted the plate p. An air spring, that
is to say, a certain quantity of compressed air enclosed in a space A,
and whose pressure is regulated by the movement of the piston P,
exerts upon the plate p through the medium of the movable india-
rubber diaphragm d an action which tends to determine the flow or
discharge on lowering the valve c, and to maintain also a corresponding
pressure in the chamber B, which communicates with the motor cylinder
by the distributing cock R. The valve follows automatically the
variations of the discharge, closing completely the orifice as soon as the

page_text: latter stops; the intermissions which result from the employment of the
expansion have therefore no influence.
For ensuring during the filling of the heater the closing of the valve,
which does not then bear upon its seat with great pressure as whilo
working, I apply to it a small spiral spring & placed in a box through {
which the rod t passes.
Finally to prevent the leakages which may exist through the packing g
traversed by the piston P, tho said piston is only made to act indirectly
upon the air spring by means of an interposed cushion of water which it
causes to flow in the annular chamber A. This water which fills the 1
central space wherein the piston moves when the latter is at the top of
its stroke is admitted by the funnel cock e. The air itself is delivered
into the chamber B by means of the three-way cock which permits
by a very simple movement the filling of the space A with air already
having a certain tension. A gauge is mounted on this cock.
The piston P is actuated by the pressure screw V which is controlled
by a fly wheel, and which passes through a fixed nut E attached to the
apparatus by three iron standards.
By this Invention I provide a motor which does not present any of
the inconveniences accompanying the employment of steam, and that
may be applied advantageously to a great number of operations,
especially to the working of iron ways laid in towns or upon roads, for
'the interior service of mines or traversing long tunnels, in the form of
compressed air locomotives, hydraulic engines, and others in which there
is used, as required, the force accumulated in fixed reservoirs; it!
furnishes the means of diminishing the inconvenience of tramways to the
circulation of traffic by permitting the suppression of a separate engine,
and having the motor fixed on the carriage, which is thus rendered self-
moving. The load being thus utilized for traction the capability of
augmenting instantaneously the power of the engine to a considerable
proportion in varying either the pressure, the expansion, or both
together will render these vehicles capable of ascending the steepest
gradients, the division of the reservoir into two parts, of which one forms
the reserve, permitting also the reservation of this capability to the last
.moment.
The most important result of this Invention is the possibility of

page_text: higher, permitting generally of effecting a long journey without
recharging the reservoirs. Nevertheless in certain cases where it is
desirable to reduce the dead weight in diminishing the number or size
of the reservoirs the charging may be effected more frequently by means
of supplies of air arranged along the road at suitable distances, and
attached to tubes or passages fed by the compressing works.
For the completion of the preceding I shew in Figure 3 as an example
the general arrangement of a type of self-moving carriages according to
this Invention.
A, A, A, are the reservoirs of air placed under the frame. Numbers 1
and 2 compose the reserve, the others the main storo; B is the heater
whose details are shewn in Figures 1 and 2. This apparatus is placed
at the front of the carriage upon the first platform. R is the regulator;
M is the motor mechanism fixed laterally at each side of the frame upon
sleepers of plate iron or other suitable metal properly stayed and placed
in front of the driving axle to effect an equilibrium to the load of the
passengers gathered upon the rear platform; G is the part wherein the
passengers are scated. The front platform is reserved exclusively to the
engineer, the rear one is for passengers to stand upon.
*SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, my
.executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during

page_text: the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, usc,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR UTILIZING COMPRESSED AIR
FOR OBTAINING MOTIVE POWER," a communication to me from abroad by 5
Louis Mekarski, of Paris, France, Architect, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my exc-
cutors 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 1
the same was to be performed, and causo the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after tho dato of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the 1
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification :--
In the Specification of former Letters Patent, bearing date the 9th
November, A.D. 1872, No. 3338, I have described a motive-power engine 2
actuated by compressed air under regulated pressure.
My present Invention relates to further improvements, which are
based upon the Invention described in the said Specification, and in
whole or in part used therewith.
The said Invention relates to the employment of an air motor, con- 2
structed and worked in the manner fully set forth in the said Speci-
fication, and as one of the important features in working the air motor,
a plan of rewarming or reheating the compressed air at the moment
of its introduction into the motive cylinder, as described. The plan
adopted consists in mixing the air with a certain quantity of vapour of
water at a high temperature, whereby it is expanded as much as the
vapour itself, while preventing the great cooling to which thero is a
tendency, and the consequent inconveniences. Morcover there is a
material augmentation of the quantity of work obtained from a given
quantity of air. And I prevent leakage at the movable joints of the
pistons and valves, which are very difficult to make tight against com-
pressed air, and which are made so in this instance by the water of
condensation, which is produced as in steam engines.

page_text: Although capable of general application my present Invention has
chiefly for its object to render practicable in the most advantageous
manner the employment of compressed air for locomotives and for other
purposes wherein it is necessary to utilize in the best manner possible
a limited supply of air enclosed in a suitable holder or reservoir under a
high pressure, and renewable only at certain intervals.
When proceeding to describe how my present improvements are to be
used, I shall in some respects refer to the improvements forming the
subject of my said former Patent, but it should be understood that no
claim is made to any of such improvements except when combined with
the further improvements which constitute my present Invention.
I employ an automatic distributing apparatus, which I term a dis-
charge regulator, for dividing the air that flows from a reservoir when
the pressure changes in decreasing to a fixed point which is lower than
that of the reservoir, but which can be caused to vary instantaneously
within certain wide limits, so that at any moment the power of the
engine is made proportional to the resistance it has to overcome.
The reheating of the air and its mixing with the steam are effected by
causing it to pass in a suitable state of division through a column of hot
water, with which it becomes equal in temperature.
The heater which I find it advantageous to employ is a boiler heated
continuously by any suitable means, or a cistern containing hot water
obtained from a separate generator, and which cools in proportion to its
work.
In the first case the temperaturo of the water remains constant,
therefore the air passes through under a constant pressure, so that the
proportion of the steam or vapour brought with it is practically
invariable. The regulator in that case is placed between the air reservoir
and the heater.
In the second case, on the contrary, the regulator is placed behind
the heater, so that the pressure of the air diminishes in the latter, as in
the air reservoir, at the same time that the water is cooled.
In the accompanying Drawing the apparatus represented by Figure 1
in elevation, and by Figure 2 in section is of the latter kind, and is that
which I have thought most suitable for a self-moving tramway carriage.
The water once cooled is renewed or reheated by a circulation of steam
during the charging of the air reservoir. The air enters by the central

page_text: tubes T, meeting the rose C, whereby it is divided into fine jets, which
rise through the liquid and reunite in a steam chamber formed in the
upper part of the apparatus. It is afterwards conducted to the cylinder
by means of the regulator. The two cocks R³, R³, are for establishing
or intercepting the communication with the air reservoir, which in this
application of the said Invention is divided into two distinct chambers,
whereof one serves as a reserve. They serve equally at the charging of
the reservoir, the key of the cock R³ being then turned outward. The
cock R³ placed below serves for the introduction of hot water or steam
as well as for the emptying.
The regulator shown in these Drawings is of a form embodying the
following general idea, namely, the regulation of the section of the orifico
by which the air flows by means of a suitable stopper, a valve or slide con-
nected with a movable partition, or piston subjected on one side to the
pressure of the discharge, and on the other to a spring whose tension is
determined arbitrarily.
It will bo readily understood that the apparatus works in such manner
as to maintain an equilibrium between the two actions, the pressure of
discharge remaining fixed or varying like the tension of the spring. The
stopper is in this case the conical valve c guided in its travel by the
rodt, at whose upper end is mounted the plate p, an air spring, that is
to say, a certain quantity of compressed air enclosed in a space A, and
whose pressure is regulated by the movement of the piston P exerts upon
the plate p through the medium of the movable india-rubber diaphragm d,
an action which tends to determine the flow or discharge on lowering
the valve c, and to maintain also a corresponding pressure in the
chamber B, which communicates with the motor cylinder by the dis-
tributing cock R. The valve follows automatically the variations of the
discharge, closing completely the orifice as soon as the latter stops; the
intermissions which result from the employment of the expansion have
therefore no influence.
For ensuring during the filling of the heater the closing of the valve,
which does not then bear upon its seat with great pressure, as while
working I apply to it a small spiral spring & placed in a box through
which the rod t passes.
Finally, to prevent the leakages which may exist through the
packing traversed by the piston P, the said piston is only made to act
indirectly upon the air spring by means of an interposed cushion of
9

page_text: water, which it causes to flow in the annular chamber A; this water,
which fills the central space wherein the piston moves when the latter
is at the top of its stroke, is admitted by the funnel cock e. The
air itself is delivered into the chamber B by means of the three-way
cock r, which permits by a very simple movement the filling of the
space A with air already having a certain tension; a gauge is mounted
on this cock.
The piston P is actuated by the pressure screw V, which is controlled
by a fly wheel, and which passes through a fixed nut E attached to the
apparatus by three iron standards.
By this Invention I provide a motor which does not prevent any of
the inconveniences accompanying the employment of steam, and that
may be applied advantageously to a great number of operations,
especially to the working of railways laid in towns or upon roads, for
the interior services of mines or traversing long tunnels, in the form of
compressed air locomotives, hydraulic engines, and others, in which there
is used as required the force accumulated in fixed reservoirs. It furnishes
the means for diminising the inconvenience of tramways with regard to
the circulation of traffic by obviating the necessity of a separate engine,
and having the motor fixed on the carriage, which is thus rendered self-
moving. The load being thus utilized for traction, the capability of
augmenting instantaneously the power of the engines to a considerable
'proportion in varying either the pressure, the expansion, or both
together, will render these vehicles capable of ascending the steepest
gradientes, the division of the reservoir into two parts, of which ono
forms the reserve, permitting also the reservation of this capability to
the last moment.
The most important result of this Invention is the possibility of
storing the air in carriages at a very high pressure, 25 atmospheres or
higher, permitting generally of effecting a long journey without re-
charging the reservoirs. Nevertheless in certain cases, where it is
desirable to reduce the dead weight in diminishing the number or size
of the reservoirs, the charging may be effected more frequently by
means of supplies of air arranged along the road at suitable distances,
and attached to tubes or passages fed by the compressing works.
As an example, I shew in Figure 3 a self-moving carriage constructed
according to this Invention.

page_text: A, A, A, are the reservoirs of air placed under the frame; numbers 1
and 2 compose the reserve, the other the main store; B is the heater,
whose details are shown in Figures 1 and 2. This apparatus is placed
at the front of the carriage upon the first platform. R is the regulator;
M is the motor mechanism fixed laterally at each side of the frame upon 5
sleepers of plate iron or other suitable metal properly stayed and placed
in front of the driving axle to effect an equilibrium to the load of the
passengers gathered upon the rear platform; G is the part wherein the
passengers are seated. The front platform is reserved exclusively to the
engineer; the rear one is for passengers to stand upon.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same,
I wish it understood that I claim,―
First. The employment of compressed air heated by being mixed with
the vapor of heated water contained in a suitable receptacle, substan- 1
tially in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
Second. The construction and use of the regulator for distributing the
compressed air, substantially as herein described and shewn in the
accompanying Drawing.
Third. The combination of parts constituting my improved apparatus 2
for utilizing the store of compressed air wherein the air is combined with
and heated in the required manner by steam, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the 2
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.
Witness,
JA. EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)