CERTAIN MECHANICAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR OBTAINING POWERS FROM CERTAIN FLUIDS, AND FOR APPLYING THE SAME TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARC
ISAMBARD BRUNEL, of Budge Street, Blackfriars, in the City of London,
Esque, send greeting
WHEREAS IIis present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by Ilis Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixteenth day of July, One thousand eight hundied and
twenty-five, in the sixth year of IIis reign, did, for Himself, Ilis heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Maic Isambard Brunel, His
especial licence, that I, the said Mark Isambard Brunel, my exois, adiñors,
and assigns, o such others as I, the said Marc Isambard Brunel, my exois,
adiñois, or assigns, should at any time agice with, and no others, fiom time to
tinic and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
law fully might make, use, exercise and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Bei wick upon Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN MECHANICAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR
OBTAINING POWERS FROM CERTAIN FLUIDS, AND FOR APPLYING THE SAME TO VARIOUS
USEFUL PURPOSES," in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging
me, the said Marc Isambaid Brunel, 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 inolled in His 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
Marc Isambard Brunel, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the
following description thereof (that is to say) -
I do declare that my Invention of Certain Mechanical Arrangements for
obtaining Powers from certain Fluids, and for applying the same to vanous
Mechanical Purposes, is described in the following Specification The fluids
or liquids from which the powers in question are to be obtained are those
that result from the condensation of certain gases, which, at the ordinary
pressure and temperature of the atmosphere, always remain in the gaseous
or aeriform state. There are several gases which come under this description,
some of which are treated upon by Mr. Faraday in the papers read before
the Royal Society of London in One thousand eight hundred and twenty-
three. I give the preference to carbonic acid gas. This gas at the tem-
perature of freezing water 10quires a pressure of about thirty atmospheres to
condense and retain it in a liquid state. It may be obtained by decomposing
any carbonate by the action of any of the common acids The mode of
obtaining the liquid from the gas is by forming the gas under a gasometer, and
condensing it afterwards by means of a condensing pump into a vessel, and
continuing the operation until it passes to the liquid state
Having explained the way of obtaining the gas, and the liquid resulting
from it, I shall proceed now to describe the various parts of mechanical
arrangements intended for obtaining the power, and applying it to various
mechanical put poses
These mechanical arrangements consist chiefly of two cylindric vessels,
denominated receivers, into which the liquid has been previously formed by
the action of the pump; one receiver is shown at A, A, and the other A', A',
Fig. 5 and 6. The Fig 1, A, A, is an enlarged section, and Fig 2 a plan of
the same
The same letters designate the same things in the different Figures.
The communication from the pump to the receiver is through the orifice O,
Fig 1, which can be stopped at pleasure by the plug or stop-cock P, Fig 1
and 2. When the receiver has been charged with the liquid and closed, a pipe
D is applied to it at K, Fig 1 and 2, and connected at X with a vessel deno-
minated the expansion vessel, B, B, Fig 3 and 4 L, L, Fig. 1 and 3, is a
lining of wood or other non-conductor of heat, to prevent the absorption which
would otherwise be occasioned by the thick substance of the metal. This
expansion vessel is connected through a pipe G. Figs 3, 5, and 6, to a working
cylinder represented at II, Figs. 5 and 6. Figs. 5 and 6 represent two receivers,

page_text: A, A, and A', A', connected with the working cylinder H through the interme-
diate expansion vessels B, B, B', B' The Figs 3 and 4, B, B, represent an
expansion vessel on an enlarged scale These vessels contain oil or any other
suitable fluid, shewn at b, b, Fig 3, as a medium between the gas and the
piston Q, Fig 5. Before explaining the acuon of these parts I shall describe
how the power is obtained in the receiver. The receiver consists, as repre-
sented in Fig. 1, of a strong metal cylinder, in the interior of which there are
one or more thin metal vessels, tubes are most convenient, as represented at
T, T, T, Figs. 1 and 2. The joints of these tubes through the top and bottom
of the condenser are made perfectly tight; this I do by packings rather than
by soldering. The use of these tubes is to apply alternately heat and cold to
the liquid contained in the receiver without altering very sensibly the tempe-
rature of the cylinder. The operation of heating and cooling through the thin
tubes T, T, T, Fig 1 and 2, may be effected with warm water, steam, or any
other heating medium, and cold water or any other cooling medium. For this
purpose the tubes T, T, T, Fig. 5, are united at the top and bottom by a
chamber and cock C, C, C, C. By the opening of these cocks with the pipes
E, E, hot and cold water, which I propose here to use, may be alternately let
in and forced through by means of pumps The cocks may be worked as
steam cocks are worked in some steam engines. Now, if hot water, say 120°,
is let in through the tubes of the condenser A, A, Figs. 5 and 6, and cold
water at the same time through the condenser A', A', the liquid in the first
eceiver will operate with a force of about 90 atmospheres, while the liquid in
the receiver A', A¹, will only exert a foice of 40 or 50 atmospheres. The
difference between these two pressures will therefore be the acting power,
which, through the medium of the oil, will operate upon the piston Qin the
cylinder II, Fig 5. It is easy to comprehend that by letting hot water
through the receiver A', A', and cold water at the same time through the
opposite one A, A, a re-action will take place, which will produce in the work-
ing cylinder II an alternate movement of the piston Q, applicable by the rod I
to various mechanical purposes, as required. It is to be observed that the use
of the gasometer and of the forcing pumps is simply for obtaining the gas and
for charging the receiver with the liquid When the receiver is once charged
and has been closed with the stop-cock P, Fig. 1 and 2, the gasometer and
forcing pumps are to be disconnected from the receiver by unscrewing the pipe
D at the screw joint K, Fig. 1 and 2. The same pipe may, however, be used
as the means of connecting the receiver with the expansion vessel, or another
suitable pipe may be substituted to it at the orifice O, Fig. 1, and the other
extremity adapted to the expansion vessel at X, Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6. I have

page_text: intentionally avoided adapting two distinct pipes to the receiver, viz, one for
the pumps, and another for connecting the receiver with the expansion vessel,
because if there were two orifices two stop-cocks would be necessary, which
should be avoided. It is obvious that there are no difficulties for connecting
the forcing pump with both receivers, as the small pipes used for that purpose
may be made to reach either in the mechanical arrangements for obtaining
powers from the liquids when formed.
I claim as my Invention, the application of the receiver as it is before
described, the essential part of which is the internal application of the vessel or
tubes destined to convey the heat and cold. Their form and the manner they
are applied render them capable of resisting the intense external pressure of
the liquid, and yet admit of their being made so thin as to allow of the rapid
and complete transmission of heat and cold through them to and from the
liquid.
And I further claim the arrangements by which the receivers, acting in
opposition to each other, produce, without any aid of intermediate valves, an
alternative action, which may be applied to various mechanical purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marc Isambard Brunel, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 14th day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of January, in
the year of our Loid 1826, the aforesaid Marc Isambard Brunel came before
our said Loid the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose