CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marc Antoine François Mennons, of the British and
Foreign Patent Offices, 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of
France, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION
OF MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."-A com-
munication from Louis Diordor Läserson, of Moscow, in the Empire
of Russia, presently resident at Paris.
Sealed the 22nd June 1860, and dated the 4th January 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marc Antoine François
Mennons at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 1th January 1860).
I, MARC ANTOINE FRANÇOIS MENNONS, of the British and Foreign Patent
Offices, 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PRODUCTION OF MOTIVE POWER, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," to
be as follows:-
The Invention consists in the application of the ascensional force of air or
gases developed under water to the generation of motive power, and in the
combination of apparatus by means of which the power thus produced is
accumulated, transmitted, and applied. The principal element of this combi-
nation is a wheel or disc, the dimensions of which are proportioned to the
power required; on the circumference of this wheel are fixedatequaldistances
a given number of flexible air reservoirs communicating with an equal number
[Pries 8d.1

page_text: of tubular passages which open in the nave. In the length of the fixed shaft
on which this wheel is mounted are formed two cylindrical cells by which
the air is alternately admitted to and discharged from the flexible reservoirs
by the tubular passages with which they correspond. The hydro-atmospheric
wheel thus mounted and immersed to the required depth in a suitable reser-
voir is placed in communication by its hollow shaft with an air-compressing
apparatus of any convenient form, which in its turn is connected with the
shaft of an ordinary hydraulic wheel. The latter being set in motion acts on
the forcing apparatus, by which a jet of compressed air is thrown into the
hollow shaft of the hydro-atmospheric wheel by the entry cell corresponding
with the fourth quadrant or lowest immersed section of the latter. The air
injected following the tubular passages within its range enters and inflates the
corresponding flexible reservoirs, which thus acquiring an ascensional force
proportioned to their displacing capacity and degree of immersion, carry for-
ward the wheel in their movement towards the surface. On reaching the
water line, the tubular passages come into communication by the nave orifices
with the discharge cell of the fixed shaft, and give egress to the air compressed
in the flexible reservoirs, which collapse simultaneously with the inflation of
the succeeding series by which they have in the meantime been replaced in
the fourth quadrant. The latter following the ascensional movement of their
predecessors give place to a third series, and collapse in the same way on
passing the surface, so that each reservoir, on re-entering the water in the
continued revolution of the wheel presents comparatively little resistance until
it arrives at the turning point, when the communication with the entry cell
of the axle being again established, the movements above described are
reproduced. The force thus developed by the hydro-atmospheric wheel
which represents about three times that of the prime motor, may be at this
stage applied directly to the required transmissions of movement. When
natural watercourses are not to be had within a reasonable distance of the
locality in which the force is to be applied, it becomes necessary to replace
them by
an artificial fall established and maintained as follows.
In a building of suitable dimensions and construction is placed, at a given
height, a reservoir of sufficient capacity to supply the amount of water neces-
sary for the first revolutions of an ordinary hydraulic wheel, which is mounted
below it on a shaft connected with an air-compressing apparatus. The latter
is placed in communication with the hollow arbor of the hydro-atmospheric
wheel, constructed as above, and working in a reservoir or basin of suitable
depth. This wheel is connected in its turn with a second compressing appa-
ratus communicating with a series of fixed air magazines placed close to the

page_text: main reservoirs. A pair of air conduits to the right and left of the latter pass
from the compressed air magazines to the basement of the structure, where'
they each open into one or several impermeable flexible reservoirs enclosed in
two metallic recipients. In the dome of each of those recipients open two
conduits, one leading vertically from the main reservoir, the second hori-
zontally from the basin, which receives the water falling from above on the
hydraulic wheel. The arrangement is completed by a self-acting regulator
fitted to the conduits of the air magazines, and by entry and egress valves in
the water mains. On opening the sluice of the main reservoir, the hydraulic
wheel is set in motion, and expends its entire force in working the air-com-
pressing apparatus with which it is connected. The air thus compressed
passes, as before described, into the flexible reservoirs of the hydro-atmospheric
wheel, expands them, and generates a given amount of force, a portion of
which is set aside as independent power, while the surplus is applied to the
compression of a provision of air in the magazines, by means of the second
compressing apparatus above mentioned. The water falling from the main
reservoir on the hydraulic wheel having in the meantime filled the two
metallic recipients below, and covered the collapsed flexible reservoirs enclosed
in them, the communication is opened between the magazines and one of
the air conduits, the flexible reservoirs corresponding with this conduit are
distended by the expansion of the compressed air thus admitted and displacing
of the water by which they are covered, a quantity corresponding with their
bulk force it to ascend the vertical conduit, by which it is thrown back to the
main reservoir. The regulator then coming into play turns the current of
compressed air into the conduit of the second recipient, and at the same time
opens the communication between the atmosphere and the flexible reservoirs
just distended. The latter collapse, the column of water remaining in the
vertical main closes the valve through which it had passed, while the counter-
pressure from the water of the basin opens the valve of the horizontal conduit,
and again admits the water to the recipient. In the meantime the flexible
reservoirs of the second recipient being inflated by the compressed air admitted
through the regulator displace in their turn the water by which they are
covered, and throw it back in the same way to the main reservoir above the
hydraulic wheel. The apparatus thus set in motion continues its action as
long as required, and in maintaining a constant reflux of the water expended
enables the main reservoir to replace the natural falliu all localities where the
latter may be unattainable.
From the above details it will be understood that in localities possessing
a natural watercourse the motor is composed of three elements; firstly, the

page_text: hydraulic wheel acted on by the current, and producing a force of, say, for
instance, 10 horse-power; secondly, an air-compressing apparatus worked by
the hydraulic wheel, and absorbing the totality of its power; thirdly, the
hydro-atmospheric wheel placed in a reservoir or basin apart, and connected
with the air-compressing apparatus, which, in distending at a given moment
the flexible reservoirs mounted on the circumference of the wheel,gives rise to
an ascensional independent force proportioned to the degree of immersion and
displacement, say, for instance, 30 h. p., or triple that of the hydraulic wheel.
When, on the other haud, a natural current or fall is unattainable it
becomes necessary, as above noted, to have recourse to the supplementary
apparatus just described. In this case the reservoir supplying the artificial
fall takes the place of the natural watercourse, sets in motion the hydraulic
wheel, and, by the same process as above, gives rise to the same amount of
forco in the hydro-atmospheric wheel, say, 30 horse-power. A portion of this
power, say, for instance, one-third or 10 h. p., is absorbed in the move-
ments by which the water expended on the hydraulic wheel is thrown
back to its source, while the surplus, say, 20 h. p., remains as independent
power, to be applied as may be desired. In a word, with a natural fall the
primitive force of the hydraulic wheel is multiplied in the movement of the
hydro-atmospheric wheel to which it is transmitted, as above, and thus
multiplied may be applied directly as positive power. When, on the contrary,
the absence of a natural current necessitates recourse to the artificial fall above
described, a portion only of the multiplied force developed by the hydro-
atmospheric wheel can be disposed of as independent power, the surplus
being absorbed in the movement of the apparatus by which the required water
level is constantly maintained in the main reservoir.
It is needless to observe, that the hydraulic wheel by which the primary
force is produced as above, may be replaced by any other motor, and that the
compressed atmospheric air adopted as example throughout the preceding
description, may in certain cases be replaced by other aeriform fluids.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Marc Antoine François Mennons in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARC
ANTOINE FRANÇOIS MENNONS, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices,
39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of France, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Marc Antoine François Mennons, Her special licence that I, the said Marc
Antoine François Mennons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Marc Antoine François Mennons, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF MOTIVE
POWER, AND IN THE APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," (a communication
from Louis Diodor Läserson, of Moscow, in the Empire of Russia), upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Marc Antoine François Mennons,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Scal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Marc Antoine François Mennons, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Figures of the
accompanying Drawing, and to the letters marked thereon (that is to say):-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the application of the
ascensional force of air or gases developed under water to the generation of
motive power, and in the combination of apparatus, by means of which the
power thus produced is accumulated, transmitted and applied. The principal
element of this combination is a wheel or disc (shewn in plan and section,
Figs. 1, 2), the dimensions of which are proportioned to the power required.
On the circumference of this wheel are fixed at equal distances a given
number (say sixteen) of flexible air reservoirs a,communicating with an equal
number of tubular passages b, which open in the nave c. In the length of the
fixed shaft d, on which this wheel is mounted, are formed two cylindrical
cells E by which the air is admitted to and discharged from the flexible
reservoirs by the tubular passages b, with which they correspond. The
hydro-atmospheric wheel thus mounted, and immersed to the required depth

page_text: in a suitable reservoir, as in f, is placed in communication by its hollow shaft
with an air-compressing apparatus of any convenient form, which in its turn
is connected with the shaft of an ordinary hydraulic wheel. The latter being
set in motion acts on the forcing apparatus, by which a jet of compressed
air is thrown into the hollow shaft of the hydro-atmospheric wheel by the
entry cell corresponding with the orifices of the fourth quadrant or lowest
immersed section of the latter. The air injected following the tubular
passages within its range enters and inflates the corresponding flexible
reservoirs, which thus acquiring an ascensional force proportioned to their
displacing capacity and degree of immersion, carry forward the wheel in
their movement towards the surface. On reaching the water line the tubular
passages come into communication by the nave orifices with the discharge
cell of the fixed shaft, and give egress to the air compressed in the flexible
reservoirs, which collapse simultaneously with. the inflation of the succeed-
ing series by which they have in the meantime been replaced in the fourth
quadrant. The latter following the ascensional movement of their predecessors
give place to a third series, and collapse in the same way on passing the
surface, so that cach air reservoir on re-entering the water in the continued
revolution of the wheel, presents comparatively little resistance until its
arrives at the turning point, when the communication with the entry cell of
the axle being again established the movements above described are repro-
duced. The force thus developed by the hydro-atmospheric wheel, which
represents about three times that of the prime motor, may be at this stage be
applied to the required transmissions of movement. When natural watercourses
are not to be had within a reasonable distance of the locality in which the force
is to be applied, it becomes necessary to replace them by an artificial fall,estab-
lished and maintained as in Figure 3, which represents the entire combination.
In a building of suitable dimensions and construction is placed at a given
height a reservoir A of sufficient capacity to supply the amount of water
necessary for the first revolutions of an ordinary hydraulic wheel B, which is
mounted below it on a shaft connected with one or several compressing
apparatuses C, which throw a supply of air by the pipes D into the recipients
E. From these recipients the air passes by the pipes Finto the hollow arbor
of the hydro-atmospheric wheel G, constructed as above and working in a
reservoir or basin H of suitable depth; this wheel is connected in its turn
with a secondary compressing apparatus I,communicating by the pipes J with
a series of fixed air magazines K placed close to the main reservoir. A pair
of air conduits L, L, to the right and left of the latter pass from the air
magazines K to the basement of the structure, where they open into oue or

page_text: several impermeable flexible reservoirs M, M', enclosed in two metallic
recipients N, N¹. In the dome of each of those recipients N, N', open two
conduits O, O, P, P¹, one leading vertically from the main reservoir A, the
second horizontally from the basin Q, which receives the water falling from
above on the hydraulic wheel. The arrangement is completed by a self-acting
regulator R, R, fitted to the conduits J, L, of the air magazines K, and the
recipients N, and by entry and egress valves S, T, in the water mains.
On opening the sluice U of the main reservoir A, the hydraulic wheel B is
set in motion, and expends its entire force in working the air-compressing
apparatuses C with which it is connected. The air thus compressed (say to
about atmosphere) passes, as before described, by the tubes D into the air
recipients E, and from thence into the flexible reservoirs a of the hydro-
atmospheric wheel G, expands them, and generates a given amount of force,
a portion of which is set aside as independent power, while the surplus is
applied to the compression of a provision of air in the magazines K by
means of the secondary compressing apparatus I above-mentioned. The water
falling from the main reservoir A on the hydraulic wheel B, having in the
meantime filled the two metallic recipients N, N1, below, and covered the
collapsed flexible reservoirs M, M', enclosed in them, the communication is
opened between the magazines K and one of the air conduits (say L). The
flexible reservoir M corresponding with this conduit is distended by the
expansion of the compressed air thus admitted, and,displacing of the water by
which it is covered, a quantity corresponding with its bulk forces it to ascend
the vertical conduit O, by which it is thrown back to the main reservoir; the
register R,R, then coming into play turns the current of compressed air into
the conduit L' of the second recipient N1, and at the same time opens the
communication between the atmosphere and the flexible reservoir M, just
distended. The latter collapses, the column of water remaining in the vertical
main O closes the valve T through which it had passed, while the counter
pressure from the basin Q opens the valve S of the horizontal conduit, and
again admits the water to the recipient N. In the meantime the flexible
reservoir M of the second recipient N' being inflated by the compressed air
admitted through the regulator displaces in its turn the water by which it is
covered, and throws it back in the same way by the conduit O¹ to the main
reservoir A above the hydraulic wheel. The apparatus thus set in motion
continues its action as long as required, and in maintaining a constant reflux
of the water expended enables the reservoir A to replace the natural fall in
all localities where the latter may be unattainable.
Figures 4, 5, represent, on a double scale, the assemblage of the air

page_text: conduits J and L. with the regulator R; Figure 6 is a side view of the main
reservoir A, with its sluice U, the hydraulic wheel B and the basin Q, which
receives the water on its fall; Figures 7, 8, are side and end views of the
hydro-atmospheric wheel G, Fig. 3. It is needless to observe, that in this
combination the number and dimensions of the hydro-atmospheric wheels,
forcing machines, air and water recipients, flexible reservoirs, and other
parts of the apparatus may be increased or reduced according to the locality
and intended applications.
From the above details, it will be understood that in localities possessing a
natural watercourse, the motor is composed of three distinct elements, firstly,
the hydraulic wheel (such as B, Fig. 6) actel on by the current, and pro-
ducing a force of, say, for instance, ten horse-power. Secondly, an air-
compressing apparatus (such as C or I, Fig. 3) worked by the hydraulic
wheel,and absorbing the totality of its power. Thirdly,the hydro-atmospheric
wheel placed in a reservoir or basin apart, and connected with the air-com-
pressing apparatus, which in distending at a given moment the flexible
reservoirs a, mounted on the circumference of the wheel, gives rise to an
ascensional independent force proportioned to the degree of immersion and
displacement, say, for instance, thirty horse-power, or triple that of the
hydraulic wheel. When, on the other hand, a natural current or fall is
unattainable, it becomes necessary, as above noted, to have recourse to the
supplementary apparatus just described and shewn in Figure 3. In this case
the reservoir A, supplying the artificial fall, takes the place of the natural
watercourse, sets in motion the hydraulic wheel B, and by the same process
as above gives rise to the same amount of force int he hydro-atmospheric
wheel G, say 30 h.p.; a portion of this force, say, for instance, one-third or
10 h.p. is absorbed in the movements by which the water expended on the
hydraulic wheel is thrown back to its source, while the surplus, say 2:) h. p.,
remains independent to be applied as may be desired. In a word, with a
natural fall, the primitive force of the hydraulic wheel is multiplied in the
movement of the hydro-atmospheric wheel, to which it is transmitted as
above, and thus multiplied may be applied directly as positive power; when,
on the contrary, the absence of a natural current necessitates recourse to the
artificial fall above described, a portion only of the mutiplied force developed
by thehydro-atmospheric wheel can be disposed of as independent power,the
surplus being absorbed in the movements of the apparatus, by which the re-
quired water level is constantly maintained in the main reservoir. It is scarcely
necessary to add, that the hydraulic wheel by which the primary force is pro-
duced as above may be replaced by any other motor, and that the compressed

page_text: atmospheric air, adopted as example throughout the preceding description
may in certain cases be replaced by other aeriform fluids.
Having thus described the nature of the said improvements, and the
manner of carrying them into effect, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise details above laid down, as these may
obviously be modified in practice without departing from the principle on
which the Invention is based; but what I claim is,-
1stly, the application, as above described, of the ascensional force of air
or gases compressed and developed under water, to the production of
motive power.
2ndly, the construction,substantiallyas described, of the hydro-atmospheric
wheel or disc (Figs. 1, 2), by means of which the force generated by a prime
mover is multiplied or accumulated and transmitted.
3dly, the combination of apparatus substantially as described and repre-
sented in Fig. 3, by means of which a constant supply of power may be
obtained in all localities, and in the absence of natural watercourses or
other ordinary prime movers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Marc Antoine François Mennons, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
M. F. MENNONS. (L.S.)