IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF CAR- BONIC ACID GAS AS A MOTIVE POWER
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the,
17th March 1855.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of.47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF CAR-
BONIC ACID GAS AS A MOTIVE POWER," a communication from Joseph Ghilliano,
of Marseilles, in the Empire of France, Chemist, and Henri Cristin, of the
same Place, Gentleman, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the -generation of the highly expansive - vapors
rising from carbonic acid in a liquid and heated state, as a substitute for steam
[Price 8d.]

page_text: pressure in driving machinery, and consists of a peculiar construction and
arrangement of generator for producing the required vapor, and of a
denser for reducing such vapor into a liquid state, and returning it into the
boiler again after it has acted upon the piston or pistons of the prime mover,
the cylinders of which may be packed similarly to the cylinders of hydrostatic
presses. The main feature in this Invention is the generation of the vapor by
the aid of a water bath, whereby a constantly regular heat is sustained, thereby
keeping the vapor at a uniform or nearly uniform pressure, which has hitherto
been found very difficult to accomplish. The generator' consists of a strong
cast-iron vessel with a curved top and flat bottom, and into the bottom of this
vessel are fitted a number of vertical tubes closed at their lower extremities,
but open at the top inside the vessel or chamber. These tubes protrude some
distance through the plate, and are filled with liquid carbonic acid, which is
made to cover also the internal surface of the plate. This apparatus is then
placed on a vessel or boiler filled with water, into which the tubes are almost
entirely immersed. Beneath this boiler, which is open to the atmosphere to
admit air therein, is fitted a furnace, and when the water is heated the
generation of the carbonic acid vapor commences by the action of the boiling
water round the tubes herein-before referred to. When the water arrives at
the boiling point the heat will of course be regular, and the vapour will be
kept at an even or unvarying pressure. This vapour may now be employed
as a substitute for steam, and after passing, through the cylinder of the prime
mover or engine it enters a worm placed in a vessel of cold water, where
it is condensed, and flows into a well or chamber in the form of liquid.
This liquid carbonic acid is then pumped up by means of a feed pump,
and supplied again to the generator. The generator may be supplied also at
will from a vessel containing liquid carbonic acid by means of a pipe commu-
nicating therefrom to the generator. It may be found desirable in some cases
to add certain ingredients to the water bath which shall raise or lower the
boiling point thereof, or other liquids may be used in place of water for this
bath.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and
of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give.and grant unto me, the
said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that 1, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF CARBONIC: ACID GAS AS A MOTIVE POWER;"
a communication from Joseph Ghilliano, of Marseilles, in the Empire of France,
Chemist, and Henri Cristin, of the same Place, Gentleman, upon the condi-
tion (amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 John Henry Johnson, 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 accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to a mode of generating carbonic acid gas from
liquid carbonic acid, and afterwards condensing the same into liquid carbonic
acid for the purpose of applying such gas as a generator of motion, and to a
peculiar construction of engine as a prime mover, wherein carbonic acid gas
can be applied as such generator of motion in substitution of steam.
The
said Invention consists of a peculiar construction and arrangement of generator
for producing carbonic acid gas from liquid carbonic acid, and of a condenser
for renducing the gas-after it has acted upon the piston or pistons of the prime
mover into a liquid state, and returning it into the generator again. The
cylinders of the prime movers which may be packed similarly to the cylinders
of hydrostatic presses. The main feature of this 'Invention is the generation
of the gas or vapour by the aid of a water bath, whereby a uniform heat is
sustained, thereby keeping the vapour at a uniform or nearly uniform pressure,
which has hitherto been found very difficult to accomplish. The generator

page_text: consists of a strong cast-iron vessel, with a curved top and flat bottom, and into
the bottom of this vessel is fitted a number of vertical tubes closed at their
lower extremities, but opening at the top into the interior of the vessel or
chamber. These tubes project a little above the bottom of the vessel into its
interior and extend downwards into the hot water bath. Liquid carbonic
acid is poured into these tubes so as to fill them, and over the bottom of the
vessel. The hot water bath or boiler is a cast-iron vessel filled or nearly filled
with water, and it is appropriately placed over a furnace of ordinary con-
struction. This bath or boiler is open to the atmosphere, and the water it
contains surrounds the tubes mentioned above. When the water is heated
the action of the boiling
the tubes herein-before
the generation of carbonic acid gas commences by
water upon the liquid carbonic acid contained in
referred to and upon the bottom of the generator. As long as the water
is kept at the boiling point the heat will of course continue to be uniform, aud
the gas or vapour will exert an even or unvarying pressure. This vapour may
now be employed as a substitute for steam in generating motion, and after
passing into the cylinder of the prime mover or engine, and there exerting its
expansive force upon the under side of the piston, it escapes through an exhaust
port into a pipe which traverses a vessel of cold water in the shape of a worm,
where it is condensed, and flows into a well or chamber in the form of liquid.
This liquid carbonic acid is then pumped up by means of a feed pump, and
supplied again to the generator. The generator may be supplied also at will
from a vessel containing liquid carbonic acid by means of a pipe communi-
cating therefrom to the generator. It may be found desirable in some cases
to substitute some other liquid for water in the bath or boiler, or to add certain
ingredients to the water therein for the purpose of applying a degree of
uniform heat higher or lower than the temperature of boiling water to the
vaporisation of the liquid carbonic acid.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed to describe and refer to the Figures on the Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
throughout both Figures.
Fig. 1 of the Drawings represents a longitudinal vertical section of the
generator taken through the centre thereof, and also through. a portion of
the engine or prime mover; and Fig. 2 is a corresponding plan of the entire
apparatus, the upper part of the generator being removed in order to shew
the interior thereof.
The generator consists of a cast-iron plate A, surmounted by a cast-iron
curved cover B, and secured thereto by bolts. The plate A is fitted with a
-

page_text: number of tubes C, which are closed at their lower ends, and open at their
upper extremities into the space formed by the curved cover B and plate A.
These tubes are all filled with liquified carbonic acid, which covers the surface
of the plate A. The whole apparatus is placed over the boiler D, which is
open to the atmosphere, and is filled or partially filled with water or other
suitable fluid, into which the tubes C are partially immersed. The whole is
placed over a furnace E, the heat derived from which is just sufficient to
maintain the water or other fluid in the boiler at boiling point. The liquid
carbonic acid contained in the tubes C is thus converted into a powerfully
elastic vapour, which is disengaged into the upper vessel B. at a temperature
of two hundred and twelve degrees Fahrenheit, the boiling point of water,
and under a barometric pressure of thirty inches. Carbonic acid gas at its
maximum of elastic force exerts a pressure equal to that of one hundred and
fifty-three atmospheres; but I do not confine myself to the use of 'this
pressure, for, as I have explained before, a degree of temperature higher or
lower than boiling water may be applied to the vaporisation of liquid
carbonic acid so as to increase or diminish the pressure exerted by its gas
or vapour.
The gas or vapour produced are conducted by means of the pipe a to the
valve chamber F communicating with the two cylinders G, which contain
the pistons H. As it is extremely difficult to prevent an escape of the gas
through the packing of the piston rod stuffing box, an arrangement, which
is shewn in the Drawings, may be adopted for allowing the gas to act only
on one side of the piston; thus the effect is the same with two cylinders
acting alternately as it would be with one cylinder of the ordinary con-
struction. I wish it to be understood, however, that I do not confine myself
to this precise arrangement, as modifications or variations may of course be
made therefrom; and I propose also to manufacture engines with one or more
double action cylinders in place of single acting ones. In the machine -
represented in the Drawing, the vapour is alternately conducted first to one
cylinder and then to the other, pushing forward first one piston and then
the other. At the return stroke of each piston the gas escapes by an exit
port, as in an ordinary steam engine, and is conducted by a pipe b to the
condenser, where its elastic force is destroyed, and it is reconverted into
a liquid.
The condenser consists of a serpentine tube or worm I, completely immersed
in a cold liquid contained in the vessel J. The condensed carbonic acid thus
produced flows into the closed vessel or well K, from which it is pumped up
and forced back again into the generator by means of the feed pump Land

page_text: pipe c. The generator is furnished also with a pipe d, communicating with
a liquefying apparatus consisting of an iron vessel U closed by a screwed
cover of the same material. This cover, which is itself hollow, is closed by
the gland g, also screwed in. Liquid carbonic acid can by these means be
conveyed from the liquefying apparatus whenever required to the generator.
I may here observe, however, that I lay no claim to this liquefying apparatus..
The apparatus now described is similar to that known in France as Thilorier's
apparatus.
The chamber U contains carbonate of soda, and the hollow cover contains
sulphuric acid, which acid flows into the chamber U. and generates car-
bonic acid gas when the valve u descends, its descent being caused by the
vacuum in the chamber U produced by the escape of the gas therefrom into
the tube d. In order to produce this
necessary that the valve in the box d
passage of the gas into the generator B.
the level of the acid in the generator B has fallen, and the pressure of the gas
on the valve at d' is reduced.
escape of gas into the tube d. it is
should be opened to allow of the
The valve at d¹ is opened when
In order to prevent any escape of gas which might occur round the piston,
the ends of the cylinder G are closed in a similar manner to the cylinders of
hydraulic presses. This part of the cylinder is placed in communication with
the worm by means of the pipe e, so that any gas that may escape round
the piston is forced by it into the condenser. Each piston H transmits its
movement to a crank shaft M by means of two connecting rods N. The
shaft M carries a fly wheel O and an eccentric P, which gives motion to the
valve at F and feed pump L by means of the intermediate rocking shaft Q,
to which are keyed the levers R and S attached to the rods R¹ and S¹.
the rod R being connected to the bell-crank lever T which actuates the
slide valve.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from the
principles or main features of the said Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,
First, the general construction and arrangement of an engine to be used
as a prime mover, wherein carbonic acid gas is applied as a generator of
motion, as herein-before described.

page_text: Second, the system or mode of producing carbonic acid gas from liquid
carbonic acid, in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
Third, the peculiar construction and arrangement of apparatus for generating
carbonic acid gas from liquid carbonic acid, as herein-before described, and
illustrated by the Drawings.
Fourth, the peculiar construction and arrangement of apparatus for con-
densing the carbonic acid gas after its escape from the cylinder of the prime
mover, and re-supplying the same gas condensed into liquid to the vapour or
gas generator, as herein-before described, and illustrated by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)