DOMESTIC MOTORS. 489 



one third of the piston-stroke from its base. The piston in its upward 

 movement draws in a charge of the mixed gases during this lower 

 third of its stroke, and they are then ignited by the jet, the remaining 

 two thirds of the stroke being completed by the impulse due to their 

 expansion. The atmospheric pressure and the fly-wheel carry the 

 piston through its return-stroke, when the above motions are repeated. 

 The supply of gas, both to the cylinder and the ignition-jets, is regu- 

 lated by the pinch-cocks on the base of the machine, to the left. 

 Before using, the machine is heated somewhat by a small burner placed 

 below the cylinder. In the man-power machine the consumption of 

 gas is eleven and a half feet an hour, which is a better result than is 

 obtained Avith any other heat-engine of such low power. The motor 

 seems to be in every way adapted to use in the household, and is 

 probably as simple and perhaps as economical a heat-engine as can 

 be made for the purpose. 



The burning of a combustible mixture gradually, as is done in the 

 Simon engine, was first successfully accomplished in the machine in- 

 vented by Mr. George B. Brayton, and known in the market as the 

 Ready Motor or Hydrocarbon engine. When first introduced, a dilute 

 mixture of gas and air was employed, but in those now made the 

 vapor of petroleum is substituted for the gas, with the advantage of a 

 more satisfactory operation and a reduced cost of running. The work- 

 ing cylinder is surrounded by a water-jacket, and is placed upright in 

 a substantial frame. It is open to the atmosphere below, the oil and air 

 being supplied at the top. The oil is contained in a tank of from five 

 to ten gallons' capacity, and is delivered to the engine by a small pump. 

 Air is compressed by an air-pump in reservoirs, at the base of the 

 machine, from which it is supplied to the cylinder. Only one of these 

 reservoirs is used at a time, the other being kept charged so as to fur- 

 nish an air-pressure with which to start the machine. The burner, by 

 means of which the oil is introduced in the proper form into the cylin- 

 der and ignited, constitutes the main feature of the machine, and is 

 at once simple and ingenious. It consists of a small chamber in the 

 head of the cylinder, lined with a strip of felt against which the oil 

 and a jet of air are delivered. The felt becomes saturated with oil, 

 which the air-blast, passing through, carries in the form of a spray 

 against the sheets of perforated metal and wire gauze which separate 

 this chamber from the cylinder. Another and larger blast of air, in 

 passing through the gauze, becomes carburetted by the petroleum va- 

 por, and, entering the cylinder, is ignited by a jet placed immediately 

 below the sheets of gauze. The jet remains constantly lit, and is pre- 

 vented from retreating into the chamber above by the wire gauze. By 

 simple mechanism the supply of air is cut off, when a part of the 

 stroke has been made, and the combustion of the vapor ceases, the ex- 

 panding products of combustion carrying the piston the remainder of 

 the stroke. As the cut-off can be made at any point of the stroke, and 



