1821.] 



New Patents and Mechanical Inventions. 



59 



communicatiug tlirough the leg of the 

 standard to the steam hoiler, the other 

 thro!igh the other leg to the condenser. 

 There are three valves in the hollow 

 cylinder or drum, for the purpose of 

 shutting off tile sicam ami forming 

 three distinct compartments ; there ai-e 

 also three hollow arms, each leading 

 from the hollow axle into one of these 

 compartments. There is a heavy block 

 of lead formed exactly to fit the curva- 

 ture of the drum or hollow cylinder, 

 which block or piston slides completely 

 round the cylinder, the valves falling 

 back into recesses as it passes by them. 

 This block is so well fitted as to prevent 

 the passage of steam between it and 

 the cylinder. The steam, admitted 

 through the hollow axle and tlirough 

 the hollow arm M'hich leads to the 

 lower compartment where tlic block or 

 piston lies, not being able to drive the 

 block far from its place forces against 

 the valve, which divides the chambers, 

 and lifts that side of the revolving cy- 

 linder, carrying it round until the next 

 valve has passed the block or piston, 

 by which time the arm that supplied 

 the steam has passed on so as to open a 

 communication with the condenser or 

 vacuum channel, by which the steam 

 of the chamber becomes condensed. — 

 At the same time the second valve hav- 

 ing closed the communication with the 

 next chamber, the steam through the 

 hollow arm pours into that chamber, 

 and exerts its expansive force against 

 the block as before, and pi-essing iq)- 

 ward against the valve raises the revol- 

 ving cylinder. By these means the 

 cylinder is kept in action, which action, 

 by means of the extended axle of the 

 cylinder, may be communicated as a 

 first mover to other machinery. 



The second description of engine has 

 three cylinders, or drums, one within 

 the other ; the outer drum is called a 

 jacket or case which is fixed. Between 

 this and the second drum is a passage 

 or flue which passes round the second 

 drum in order to keep it heated, this 

 second drum is also fixed. The thiid 

 or inner drum only revolves upon its 

 axles, poles, or arms, which pass through 

 metallic stuffings. One of these axles 

 is hollow for the passage of steam, and 

 the other is intended to communicate 

 the motion as a first mover of ma- 

 chinery. The steam enters the chamber 

 from a boiler, and from thence passes 

 by curved channels into compartments 

 formed by oblique partitions in the re- 

 volving cylinder or drum, and passes 



out through small apertures in tlie peri- 

 phery of the revolving cylinder into 

 the passage between that and the second 

 drum, which is the condensing passage. 

 The lower part of tlic revolving drum, 

 and also of (he condensing passage, are 

 charged with a ({uantity of mercury, or of 

 water,or of fusible metal, such as lead, or 

 bismuth, &e. whicli is kept in a fluid state 

 by the heat communicated to the inivcr 

 cylinder tluough the fine which sur- 

 rounds the second drum inclosed with- 

 in the jackets. The steam passing 

 through the entrance pipe, as before 

 expressed, in one of the axles, occupies 

 the central circular chamber, and from 

 thence flows into one of the compart- 

 ments above described, formed by 

 curved partitions, where the steam act- 

 ing against the fluid metal in the lower 

 part, raises that side of the dnim, 

 causing it to revolve upon its axis ; this 

 brings the entrance to a second cham- 

 ber from out of the fluid metal in which 

 it was immersed, (and which acted as a 

 valve to the passage) when the steam, 

 acting upon the fluid metal in this 

 chamber, raises that side of the drum 

 still more, that is, continues the revo- 

 lution. By this time the exit passage 

 of the chamber first mentioned is raised 

 above the level of the fluid metal in t!ie 

 condensing or vacuum passage, (which 

 passage communicates with a condenser) 

 by which the steam in the chamber is 

 condensed ; by this time a third cham- 

 ber begins to fill with steam, the expan- 

 sion of which, acting against the par- 

 titions upwards and the fluid metal be- 

 low, raises the revolving cylinder still 

 more, while the exit passage of the se- 

 cond mentioned chamber, rising above 

 the level of the fluid metal, liberates 

 and condenses the steam which it con- 

 tained ; the first mentioned chamber 

 having descended as the drum revolved, 

 becomes immersed in and filled with 

 the fluid metal which flowed in as soon 

 as the vacuum was produced. Thus 

 the continued revolution of the inner 

 cylinder or drum is eflected, and the 

 rotatory motion of the steam engine 

 communicated by the extended ann or 

 axle to the machinery, for which it is 

 designed to be a first mover. 



The advantages obtained by these' 

 arrangements, the patentee informs us, 

 are in the absence of a fly wheel, by 

 which much room and expense are 

 saved, and also that of a heavy beam ; 

 and as the steam is always acting uni- 

 formly in this engine, which is not the 

 case in a beam engine, where both 



steam 



