1845.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



225 



admit of a greater or less quantity of air as may be required, it will be evi- 

 dent that the plate J may be made to slide in a latetal direction. The inven- 



tor claims the mode descrihed of combining^ glass into apparatus whereby 

 narrow plates of glass are fixed as louvres in frames, and combined wilh a 

 moveable plate as a cover or valve. 



LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGES. 



John William Buckle Retnolds, of Lympstone, Devonshire, for ''Im- 

 provements in oblainhif^ motive power for working locomotive carriages and other 

 machinery."— Graniei\ Nov. 25, 1844 ; Enrolled May 24, 1845. 



We will endeavour by the aid of a sketch or diagram to give such a de- 

 scription of this invention (the specification of which is accompanied wilh 3 

 or i sheets of elaborate draw ings.J as will convey to our mechanical readers 

 an idea of this mode of obtaining motive power, wliich is eliected by a 

 peculiar combination of machinery aided by the explosive property of a mix- 

 ture of gas and atmospheric air. that is to say, thcinvention consists in work- 

 ing locomotive engines by means of compressed or condensed air obtained by 

 exploding gas in the manner hereafter described. The accompanying figure, 

 which, as before stated, is merely a diagram, shows a longitudinal section 

 of a locomotive constructed according to this invention. .Suppose a a to re- 

 present the frame of the carriage, b b are two cylinders placed within a cop- 

 per vessel c c, each of these cylinders is provided with a piston and piston- 



rod passing through a stuffing box in the cylinder cover; the upper part o 

 the cylinders i' t' communicates by means of pipes with the vessel c c, which 

 communication is provided wiih a valve so as to prevent any air returning 

 from the vessel c c to the cylinders ; it will therefore be understood that if gas 

 and atmospheric air be exploded within the cylinders on the underside of the 

 pistons at b b, the said pistons will be driven upwards, and the air contained 

 in the cylinders above the piston will l)e driven by the ascent of the pistons 

 into the copper vessel c c. A B represent two vessels, one of w hieh for the 

 sake of perspicuity we have draw n larger tlian the other ; A contains a mix- 

 ture of gas and atmospheric air, the vessel B, which is supposed to be beyond 

 the vessel A, may be termed a vacuum vessel, and is connected by means of 

 a pipe g to the upper part of the cylinders b' b', and also by means of pipes 

 (hereafter described^ 10 the woikirg cylinders of the locomotive, which are 

 supposed to l,e at C and are of the ordinaiy construction ; ihe vessel A has a 

 pipe communicating with the lower part of the cylinders marked 6, for the 



admission of gns, w Iiich passsts through valve boxes e e, there aie also pipes 

 //, which pass from these valve boxes and form a communication U'tween the 

 underside of the pistons in ihc cylinders b b and an air pump D ; the pistons 

 of the cylinders f give motion in the ordinary manner tu the driving axle of 

 the locomotive, anil the axle of ihe carrying wheels gives motion by means of 

 a two-throw crank to the piston of ilie air-pump D; i is a valve for starting, 

 stuppini.', or reversing the motion of ilie locomotive, the manner of preparing 

 wliicli for work is as follows. Suppose it were recjuired to start the locomo- 

 tive engine, it will be necessary in ihe first place to disconnect the piston of 

 the air pump D and work the sume a few strokes by band, in order to ex- 

 haust the air fiom the underside of the pistons at b b, which sp:ice will bo 

 occupied by the admixture of gas from the vessel A ; this being eliected, the 

 valves e' are moved so as to shut olf the communication between the cylin- 

 ders b b and air pump D ! the mixture of gas and air is exploded by a gal- 

 vanic battery, alternately in each cylinder, which Ims tlie effect of raising 

 the pistons and forcing the air from be'tween such pistons and iln- cylinder 

 covers into the copper vessel <• c ; the oxygen and hydrogen portion of iliegas 

 having by reason of the explosion become converted inio a very minute por- 

 tion of water, leaving only the nitrogen wiihin the cylinder, a partial vacuum 

 will be formed on the underside of the pistons, and the air contained in the 

 vessel B being allowed to pass into the upper part of the cylinders b' b' the 

 pistons will descend, the cylinders are ag,i n filled with gas and another ex- 

 plosion takes place, and ihis operation is continued until the whole of tlie air 

 is exhausted from the vessel B which tlien becomes a vacuum vessel, this 

 operation of exploding is also continued until the air in the copper vessel c <r 

 has become sufliciently condensed to work tlie cylinders C of the locomotive ; 

 it should here be observed thai the cylinders b b m;iy be provided with air 

 cocks should the density of air in the vessel c c not be sufficient lo work the 

 engines after the vessel B has been exhausted, but presuming the air in the ves- 

 sel c c to have become sufficiently eomjiressed, the pision rod of the air pump 

 may be connected with the working part of the engines which will then he 

 ready for starling in tlie I'ollowing manner : that is to say, in order to set the 

 engines in motion, the valve i is to be raised in the position shown in the 

 drawing Ijy means of ilie handle j. :be compressed air in the vessel cc passing 

 through the pipe h into the valve box i is tlien allowed to pass from thence 

 through the pipe I to the working cylinders C, this being the case it will be 

 evident that a pressure will be exerted on one tide of the pistons equal to the 

 density of the compressed air in the vessel c c, and will act upon the pistoa 

 in the same manner as steam of equal pressure ; the air contaireJ in the cy- 

 linder on the opposite side ot the piston passes from the educiion part of the 

 cylinder through the pipe »«, past or underneath the valve /', and through the 

 pipe n into the vacuum vessel B; it will theielore be observe. I that ilie action 

 oi the engine are similar to condensing engines, viz , a pressure is exerted on 

 one side of the pittun ejual to the compressed air in the vessel e, unil OD the 

 other side of the pision equiil to the vacuum in ihe vessel B. On tne retura 

 stroke of the piston ihe air contained in the cylinder is, as before observed, 

 passed into the vacuum vessel, and from thence lo the cylii.ders I' b', where 

 at every stroke of ibe engines it is forced by the explosive gas into the copper 

 vessel e c, to be worked o.er again. Upon tlie valve rod o is fixed a brass 

 ring p, which at every stroke comes in contact wilh the wires of a galvanic 

 battery so as to complete the current, and thereby explode the gas which at 

 every stroke is admitted into the lower part ot the cylinders b b. In order to 

 reverse the engines above described it will only be necessary to depress the 

 lever_/, so as to allow the compressed air to pass through the pipe m. And in 

 order tu stop the engine the lever is depressed so as to bring the valve ia 

 such a position as to cover the whole of the three openings /, m, u. 



The inventor also proposes to form a vacuum in the traction pipes of at- 

 mospheric railways by ihe process above described, he also shows a mode of 

 applying certain parts of his invention to propelling vessels. 



IMPU0VEMEKT3 I.V SOAP. 



John Barker Anderson, of Great Suffolk Street, Surrey, for "Improve- 

 ments in the manitfaclute of soap." — Granted Nov. 25, 1844; Enrolled May, 

 1845. 



The patentee describes his invention as follows, — when curd soap is boiled 

 to strength and subjected to a '■ fitting" process, somewhat similar to the 

 fitting process used in making yellow soap, there separates from it a 

 peculiar substance analogous to ihe niger or nigre of yellow soap, and thac 

 by removing Ibis niger and boiling the remainder of the goods into curd soap 

 there is obtained a curd soap cf better quality than the original charge of 

 goods would yield without this operation. The inventor finds that the niger 

 wliich IS removed is well adapted lor making a ''mottled soap," to which 

 purpose he applies it accordingly. In carrying the invention into operation 

 he proceeds in all respects in the manner commonly practised by soapboilers 

 up to a certain point, that is, in the copper the ordinary materials are added 



30 



