US18255A - Improvement in rotary steam-engines - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

D. O. TURNER, OF AZTALAN, WISCONSIN.

IMPROVEMENT IN ROTARY STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 18,255, dated September 22, 1857.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, D. G. TURNER, of Aztalan, in the county of Jefferson and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rotary Engines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side view of an engine constructed according to my invention with one of the cylinder-heads removed. Fig.2 is a section of the same in a plane parallel with Fig.1 through the center of one of the steamchambers. Fig. 3 is a section of the engine in a plane passing through the aXis.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in theseveral figures.

A is what I will term the cylinder of the engine, consisting merely of a shell which incloses the working parts, cast with or bolted onto the bed-plate B.

C is the main shaft, whose bearings are either in the heads D D of the cylinder or in standards outside of the cylinder-heads. The drawings represent the bearings in the cylinder-heads themselves.

E is the steam-wheel, secured to the shaft 0 by keying or otherwise, said wheel being of cast-iron,generallyin one piece, and being composed of a hub, to which is attached by a plate a a deep rim projecting from either side of the said plate, and having two cavities F F turned in the sides of the said rim, the said cavities constituting the steamchannels.

The engine represented is a double engine. A single one requires only one of the above cavities or channels.

A full description of the channel F and the parts working therein will serve to explain the other channel F and parts belonging to it, as both channels are constructed and fitted up alike.

I) is a groove turned around the inner peripherical surface of the channel F, and c is a rabbet turned in the outer peripherical surface thereof.

cl is a ring bolted to the outer side surface of the exterior of the channel and lapping over the rabbet 0, so as to form a groove whose sides are in the same planes perpendicular to the axis of the main shaft, as the sides of the groove 1).

G is a flat plate of the form of about threefourths of a ring, having its edges inserted and confined within the groove 19 and rabbet 0, but fitted loosely thereinto. The rabbet c and ring d are used in place of a groove to enable the plate G to be put in its place.

, H is a stationary piece of metal secured to the cylinder-head D and reaching to the back of the channel F, said piece fitting to the inner peripherical surface of the channel, but being eccentric on its outer side, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. a

I is what I term the floating abutment, placed in the channel F and connected by a knuckle c with the piece I-I, said abutment fitting steam-tight between the back of the channel F and the inner side of the plate Gr,

fitting also to theinnerperipherical surface of the channel F, and turned on its exterior concentric to the outer peripherical surface of the channel F, but only fitting to two opposite portions f f of the latter surface, which project inward concentrically to the remainder of the said surface, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This floating abutment terminates with an eccentric curve g on the side farthest from the piece II. It is made hollow, as shown in Fig. 2, and has the end of the induction steampipe J secured in it, and it is fitted with a flap Valve K, which is closed by the parts ff of the channel as the latter pass it; but it is opened by the pressure of the steam, as shown in Fig. 2, when the other portions of the outer peripherical surface of the channel pass it. The plate G is connected with the floating abutment by a screw or studZ passing through a slot m in the former, as shown in Fig. 1, and secured into the latter, the said slot allowing no play between the plate and the abutment in the direction of their revolution, but allowing the abutment to play in all other directions.

M M are two pistons upon which the steam in the channel F acts alternately to cause the revolution of the wheel E, said pistons being hinged by knuckle-joints k 7t to the outer peripherical portion of the channel F, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to be capable of swinging into a position across the channel, as shown in the lower part of Fig. 2, to close the channel, in which position they are respectively supported by their edges being received within notches h h in theinn er peri-pherical surface of the channel, and to be also capable of swinging into recesses 71 in the outer peripherical surface of the channel, as shown in the upper part of Fig. 2, in which latter position their faces form portions of the same cylindrical surfaces as the surfaces of the parts ff of the channel. These pistons contain each a channel j in the back side, into which, when the piston is in the position shown in the upper part of Fig. 2, steam can enter to get behind the piston at a proper time, as will be hereinafter explained, to force it to the position shown in the lower part of the said figure.

L is the eduction steam pipe, passing through and secured into the plate G.

The operation of the engine is as follows: Steam being admitted by the induction-pipe J to the stationary abutment issues through the valve K into the channel F, and acts upon each of the pistons lWl in turn to drive the steam-wheel E in the direction of the arrow shown upon it in Figs. 1 and 2, the abutment being stationary and the plate G also, the latter being pressed by the steam between the abutment and that piston which is at any time operative against the outer face of the groove 17 and the face of the ring 61, with which, as well as with the abutment and the operative piston, the said plate forms steamtight joints and prevents any escape of steam to the cylinder or shell A. The joints between the plate G and the piston and abutment are preserved by any suitable arrangement of packing applied in the edges of the piston and sides of the abutment. The steam commences to operate on each piston just as it comes to the position shown at the upper part of Fig. 2-1. 6., as soon as it passes the valve K. Until the piston reaches this position the valve K has been for a time closed by the projecting part f f of the passage F or by the piston itself; but as soon as the piston passes the valve the latter is caused to open by the pressure of the steam Within the abutment acting upon its back side, and immediately after the opening of the valve the steam escaping from the valve into the cavity j behind the piston forces the piston out of its recess '5 and across the passage F; butthe too sudden movement of the piston into the channel is prevented by the curved face 9 of the abutment. The piston continues to be acted upon by the pressure of steam till it arrives nearly at the eduction-pipe L, by which time the projection f behind it will have arrived in contact with the valve and closed it, thus cutting off the supply of steam. The piston is returned to its recess in passing over the face of the piece H.

It will be understood by the above description and reference to the drawings that the steam acts upon each of the two pistons during rather more than one-fourth of a revolution; but by making the engine double and arranging the abutments of the two channels F F at about ninety degrees of a circle from each other the wheel will be acted upon continuously.

The example of my engine represented in the drawings is intended to work on the principle of what is generally known as Woolfs engine, the eduction-pipe leading from the channel L communicating with the inductionpipe J of the channel F, so that after having been used at the boiler-pressure in the channel F the steam may be used expansively in the channel F.

I do not claim making the engine with two sets of pistons working in separate steamchannels; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The valve Kin its recessed seat and the protuberant rim ff, as arranged with the steamchannels, floating abutments, and hinged pistons, as herein fully specified.

D. O. TURNER.

Witnesses:

J. G. DUNHAM, D. I. WHITE.

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