Every-day Science: Volume 6. The Conquest of NatureWilliams, Henry Smith
Science
Every-day Science: Volume 6. The Conquest of Nature
Williams, Henry Smith
Industrial arts; Machinery
In point of fact, James Watt himself invented such an engine, and
patented it in 1782, though there is no evidence that he ever
constructed even a working model. His patent specifications show "a
piston in the form of a closely-fitting radial arm, projecting from an
axial shaft in a cylinder. An abutment, arranged as a flap is hinged
near a recess in the side of the cylinder, and swings while remaining
in contact with the piston. Steam is admitted to the chamber on one
side of the flap, and so causes an unbalanced pressure upon the radial
arm."
This arrangement has been re-invented several times. Essentially the
same principle is utilized by Joshua Routledge, whose name is well
known in connection with the engineer's slide-rule. A model of this
engine is preserved in the South Kensington Museum, and the apparatus
is described in the catalogue of the Museum as follows:
"The piston revolves on a shaft passing through the centre of the
cylinder casing. The flap or valve hinged to the casing, with its free
end resting upon the piston, acts like the bottom of an ordinary engine
cylinder. The steam inlet port is on one side of the hinge, and the
exhaust port on the other. The admission of steam is controlled by a
side valve, actuated by an eccentric on the fly-wheel shaft, so that
the engine could work expansively, and the steam pressure resisting the
lifting of the flap would also be greatly reduced, so diminishing the
knock at this point, which, however, would always be a serious cause
of trouble. The exhaust steam passes down to a jet condenser, provided
with a supply of water from a containing tank, from which the injection
is admitted through a regulating valve. The air pump, which draws the
air and water from the condenser and discharges them through a pipe
passing out at the end of the tank, is a rotary machine constructed
like the engine and driven by spur gearing from the fly-wheel shaft.
Some efforts have been made to prevent leakage by forming grooves in
the sides of the revolving piston and filling them with soft packing."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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