The patent in question is below. I was wondering if someone here could tell me if there’s a description of a crankshaft type mechanism in the patent and also what type of engine the patentee is describing. There appears to be a connecting rod, but I can’t find any mention of a crank-like mechanism in the description, unless someone else can find it, as another book by a guy called Allan J Organ called ‘Stirling Cycle Engines: Inner Working and Design’ implies there is one, though it isn’t provided in the drawing at the end of the patent. I’m also a little confused as to what type of engine the patentee is describing. Part of it sounds like a hot air engine and other parts of it sound like an internal combustion engine. Perhaps someone could help me out here?
What is the patent number? (I’m not opening the filedropper link)
Its prototype that only pumps fluid out of the container.
It has no self-moving parts, it requires external movement of the stop cocks to reload. It certainly has no crank shaft , it doesn’t push a piston, it pushes the fluids…
Tis a mere scan of an olde patent document from the reign of George The Third, granted to Thomas Meade. The heading says:
A.D. 1794 – No. 1979
and the patent is for “Certain Methods of Exerting, Putting, and Continuing in Motion Pneumatic Chemical or Pneumato-Chemical Apparatus by the Decomposition, Recomposition, Expansion, and Condensation (separately or conjointly) of permanently Elastic Fluids, which will produce Power or Force sufficient to Put and Continue in Motion any Kind of Machinery to which they may be Applied”.
The patent is describing a range of mechanisms to drive the pistons up and down. Indeed it seems to be trying to be a catch-all for about any way the inventor could think of. But it is basically a heat engine. Sticking a grate with some burning material in it inside the cylinder does make that variant an ICE. What makes the patent a bit confusing to read is that he talks of elastic fluids - by which he means a gas. Also condensation seems to be used where simple drop in pressure due to cooling is meant. However actual steam and condensation of steam would of course work. Indeed it may have been intended to be included here, but it is a bit hard to make out.
Although it doesn’t have a crank, and thus doesn’t create rotary power, it remains a valuable idea, and forms the basis of a lot of water raising machinery. Just have it drive another piston in a cylinder that is pumping water For getting water out of mines, moving water into reticulation systems, such as aqueducts or canals, and for other similar purposes this is all you need.
It would take until James Watt came along to really make significant advances.
I’m on my mobile right now so I can’t check but I’m pretty sure the patent specifically refers to a piston.
Alright thanks for the detailed description. Was I right in thinking there is a connecting rod, and if so is it necessarily part of a crank mechanism?
No. There is a solid rod that delivers force, but it isn’t a con-rod in the sense that it it drives a crank. You could add an articulated con-rod, but the patent does not contain such a thing, or any sort of crank.