Steam, Air, or Water Engine. Page: 3 of 7
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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE
JAMES A. ADAMS, OF AUSTIN. TEXAS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-LIALF TO PETER
E. ROBERTS, OF SAME PLACE.
STEAM, AIR, OR WATER ENGINE.
SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 257,452, dated May 9, 1882.
Apnplioation fled October 14, 1881. (No mnodeliTo all whom it .may concern :
Be it known that I, JA-iES A. ADn.S, a citi-
zen of the United States, residing at Austin,
in the county of Travis, inl the State of Texas,
5 have invented a certain new and useful En-
gine, to be operated by steam, air, or water;
and I do hereby declare the following to be a
full, clear, and exact description of the inven-
tion, such as will enable others skilled in the
ro art towhich it aplpertains to make and use the
same, reference being had to accompanying
drawings, and to the letters or figures of refer-
ence marked thereon, which form a part of this
specification.
15 My invention has for its object to simplify
the construction of steam-engines, and to eco-
nomically apply and utilize the power of steam
or other expansive gas or vapor or air.
The further object of the invention is to
20 adapt the engine to work in any position,
whether' vertical, horizontal, or inclined, or in
any position in which a driving-slhift may be
placed, and to adapt it for use as a motor for
driving machinery of any description, or for
25 driving vehicles or vessels.
The principle upon which this invention is
based is the result obtained by the exertion of.
the power of two antagonistic forces in a di-
rection not at right angles to or in the plane
30 of each other. Uudersuchconditiousa weaker
inert force may. not onlly successfully resist a
more powerful moving force, but may compel
the latter to move in a direction diametrically
opposite to that in which its power is exerted.
35 For instance, if we take a wheeled truck car-
rying a piston-cylinder the piston of which is
arranged to move at right angles to the plane
of the truck, what will be the result if the pis-
ton is projected from its cylinder by a suitable
40 power-such as sleam--arnd brought in con-
tact with an inert resisting-surface not at right
angles to or in the plane of motion of said pis-
ton? The result will be that instead of tire
vis civta moving the inertia the latter will move
45 the former or cause it to-move in the direction
of least resistance, or at right angles to the
Plane of imrotion of the piston, or in the plane
of motion of the truck. This movement will
continue so long as the piston exerts its power
50 upon the inclined resisting-surface. If the di-
rection of the inclination of the resisting forceis reversed as soon as the truck has traveled
the length thereof, the direction of motion of
the truck is also reversed.
Instead of mounting the piston-cylinder on 55
a truck, if it were mounted oni slideways and
provided with a piston on its opposite sides,
exerting their power alternately against two
resisting-surfaces inclined in opposite direc-
tions, a rectilinear reciprocating motion of the 60
piston would be tile result, as will be readily
understood.
First. The power bilng exerted in aL direc-
tion of constantly-decreasing resistance, the
friction is reduced to a nmiinimm. 65
Second. There is no need of valves or valve-
motions, except the usual throttle-valve on the
feed-pipe.
Third. The reversal of the direction of mo-
tion is effected by reversing the direction of 70
tihe inclined plane.
Fourth. There is no need of a governor, the
engine acting as such to regulate its speed,
when this exceeds certain limits.
Fifth. Tile centrifugal forceis trade an avail- 75
able power to assist ill driving tihe engine.
Sixth. The stroke of the piston is regulated
by varying tile degree of inclination of the in-
clinedi plane, and through il the sphed q tlle
engine. 80
Seventh. The engine may be stopped with-
out cutting off the steam by causing the an-
tagonizing forces to exert their power in a di-
rection at right angles to each other.
Eighth. As there are no dead-centers there 85
is no loss of power to overcome, as is the case
in the ordinary reciprocating-piston engine.
Ninth. The engine is adapted to work in any
position a driving-shaft may be made to as-
same, and such shaft may be actuated by more 90
than one of such engines; and, lastly, thie en-
gine is compact and solid, and as compared
with other classes of engines it is composed of
a comparatively limited number of parts, and
these are all of the simplest form, requiring 95
but little finishing or trueing.
Having fully set forth the object of the in-
vention, its nature, the principles upon which
it is based, and some of the more important
results obtained, I will nowdescribe the means Tco
preferably adopted to practically carry out the
invention, which consists, first, in the method of
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Adams, James A. Steam, Air, or Water Engine., patent, May 9, 1882; [Washington D.C.]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth170338/m1/3/: accessed June 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.