Pickering's Device
In 1858, Peter Pickering, Landed Proprietor of Danzig, Prussia, applied for a British patent on
"An Atmospheric Engine."
It may be described as follows:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, are cylinders 18 feet long or high and 3 feet diameter, so that the surface of each piston has 1,296 square inches acting with an atmospheric pressure of 15 lbs. to the square inch, causes a pressure of 19,440 lbs. to each cylinder (saying nothing of friction, which will be accounted for later); 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, pistons of each cylinder, as they must be placed when the engine begins to work; 6, 7, 8, 9, causing a vacuum under each piston (as they have for the first time been brought into their present situation by main force), afterwards, when the engine is permitted to start, they will regulate themselves; No. 10 lies flat on the bottom of the cylinder; 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, piston rods acting on shaft No. 16; 17, wheel to communicate the engine's power to the machinery of the engine itself; 18, wheel to communicate the engine's power to the wheel or propelling screw of a ship, manufactory, locomotive, etc.
