Jacob Brazill's Device
In 1839 Jacob Brazill, of Deptford, Kent, Governor of Trinity Ground, applied for a British patent on
"Improvements in Obtaining Motive Power."
In his application he describes his alleged invention as follows:
My invention consists in a certain arrangement or combination of mechanism wherein the atmospheric air is employed as the impelling agent, being brought to bear in such a manner as by exerting a constant urging pressure, to produce a continuous rotary motion, and applies to all the purposes where a prime mover is required.
Fig. 1 is an end view of the apparatus a, a, are the bearings, top and bottom, for the vertical shaft b, which bearings are to be so constructed as to produce the least possible amount of friction. c is a large drum furnished with radial plates or fans, some of the plates being so arranged as to slope down towards the bottom plate, thus forming, as it were, a series of boxes decreasing in their transverse dimensions as they approach the boss. This drum is to be put in motion by means of a current of air directed through the pipes d and e, from the two pairs of double bellows f and g. h is a worm fixed on the vertical shaft by means of a tightening screw, or in any other convenient way, taking into the worm wheel i on the horizontal crankshaft j, supported in bearings k, k. The cranks l, l, work the bellows by connecting rods m, m; n is a spur wheel taking into a pinion o, on the axle of which is a winch handle p, for starting the apparatus.
What I claim as my peculiar right is, the impulsion of a current of air against the fans of a drum (as that at c) through pipes, as at d and e, for the purposes of a motive power, together with a certain arrangement of mechanism, by means of which the action first induced shall be kept up.
Läserson's Device
In 1860 Marc Antoine F. Mennons, of Paris, applied on behalf of Louis Diodor Läserson of Moscow, Russia, for, and obtained, a British patent on
"Certain Improvements in the Production of Motive Power, and in the Apparatus Connected Therewith."
He described the essentials of his device as follows: