3

Later single-cylinder engines

3.1 German air engines
It is evident that a closed hot-air engine with a power cylinder separate from
the displacer cylinder works with a lower compression ratio than one with a
single-cylinder design, due to the presence of a disproportionately large
clearance volume. This considerably reduces the specific power, so that
engines of the type described in the last section could hardly be suitable for
applications other than mechanical toys or small models where efficiency did
not matter. Although a patent registered in 1845 by Franchot described an
engine with piston and displacer working in the same cylinder, Stirling’s
original design seemed to have been entirely forgotten for the next 50 years
until the first engines by Lehmann were produced on the European continent.
These engines were practically identical to Stirling’s first design, except that
they had a horizontal cylinder, direct contact between cylinder bottom and
flames, and a more compact link mechanism to reduce overall size (Eckerth
1869a, Röntgen 1888).
An early model of the Lehmann engine is shown in Fig. 3.1. A very long
cylinder ABCD was used, closed at the hot end and with the power piston UU
reciprocating in the open end, which was kept cool by a water-jacket LMNP.
About a third of the cylinder was enclosed by the furnace. The hot gases
surrounded the lower end of the cylinder and kept it hot, after which they
escaped through the smoke stack RR. The airtight hollow displacer was
strengthened by a riveted plate KK to an extension of which the piston rod was
attached. EF was a wooden plate closing the front of the displacer, and HG a
domed metal cap closing the hot end. The weight of the displacer was taken
on a support roller O. Between the displacer and the cylinder there was a
narrow annular space through which the working fluid passed when transferred
from one end of the cylinder to the other, but apparently no regenerator was
fitted. The working piston UU was constructed similarly to a bicycle pump
with a dished leather washer, which allowed additional air to enter whenever
the internal pressure fell below atmospheric. The driving mechanism, by which
the motion of the displacer was advanced by about 65° with reference to the
working piston, was very similar to that employed on the Ericsson engine.
According to Eckerth such an engine with piston diameter 0.349 m and
stroke 0.244 m, gave 0.984 h.p. at 97 r/min, with a thermal efficiency of 4 per
cent, which corresponds to a specific power of 1.2 h.p. per cubic foot swept
42 Air Engines

Fig. 3.1 Cross-section through an early Lehmann engine, made about 1860
on the Continent. The driving piston had a cup leather washer similar to that
of a bicycle pump

volume. The mechanical efficiency was quoted as 65 per cent (Delabar 1864,
Eckerth 1869b, Knoke 1899).
Lehmann’s engine was immediately successful and large numbers were sold.
Röntgen (1888) wrote enthusiastically:
‘. . . . (Lehmann’s) engines are especially suited to the lesser industries. They
are . . . more durable than Laubereau’s and the annoying pounding of
Ericsson’s is entirely avoided. Moreover the consumption of fuel . . . is only
half that for the other two systems. In this respect it is as economical as the
best steam engines . . .’.
A number of different models to the same basic design were built later by
Lehmann with horizontal or vertical cylinders. Improvements of detail were
also introduced. For example, instead of the leather-cup-type of power piston
a trunk piston was used, working in conjunction with a non-return valve called
a ‘Schnarchventil’ (snoring valve) on account of its characteristic noise. In
England this component was usually called the snifter valve.
Although these engines were operated without proper regeneration and
without raised pressure level, they were fairly successful and were also
manufactured in several other countries, initially under licence from
Lehmann’s original patents. For example, the woodcut in Fig. 3.2 and the
cross-section in Fig. 3.3 show an engine manufactured by Bailey and Co.
Again a very long displacer is used with rollers to take the weight, but also
without a regenerator. The cylinder bottom is shielded from direct contact with
the flames, which arrangement must have reduced the working temperature and
hence also the power output, but which extended the life of the cylinder
 Later single-cylinder engines 43

Fig. 3.2 Horizontal 2 h.p. Lehmann engine, built in England during the latter part
of the last century as the Bailey engine. After Kennedy (1904–5)

Fig. 3.3 Detail of the engine shown in the previous illustration. From Fleeming
Jenkin (1885) with permission of the Institution of Civil Engineers
44 Air Engines

bottom. To save space, the two pistons were driven by sets of bell-cranks, with
the crankshaft and flywheel set back along the cylinder. A separate water tank
was usually fitted, connected by pipework to the large cooling-jacket at the
open end of the cylinder. As in woodcuts of many other old air engines, a
centrifugal governor is a prominent feature, although its function is probably
more decorative than practical.
Figure 3.3 also shows a release cock fitted to the piston for speed regulation.
Operating this control must have been a hazardous operation if the engine was
running at any appreciable speed. It must have been a considerable feat of
agility to get one’s hand right in between the moving rods and levers and turn
the cock just when for a brief instant it came near the cylinder opening.
This type of engine was made in six different sizes, with weights between
14 and 50 cwt, excluding brickwork, ranging from ¼ to 2 ½ nominal
horsepower, and running at speeds of 120 down to 90 r/min. The specific
weight of these engines had therefore been improved to between 1 and 2
tons/h.p., but was probably still worse than that of the original prototype by
Stirling. It was widely advertised and sold in great numbers for driving pumps,
churns, chaff-cutting, grinding, crushing and various ‘Domestic Machinery’.
It was also claimed that the brickwork could be erected in one day by an
ordinary bricklayer and that the roomy fireplace held enough fuel to keep the
engine running unattended for extended periods. Almost any kind of fuel
could be used and its simplicity was a great sales feature. Quoting from a
contemporary catalogue:
‘The stove is provided with a roomy fireplace, holding enough fuel to keep the
Engine going from 3 to 6 hours without stoking. The furnace will burn almost
any fuel – coke, coal, peat, wood, sawdust, spent tan, riddled cinders, etc. and
as it consumes its own smoke it needs no attention during the intervals of fir-
ing. Thus it will be seen that the attention required is so simple, and of such
a light nature, that any intelligent lad, workman, labourer, gardener, or
domestic servant may learn to work it in a few hours with the assistance of our
printed instructions, and attend to it without material interference with their
other occupation.’

3.2 Heinrici, Bailey, and other variants

A smaller hot air engine of this type, produced by Bailey and Co. in six
different sizes, is shown in Figs 3.4–3.6. The design was similar to the
previous model and the main application was also for pumping. The engine
shown in Fig. 3.4 had an output of about 1/4 h.p. and was fitted with an integral
water pump which could be used for wells up to 120 ft deep. Figure 3.5 shows
 Later single-cylinder engines 45

Fig. 3.4 Small horizontal air engine with integral water pump. The pumped
water was passed through the cooling-jacket before discharge. Delivery 400
gal/h against 50 ft head. (With permission of IMI Bailey Birkett Limited)

Fig. 3.5 Medium-size horizontal air engine fitted with twin-barrel pump. Delivery
2500 gal/h against 50 ft head. (Source unknown)
46 Air Engines

a similar engine with 1/2 h.p. output driving a double-barrel pump, while in
Fig. 3.6 an alternative layout with pump and power take-off is shown.
The first ‘Solar Motor’, of which records exist, was built in 1872 by John
Ericsson and is shown in Fig. 3.7. Between 1872 and 1883 Ericsson built about
nine experimental solar engines, some using steam cycles and some air cycles.
The engine shown here seems to be a closed Stirling engine, with piston and
displacer as first used by Stirling. A parabolic mirror was used to concentrate
the sun’s rays on the lower end of the cylinder (Ericsson 1876, Anon. 1899,
Appleton Cyclopaedia).
Lehmann’s design was ‘improved’ by Stenberg, of Helsingfors, in 1877,
whose engines were marketed under the pretty name of ‘Calorisca’. They were
similar to Lehmann’s original design, except that instead of a crank mechanism
a ‘Bogenschleife’ [cam scroll, (Knoke 1899)] was used for driving the
displacer. As in Laubereau’s later engines, the object was to provide for
periods of rest at the end of the displacer stroke, so that distinct phases of
isothermal expansion or compression may take place. This was achieved by a
roller working in a groove shaped like the segment of a circle. As in
Laubereau’s arrangement, it is doubtful whether this constituted a substantial
improvement on account of the increased mechanical losses that arose.
Experiments made with a Lehmann, as well as with a Stenberg, engine showed
that according to the indicator diagrams Stenberg’s engines did, in fact, achieve
a higher compression ratio, and as both engines had atmospheric pressure as
the lowest pressure, a higher maximum pressure was therefore reached in the
latter. However, the diagram in the Stenberg engine was not so ‘fat’ as that in
the Lehmann engine, and calculation gave the same mean effective pressure for
each. With no gain even in indicated work, the net power output was probably
decreased due to the lower mechanical efficiency.
When the internal combustion engine was developed, the larger types of air
engines were soon rendered obsolete, and smaller models appeared on the
market. For example, the engine shown in Figs 3.8 and 3.9 marked ‘Heinrici
Motor,’ but otherwise of unknown origin, was fairly common at one time.
Standing about 2 ft 6 in high and weighing about 80 lb, its output was 0.028
b.h.p., as measured in performance tests carried out by the writer. This
corresponds to a specific weight of about 1.3 ton per brake horsepower and a
specific power of 3.4 h.p. per cubic foot swept volume – figures which compare
favourably with those of larger engines. A rather amusing refinement, which
can be seen in illustration, is the provision of a brake shoe actuated by a
thumbscrew and bearing against the rim of one of the flywheels, by means of
which the power could be ‘regulated’.
Comparing the Bailey engine in Fig. 3.3 with this Heinrici Motor, it will be
seen that the link mechanism has been slightly simplified. The drive for the
 Later single-cylinder engines 47

Fig. 3.6 Horizontal dual-purpose engine installation for pumping water

as well as supplying power. The gear driving the pump can be disengaged.
(Source unknown)

Fig. 3.7 Sun motor designed by John Ericsson in 1872. Unlike most other
engines constructed by him, this model appears to work on a closed cycle in
accordance with Stirling’s principle. After Ericsson (1876)
48 Air Engines

Fig. 3.8 Small ‘Heinrici motor’, late nineteenth century. Similar to Stirling’s
original engine, but without regenerator

Fig. 3.9 Diagrams showing the internal construction of the ‘Heinrici motor’
illustrated in the previous figure
 Later single-cylinder engines 49

power piston is now more direct from a crank to a forked connecting rod,
attached directly to the piston by two gudgeon pins. Only the displacer is still
driven by means of a rocking lever and two connecting rods, which are actuated
by a crank on the outside of one of the flywheels. This is shown clearly in the
drawing, Fig. 3.9. A similar small engine from an illustration made by Gardner
Ltd, and dated 1908, is shown in Fig. 3.10. Here the same crank is used for
driving both the piston and the displacer, and the rocking lever is set high so as
to produce the required phase difference between the motions of piston and
displacer.

3.3 The Rider engine

It will have been noted that all the closed hot-air engines described so far
hardly differed from either one or other of the two engines invented by Stirling,

Fig. 3.10 Air engine made by Gardner Ltd, in 1908 with redesigned link
mechanism. Reproduced with permission of Messrs L. Gardner and Sons Ltd
50 Air Engines

and what differences there were often seemed to reduce rather than increase
output or efficiency. In actual fact, right up to the middle of the present century,
only one single major innovation was introduced, when in 1876 a new type of
hot-air engine was invented in Philadelphia by A. K. Rider. The principle of
this engine was that instead of varying the total volume of the working fluid by
a single piston, and using a displacer to move the working fluid back and forth
between the hot and cold space respectively, as has been explained with
reference to Fig. 2.2, two separate pistons in two separate cylinders were used
to achieve the same effect. Although the type of engine which was first
produced in accordance with this principle was of no great practical
significance, this innovation prepared the way for the novel multi-cycle air
engines proposed by Rinia in 1947.
The sole manufacturing rights of Rider engines for England were acquired
by Hayward Tyler and Co. Ltd, in 1877, and about 500 were sold within the
first 5 years. Three sizes were made, nominally ¼, ½, and 1 h.p. respectively,
and most of these engines were fitted with a water pump as an integral part.
They were similar to the engine shown in Figs 3.11 and 3.12, where exterior
views and a cross-section respectively are given.
Referring to Fig. 3.12, two loaded pistons C and D reciprocating in the cold
cylinder A and the hot cylinder B respectively were used, and the cylinders
were connected through the regenerator H, so that the working fluid traversed
the regenerator whenever it passed from one cylinder to the other. The lower
portion of cylinder A was surrounded by the cooler E, through which the
cooling water circulated. The heater F was kept at a dull red heat by the fire
below. Extended heat transfer surface was provided in the shape of a
cylindrical skirt, so that the air was forced to pass through a narrow passage
near the hot cylinder wall to facilitate the transfer of heat. A contemporary
description ran:
‘The heating and also the cooling of the air is instantaneously effected by its
alternate presentation to the surfaces of the heater and cooler in a thin sheet,
such being found by experience to be the only correct method of rapidly and
thoroughly effecting changes of temperature in air.’
Two sets of leather packing rings K were used to make the two pistons leak-
proof. In order to protect the piston and the packing in the hot space from the
adverse action of the heat, the upper end of the hot cylinder B was kept cool by
means of a water-jacket. In the engine shown the pumped water was also led
through the cooling-jackets, passing first through the pump, then through the
main cooling-jacket E, and lastly through the smaller jacket on top of the hot
cylinder, before delivery from the flanged opening seen in front of the cylinder
in Fig. 3.12. An automatic valve L at the lower end of the cold space was
 Later single-cylinder engines 51

Fig. 3.11 Reproduction from two woodcuts showing the external appearance of
a Rider engine with integral water pump. Half the furnace can be swung
forward to gain access to the hot cylinder. Reproduced with permission of
Messrs Hayward Tyler Ltd

provided to admit air whenever the internal pressure fell below atmospheric.
Cock M could be opened to atmosphere to stop the engine. The water pump
was attached directly to the cold piston by a rigid connecting rod. As in many
other hot-air engines, the cylinder bottom in the hot space used to burn out
frequently due to the poor materials available at the time, but replacement was
made particularly simple by swinging half the furnace forward, as shown in
Fig. 3.11. In this engine the phase difference between cranks was made 95° and
the regenerator consisted simply of 24 plates of cast iron with a distance of
2 mm between them (Anon. 1876)
Although Rider engines worked with a lower mechanical efficiency than
Lehmann engines, the utilization of heat was better, as a regenerator was used.
Calculations of the efficiency of this regenerator and experiments in which the
engine was run with and without this regenerator, showed that such a
regenerator had an efficiency of 60 per cent (Schöttler 1881). Schöttler was
impressed by this result but, compared with values of well over 90 per cent
attainable today, this is a very low efficiency. It is due partly to the relatively
large dimensions of the flow passages – but there is another consideration
described below.
The regenerator is sited in the wrong place! It sits at the cold end of the
expansion plunger and at the warm end of the compression plunger. If the
engine boasted a degree of thermal regeneration, much of it must have derived
52 Air Engines

Fig. 3.12 Cross-section through the engine shown in the last illustration. The
extreme simplicity – there are only five moving parts – should be noted. After
Jenkin (1885) with permission of the Institution of Civil Engineers

from flow through the annular passages around the plungers. To this extent, the
type did not completely presage the later, Rinia invention, which placed the
regenerator appropriately between the high- and low-temperature parts of the
engine.
However, the simplicity of the Rider and the ease of operation were greatly
appreciated by the public. The advertising slogan used at the time by the
makers was: ‘These Engines work WITHOUT EXPLOSION’, to distinguish
them from the internal combustion engines which were then beginning to
appear on the market. One letter from a satisfied customer in Portugal is
reproduced below, as printed in an old catalogue:
‘Gentlemen, the first engine you sent me (No. 2 Pumping Engine) is at work in
a ‘Quinta’ near here. It does more than was expected from it, and with great
economy. Four to six oxen were required to do the same work, and they did it
 Later single-cylinder engines 53

badly. A lad of 12 years is working it; he breaks up the wood, irrigates the
orange grove near the Engine, and has time to spare. Yours truly, Thos. G.
Hall, Lisbon, May 20th, 1878.’
About 90 per cent of all the Rider engines sold were used for pumping water.
The rest were for miscellaneous applications, where moderate amounts of
power were needed. Many church organs, for instance, were at that time
motorized by a Rider engine fired by gas. This must have compared favourably
in silence and reliability with the young boys that had been used previously for
supplying the motive power, as witnessed by the following letter:
‘Dear Sirs, If you procure a copy of the Musical Times for July, you will see
how highly I am able to report on the Engine. I know of nothing (in all points)
so perfect – no trouble at all. The gas burner answers admirably, requiring to
be lit for 20 or 30 minutes before I want to use the organ, consuming about 25
feet per hour. I have confidence in expressing my belief that no small power
is so easy to manage, so economical and – which is of great value – so noise-
less as this. Yours truly, C. H. Fynes-Clinton, Blandford Rectory, Dorset, July
3, 1879.’
The total number of these engines that were sold between 1877 and 1895
was approximately 1000, including one to the Prince of Wales (later Edward
VII) for Sandringham, and one to the Khedive of Egypt for Ras el Tin Palace
in Alexandria. This latter engine may well have been ordered to replace an
Ericsson engine imported from New York. They were also adopted by H. M.
Government for water supply to ports and barracks, and records exist of
engines that had been in continuous use for 20 years without major repairs. A
description of an engine delivering 250 gal/h water against a head of 390 ft,
burning 9 lb of coke per hour, can be found in Engineering for 1881.
The possibility of using solar energy for driving a hot air engine was also
brought up again. A Rider engine was proposed as a solar power plant for
Phoenix, Arizona, in 1908, as shown in Fig. 3.13. Although on first sight this
scheme looks promising, an elementary calculation would show that the area
of the solar absorber is far too small to deliver any appreciable power output
(Yellott, 1957). Although the last Rider engines were produced in the mid-
1920s, only very few engines had been made since about 1905.
The design of Rider engines and of other models remained static for a long
time, although improvements in detail were put forward. For example,
regulation of hot air engines by methods which are less wasteful than
dissipation of energy through braking at the flywheel or escape of the
working fluid were suggested by Slaby and put into practice by Buschbaum
(Knoke 1899).
54 Air Engines

Fig. 3.13 Proposal for a solar power plant for Phoenix, Arizona, dated 1908.
This was to use a Rider hot air engine but is evidently impractical on account
of the small concentrator area

Some of the engines also reverted to Stirling’s old idea of raised pressure
level, and the provision of a ‘cooler’ and ‘heater’ became more general. These
took the form of narrow passages whose walls were kept at the requisite
temperature, and through which the working fluid had to pass whenever it was
transferred from the hot space to the cold and vice versa.