Whiting Aerosteam Engine, Patent Model

This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with its application for Patent no. 217758, issued to James M. Whiting, of Providence, Rhode Island, July 22, 1879.

This is an example of combined air and steam engines, many designs of which have been proposed and built. In this engine the use of steam is intended to reduce the bulk of the heated air required to operate an engine of a given capacity and consequently reduce the size of the engine.

The model shows a vertical fire-tube steam boiler of ordinary construction above the tubes of which is placed a hollow drum that is heated by the hot gases from the boiler. There is also a small steam pump and a vertical high-speed steam engine of the slide-valve type. Steam from the boiler is mixed with the heated air in the upper drum, and the mixture of heated air and steam is led directly to the engine and expanded. The air pump supplies air to the heated drum.

Reference:

This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.

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