UNITED STATE: PATENT OFFICE. NIXOLA TESLA, OF NEW YORK, W, ¥, VALVULAR CONDUIT. 1,829,559, . Applloation Aled Pebraazy 21, 19 To Gl whom it may concern: a. Bo it known that I, Nrxora Tears, a citi- zon of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Im- provements in Valvular Conduits, of which the following is » full, clear, and exact de- scription, 1a moet of the machinery universally em- ployed “for and transformation of mechanical energy, fluid impulses are made to pass, more or Jess freely, through suitable channels or con- nits in one direction while their return is effectively checked or entively prevented. ‘This function is generally performed by de- vices designated ns valves, comprising car fully fitted members the precise relative movements of which are essential to the eff- cient and relinble operation of the apes ratus, The necessity of, und absolute de- pendence on these, limits the machine in many respects, detracting from its practical value and-adding greatly to its gost of man- ufacture and maintenance, As a rule the valve is a delicate contrivance, very liable fo mem and get out of order and thereby imperil: ponderous, complex and costly mechanism and, moreover, it fails to mect the requirements when the impulses are ex- tremely sudden or rapid in-stccession and the fluid is highly heated or corrosive. ‘Though thess and-other correlated facts were known to the very earliest’ pioneers in the science and art of mechanics, no remedy has ss yet been found or proposed to date so far as I'am aware, and T that I ‘am the first to discover or invent any means, which permit the performanes of the above function without the use of roving. parts, and which it is the object of this application to describe, > Briefly. expressed, the advance ‘I have achieved consists in the employment of a Peculiar channel or conduit charactized by valvular action, invention can be embodied in many constructions greatly varied. in detail, but for the explanation of the underlying prin- ciple it may be brondly stated that the in- terior of the conduit {s provided with en- Inrgements, Projections, bafles or buckets which, while offering virtually no resistance to the passage of the fluid in one Speotteation of Letters Patent, Serial No. 70,108. Renewed Faly 8, 1910, Sertal-we, $00,488. the development, transinission . Patented Feb. 3, 1920. direction, other than surface friction, -con- ‘stitute an almost impassable barrier to ita flow in the opposite sense by reason of the ‘more or lens sictden expansions, contractions, oflections, reversals of direction, stops and start and attendant’ rapidly. ‘succeeding transformations of the pressure and velocity energie es. For the full and complete disclosure of the device and of its of action refer- ‘ence is made té the accompanying drawings in which— Figure 1 is « horizontal projection of such valvular conduit with the top plate re- moved. ti Fig. 2 is side view of the same in eleva- ion, _ Fig. 8 is a gingeam, illustrative of the ap- Plication of the device to a finid propelling. machine such as, a reciprocating pump or compressor, and Fig. 4 is a plan showing the manner’ in which the invention is,’or may be used, to operate ‘a fluid propelled rotary engine’ or turbine, . Referring to Fig, 1,1 is a casing of metal or. other suitable material whi may be east, milled or pressed from sheet in the desired form, From its side-walls extend al- ternatively projections terminating in buck- ets 2 which, to facilitate manufacture’ are et ent and spaced at equal distances, but not be. In addition to these there are independent partitions 8 which are deemed. of advantage and the purpose of which will be made clear, Nipples 4 and 5, one ateach ‘end, ate provided tor pipe connection. The bottom is solid and the ‘upper’ or open side is closed by a fitting plate 6 as shown in Fig. 2. When desinel ‘any number of such Pieces may be joined in series, thus making Up a valvular.conduit of such length as the ‘etreumstances’ may require, In elucidation of the mode of operation: Jet it be assumed that the, medium under Pressure be admitted at 5.’ Evidently, ite Spproximate path will ba aa indicated by “the dotted ling 7, which is nearly straight, that is to say, if the channel be of adequate cross-section, the fluid will encounter a very small resistance and pass through freely and undisturbed, at least to a Not 80 if the entrance be at the opposite end 4. In this case the flow will not be smooth2 ‘and continuous, but intermittent, the, fluid being quickly deflected and reversed in di- rection, set in whirling motion, brought to rest and again sccslerated, these processes following one another in rapid succession. ‘The partitions 3 serve to direct the stream: upon fhe buckets and to intensify the ac- tions ‘causing violent surges, and eddies which inte materially with the flow throughthe conduit, It will be readily observed that the resistance: offered tothe passage of the medium will be considerable even if it be under constant pressure, but the impediments will be of full effect ‘only ‘when it is supplied in pulses and, more es- cially, when the same are extremely sud- len‘ and of high frequency.’ In order. to bring the fluid masses to rest and to high velocity in short' intervals of time eneray must be furnished at a rate which is unat- tainable, the result being that the impulse cannot penetrate very far before it sub- sides and gives rise to movement in the ‘opposite direction. ‘The device not. only acts as a hinderment to the bodily return of particles but also, in a measure, as 9 check to the propagation of a disturbance through the medium, “Its efficacy is chiefly determined; first, by the magnitude of the ratio of the two resistances offered to dis- turbed and to undisturbed flow, res in the directions from 4 to 5 and 4; in each individual element of the con- duit; second, by the number of complete eycles of action taking place in a given Tength of the valvular channel and, third, by the character of the impulses themselves, A fair ide may be gained from simple theoretical considerations, Examining more closely the mode of op- eration it will be seen that, in passing from one to the next bucket in’ the direction of disturbed flow, the fluid undergoes two complete reversals or deflections through 180 degrees while it suffers only two small de- viations from about 10 to 20 degrees when moving in the opposite sense. In each case the loss of head will be proportionate to a hydraulic eoeficient dependent on the angle of deflection from which it follows that, for the same velocity, the ratio of the two resistances will be as that of the two coefl- cients. The theoretical value of this ratio may'be 200 or more, but must be taken as appreciably less although the surface fri tion too is: greater in the direction of dis- turbed flow. In order to keep it as large 138 possible, bonds should be avoided for these will add to both resistances and duce the efficiency. Whenever practicable, the piece should be straight; the next best is the circular form. ‘That the.peculiar-function of such « con- duit is enhanced by increasing the number -of buckets or elements and, consequently, 1,820,650 , relic processes in » given length is an ot rica (conalaaony but there is no direct proportionslity because the successive ‘ac- tions diminish in intensity. Definite limits; however, are set constructively and other- wise to'the number of elements per unit length of the channel, and the most eeconomi- cal design can only. be evolved through long rience. - yaite apart from any mechanidal features of the device the character of the impulses has « decided influence on its porformance and the best results will be secured, when there are produced at 4, sudden variations of pressure in relatively long intervals, while a constant pressure is maintained at 5,_ Such is the case in one of its most valu- ablp industrial applications which will be specifically described. In order to conduce to a better under- standing, reference may first be made to Fig. 3 which illustrates another special use and in which 8 is » piston fixed to a shaft 9 and fitting freely ina cylindet 10. ‘The latter is closed at both ends by flanged heads 11 and 19 having sleeves or stuffing boxes 13 and 14 for the haf. Connection between the two ‘compartments, 15 and 16, of the cylinder is established through » valvular conduit and each of the heads is similarly equipped. For the sake of simplicity these devices are diagrammatically shown, the solid arrows indicating the direction of undisturbed flow. Anvextension of the shaft 9 carries a second piston 17 accurately ground to and sliding easily ina cylinder 18 closed at the ends by plates nd sleeves as usual. Both piston and cylinder are provided with inlet and outlet ports marked, respectively, 19 and 20. This ent is familiar, being repre- sentati a " i - termed “mechanical oscillator”, with which it is practicable to vibrate a system of con- siderable weight many thousand times per ‘minute. Suppose now that such rapid oscillations aro imparted by this or dther means to the piston 8. Bearing in mind the proceeding, ‘the operation of the apparatus will be un- derstood at glance. ‘moving in the direction of the solid arrow, from 18 to 11, the piston 8 will compress the air or other medium in the compartment 16 and expel it from the same, the devices in the piston and head 11 acting, respectively, as closed and open valves. During the movement of the piston in the opposite direction, from 11 to 19, the medium which has meanwhile filled {he chamber 18 will by transfered to com- artment 16, egress being prevented by the evice in held" and teen the poston lowing free passage. These processes will tbe repeated in very quick succession. If the ni pp 4 and 5 are-put in communication with independent reservoirs, the oscillationid of the piston 8 will result in a eompres- sion of the air at 4 and rarefaction of tho Fume at 5, Obviously, the valvular chan- helt being turned tho’ other way, a8 indic cated by dotted lines in the lower part of the fie, the opposite will take place. The Aoviegs in the piston have been shown merely yy way of smgyestion and can be dispensed with.” Bach of the chambers 15 and 16 bo- ing connected to two conduits as illustrate the vibrations of 1m solid piston as 8 W have the same effect and the machine will then be a double neting pump of compressor, It'is likewise vnessontial that the modiuin should be admitted to the eylindar throngh stich devices for in certain instances ports, alternately closed und opened by the piston may serve the: pun ‘As a matter of contee, this novel method of propelling figs an be extended to multistage working in which caso a number of pistons will be.em- toyed, preferably on the same shaft and of Riderent diameters in conformity: with well established principles of mechanical design. {in this way any desired ratio of compres: slon or degree of. rarefaction may be at- tained. Fig. 4 exemplifies a particularly valuable application of the invention to which refer- ence bed been innde above. ‘The drawing shows in -vertical eross section «turbine ‘which mey'be of any type but is in this ine stance ons invented und described by me and supposed to be familiar to engineers, Suuficn it to state that the rotor 21 of the same is com- Hose of at patos which are st in motion rough. the adhesive and viseous altion of the working fluid, entering the’ system tan. geniny af the poriphory and Iedving it at the center, Such » machine is a: thermo- dynainic transformer of an activity surpuss- ing by fur that of any-other prime move it'boing demonstrated in practice that single disk of the rotor is capable of forming as auch work as a whole bucket- wheel. Besides, a number of other advan- equally important, make it especially pled for operation as an internal combus- ton motor, This ‘may ‘be done. in. tany ways, but the simplest and most direct plan of which T mm aware is the one illustented here. Referring again to the drawing, the upper part of the turbine casing 22 has bolt- ed to it a separate casting 23, the, central cavity 24 of which forms the combustion chunber, ‘To prevent injury through exces- sive henting a jacket 25 may be used, or else water injected and when these means are objectionable recourse may ‘be had to air cooling, this all the more veadily as very high temperatures are practicable. The top of ensting 23 is closed by a plate 26 with a sparking or hot wire plug 2T ad in its sides are screwed two valvlar conduits communis eating with the central chamber 24." One of - tinuous rotary ‘theso is, normally, open, to the utmosphere while the other connecta to a soutvs of fuel supply as a gus main 28 ‘The bottom of the combustion chamber terminates in g suit- able nozzle 20 which’ consists of separate pieco of lent resisting materinl. ‘To regulate the influx of the explosion constituents and secure the proper inixture the air and gus conduits ute equipped, respectively, with Valves 80 and 81, Tho exhaust openings 32 of the rotor shonld be in communication with a ventilator, preferably carved on the sane shaft and of any st le construction. Its use, however, while advantageous, is not indispensable the suction proditced by the turbine rotor itself being, in some cises.at Teast, sufficient to insure proper. working. ‘This detail is omitted frou the drawing as uneasential to the understanding. ‘But n fow words will be neoded to! make clear the mode of oporation; The air valve 30 Doing open and sparking established neroas terminals 27, the gus is turned on slowly un- til the mixture in the chunber 24 reaches the critical state and is ignited. Both the con- duite behavisig, with respect to efflux, ns closed: valves, the products. of combustion rush out through the nozzle 29 acquiring still groner velocity. by expansion and, impurt- ing their momentiin to the rotor 2i, atart it from rest; Upon the subsidence of the ex- losion the pressive in the: chamber sinks helow the atinospheric owing to the pump- ing action of the rotor or ventilator and new air and: gas is permitted to enter, cleaning the cavity ‘and channelg'and making up a fresh mixture which is detonated s before, and s0 on, the successive impulses of the working fluid producing an. almost .con- fort. After w short lapse of time the chamber becomes heated to such a degree that the ignition device anay be shut ‘off without disturbing the established régime. ‘This manner of starting the tuchine involves tho employment ofan tindly Inve combs tion chamber which is notcommendable from the economic point of view, for not only does it entail increased heat losses but the ex- plosions cutinot be made to follow one an- ther with such rapidity aa would ‘be desit- able to insure the best valvular action, When the chamber is small an auxiliary means for-starting, ne compressed ait, may dq resorted to and a very quick siccession ‘of explosions can then be obtained. ‘The frequency will be the greater the stronger the suction, and may, tinder certain -condi- tions, reach hundreds and even thousands per second. Tt scarcely need be stated that instead of one severnl explosion chambers miny be used for cooling purposes and also to increase the number of active pulses and the output of the machine. ‘Apparatus as illustrated in Fig. 4 pre- sents the advantages of extreme simplicity,4 heap ness “compression ochiuninn. 2 Wi tion of ccrtuin well-known accessories, the use of any kind of fuol and thus meets the prosing necessity of w self-contained, pow- erful, light and’ compact. internal combuse tion inotor for general work. When the nt- i it of the hi; is the chiof us in _nmnchines of large ize, the ploive constituents will be supplied nur ly pressure and provision made for main- taining » vactim xt the exhaust. Such ar rangements are quite. familiar’ and Tend themselves so causily to this improvemont that an enlargement on this subjert is: deeied unnecessity. The foregoing dese: suggest. to oxperts modifications, both na rogurds construction and application of the dovice and T do not wish to limit inyself in these respects. The broad underlying idea of the ion i the free pas- el in the di- flow und to prevent its return ‘tion and mass resistance, thus enabling the performanee of valve functions without any moving parts and thereby ex- tonding the scope and usofulness of an im- inense variety of mechanical appliances. T do not claim the methods of and appare tus for the propulsion of fluids and therm: dynamic transformation of energy, heroin disclosed, ns theso will be made subjects of separate applications, Tam aware that axyinmettieal conduits have been constructed and their use pro- pos in eonnection with engines but these sive no similarity oithor in their construc- tion or manner of eimployment with my valvular conduit. ‘They yore incapable of acting as valves proper, for the fluid was meroly “arrested in pockets and deflected through 90°, this result haying xt best only 25% of the efficiency attained in the con- strnetion herein described. In the conduit T have designed the fluid, ns stated above, is deflected in each cycle through 360°, and. a co-efficient approximating 200 can be ob- taimod 80 that the device acts as n slightly leaking valve, and for that reason the term “valvilar” hns been given to it in contrast to asymmetrical conduits, ag heretofore pro- posed, which were not valvular in action, nt merely asymmetrical as to resistance. Furthermore, the conduits heretofore con- structed wore intended to be used in connec- tion with slowly reciprocating machines, in which ease enormons condnit-length would be necossary, all this rendering them dovoid of practical value, By the use of an effective yalvular conduit, as herein described, and tho employment of pulses of very high fro- quency, I'am nble to condense my appa- ratus and secure such perfect action as to ion_ will readily shave 1,929,880 gies, ‘The high ollicioney of. the dovire, irre- spective of tho charucter of tho pulses, is duo to two cuusos: first, rapid reversal of direction of flow and, sodond, great rolutive volocity of the colliding fluid columns. As will be readily seen each bucket, causes a doviation throngh an angle-of 180°, und an- other change of 180° occurs in each of the spices betwoen two adjacent buckets. That is to say, from tho time the fluid enters or eaves ono of tho recesses to its pussage into, or exit from, the one following n complete eyele, or deflection through 360% i effete. Observe now that the velocity ix but slightly reduced in tho reversal 40 thut tho inoom- and deflected fluid coltnns meet, with relative speed, twico that of the flow, and the energy of their impact is four times gronter than with « deflection of only 90°, fas might be obtained with pockets sitch a omployed in asymmetrical con- Auits for various purposes. ‘The fact is, however, that in theso stich deflection is not secured, the pockets remaining filled with comparatively quiescent fluid and the lnttor following x winding path of least resist- ance between the obstacles interposed. In. stich conduits the action eannot be charne- rized as “valvular” becatiso some af the almost unimpoded in n dliree- tion opposite to the normal flow. Tn construction, as above indicated, the re aaneo in the revorse may be 200 times that in tho normal ditection, “Owing to th paratively very small number of bucket elements is required for checking the Anid, To give a concrete idea, supposo that the Teak from the first. element. is represented by tho fraction t+ then after the-nth bucket is travorsed, only a-quantity Gy will es- cape and it is evident that X need not be a Inrge number to secure a nearly perfect valvular action, ‘Whit I claim is: 1, A_ valvular conduit’ having interior walls of such conformation as to permit tho free passage of fluid through it in the direc- tion of flow but to subject it to rapid re- versals of direction when impelled in the ‘opposite sense and thereby to. provent its return by friction und mass resistance. 2, A valvular conduit composed of a closed passageway having recesses in its walls so formed ns to permit x fluid to pass freely through it in the direction of flow, ut to subject it to rapid reversals of direo. tion when impelled in an opposite sev thereby interposo friction and mass resist: ance to the return passage of the same. 3, A valvular conduit composed of a tube1,820,680 or passageway with. rigid interior walls formed with a series of recedses or with surfaces that reverse a fluid tending to flow in one direction therein and thereby check or prevent flow of the fluid in that direction. 4. A valvular conduit with rigid interior lls of such character 08 to offer ed - inlly'no obstacle to:the passage through it of fluid ines in one direction, but to uid to rapid revorsals of direc- jon and thereby oppose and check impulses in the opposite sense. 5, A valvular conduit with rigid interior wally formed to permit fluid impulses under pressure to pass freely through it in, one rection, but to subject them to rapid re- versals of direotion through 860° and there- hy check, their progress when impelled in the opposite sens. ae (A valvular’ conduit with rigid interior walls which: permit fluid impulses to flow through it frealy in one direction, formed at 4 plurality of points to reverse uch fold impulses, ¥! in the opposite di- Weelae und check their flow. 7A valvular conduit with rigid interior walls having pockets or recesses, and trans- versely inclined intermediate ballies to per- mit the free passage of fluid impulses in one Gireotion but to deflect and cheek then when impelled in the opposite direction. testimony whereof I affix m; os NIKOLA TESLA.N. TESLA. VALVULAR CONDUIT. APPLICATION FHLED FEB. 21, 1916, RENEWED JULY B, 1918 1,829,559; Patented Feb. 3, 1920. INVENTOR er An yp Loner Mee ATTORNEY =