The Ellis Motor.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 12, 1 October 1906, Page 336

The Ellis Motor.

An important invention of the day in steam engineering is the Ellis motor, which may be truly described as a mechanical wonder, puzzling alike to savant and layman, until its internal mechanism is seen and explained. It is an engine with a piston drive, and may almost be called a rotary engine. The casing revolves with the internal cylinder carrying the pistons, and in the same direction, and it is chiefly to this peculiarity it owes its novelty. At first sight the working of the motor seems paradoxical, it being such a distinct departure from the beaten track of engineering ; and it is not surprising that one of the high officials in the American Patent Office, on seeing the drawings, reported that it was " inoperative," until convinced of its feasibility by working model. The accompanying illustration shows a working model of the motor, and its inventor ; but a true appreciation of its merits can only obtain from the model itself actually at work and opened up for inspection. A well-known engineer of Wellington, fresh from the Home colleges, with up-to-date experience of modern steam engines, declares that in his opinion it is the simplest compound engine ever made. It is interesting to hear from the inventor how he conceived and brought the motor to its present stage. He tells us that the nucleus of the invention really lay in an experimental model of a rotary inclined plane, but whereas he once tried to propel his model up the incline, he now uses the principle of the incline to utilise the steam power. It is, therefore, easy to see that the reason why a wheel runs down an inclined plane is that the point of contact of the rim of the wheel with the track is behind a vertical line passing through its centre of gravity, and its tendency or power to run down the incline is in proportion to the rate of the gradient ; moreover, if the incline is reversed, the wheel must revolve in the opposite direction. Given, then, an endless incline the wheel will continue its motion indefinitely ; and given an incline which can be reversed, the motion will be in the opposite direction. In the Ellis motor the outer case, or cylinder, containing the inner one carrying the pistons, forms an endless incline — the pressure of the steam acting as gravity would act in the ordinary way — the reversing lever of the engine being so arranged as to reverse the incline when it is desired to reverse the engine. The invention being so unique, and giving so much promise of success, makes it likely to prolong the use of steam motors in competition with rivals. One important fact in connection with the motor is its instant reversibility, and as there are few working parts it does not require highly skilled attendance. It uses the steam expansively, has a low piston speed per revolution of the motor, and for most purposes does not require intermediate speed gear. The small model illustrated herewith was tried and tested for brake horse power a short time since at Messrs. Andrews & Manthel's engineering works, and the influential and professional gentlemen present congratulated Mr. Peter Ellis, the inventor, on the production of a piece of mechanism which promises to invade almost the whole sphere of steam engineering. Only comparatively small models have been experimented with but the results are so gratifying that it is intended to produce large units as soon as possible, and visitors to the N.Z. Exhibition at Chnstchurch will probably have an opportunity of witnessing the performance and tests of the engine.