SOME BRITISH ROTARY ENGINE PATENTS

DATE	Patent No.	TITLE	NAME	TYPE	VIEW
1899	22,137	Improvements in Rotary steam Engines	Hans Thornmeyer
1901	26,452	An Improved Engine with Rotary Piston	Thomas Kemp
1909	25,388	Improvements in Rotary steam Engines	Robert Keats
1914	18,513	Improvements in Rotary steam Engines	Benson
1923	194,409	Rotary steam engine	Arthur Trotter
1923	200,155	An Improved Rotary steam engine	Alexander Hall
1927	280,267	Rotary steam engine	James Bonham
1959	877,500	A Rotary piston steam engine	Freethy Champion

Mr Champion's design is particularly noteworthy as it uses a nuclear reactor to raise steam!

Be aware that British patents were numbered starting from 1 in each year, up until 1915 when commonsense asserted itself.

SOME CANADIAN ROTARY ENGINE PATENTS

• CA 205577 Morrill Charles L; Shields George
• CA 225993 Morrill Charles L; Shields George
• CA 257143 Hamling Eric Edwin
• CA 274318 Bowman Oliver Sheridan
• CA 307914 Hele-Shaw Henry Selby; Beacham Thomas

SOME USA ROTARY ENGINE PATENTS: AN INCOMPLETE LIST
At the moment I have no idea how many rotary engine US patents there are; the answer seems to be a very large number.
According to Google Patents there are 639 patents between 1700 and 1900 that are found by searching 'rotary steam engine'.

I am thinking that patents after about 1900 are less interesting, because by then the steam turbine was well established, and by any realistic assessment were clearly not going to be displaced by any sort of rotary engine with doors swinging and flaps flapping.

From time to time I add to this list here. Where there is a link it takes you to a description of the engine.

The year given is that of publication date, not the application or filing date.

Patent No.	TITLE	NAME	DATE	TYPE	PDF
1,295	Rotary Steam Engine	Baldwin& Baker	1841		Y
2,019	Rotary Steam Engine	Cordes & Locke	1841
2,105	Rotary Steam Engine	J Tuttle	1841
2,669	Rotary Steam Engine	Beale	1842
14,239	Rotary Steam Engine	B Holly	Feb 1856		Y
14,778	Rotary Steam Engine	Root	1856
24,388	Rotary Steam Engine	Hardy	1859
25,133	Rotary Steam Engine	Mountjoy & Sawyer	Aug 1859		Y
29,787	Rotary Engine	Holmes	1860
49,594	Rotary Engine	Warren	Aug 1860		Y
50,759	Rotary Engine	George Westinghouse	1865
53,915	Rotary Engine	H J Behrens	1866
54,006	Rotary Engine	W J Norton	1866
66,570	Rotary Steam Engine	J Darling	1867		Y
69,383	Rotary Steam Engine	M L Andrew	1867
76,525	Rotary Steam Engine	M Rickert	Apr 1868		Y
77,373	Rotary Engine	D D Hardy	1868
84,280	Rotary Engine	C Kaiser	1868
107,078	Mills	Francis E. Mills	1870	Reaction turbine
108,412	Mills	W P Vickery	1870
109,878	Mills	William A. Davis	1870
110,350	Improvement in Rotary Steam Engines	George S. Follensbee	1870
116,352	Improvement in Rotary Steam Engines	W Race	1871
122,713	Improvement in Rotary Steam Engines	J B Faucett	1872
143,723	Improvement in Rotary Steam Engines	Shaw & Baker	Oct 1873		Y
205,868	Rotary Steam Engine	Huston & Wickersham	1878
223,257	Rotary Steam Engine	W E Sudlow	1880
223,547	Rotary Steam Engine	J M Simpson	1880
223,688	Rotary Steam Engine	J A Adams	1880
223,978	Rotary Steam Engine	L J Baker	1880
224,146	Rotary Steam Engine	F H Cathcart	1880
224,999	Rotary Steam Engine	W N de Groat	1880
225,030	Rotary Steam Engine	E Waldron	1880
225,226	Rotary Steam Engine	R Lenchseuring	1880
226,527	Rotary Steam Engine	F W Link	1880
226,829	Rotary Steam Engine	F Berquist	1880
227,319	Rotary Steam Engine	C S Tegnander	1880
228,861	Rotary Steam Engine	J H Blake	1880
228,906	Rotary Steam Engine	C Krupp	1880
230,862	Rotary Steam Engine	J R Cook	1880
230,880	Rotary Steam Engine	H Laurence	1880
230,886	Rotary Steam Engine	G W Miller	1880
230,907	Rotary Steam Engine	H Thibaly & T Hawkins	1880
231,281	Rotary Steam Engine	D L Cross	1880
231,520	Rotary Steam Engine	S D & J Barrow	1880
231,871	Rotary Steam Engine	P L & H Vanbriggle	1880
232,017	Rotary Steam Engine	W B Espent	1880
232,793	Rotary Steam Engine	C S Whitney	1880
233,260	Rotary Steam Engine	A C Lewis	1880
234,206	Rotary Steam Engine	W Scott	1880
234,957	Rotary Steam Engine	C Chamberlin	1880
235,003	Rotary Steam Engine	J H Newell	1880
235,246	Rotary Steam Engine	G Jasmagy	1880
235,266	Rotary Steam Engine	A E Marshall	1880
236,007	Rotary Steam Engine	G W Dudley	1880
244,558	Rotary Steam Engine	D L Cross	July 1881		Y
259,964	Rotary Engine	L J Wing	June 1882		Y
323,038	Rotary Engine	H F Hodges	1885
386,922	Concentric Piston Steam Engine	G W Hubbard	July 1888			Y
420,331	Rotary Steam Engine	A F G Brown	1890
453,935	Rotary Steam Engine	Miessner	1891
455,863	Rotary Steam Engine	Cleland	1891		Y
459,381	Rotary Engine	J M Stocker	1891		Y
459,424	Rotary Engine	G A THomson	Sept 1891		Y
465,907	Rotary Steam Engine	W N Whipple	1891
478,271	Rotary Steam Engine	A Beard	July 1892
478,843	Rotary Engine	A F G Brown	1892
495,357	Rotary Engine	W H Murch	1893		Y
507,780	Rotary Engine, Pump, & Blower	A F G Brown	1893
516,385	Rotary Engine	G H Weston	1894
530,908	Rotary Steam Engine	H Staub	1894
536,348	Rotary Steam Engine	The Henderson Engine: 1895		Y
560,760	Rotary Engine	G W Soulé	1896
562,843	Rotary Engine	Morse	1896
594,024	Rotary Engine	G E Woodard	1897
597,274	Rotary Engine	C Engberg	Jan 1897
598,793	Rotary Engine	Locke & Anderson	Feb 1897
579,851	Rotary Engine	Verret & Mooney	1897
Please be aware that the patent numbers can be hard to read. There may be errors in them.
597,585	Rotary steam engine	P B Taylor	1898
597,793	Rotary steam engine	H J McLoed	Jan 1898
600,343	Rotary Engine	S W Collins	Mar 1898
600,710	Rotary Engine	F A Boyd	Mar 1898
600,723	Rotary Engine	P J Johnson	Mar 1898
600,914	Rotary Engine	I M Johnson	Mar 1898
600,951	Rotary Engine	J F McGlenn	Mar 1898
601,381	Rotary Engine	A S Piatt	Mar 1898
601,413	Rotary Engine	J Dornan	Mar 1898
601,690	Rotary Engine	A Zwiebel	Apr 1898	(Mr Onion)
601,854	Rotary Engine	J H Meyer	Apr 1898
601,914	Rotary Engine	W D Thomas	Apr 1898
601,916	Rotary Engine	C W Triplett	Apr 1898
602,334	Rotary Engine	M C Kessler	Apr 1898		Y
602,456	Rotary Engine	S Kershner	Apr 1898
602,590	Rotary Engine	C G Vance	Apr 1898
602,630	Rotary Engine	W Smith	Apr 1898
602,703	Rotary Engine	R P Jarvis	Apr 1898
602,787	Rotary Engine	I Wepplo	Apr 1898
602,930	Rotary Engine	W S Bate	Apr 1898
603,679	Rotary Engine	D Drake	May 1898
603,787	Rotary Engine	F Priestley	May 1898
604,038	Rotary Engine	A N Gilbert	May 1898
604,234	Rotary Engine	T C Luce	May 1898 ????
604,254	Rotary Engine	T C Luce	May 1898
604,276	Rotary Engine	W S Sutton	May 1898
604,333	Rotary Steam Engine	F D Moon	May 1898
604,601	Rotary Engine	Willerton & Shortliff	May 1898
604,709	Rotary Engine	D B Cook	May 1898
604,960	Rotary Engine	P J Boris	May 1898
604,995	Rotary Engine	F J Macey	May 1898
605,460	Rotary Engine	M E Gilbert	June 1898
605,564	Rotary Steam Engine	F Galpin	June 1898
605,585	Rotary Steam Engine	W H Phillips	June 1898
605,760	Rotary Engine	A Stephens	June 1898
605,805	Rotary Steam Engine	A Lee	June 1898
605,906	Rotary Engine	J H Parsons	June 1898
605,907	Rotary Engine	J H Parsons	June 1898
606,080	Rotary Engine	W J Pearce	June 1898
606,606	Rotary Engine	J J Unbehend	June 1898
606,852	Rotary Steam Engine	L K & C S Carnahan	June 1898
607,678	Rotary Engine	F E Brainerd	July 1898
607,684	Rotary Engine	S H Draper	July 1898
608,401	Rotary Engine	J T F Conti	Aug 1898
608,761	Rotary Engine	Davidson & Stacey	Aug 1898
608,762	Rotary Engine	Dean & McCoy	Aug 1898
609,543	Rotary Engine	E J Herchert	Aug 1898
609,802	Rotary Engine	V R Gates	Aug 1898
610,176	Rotary Engine	R P Jarvis	Nov 1898		??
610,191	Rotary Engine	C J Milligan	Sept 1898
610,700	Rotary Engine	C B Benson	Sept 1898
611,239	Rotary Engine	E H Eaton	Sept 1898
611,700	Rotary Engine	J W Miner	Oct 1898
612,191	Rotary Engine	J T Case	Oct 1898
612,304	Rotary Engine	A N Blazer	Oct 1898
612,669	Rotary Engine	J M Maxwell	Oct 1898
612,815	Rotary Engine	T C Bright	Oct 1898
612,962	Rotary Engine	W H Bond	Oct 1898
613,223	Rotary Engine	C W Boutilier	Oct 1898
613,587	Rotary Engine	N J Moehn	Oct 1898
614,001	Rotary Engine	R P Jarvis	Nov 1898
614,107	Rotary Engine	J Holt	Nov 1898
614,846	Rotary Engine	G A Dibbell	Nov 1898
615,037	Rotary Engine	W McFarland	Nov 1898
615,087	Rotary Engine	W Mohr	Nov 1898
615,114	Rotary Engine	C G Taylor	1898		Y
615,664	Rotary Engine	D M Dearing	Dec 1898
615,834	Rotary Engine	C V Fite	Dec 1898
615,891	Rotary Engine	J H Parsons	Dec 1898
615,981	Rotary Engine	F J Haeseler	Dec 1898
616,522	Rotary Engine	W O Brown	Dec 1898
616,662	Rotary Engine	J Goehring	Dec 1898
616,766	Rotary Engine	R Bruce	Dec 1898
622,718	Rotary Engine	E Seymour	Apr 1899		Y
625,731	Rotary steam engine	Ames	1899	Turbine
627,832	Rotary steam engine	Tichenor & Williams	1899
628,566	Rotary engine	M Vay	1899		Y
628,960	Rotary steam engine	Parker	1899
630,400	Rotary steam engine	Oldham	1899
630,590	Rotary steam engine	F H Cathcart	1899
630,648	Rotary steam engine	R E Brewer	1899
630,693	Rotary engine	Hays & Depuy	1899
631,169	Rotary steam engine	Lay & Toliver	1899		Y
631,815	Reversible rotary engine	C W Pratt	1899
631,943	Rotary engine	S W Stewart	1899
632,073	Rotary engine	R Toennes	1899
632,549	Rotary engine	J J Callihan	1899		Y
632,816	Rotary engine	Kirby & Crowther	1899		Y
632,928	Rotary steam engine	N W & W P Smith	1899		Y
632,969	Rotary power-engine	J L Piening	1899	German carpenter	Y
633,387	Rotary steam engine	T Nace	1899		Y
633,570	Rotary steam engine	J F Cornish	1899
633,813	Rotary engine	T Croston	1899		Y
634,002	Rotary engine	P Kahellek	1899
634,511	Rotary engine	A Taylor	1899
635,558	Rotary steam engine	F Kreuger	1899	Based on Elm Street	Y
636,829	Rotary engine	C E Miller	1899		Y
637,986	Rotary engine	J H Darragh	1899		Y
638,173	Rotary engine	W L Casaday	1899		Y
638,349	Rotary engine	E H Montgomery	1899		Y
638,520	Rotary engine	H Migge	Dec 1899		Y
638,570	Rotary engine	C E Forsyth	1899
638,910	Rotary engine	E P Couture	1899
639,327	Rotary engine	E A Wilcox	1899		Y
639,504	Rotary engine	E Bennett	1899		Y
640,005	Rotary engine	Robinson & Seyller	1900
640,353	Rotary engine	L H Allen	1900
640,005	Rotary engine	Robinson	1900		Y
642,104	Rotary engine	S V Essick	1900		Y
642,225	Rotary pressure engine	S A E Hickson	1900		Y
642,785	Rotary engine	J Craig	1900
644,837	Compound rotary engine	A Watkins	1900		Y
645,132	Rotary engine	M J Robinson	1900
645,484	Rotary engine	R G V Mytton	1900		Y
646,057	Rotary engine	W T Mooney	1900		Y
646,160	Compound rotary engine	A Watkins	1900		Y
646,393	Rotary engine	R Smith	1900		Y
646,419	Rotary engine	J P Doran	1900
646,420	Rotary engine	J P Doran	1900	??
647,015	Rotary steam engine	C E Miller	1900
647,172	Rotary steam engine	E J Wood	1900
647,363	Rotary steam engine	Bell & Blake	1900		Y
648,024	Rotary steam engine	V Filteau	1900		Y
649,541	Rotary engine	Flowers, Foy, & Williams	1900
649,772	Rotary engine	Steers & Abercrombie	1900		Y
650,214	Rotary engine	J J Anthony	1900		Y
650,339	Rotary steam engine	L Pederson	1900
651,861	Rotary steam engine	J B Kelly	1900
652,044	Rotary engine	G C Rohde	1900
652,168	Rotary engine	D M Dearing	1900	Beautiful complexity	Y
652,317	Rotary engine	J Knowles	1900
652,440	Rotary engine	R McF Murie	1900		Y
655,175	Compound rotary engine	C E Linton	1900		Y
655,198	Compound rotary engine	G Code	1900
655,201	Compound rotary engine	L A Cooper	1900
657,826	Rotary engine	G E Ledvina	Sept 1900		Y
659,007	Rotary engine	O F Tinkham	Oct 1900		Y
660,017	Rotary engine	Lambert	1900
663,939	Rotary engine	A L Scudder	1900		Y
668,878	Rotary engine	C C Jensen	1901
674,258	Rotary steam engine	T Croston	1901
675,899	Rotary steam engine	D Morell	1901
680,478	Rotary engine	English & Cooney	1901
680,510	Rotary steam engine	Warren	1901
684,471	Rotary steam engine	Stevens	1901
693,348	Rotary engine	D M Dearing	1902
706,158	Rotary engine	A P Charles	1902
709,773	Rotary engine	O C Jones	1902
710,756	Rotary engine	T S Colbourne	1902
711,083	Rotary steam engine	C H Taylor	1902
714,425	Rotary steam engine	Williams	1902
716,903	Rotary engine	Margaret E Knight	Dec 1902		Y
716,970	Rotary engine	E H Werner	1902
717,461	Rotary engine	G W Soulé	1902
717,869	Rotary Engine	Margaret E Knight	Jan 1903		Y
718,725	Rotary Engine	Pierce & Ievers	Jan 1903		Y
720,818	Rotary Engine	Margaret E Knight	Feb 1903		Y
723,436	Rotary steam engine	Bayley	1903
723,656	Rotary steam engine	H T Dunn	1903
726,896	Rotary steam engine	F A Franzen	1903
728,263	Rotary engine	Michigan Engine Co	1903
730,543	Rotary Engine	Margaret E Knight	1903
732,671	Rotary Engine	T M Andrews	1903
735,203	Rotary Engine	H E Bridge	1903
748,348	Rotary Engine	J F Cooley	1903
751,842	Rotary steam engine	Ericson	1904	Turbine
756,904	Rotary steam engine	Stefan	1904
758,321	Rotary engine	Margaret E Knight	Apr 1904		Y
764,013	Rotary steam engine	D F Smith	1904
773,401	Rotary steam-engine	Walter F Leibenguth	1904
791,695	Rotary steam engine	Hudson at al	1905
814,018	Rotary Engine	H E Christie	1906
845,270	Rotary steam engine	Rudolph F Schmidt	1906
855,028	Rotary steam engine	Walker	1907
855,906	Rotary engine	Max Schmidt	1907
861,164	Rotary Engine	L E Cummings	1907
865,964	Rotary Engine	Bleecker	1907
868,841	Rotary engine	H H Calkins	1907
882,360	Rotary engine	S W Vincent	1908
889,439	Rotary steam engine	G H Carter	1908
892,201	Rotary engine	Welsh & Sheck	1908
892,295	Rotary steam engine	G W Nutz	1908
914,627	Rotary engine	J S Alcorn	1909
920,976	Rotary engine	W S Minor 1909
931,785	Rotary engine	C Miller	Aug 1909		Y
934,830	Rotary steam engine	Paine	1909
935,079	Rotary Engine	W W Wheeler	1909
938,714	Rotary steam engine	Rudolph F Schmidt	1909
957,508	Rotary compound steam engine	C R Hilty	May 1910		Y
991,576	Rotary engine	R S White	1911
998,451	Rotary steam engine	F Beck	1911
1,094,284	Rotary Steam Engine	R S Wilkie	1914		Y
1,106,882	Rotary Steam Engine	J C Mathiesen	Aug 1914		Y
1,116,816	Rotary Steam Engine	H Harford	Nov 1914		Y
1,269,735	Rotary Steam Engine	F H Ogden	1918
1,078,170	Rotary steam engine	J Shaw	Nov 1913		Y
1,389,874	Rotary steam engine	A Johnson	1921
1,406,140	Rotary engine	A J Anderson	1922
1,880,131	Rotary engine	Gray	1932	Spherical
2,055,137	Rotary Engine	Elmer W Sherman	1936
2,386,318	Rotary Steam Engine	Oluf F Jensen	1945
2,690,164	Fluid motor	Alois Skok	1954
3,116,666	Rotary engine	Dewey L Scott	1964
3,452,643	Rotary steam engine	Harold A Pratt	1969
3,578,890	Rotary Steam Engine	Oluf F Jensen	1971	Geared rotors
3,614,277	Rotary Steam Engine	A Kobayashi	Oct 1971		Y
3,737,248	Rotary engine	Erich E Abraham	1973*
3,743,451	Rotary Steam Engine	H R Chapman	1973
3,865,522	Rotary steam engine	A Nardi	1975
3,890,071	Rotary steam engine	William J O'Brien	June 1975		Y
3,941,527	Rotary engine	Jackson H Allington	1976*
3,988,082	Rotary Steam Engine	Paul Rogers	1976*
3,994,640	Spherical rotary engine	William A Cohen	1976	Spherical
6,565,310	Steam-powered rotary engine	Robert Davidow	2003	Hopeless
6,565,310	Steam-powered rotary engine	Robert Davidow	2003	Hopeless
.
Patent applications:
App 400,136	Rotary steam engine	William J O'Brien	1973
App 350,831	Rotary steam engine	Albert J Granberg	1973
App 888,985	Rotary cam radial steam engine	Michael W Courson	2010

The above lists are a tiny selection taken at random from only two countries; rotary engines were certainly being pursued elsewhere in Europe. The latest US patent I have found was only taken out in 2003. These things just won't go away.

Probably the most intriguing entry here is No 730,543 which was taken out by a woman, Margaret Knight.

INDEX OF INVENTORS

This is an incomplete list of rotary engine inventors; it is only a fraction of those involved in the quest. It does however summarise those currently known to me. Not all these engines celebrated in these pages.

Almond Ames Andrew Arbell-Tihon Bartrum & Powell Bates Bayley Berrenberg Boardman Bonham Borrie Brown Cartright Champion Cochrane (Dundonald) Cooley Coomber Darling Davies Dolgorouki Eve Ericson Filtz

Fletcher Forrester Franchot Galloway Gerard Hall Hardy Hay & Depuy Henry Hodson Holly Holmes Hudson Hult Hyatt Johnson Jones Keats Kemp Knight Lambert McEwan Ross Miessner Norton Paine

Parsons Pillner-Hill Ritter Routledge Ruth Schmidt Simpson & Shipton Smith Soulé Stefan Stevens Stocker Taylor Toennes Tower Trotter Verret & Mooney Vincent Walker Watt Williams . . .