CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF ENGINES TO BE WORKED BY THE FORCE OF STEAM OR OTHER FLUIDS, WHICH IMPROVED ENGINES ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE RAISING OF WATER AND OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
SMITH, late of Belper, in the County of Derby, but now of Derby, in the
same County, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of July, in the fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Andrew Smith, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Andrew Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Andrew Smith, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT AND
CONSTRUCTION OF ENGINES TO BE WORKED BY THE FORCE OF STEAM OR OTHER FLUIDS,
WHICH IMPROVED ENGINES ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE RAISING OF WATER AND
OTHER LIQUIDS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Andrew Smith, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully"
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Andrew Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
These improvements in the construction and arrangement of engines to be
worked by steam or other fluids apply. particularly to such engines as are
capable of being made portable, or that may be readily moved from one place
to another to assist in the performance of various works by exerting power
and applying that power to effect a great variety of operations. For instance,
in the erection of buildings, conveying stones and other heavy materials along
railways, upon scaffolding, or from one place to another, raising or lowering
stones in quarries, or in pumping water; also for agricultural operations, as
thrashing and grinding corn, cutting chaff, mixing clay and other materials, and
pressing them for making bricks and various other temporary purposes, to
which a portable steam engine may be adapted. The improvements consist
in novel constructions, combinations, or arrangements of the parts of steam
engines, with the boiler and furnace complete, which are so contrived as to be
capable of being conducted from place to place without derangement of the
working parts, and, whenever required may be made stationary and put into
effective operation. The accompanying Drawings represent in several views,
both the external and internal construction, arrangement, and combination of
the various parts of the engine.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the complete engine; Fig. 2, a vertical section
of the same, taken at right angles to Fig. 1, a little in advance of the working
cylinder; and Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the boiler, parallel to Fig. 1,
but taken at the opposite side. The whole of the engine is erected upon a
base plate a, a, to which are affixed axles carrying the running wheels, on
which it is transported from place to place; the boiler formed by sundry plates
of iron is erected upon the base plate in the manner shewn in the Figures.
b, c, are two vertical water chambers extending over the area of the back and
front of the boiler, which chambers have water communication with each other
through the horizontal pipes d and e. The essential working parts of the boiler
consist of three eliptical chambers shewn in the sections at f, g, and h. The
pump for feeding the boiler is seen in the elevation at i, Fig. 1, and is worked
by the ordinary evolutions of the engine; the cistern is of a semi-circular
form, shewn at k, k, Figures 1 and 2, from whence the water is conveyed by
the pump i into the lower part of the vertical chamber b; the water rising in

page_text: this chamber passes from thence through the horizontal pipe e, into the front
vertical chamber c, and when these two vertical chambers are both filled up
to the top the water passes by the horizontal pipe d at top, through a branch
from the pipe d into the upper elliptical chamber f. This chamber f having
been filled up to the level of the opening of an exit pipe 7, shewn by dots in
Fig. 3, the water will then pass down the pipe into the lower part of the
Second elliptical chamber g, which chamber becoming filled up to the opening
of the exit pipe m, shewn by dots, the water will then in like manner descend
by the exit pipe m into the lower part of the third elliptical chamber h to the
required level. Any further supply from the pump i is then cut off by the
rising of the float n in the chamber h, which is connected to the feeding
apparatus in the cistern below. This' feeding apparatus is shewn in section, on
an enlarged scale, at Fig. 4. k is the cistern as before explained in reference
to Figures 1 and 2, and i is the barrel of the pump. The water drawn from
the cistern by the action of the pump passes up through the tube and valve o, o,
Fig. 4, into the barrel i, and by the descent of the plunger in the barrel is
forced thence through the tube and valves p, p, into the vertical chamber b, as
before stated. But when the chambers b, c, f, g, h, have all become filled with
water up to the required levels, then the float n, rising in the chamber h, as
described above, causes the rods connected to the fulcrum axle of the float to
turn round the plug q (see Fig. 4) 'at the bottom of the pump barrel, and
by opening the way through that plug to allow the water raised by the pump
to escape from the barrel again into the cistern k instead of passing to the boiler.
It will scarcely be necessary to say that as the float n, sinks from the evaporation
of the water in the chamber h, the plug q will become partially closed, and the
pump be enabled to force the water from the barrel i, through the valves p,p,
into the boiler, as before explained. The sides of the furnacer are water
chambers, formed by plates having a series of longitudinal passages in them
communicating with the back chamber b, as shewn in Fig. 2, and by dots in
Fig. 3. The furnace is fed with fuel through the doorway in front. The
heat of the combustion comes into contact first with the lower elliptical
chamber h, of the boiler, and the water chambers surrounding the furnace.
The smoke and heated vapour then proceed up the contracted part of the flue
at s, and impinge on the bottom of the second chamber 9, then passing the
end of this chamber at t, they act against the front water chamber c, and then
strike against the bottom of the upper chamber f, and ultimately escape by
the flue u to the chimney."
The construction of the boiler having been now explained, it remains to say
that the steam generated in the upper chambers ƒ and g passes down through

page_text: an external pipe vinto the lower chamber h, whence it proceeds from the dome
w in the lower chamber through the induction pipe to the working cylinder
of the engine, and after exerting its elastic force against the piston in the
ordinary way, escapes by an eduction pipe into the chimney. The working
parts of the engine are all upon the ordinary and known constructions, but the
feeding pump has this peculiarity, viz, the valves o and p are constructed in
conical or cylindrical plugs, which, in the event of any obstruction from dirt or
other matters getting into their seats, may be readily withdrawn, and after
being cleaned may be replaced without interrupting the working of the engine.
I would further observe that manholes are made in the ends of the chambers,
and also soot holes through the end casing for cleaning the flues.
Fig. 5 is an elevation of a similar construction of engine to that above
described, but in this instance having appended to it a condensing apparatus.
The only difference therefore between the two is that the former construction
of engine was intended to be worked by high-pressure steam, and the eduction
steam to blow off into the chimney or elsewhere, whilst the latter engine is con-
structed so that the eduction steam shall be drawn off into a condenser. Fig. 6
is a vertical section of the same.
The parts of the boiler and of the engine having been above described, and
shewn in the Drawings, it is only necessary further to say that in the Figures
of the condensing engine A is the pipe leading from the eduction valve of the
working cylinder into the condenser B, which is immersed in a trough of cold
water C, C. A pipe D having a cock E, conducts the water from the cistern
into the condenser for the purpose of effecting the condensation of the steam;
F is a chamber extending from the lower part of the condenser to the air pump
G, the piston of which is worked by a rod H, connected to the fly wheel.
In conclusion, I wish it to be understood that the novel features of invention
claimed by me under the above in part recited Letters Patent are-
Firstly, the peculiar arrangement and combination of parts constituting a
portable steam engine as shewn in the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly, the peculiar construction of valves to be applied to the force
pumps of steam engines as herein shewn and described, whereby the valves
may be withdrawn (if required) for the purpose of adjustment or cleaning,
without the necessity of stopping the working of the engine or disarranging
any other parts of the pump. And,
Thirdly, the peculiar construction of steam generator, consisting of two,
three, or more distinct boilers arranged in a series one above another, in
communication or connection with each other, and enclosed within lateral
water chambers, forming thereby circuitous flues, as shewn in the Drawings, by

page_text: Inrolled the Twenty-first day of January, in the year above written.