IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES OR IMPLEMENTS TO BE EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURE, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE TRANSPORTING OF AD
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Blackburn, of Islington, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, and Robert Blackburn, of the City of Edinburgh,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGINES OR IMPLEMENTS
TO BE EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURE, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE TRANSPORTING OF
AD
Sealed the 31st July 1857, and dated the 12th February 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Blackburn._and
Robert Blackburn at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 12th February 1857.
We, ISAAC BLACKBURN, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
and ROBERT BLACKBURN, of the City of Edinburgh, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS. IN ENGINES OR
IMPLEMENTS TO BE EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURE, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE TRANS-
PORTING OF HEAVY BODIES, TO THE TRACTION OF CARRIAGES, AND TO THE CONVEYANCE
OF PASSENGERS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in the construction of engines or apparatus to be
employed in agriculture and otherwise, in which the boiler and cylinders, are
suspended inside of a cylinder or drum of considerable diameter, in. such
manner that the boiler, cylinders, and their gear shall always be in the same
plane, while they cause the drum through toothed gear to rotate round them,
and thus perform an onward motion.

page_text: . From the extended bearing of the engine, and the easy rolling motion
imparted to it, it will advance steadily over rough and uneven ground, and
may be employed to drag after it ploughs and other implements, or implements
may be driven by it in advance, or it is calculated to both drive and draw
them; and by itself it may be employed as a roller, or as a means of trans-
porting passengers, goods, minerals, &c.. over common. roads, or tracts of
country impassable for horses, or ordinary modes of transport; or it may be
used as a traction engine. A frame carried out from the sides, and made to
unite and form a bearing for the axis of a guide wheel or wheels, whereby the
implement may be guided or turned, is so connected to it, that it may be
turned over, and act as a guide either before or behind the machine. The
implement may be used as a stationary engine by disengaging the toothed
gear which causes the drum to rotate, and may be employed in pumping,
thrashing, or otherwise.
Our Invention further consists in mounting a cylinder. or cylinders and
boiler upon a. frame. supported by two or more drums, which we cause to rotate
by gear communicating, directly with the outside of the drums.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Isaac Blackburn and Robert Blackburn in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 12th August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL. COME, we, ISAAC
BLACKBURN, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, and ROBERT
BLACKBURN, of the City of Edinburgh, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred' and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Isaac Blackburn and Robert Blackburn, Her special' licence that we; the
said Isaac Blackburn and Robert Blackburn, our executors; administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we; the said Isaac Blackburn and Robert
Blackburn, executors, administrators; and assigns, should at any time agree
with; and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, "should and lawfully might make, üsė, exér-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland;
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN

page_text: ENGINES OR IMPLEMENTS TO BE EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURE, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE
TRANSPORTING OF HEAVY BODIES, TO THE TRACTION OF CARRIAGES, AND TO THE
CONVEYANCE OF PASSENGERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said Isaac Blackburn and Robert Blackburn, or one of us, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our
or their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Isaac Blackburn and Robert Black-
burn, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tainod in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists in a method of constructing engines or apparatus to
be employed in agriculture and otherwise, in which the boiler and steam
cylinders are suspended inside of a cylinder or drum of considerable diameter,
in such manner that the boiler, steam cylinders, and their gear shall always be
in the same plane, while they cause the drum through toothed gear to rotate
round them, and thus perform an onward motion.
From the extended bearing of the engine, and the easy rolling motion
imparted to it, it will advance steadily over rough and uneven ground, and
may be employed to drag after it ploughs and other implements, or imple-
ments may be driven by it in advance, or it is calculated to both drive and
draw them; and by itself it may be employed as a roller, or as a means of
transporting passengers, goods, minerals, &c. over common roads,.or tracts of
country impassable for horses, or the ordinary modes of transport; or it may
be used as a traction engine. A frame carried out from the sides, and made
to unite and form a bearing for the axis of a guide wheel or wheels, whereby
the implement may be guided or turned, is so connected to it, that it may be
turned over and act as a guide either before or behind the machine. The
implement may be used as a stationary engine by disengaging the toothed gear,
which causes the drum to rotate, and may be employed in pumping, thrashing,
or otherwise.
Our Invention further consists in mounting a cylinder or cylinders and
boiler upon a frame supported by two or more drums, which we cause to rotate
by gear communicating directly with the outside of the drums. The drum.or
cylinder which we employ in carrying out our Invention is made of malleable

page_text: C
iron, or of cast iron, or of both, combined or not with wood. On the two out-
side rims of the drum are fitted iron spoked wheels with hollow cast-iron
centres or naves firmly bolted or rivetted to the drum. Within the drum are
placed the boiler and engines, which are suspended by trunnions or flanged
axles rivetted to the centre of the boiler, and which axles fit into the hollow
centres or naves of the outside wheels of the drum. The boiler and engines
are thus evenly suspended within the drum. To the inside of the drum is
bolted internal spur or other gearing, which is set in motion by a pinion or
other suitable agent connected to the crank shaft of the engines. In order to
prevent the boiler and engines from oscillating, or changing their relative and
vertical positions, there is rigidly keyed on to the trunnions or axles) on the
outside of tlie drum, a frame of iron, or other suitable material, which is
carried forward on both sides beyond the circumference of the drum, and to
one or both ends of the frame are attached wheels or drums of small dimen-
sions fixed on a shaft or shafts, which serve the double purpose of guiding the
locomotive and also receive the strain of the engines while at work, and
thereby become the medium of resistance between the engines and the earth.
These wheels or drums, now alluded to, are fastened on to an axle or axles
resting in journals on the outside frame above mentioned, and are, by suitable
bevil wheels, shafts, and a hand wheel, so inclined by manual power to either
side, that they cause the outside frame to act as a lever, and this frame being
rigidly keyed to the axles of the boiler, guides and turns the locomotive
at pleasure. Upon the frame, either before or behind the large drum, is
placed a tank, holding water, which is supplied to the feed pump of the
engines through one of the axles which suspend the boiler and engines, such
axle being hollow through the greater portion of its length. The axle on the
opposite side is also hollow through the whole of its length, and into it is
placed a spindle, communicating with the steam regulator in the inside of the
boiler, whereby the engine driver is enabled to regulate the supply of steam,
and have control over the engines while the machine is in motion. The
Boiler is furnished with a fire-feeding apparatus, with a large hopper to hold
fuel, which is set in motion by the gearing of the drum, thus enabling the
engines to work for two or three consecutive hours without stopping to feed
the furnace. Attached to the engine frame at the bottom of the boiler are
friction wheels, which revolve on the rail iron forming part of the shell or ribs
of the drum; these wheels take part of the weight of the boiler and engines,
thereby assisting the two outside bearing wheels of the drum to carry the
Boiler and engines and give steadiness to the engines while at work.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed represents a side elevation;

page_text: partly in section, of an apparatus constructed according to our Invention; and
Figure 2, a front view of the same; Figure 3 is a back view. A is a multi-
tubular steam boiler; B, B, are a pair of horizontal steam engines, coupled;
C, C, are the axles or trunnions, which are supported in the ends of the
drum. D; E is an internal spur wheel, into the teeth of which the spur pinion.
I works; F, F, are bearing wheels, formed with iron spokes, and bolted to the
rims of the drum; G, G, are cast-iron centres of the bearing wheels; H, H,'are
the ribs of the drum formed of T iron; J, J, are outside frames attached to the
guiding apparatus and to the drag bars; K, K, K, K, are four wheels of cast
iron, mounted on a shaft, and carrying plummer blocks at each end, attached by
brackets to a circular plate L, which has teeth cast round one-third of its
circumference, and a centre pin hole with a slot on each side, into which guide
pins traverse, which pins are firmly bolted into the cross plate; M, M, is a
cast-iron plate, bolted to the outside frames, containing three pins for the
circular toothed plate L, also forming the foundation plate for the guiding
bracket carrying the shafts and wheels P, Q, R; N is a pinion, on a vertical
shaft or spindle, having at the upper end a bevil wheel O keyed on to it, which
bevil wheel is driven by a smaller bevil pinion P, keyed on a short shaft,
turned by the hand wheel R on the other end of it; S, the water tank and
tool box;
T, the water pipe, connected with the pump through the trunnion C¹;
U is a handle at the end of a spindle, bearing in the trunnion C³, connected
with a steam regulator within the boiler for supplying the engines with steam;
V is a fire-feeding apparatus, with coal hopper, driven by pinion V'; W, W,
are friction wheels, bearing on the rail irons X, X; Y, Y, is an ash pan; Z is
a draw bar, furnished with links and a rack.
Figure 4 is a side view of an engine constructed according to our Inven-
tion, and fitted with tyres, to adapt it to railways.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we observe that we do not claim the
construction of a locomotive apparatus by placing an engine, &c. within a
drum or cylinder, as this has been done before; but what we do claim is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of engines or implements
to be employed in agriculture, applicable also to the transporting of heavy
bodies, to the traction of carriages, and to the conveyance of passengers, as
herein-before described, and represented in the Drawings hercunto annexed.
Secondly, the method of suspending the boiler and engines within the drum
or cylinder, herein-before described, and represented in the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
Thirdly, the method of steadying and guiding the engine by means of an

page_text: outside frame supported by wheels on the earth, herein-before described, and
represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Fourthly, the method of feeding the boiler through one of the trunnions,
and of controlling and reversing the engines by means of a spindle passing
through the truunion to the valve gear, as herein-before described, and repre-
sented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
And, fifthly, the adapting of our engines to run on railways by furnishing
the drum with flanged tyres, as shewn at Figure 4 of the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Isaac Blackburn and Robert Blackburn,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Tenth day of August, Ong
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.