IMPROVEMENTS IN HIGH- PRESSURE STEAM ENGINES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Barnett, of Oldham, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HIGH-
PRESSURE STEAM ENGINES."
Sealed the 12th March 1861, and dated the 15th September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Barnett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th September 1860.
I, THOMAS BARNETT, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HIGH-
PRESSURE STEAM ENGINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in so constructing steam engines that a great
saving shall be effected in the working thereof, as also in the amount of fuel
consumed.
I propose employing two cylinders, the first of which exhausts its steam
through a pipe into the second, which is to be of about double the area of the
first, thus the steam passes from one cylinder to the other, and thereby greatly
economizes fuel.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Barnett in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BARNETT, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Barnett, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Barnett, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I
the said Thomas Barnett, my 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Bri-
tain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HIGH-PRESSURE STEAM ENGINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Barnett, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of 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 I, the said Thomas Barnett, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in so constructing steam engines that a great
saving shall be effected in the working thereof, as also in the amount of
fuel consumed.
I propose employing two cylinders, the first of which exhausts its steam
through a pipe into the second, which is to be of about double the area of the
first, thus the steam passes from one cylinder to the other, and thereby greatly
economizes fuel.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of

page_text: steam being passed from the cylinder a through the exhaust pipe e in the
direction of the arrows, and up the feed pipe finto the additional or auxiliary
cylinder b. This auxiliary cylinder may also be partially supplied with steam
direct from the boiler.
By the adaptation of this arrangement to non-condensing engines which are
heavily loaded, and exhaust their steam at a high pressure, a great accession
of power is gained by the consumption of the same quantity of steam and fuel;
or where an increase of power is not an object, a great reduction in the con-
sumption of fuel is effected, also a reduction of pressure on the boiler, which,
in some instances, is quite as desirable as economy in fuel.
Having now described the nature and objects of my said Invention of
"Improvements in High-pressure Steam Engines," and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would remark in conclusion that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein described and shewn in the accompanying
Drawing, as such may be varied or modified without in any way departing
from the principle of my Invention, the same or a similar arrangement being
equally applicable either to locomotive, stationary, or marine engines; but
what I claim as my Invention intended to be secured to me by the herein in
part recited Letters Patent is, constructing and applying an auxiliary or
additional cylinder or cylinders to be worked wholly or in part by the exhaust
steam of non-condensing steam engines, in the manner herein described and
shewn by the accompanying Drawing for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Barnett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
ROBERT BUTTERWORTH,
Lees Road, Oldham.
THOMAS BARNETT. (L.S.)