AN IMPROVED STEAM ENGINE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED STEAM ENGINE."-A communication.
Sealed the 19th June 1857, and dated the 14th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th January 1857.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED STEAM ENGINE," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce an efficient, durable, and
economically working steam engine, at a cost less than that of the steam
engines heretofore used.
The engine which constitutes the subject matter of this Invention consists
of an oscillating piston arranged within a stationary box, to which the steam
is admitted to exert its pressure on opposite sides of the piston alternately,
and from which it is allowed to escape, after acting on the piston by a pro-
perly operated valve or system of valves, and in which water is interposed
between the steam and the faces of the piston. The oscillatory motion the
said piston receives by the action of the steam alternately on opposite sides of
it is converted into rotary motion, which is communicated to a shaft of similar
character to the main shaft of a common steam engine.

page_text: The peculiar character of the box aforesaid is such, that by interposing
water between the steam and the piston little fitting is rendered necessary
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of January, 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 me, the
said William Edward Newton, Her special licenso that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Edward Newton, 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 Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN
IMPROVED STEAM ENGINE," being a communication from abroad, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention, of "An Improved Steam Engine," is to produce
an efficient, durable, and economically working steam engine, at a cost less than
that of the steam engines heretofore used. The engine, which constitutes the
subject matter of this Invention, consists of an oscillating piston, arranged
within a stationary box of peculiar character, to which the steam is admitted

page_text: to exert its pressure on opposite sides of the piston alternately, and from which
it is allowed to escape (after acting on the piston) by a properly operated
valve or system of valves. Water is interposed between the steam and the
faces of the piston, and the oscillatory motion the said piston receives by the
action of the steam alternately on opposite sides of it is converted by proper
mechanism into rotary motion, which is communicated to a shaft of similar
character to the main shaft of a common steam engine. The peculiar
character of the box aforesaid is such, that by interposing water between the
steam and the piston little fitting is rendered necessary between the piston and
the box to prevent leakage of steam.
Fig. 1 in the accompanying Drawing is a vertical section of the engine in a
plane perpendicular to the axis of oscillation of the piston; Fig. 2 is a vertical
section at right angles to Fig. 1, in the plane indicated by the line a, x, of
Fig. 1. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both
Figures.
A is the oscillating piston, the form of which is that of a sector of a
cylinder. This piston may be made either solid or hollow, but is shown made
of a hollow casting of metal, with an internal strengthening piece a, Fig. 1;
its peripherical or circular surface is turned truly, and its ends b, b, (see Fig. 2)
are faced up square with its axis; it is provided with a central gudgeon A*,
which may be cast with it or otherwise secured to it, but which is represented
in the Drawing as being cast with it, the exterior of the said gudgeon being
turned truly to the form of a portion of a cylinder, and the ends thereof
extended beyond the end faces b, b, of the piston to form two journals c, c', to
be received in bearings in the parallel ends d, d', of the closed cast-iron box B,
in which the piston is placed, and in which it is acted upon by the steam to
give it an oscillating movement on the said journals c, c¹. This box B, which
may be termed the "steam box," may, in its section taken perpendicularly to
the axis of oscillation of the piston, have its bottom of the arched form, shown
in Fig. 1, so that the circular face of the piston may fit nearly close to it, or it
may be of quadrangular form in such section, though I prefer the arched form,
represented in Fig. 1. Its depth vertically is about equal to twice the radius
of the piston, and its width is just sufficient to allow the piston to oscillate
without touching it. From the top of the box a fixed partition e, reaching
from end to end, extends down as far as the gudgeon A* of the oscillating
piston, and the bottom of this partition is faced truly to a proper arched form
to fit to the gudgeon A, as shewn in Fig. 1. Packing may be used between
by proper fitting, and the use of
the partition and the gudgeon if desired, but
proper metals for the wearing surfaces, this will generally be rendered un-

page_text: necessary. Opposite to the partition e there is in the bottom of the steam
box B a grooved seat s, extending from end to end, to receive a packing of
hemp or other material, which fits close to the circular face of the oscillating
piston, and when the piston is in place, and proper provision is made to pre-
vent steam from passing the ends b, b, thereof, the partition e and the packing
divide the steam box into two separate water-tight 'chambers C and C¹; if
hemp or other soft packing be used in the seat s, it may be rammed in through
a hole in one of the ends of the steam chest, the said hole being afterwards
plugged up by a screw m, as shewn in Fig. 2. Hemp packing will do as well
as any other in this part of the engine, as when the engine is in operation the
packing will be immersed in water, which will prevent its heating. One or
both of the ends d, d', of the steam box B may be removable, but one must
be removable to allow the piston to be introduced into the box. The ends
b, b, of the piston do not require to fit to the ends d, d¹ of the steam box, and
the ends d, d¹ of the steam box do not even require to be faced truly, but a
tight working joint is made between the said ends of the piston and the steam
box by means of two packing plates g, 9, of metal or other material, which
are formed (as shewn in Fig. 3, which is a face view of one of them, detached
from the engine,) with rings to fit round the journals of the oscillating piston,
and are partly sunk into recesses in the ends of the steam box to keep them
in place, and they extend all the way to the bottom of the steam box B.
These packing plates g, g, are adjusted into proper contact with the truly faced
ends b, b, of the piston by means of screws h, h, screwing through the ends
d, d', of the steam box B. Instead of using two packing plates, one of the
ends d, d', may be furnished with a projection on its inner face, of the form
represented in Fig. 3, and only one packing plate used at the other end of the
box. The journal c of the piston passes through a stuffing box n in the end
d of the steam box, and rests in a bearing l, in a standard H, which is erected
upon the same bed plate L to which the base of the steam box B is secured;
the other journal c¹ rests in a bearing fitted into the end d' of the steam
box. The bearings 1, 1, have screws o, o¹, applied to them in such a way that
they can be set up to keep a tight working joint between the gudgeon A* of
the piston and the bottom of the partition e of the steam box; the journal c¹
requires no stuffing box as it does not protrude beyond the end of the steam
box, but has its end covered up by a cap plate p, which is secured so as to be
steam-tight. The chambers C, C', of the steam box are intended to be filled
with water from the boiler, or by other convenient means, to such a level as to
keep the piston at all times entirely submerged, and this level may be main-
tained, if necessary, by a float valve, that will admit water from the boiler, if

page_text: the quantity of water in the box should be reduced by evaporation, and another
valve that will allow the escape of any surplus water that may accumulate by
condensation of steam; or many other contrivances may be used to regulate
the quantity of water in the box. But experiment shews, that, generally
speaking, there is little necessity for any provision for this purpose, as the
evaporation of water is nearly counterbalanced by the condensation of steam;
but to prevent the too rapid evaporation of the water by the contact of the
steam, and to prevent the water being carried off with the exhaust steam, I
propose, generally, to fit a float P of wood or painted cork to each chamber,
so as to be capable of playing up and down therein very freely on the surface
of the water as the water rises and falls in each chamber by the action of the
steam alternately in the two chambers. The floats P, P, it will be understood,
remain always interposed between the steam and water; these floats, however,
are not essential parts of the engine.
D is a steam chest on the top of the steam box B, containing a short slide
valve D, like that commonly, applied to steam engines of the common kind,
and a similar arrangement of ports and passages, the two ports i and i', which
communicate with the cylinder of the common engine, communicating with
the steam chambers C and C³ of the steam box B, and the exhaust port
t, being provided with a passage t, leading through the partition e, as
shown in Fig. 2, to the exhaust pipe ; vis the steam pipe, bringing
the steam from the boiler to the steam chest D. By working the slide valve
back and forth over the ports, steam is admitted to each of the chambers C
and C alternately, and allowed to exhaust from the other one, and by its
pressure the steam acts through the water on the faces f,f, alternately, and
thereby produces an oscillating motion of the piston A. This oscillating
motion is converted into a continuous rotary motion by the attachment to the
journal c, which protrudes through the end of the steam box of the rocking
arm E, which is connected by the rod F to the crank I on the main or rotary
shaft G of the engine, which is supported in bearings on standards H, H,
erected on the bed plate L, and stands parallel with the axis of oscillation of
the piston. This sbaft carries the fly wheel K. The crank I should be so much
shorter than the arm E as to allow the piston to oscillate only about eighty or
ninety degrees. The slide valve is represented as being worked by an
excentric J on the main shaft G, but may receive its motion through any
suitable arrangement of valve gear from any convenient moving part of tho
engine. Instead of a slide valve, any known arrangement of puppet or rock-
ing valves may be used for the induction or eduction of steam. Fig. 4
exhibits the arrangement of two engines of this kind connected with the same

page_text: crank shaft G, each engine having its piston connected with a separate crank
i on the said shaft.
Having thus described the Invention that has been communicated to me as
aforesaid, I desire it to be distinctly understood that I do not confine myself
to the precise details of the engine herein described, as such may be varied
without departing from the principle of action thereof, neither do I confine
myself to the precise figure of any portion thereof; but I claim as new in
the present Invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, a steam engine
composed of an oscillating piston A, arranged within a steam box of the
peculiar character herein specified, in which its working surfaces are immersed
in water, and which is furnished with a suitable arrangement of valve or valves.
and passages for the induction and eduction of steam, the said piston being
connected with suitable means of converting its oscillating motion into a
continuous rotary motion, and operating substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)